![]() ![]() She realizes it is her fault, and by the movie’s conclusion, she has incorporated some of her mother’s statements into her own worldview, such as “Legends are lessons. While trying to save her mother from this predicament, Merida then spends an awful lot of time insisting that it’s not her fault.įinally, however, Merida changes, developing a better understanding of her mother and growing as a person. Merida makes a bad decision that turns her mother into a bear. After a fight with her mother, she finds herself someplace new and strange. She begins as a self-absorbed teenager who wants to avoid the responsibilities of being a princess. (Woody becomes less egotistical and ultimately makes friends with Buzz Lightning becomes less egotistical and ultimately makes friends with the citizens of Radiator Springs Marlin calms down and becomes a better parent.) As a result of these experiences, the protagonist changes. ![]() (Woody has to leave Andy’s house to save Buzz, and gets to know him better Lightning, separated from Mack, has an unexpected several-day detour through Radiator Springs, and actually gets to know its citizens Marlin travels across the ocean to find his son, confronting his worst fears.) Said protagonist has unexpected experiences, a journey beyond his comfort zone.(Woody pushes Buzz out a window Lightning coerces Mack into driving overnight Marlin embarrasses Nemo in front of peers so badly that Nemo takes a risk and is captured by a diver.) The protagonist does something that causes harm or potential harm to someone else.(Because of his ego and jealousy, Woody is a jerk to Buzz Lightning is self-centered, smugly superior, and judgmental of others Marlin is a smothering, over-protective parent.) The protagonist (e.g., Woody, Lightning McQueen, Marlin) makes some bad decisions, portrayed in ways that make them seem not entirely likable.Other than that, while watching "Brave," I was amused to notice how closely the film follows Pixar’s formula for its protagonists: Unlike Disney’s approach, there’s no vilification of old ladies in Pixar’s film, which is refreshing.) (Even the witch in "Brave" seems perfectly nice. As far as the narrative goes, what does Merida have in common with Disney Princesses, exactly? The fact that she’s a princess who has utterly fantastic hair. In reading reviews like these, I sensed the reviewers just couldn’t get past the fact that "Brave" is about a princess, rather than something as unexpected as talking cars or talking toys or talking fish.Īsk any girl who’s been raised on princess films, and she’ll tell you that Merida is different, and very unlike her Disney Princess peers. How is this “familiar” and “well-worn?” He and other reviewers complain that Brave is too Disney and not enough Pixar. Reviewers were complaining that unlike other Pixar films, "Brave" didn’t feature a fully fabricated, fantastically unexpected world it seemed to be treading old ground.įor example, Todd McCarthy wrote in The Hollywood Reporter that "Brave" is “familiar” and treads “startlingly well-worn territory.” He also complains that it is “laden with standard-issue fairy tale and familiar girl-empowerment tropes.” But is it, really? It’s a story about a mother-daughter relationship. When Joanna Weiss of the Boston Globe and I talked about "Brave," she mentioned that a lot of early reviews complained the film was unoriginal – ”just another princess movie,” she said. There are two strands of criticism that I would like to address: 1) that the film is unoriginal, and 2) that Merida is a brat. With all that in mind, since the release of "Brave," I’ve been reading reviews and commentaries of the film with interest. Can’t a girl who is supposed to be strong not be a loner? Finally, having studied girl power media for several years, it bothers me that Merida is presented as isolated, an anomalous female, without a community of female peers her own age.The storyline itself features such unappealing would-be suitors that Merida’s disinterest in romance is undercut: What if the three young men who must vie for her hand were more like Prince Charmings than doofuses?.The film’s marketing, which essentially ignores that "Brave" is a tale of a mother-daughter relationship (presumably for fear that such a story wouldn’t be a box office draw), is insulting.I saw Disney- Pixar’s " Brave" the day it debuted in theaters, and I’m glad that Merida is a different kind of princess – one who can be read as a critique of both the trope that princesses are passive and the trend to tell their stories as romances.īut I also have some mixed feelings. ![]()
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