stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2012-06-29 05:48 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2012-06-29 05:48 pm
Entry tags:
BRAVE and Sexism
We went to see BRAVE. It was poorly done. Slow in most places. The plot bogged down a great deal and lacked for a real antagonist. There wasn't much tension, and with the exception of the queen, all the supporting cast were idiotic buffoons who were both gross to look at and thoroughly unlikeable. If I were Scottish, I'd be pretty unhappy about the portrayal of my heritage.
It's also become clear that Pixar doesn't know what to do with girls.
Pixar didn't do a damn thing new with her character. Instead, they went straight down the Girl Heroine Checklist:
Princess. Check.
Lives in a castle. Check.
Doesn't want to marry the guy her parents pick out for her. Check.
Dislikes girly dresses. Check.
Enjoys traditionally boyish past-times (in this case, archery, horseback riding, and mountain climbing). Check.
Wants to choose her own destiny, against her parents' wishes. Check.
Male protagonists don't go through this. We don't ever see a prince who lives in a castle who dislikes boy clothes, has a taste for traditionally female past-times like weaving or sewing, doesn't want to marry the girl his parents have picked out, and instead wants to choose his own destiny. Why? Because everyone would think it silly. But girls have to want what boys want, you see. That makes them strong. Apparently, meeting girls on their own terms is weak.
I have to tell you, in many, many years of teaching high school and working with teenaged girls, I've found very few who enjoy traditionally boyish stuff like hunting (I ask during "The Most Dangerous Game"), who played with toy guns and weapons (or are even interested in them), or who are preoccupied with choosing their own futures (it's assumed in our society that they will).
Pixar's Merida is a girl who is trying to appeal to boys. Oh, they threw in a plot on Merida's relationship with her mother to girl it up, but in the end, Merida's arrow-wielding, horseback riding, dress-hating characterization is there for the boys in the audience. The lack of any (ANY) remotely intelligent or attractive males in the movie allow the boys in the audience to say, "I'm better than they are. Merida could be MY girlfriend!" No competition, you see. Merida was made for the boys, not the girls.
I'm not saying Merida should have spent the entire movie stitching samplers and sighing over boyfriends. I'm saying Pixar blew it with the basic idea. When they chose semi-historical Scotland, they just about locked themselves into this particular well-worn plot. They can do literally anything they want, but they chose this? Merida could have been a space pirate's daughter. Or a modern girl who finds a talking tree whose grove was about to be cut down by developers. Or anything else! But no, they were so unimaginative that when they decided to write their very first story about a female protagonist, they couldn't do better than this.
That's disappointing. And shoddy. We expect better from Pixar.
It's also become clear that Pixar doesn't know what to do with girls.
Pixar didn't do a damn thing new with her character. Instead, they went straight down the Girl Heroine Checklist:
Princess. Check.
Lives in a castle. Check.
Doesn't want to marry the guy her parents pick out for her. Check.
Dislikes girly dresses. Check.
Enjoys traditionally boyish past-times (in this case, archery, horseback riding, and mountain climbing). Check.
Wants to choose her own destiny, against her parents' wishes. Check.
Male protagonists don't go through this. We don't ever see a prince who lives in a castle who dislikes boy clothes, has a taste for traditionally female past-times like weaving or sewing, doesn't want to marry the girl his parents have picked out, and instead wants to choose his own destiny. Why? Because everyone would think it silly. But girls have to want what boys want, you see. That makes them strong. Apparently, meeting girls on their own terms is weak.
I have to tell you, in many, many years of teaching high school and working with teenaged girls, I've found very few who enjoy traditionally boyish stuff like hunting (I ask during "The Most Dangerous Game"), who played with toy guns and weapons (or are even interested in them), or who are preoccupied with choosing their own futures (it's assumed in our society that they will).
Pixar's Merida is a girl who is trying to appeal to boys. Oh, they threw in a plot on Merida's relationship with her mother to girl it up, but in the end, Merida's arrow-wielding, horseback riding, dress-hating characterization is there for the boys in the audience. The lack of any (ANY) remotely intelligent or attractive males in the movie allow the boys in the audience to say, "I'm better than they are. Merida could be MY girlfriend!" No competition, you see. Merida was made for the boys, not the girls.
I'm not saying Merida should have spent the entire movie stitching samplers and sighing over boyfriends. I'm saying Pixar blew it with the basic idea. When they chose semi-historical Scotland, they just about locked themselves into this particular well-worn plot. They can do literally anything they want, but they chose this? Merida could have been a space pirate's daughter. Or a modern girl who finds a talking tree whose grove was about to be cut down by developers. Or anything else! But no, they were so unimaginative that when they decided to write their very first story about a female protagonist, they couldn't do better than this.
That's disappointing. And shoddy. We expect better from Pixar.