It’s been a while since I’ve done a three-act structure study, so today I’ve picked out a very nostalgic movie to look at.

If you’d like to see my previous study, it’s on Neal Shusterman’s Scythe.

Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper

Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper (I think I might just shorten that to The Princess and the Pauper) is a 2004 animated film. It was released on DVD and is one of the most popular Barbie movies out there. (We’ve also recently seen the rise of Preminger, the villain, in popularity, and maybe that’s also contributed to the resurgence of interest in the film online.) It’s also a musical film, and many of the songs (e.g. “I Am a Girl Like You”, “To Be a Princess”) are still recognizable today.

I’ll be breaking down the plot into each beat of the three-act story structure, so there will be spoilers.

Act One:

• Hook:

  • Both of the protagonists’ internal conflicts are established early on into the story, allowing the audience to quickly relate to them. These conflicts are explored through the first number, “Free”, which encapsulates their desires to be free from the responsibilities that hold them back from what they truly want. (In this case, “Free” also functions as an “I want” song.)

  • Anneliese:

    • Princess Anneliese is about to be married off to King Dominick to save her kingdom’s failing economy. While it’s the right thing to do on behalf of her people, she’s hesitant as she’s in love with her tutor and best friend, Julian.

  • Erika: 

    • Erika’s story is a different matter. She’s working at Madame Carp’s Dress Emporium as an indentured servant to pay off her parents’ debt. According to Madame Carp, she won’t be free for “another thirty-seven years”. While she works, Erika dreams of becoming a singer and traveling around the world to perform for audiences.

• Setup:

  • The next musical number, “How Can I Refuse?” gets the plot moving. Preminger, the queen’s advisor, has secretly been stealing gold from the kingdom’s mines and now plans to kidnap Anneliese. He then plans to “find” her after her engagement with King Dominick is canceled so that the queen will allow him to marry Anneliese and become king.
  • In the meantime, Julian takes Anneliese into town. This is so that she can have a few hours where she can be free from her responsibilities. He shows her the place where he lives, and Anneliese takes in the poverty her people are suffering.

• Inciting Incident:

  • Anneliese hears someone singing and meets Erika, who is performing in a small square. They note their similarities in both facial features and desires to be free. Even Julian notes that their resemblance is “uncanny”. Anneliese invites Erika to sing at the palace one day, and she accepts.
  • That night, Anneliese is abducted by Preminger’s henchmen and held captive somewhere in the western forest. They leave a forged note claiming that Anneliese ran away because she didn’t want to marry King Dominick.

• Build-up:

  • In this case, the build-up adds to the external conflict. If Anneliese doesn’t return by the end of the day, her engagement to King Dominick will be broken off and Preminger’s plan will work.

• 1st plot point:

  • Julian is doubtful of the forged note. He notes that Anneliese always scented her stationery with rose, not lilac and heads to Madame Carp’s Dress Emporium. Suspecting that Preminger is hiding Anneliese somewhere, he asks Erika to pretend to be the princess. Julian hopes that in the meantime, he can trick Preminger into revealing where Anneliese is. Because of her concern for the princess, Erika accepts.

• 1st pinch point: 

  • Internal pinch point: Once Erika accepts, there is no turning back. If she’s found out, she could be arrested and thrown into prison. To add to this, she finds that while pretending to be Anneliese comes with new luxuries, it’s still not the type of freedom she longs for because she cannot be herself. Here, “To Be a Princess” shows the many rules she is going to have to adhere to in order to masquerade as Anneliese.
  • External pinch point: When Julian presents Erika to the queen, Preminger wonders why she has said nothing about being kidnapped and suspects something is not right. He returns to the western forest to check if Anneliese is still there. Since he knows what truly happened to Anneliese, he has the power to reveal Erika’s identity — thus creating suspense.

Act Two:

• Pre-midpoint reactionary hero:

  • On his way out, Preminger leaves behind a leaf from a silver fir tree, prompting Julian to wonder why Preminger has been in the forest.
  • Meanwhile, Anneliese is still reacting to the current situation. With her cat, Serafina, she tricks Preminger’s henchmen into setting her free. She quickly heads back to the palace before the henchmen can catch her.
  • By the time Julian gets to the forest, Anneliese is already gone. He hears Preminger reveal his plan, but is captured before he can get to the palace and report to the queen.

• Game-changing midpoint (a.k.a midpoint):

  • Because Erika is acting in place of the princess, a guard stops Anneliese from entering the palace. With nowhere else to go, Anneliese heads to the town in search of help, but Madame Carp finds her. Believing her to be Erika, Madame Carp locks her in the dress shop until she can finish every dress. Now both protagonists have completely switched places, and both are still not free.
  • Meanwhile, Erika realizes she’s falling in love with King Dominick, who claims he loves her for who she is. This adds to her internal conflict as Erika is well aware she is not the real princess.

• Post-midpoint action hero:

  • Based on the game-changing midpoint, the protagonists have to switch gears and think up a new plan for the situations they are in.
    • Anneliese: Still locked in and unable to escape, Anneliese attaches her ring and a dress label to Serafina so that whoever finds the cat will be led to the dress shop. (This actually takes place before Erika’s midpoint.)
    • Erika: With the wedding drawing closer and closer and neither Julian nor Anneliese in sight, Erika continues to struggle between her desire to be herself and the need to keep acting as the princess. Before she can formulate a new plan, however, the second pinch point hits.

• 2nd pinch point:

  • Preminger finds Serafina along with Anneliese’s ring and the dress label. Believing the answers to his questions may finally be found, he heads to Madame Carp’s Dress Emporium.

Act Three:

• Supposed victory:

  • This isn’t a beat that takes place in the story. Instead, we skip over to the disaster, where we’ll watch both protagonists be trapped again.

• Disaster:

  • • Anneliese:

      • When Preminger finds Anneliese, she thinks she’s finally found help, but he whisks her away to the mines. This is where Julian has been held captive. Anneliese realizes that Preminger has been behind the abduction plot the whole time, but it’s too late. With the help of his henchmen, Preminger traps Anneliese and Julian in the mine and returns to the palace.

    • Erika:

      • Preminger reveals Erika as an imposter and claims Anneliese is dead. Erika is arrested and thrown into the dungeon. She knows this disaster is partially her fault because while she knew the risks that came with Julian’s offer, she still accepted it for Anneliese’s sake.

• Dark moment:

  • In a sad reprise of “To Be a Princess”, Erika cries herself to sleep. With Anneliese still missing, it’s likely that she’ll remain in the dungeon for a long time. After the disaster, she’s feeling hopeless and disappointed, and freedom seems to be further than ever before.

• Recovery:

  • In which Anneliese and Erika both escape.

  • Anneliese:

    • Wolfie, Erika’s cat, finds a mine shaft that will help Anneliese and Julian escape. Meanwhile, Anneliese discovers that there are geodes in the mine and keeps the information stored in her head for later. Julian strikes water, and they get into a barrel with Serafina and Wolfie. As the mine floods, they float upwards until they reach the surface.

  • Erika:

    • Erika, who I guess is done with being trapped (it’s not super clear how she gets to the recovery beat), sings her guard to sleep. She steals his key and escapes with the help of King Dominick, who disguised himself as a guard to save her.

• Climactic confrontation:

  • While Anneliese and Erika are both escaping from their respective situations, Preminger proposes to the queen, telling her he’ll save the economy if she marries him. The queen reluctantly accepts (so maybe it’s Preminger who gets the supposed victory beat? Although that beat is supposed to apply to the protagonist, not the villain)
  • This leads to the climactic confrontation at the queen’s wedding. Near the end of the ceremony, Anneliese rushes in and accuses Preminger of his crimes in front of everyone. The queen orders her guards to arrest him, but Preminger makes a run for it before anything else can happen.

• Victory:

  • Julian and Dominick pursue Preminger, but in the end, it’s his horse, Hervé, who decides he has enough. Hervé returns Preminger to the palace, where he is then arrested. (This actually makes sense because there are hints beforehand that Hervé is not super comfortable helping Preminger, but I didn’t mention those because they didn’t fit into the story structure.)

• The end/resolution:

  • Anneliese pays off Erika’s debt, setting her free from Madame Carp. With the discovery of the geodes, she also creates a new industry to pay off the kingdom’s debt and save her people. Because the economy is no longer an issue, she is free to marry Julian.
  • In the meantime, Erika goes off to sing, eager to finally see the world. Eventually, however, she realizes that “being free means choosing not to go, but to stay” and returns to Dominick.
  • The film finishes with a fancy double wedding, and everyone gets into a carriage and rides away, finally achieving freedom.

My thoughts

Final things to note after going through the film:

• It’s interesting to note that Anneliese is primarily reacting to events in Act One, and doesn’t really become an active protagonist until around Act Two.
• Preminger has a lot of importance as the antagonist; without his actions, the plot wouldn’t have happened and neither of the protagonists would have gotten their happy ending.
• The game-changing midpoint doesn’t lead to a shift in goals for either Erika or Anneliese, it only surprises them. This also shows that internal conflict is not as much of a focus in the film as external conflict.
• The dark moment only applies to Erika. With Anneliese, we skip to the recovery — while Julian momentarily gives up on escaping, Anneliese doesn’t lose hope.
• Erika is arguably the stronger protagonist in comparison to Anneliese. Her internal conflict is clearer, and she also has a more evident character arc (although the “aha” moment takes place offscreen).

While the film doesn’t completely adhere to the three-act structure, it’s still a good story. Granted, a larger focus on character arcs and/or the protagonists’ internal reactions to the plot would have made it even better, but it’s pretty decent as it is now.

That’s all for now!

I hope you enjoyed this breakdown. Let me know if this movie was part of your childhood, too?

All the best,