I loved this movie unabashedly, I think in large part because I went to see it with my mother.
The thing I liked about this one I think, which I honestly think is being missed or overlooked when people complain about blah blah princess movie is that unlike the other Disney Princess movies (and I include MULAN, MOVIE OF MY HEART, in this), this really could easily have been a story about a boy/prince and his father or a boy and his mother and overall I think it wouldn't have changed things a whit. Character-wise the story wasn't "Merida is a princess but is so headstrong" so much as "Merida is troublesomely headstrong and also happens to be a princess." Pixar could have made a movie about a boy without changing much at all (hair length (?), the specific role being forced on him), but they opted instead for a movie about a girl. Unlike most of the Disney Princess franchise, this is a story about a female character that doesn't HINGE on her gender - the movie's much more about family and expectations and responsibilities and love than it is about MERIDA SO FEMINIST, which honestly I found refreshingly ...feminist? Sobbing I'm sure there is a specialized feminist word for this, help me, I got on a plane at 3AM est this morning.
Gosh I'm bad at articulating my movie thoughts! I would also have been ALL OVER MERIDA as a kid, she's such a refreshing semi-amalgamation of Tamora Pierce heroines. All I ever needed growing up!!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-07-19 23:44 (UTC)The thing I liked about this one I think, which I honestly think is being missed or overlooked when people complain about blah blah princess movie is that unlike the other Disney Princess movies (and I include MULAN, MOVIE OF MY HEART, in this), this really could easily have been a story about a boy/prince and his father or a boy and his mother and overall I think it wouldn't have changed things a whit. Character-wise the story wasn't "Merida is a princess but is so headstrong" so much as "Merida is troublesomely headstrong and also happens to be a princess." Pixar could have made a movie about a boy without changing much at all (hair length (?), the specific role being forced on him), but they opted instead for a movie about a girl. Unlike most of the Disney Princess franchise, this is a story about a female character that doesn't HINGE on her gender - the movie's much more about family and expectations and responsibilities and love than it is about MERIDA SO FEMINIST, which honestly I found refreshingly ...feminist? Sobbing I'm sure there is a specialized feminist word for this, help me, I got on a plane at 3AM est this morning.
Gosh I'm bad at articulating my movie thoughts! I would also have been ALL OVER MERIDA as a kid, she's such a refreshing semi-amalgamation of Tamora Pierce heroines. All I ever needed growing up!!