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So, aside from the truly stultifying controversy over whether Merida is a lesbian (guys, this is me talking--I didn't pick up on her having any subtext one way or the other. She could be asexual for all the movie cares), there's one topic I've seen coming up a lot with this. And that's dissatisfaction that it's a "princess movie". There's a little bit of ground to that--if Pixar's going to do a movie specifically to have a female protagonist, why does it have to have a princess and singing and cute animals? Why can't it be UP with a woman instead of a man in the lead?
The thing is, I don't see anything wrong with the princess movie as a subgenre? I mean, the clear subtext of the "female protagonist" dictate is to make a movie for little girls, and little girls like princesses. Yes, they're mostly about "headstrong princesses who defy their parents' wishes," but hey, that speaks to little girls. I'm not going to sit here and pretend superhero movies aren't pandering just as much to teenage boys, or don't have a formula that's just as rigid. That's part of the fun of genre, seeing people do new things with old standards. Noir has grizzled private eyes, westerns have redemption-seeking gunslingers, superhero movies have straight white guys in their twenties who are sad about losing a loved one but also get superpowers but then aren't so sure about being superheroes but then go with being superheroes but then have to fight either an evil father figure or an evil version of themselves. Also some vague criticism of the Bush Administration? Just because they don't all sing an Alan Menken song about it doesn't make this shit something you need to be Andy Warhol to come up with.
And I do think Brave does a lot of original, interesting things with the "princess movie formula." The central relationship is between Merida and her mother, there's no love interest, and you see a lot of men's asses. Top that, Dreamworks.
The thing is, I don't see anything wrong with the princess movie as a subgenre? I mean, the clear subtext of the "female protagonist" dictate is to make a movie for little girls, and little girls like princesses. Yes, they're mostly about "headstrong princesses who defy their parents' wishes," but hey, that speaks to little girls. I'm not going to sit here and pretend superhero movies aren't pandering just as much to teenage boys, or don't have a formula that's just as rigid. That's part of the fun of genre, seeing people do new things with old standards. Noir has grizzled private eyes, westerns have redemption-seeking gunslingers, superhero movies have straight white guys in their twenties who are sad about losing a loved one but also get superpowers but then aren't so sure about being superheroes but then go with being superheroes but then have to fight either an evil father figure or an evil version of themselves. Also some vague criticism of the Bush Administration? Just because they don't all sing an Alan Menken song about it doesn't make this shit something you need to be Andy Warhol to come up with.
And I do think Brave does a lot of original, interesting things with the "princess movie formula." The central relationship is between Merida and her mother, there's no love interest, and you see a lot of men's asses. Top that, Dreamworks.
