Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Why I hate my daughter's favorite movie.
Angry Toddler received a beloved Disney movie from her grandparents for Christmas. I loved it when I was a child, but now I dislike it intensely, because
It teaches you that when you're in trouble, you have to wait for a man to rescue you.
It suggests that the very best thing that can happen to you is to marry a handsome prince.
It says that wishing for something can make it happen.
It promotes the feminine ideal as remaining "ever gentle and kind" regardless of the crap you have to deal with every day.
It assumes that no matter how smart, hard-working, "gentle and kind," and otherwise perfectly feminine you are, it still matters what you wear.
It implies that you have to compete with other women to get the best man.
It portrays desirable men as "safe": effeminate and with no frightening anatomy.
During the waltz scene, the protagonist looks exactly like Sandra Dee.
Rather than kill off the antagonists, revenge is achieved by killing the cat, for no other reason than the cat acts like a cat.
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16 comments:
Which Disney movie are you writing about: Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty?
I'm thinking Cinderella, just because of the cat comment, and I don't remember a cat playing a large role in Sleeping Beauty. Though I much prefer either of those to Disney's version of Snow White.
Yes, Cinderella, although my objections apply to many of these "princess" movies (with the exception of the cat and the waltz).
I like the Pixar films, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., etc. They seem to be free of "helpless" women. She and I also have been enjoying Madagascar. The Rescuers is good, too. While these films lack female protagonists, at least they're free of some of Disney's more blatant "a woman's place is in the home" bias.
Try Hayao Miyazaki's movies -- Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service are the kid's favorites. It's how I finally got her away from that Disney crap.
Tough little girls dealing with problems. And lovely, lovely art as well.
Cinderella is the least objectionably of the "Disney princess movies" (although a case can be made for Snowhite). The later movies not only depart further and further from the original folk tales in increasingly obnoxious ways, they then have the straight-to-DVD sequels which are internally contradictory.
eg Pocahontas is bad, but Pocahontas II is just evil.
Oh! Thank you for articulating the rottenness which is Cinderella. It is, of course, my son's current favorite.
Feh.
But it brings her such joy! Are these things we hate about it our problem or are they really effecting her upbringing? I see an optimistic woman who has a nice marriage and two bitches who get what they deserve. I don't think it's all bad.
--AB
While these films lack female protagonists...
Bianca in the Rescuers. It's been a long long long time since I've seen it, but I deem it "good".
Ah, but "Beauty and the Beast" has a strong female protagonist. It's also my favorite Disney movie (besides the Pixar ones, which of course, I adore).
ITA with you on the crap that's out there...even non-cartoon movies that I used to love annoy me these days. Seen "My Fair Lady" lately? I still love the music, but the message? BLECH.
Thanks Delagar for the heads-up on Hayao Miyazaki...I'm running over to Amazon to add those movies to my to-buy list.
delagar, thanks for the tip. I'm going to check them out this weekend.
trystero and allison, I agree. Bianca and Belle are fine role models. In Beauty and the Beast, however, Belle has dreams of doing great things, and then that turns out to be marrying a handsome prince. She's brave and smart and stubborn, and that's great, but again it all boils down to getting the right man. B&B has enough other positive messages that I can overlook that one, and at least it doesn't have the "love at first sight"="happily ever after" fallacy embedded at the end.
Angry Baker, I don't think watching Cinderella will hurt the Angry Toddler. (If I did, guess what?) We'll show her plenty of alternate paths. But as an adult woman, the utter crap slaps me in the face every time I watch it. And the stepfamily didn't get what they deserved. The cat was the scapegoat. But I still think you're wicked hot and I want to get naked with you.
heh, heh, heh ...
Late comment, I know, but try Mulan. By the time she saves China, the movie has serious girl power written all over it.
There's always the Grimm bros. take on justice for the stepfamily: after mutilating their feet to get the shoes on, the stepsisters end up having their eyes pecked out. Perhaps punishing Lucifee isn't such a bad bowdlerization?
If you can find the animated short films based on the Madeline books, you and Angry Toddler might enjoy them.
One could just as easily criticize the Disney movies for very weak male stereotypes: at least the princesses get prominent roles; the "Prince Charmings" are mostly there to look good--and what about the basis for a marriage?
I did my MA thesis on C. S. Lewis's _Till We Have Faces_, which turned into a folklore study of the Cupid/Psyche lore in general. All of the "Disney Princess stories" are derivatives of that archetype.
I would love for someone to make a move of Cupid and Psyche that is faithful to Apuleius--the modern fairy tales reduce profound symbols to simple excerpts, and both characters are dynamic, alternating between being the struggler and being the one "in distress."
I too liked Mulan...today's Disney Princess movies give more power to the woman...Try Enchanted. You'll like the fact that Amy Adams could play cute and strong...THEN save the day.--Richard G
Most of Disney work today aren`t astonishing. But I also think that the princess stories seem to take all the credit from Disney, and darker, more serious and heartfelt stories seem to get forgotten. (Bambi or the Rescuers anyone?)
In fact, if one wants good animation that is not Disney-formulatic, I´d recommend some Miyazaki films like My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Don Bluth`s early work is also very good: All Dogs Go To Heaven, Land Before Time, An American Tail and especially The Secret Of NIMH (In my opinion, the best animated film EVER!)
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