June 2012
Finally finished that paper!
*rolls onto floor, remains motionless*
a review of Brave. One day, the minds at Pixar said...
- Pixar: So, princess stories. Disney has done that a lot. But.... maybe we can improve on some stuff.
- Pixar: You know how mothers just seem to be.... well, missing from those stories? Missing or just quiet or a non-presence in the shadow of The Father or evil in-laws?
- Pixar: Yeah. Let's give our girl a mother.
- Pixar: Hell, let's make the whole story about their relationship, without minimizing the father-figure and making sure to give all of them unique and rich characterization.
- Pixar: Oh, and our girl can shoot. Like a BOSS.
- Pixar:
- Pixar: Let's make a point of celebrating her physical strength without making it the only thing that defines her!
- Pixar: ..... in fact, hey. Wow.
- Pixar: Let's make her defining character moment center around compassion and *rhetoric*, where her intelligence and maturity and love of family are as important as her physical heroism.
- Pixar: Oh.
- Pixar: And while we're on a roll?
- Pixar: Let's make sure that our female protagonists have complete agency, that none of their major defining moments or decisions revolve around or are accomplished only through the actions of men, that they are graceful and kind while being equally capable of crassness and unkindness, that romance is not our heroine's goal and that no part of her motivation hinges on pleasing or impressing or playing the catalyst for a male character--
- Pixar: --and that we accomplish all of that without belittling the importance of the male characters or their relationships as a realistic interconnected family!
- Pixar: And while we're at it?
- Pixar: Let's take that conservative "mama bear" trope and redefine it in the most simultaneously heart-rending and humorous way possible, leaving more metaphorical parallels for the audience to chew on than they'll even realize until later.
- Pixar:
- Pixar: And I guess we can make it heart-breakingly lovely to look at while we're at it.
- Pixar: And with Celtic aesthetics. That mythological trove is way underused these days.
- Pixar: .... and we have thoughts for a short, too.....
“Nobody told me I had a clitoris. Nobody told me I was capable of having orgasms. For five years I was given “sex education”. It mostly consisted of periods and condoms. It didn’t talk about consent. It didn’t talk about the actual mechanics of sex, about arousal and lubrication and oscillation. It didn’t tell me a single thing about relationships and it didn’t tell me I had a clitoris. I only know now because of the internet. Nobody entrusted with my care and education has ever told me that the female orgasm exists, or about the parts of my anatomy necessary for it. I didn’t find my clitoris until I was eighteen, after six years of active sexuality. That makes me angry.”
—Sex Education, or, What Boys Will Want From You « Frothing at the Brain (via petitefeministe, sexisnottheenemy) (via catladysoul) (via peachiestpisces) (via bangsandglasses) (via thisgingersnapsback) (via positiveconnotation) (via glasscase-ofemotion) (via rogueninjaflower) (via frieswiththatshake)
