In so many movies, the real drama or action happens to men, while women are there as tokens or window dressing, and are often the reward for the hero that "gets the girl" in the end. The notable exception are Disney fairy tales. While the source materials spend little time developing any characters, the Disney animated productions are centered around a young woman who goes through travails and gets her wealthy and handsome prince as a reward in the end. That brings an awful lot of little girls to the movies, and then they buy the costume, the DVD, and all the accessories so they can dream of finding their own prince.
But who are these princes? In the older films, they have no personality at all. Sometimes they don't even have a name. They have no responsibilities, except for being handsome and waiting for the king to die. Their heroism in only in service to the real star of the show. In the song "Charming," three of them complain about their unimportance, which is a mirror of what a Bond Girl character might say.
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