Moreover, by making her skinnier, sexier and more mature in appearance, you are sending a message to girls that the original, realistic, teenage-appearing version of Merida is inferior; that for girls and women to have value – to be recognised as true princesses – they must conform to a narrow definition of beauty
May 13, 2013
"The redesign of Merida in advance of her official induction to the Disney Princess collection does a tremendous disservice..."
"... to the millions of children for whom Merida is an empowering role model who speaks to girls' capacity to be change agents in the world rather than just trophies to be admired."
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44 comments:
About 10 years ago, there was a computer action game marketed with the image of a broadsword-wielding, amply-endowed redhead with the caption, "The last guy who asked, 'Are they real?' is dead. (Actually all the guys who asked that are)".
Sounds like that's the kind of heroine they want. And, God forbid, she's attractive.
And womanly.
They did the same thing with Miley Cyrus.
Maybe she got skinnier and sexier by eating insects. Would that be ok?
It just looks like they aged her a couple years.
I'm so glad our problems are so few we can afford to pay attention to stuff like this.
Much fuss about nothing. The movie was CGI and they drew her as a cartoon and it's not exactly the same, but the character model is not very different either.
Besides, even in the movie she was bursting her seams.
You know nothing, Bob Iger.
Live by the sexual attraction, die by the sexual attraction.
What is a perfect 10 anyway?
the petition reads: "Merida was the princess that countless girls and their parents were waiting for – a strong, confident, self-rescuing princess ready to set off on her next adventure with her bow at the ready. She was a princess who looked like a real girl, complete with the 'imperfections' that all people have.
Lost in this is the fact that she's a frickin' PRINCESS, and no such beast really exists in this world.
Princess Tiana could benefit from an additional 75 lbs. and maybe 4 or 5 illegitimate children by various men.
I can understand complaining that they've (very slightly) sexed up a character who's not supposed to be sexy (and looks kind of young for that in the first place). But this:
you are sending a message to girls that the original, realistic, teenage-appearing version of Merida is inferior; that for girls and women to have value – to be recognised as true princesses – they must conform to a narrow definition of beauty
is just potty.
Simpsons did it, February 1994.
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Lisa_vs._Malibu_Stacy
For MadisonMan:
It's good to be the Prince.
Actually, this was the raison d'etre for Belle in "Beauty And The Beast" and all the other PC Disney offering given us by Michael Eisner.
And I'll bet it wasn't "countless girls and their parents ... waiting for" her as much as the next generation of Sandra Flucks.
"Synova said...
Much fuss about nothing. The movie was CGI and they drew her as a cartoon and it's not exactly the same, but the character model is not very different either."
The same thing happens to Rapunzel when they go from the CGI version to the "drawn". So yes, Synova's right, this is simply overreaction to a very minor appearance difference.
Some things like sex appeal never change, so young girls might as well acknowledge reality instead of wasting their energy trying to change that. Bigger is better.
What amazes and disgusts me however are the men who turn around and insult women (using the c word) who are smart enough to accept this fact and gain power and success by using their sexual assets for their own advantage.
"Besides, even in the movie she was bursting her seams."
I think this is part of the complaint: in the film she is a "healthy" girl, while in the new version she looks a bit less rounded and more like a standard (by our current standards) "sexy babe."
"any attempt to defend oneself from these psychotic projections or to assert that creators may create is evidence of a dark seed sprouting in the heart. It’s an incredible state of affairs. They’re not censors, though - oh, no no. You’ll understand it eventually; what you need to do is censor yourself."
Hey, what do these guys think when a character is redesigned to be a different race?
Its sad to think of "countless girls and their parents were waiting for" a mass market company to come up with something they approve of.
There's more than just the 1 image criticized.
http://www.insidethemagic.net/2013/04/merida-to-become-11th-disney-princess-with-new-look-for-royal-coronation-ceremony-at-walt-disney-world-on-may-11/
that for girls and women to have value – to be recognised as true princesses – they must conform to a narrow definition of beauty."
Maybe the problem is that princesses fit a very narrow definition of what brings value.
And there's very little about the independent "strong, confident, self-rescuing" in an ideal of a princess.
A princess by the very nature of the role is a passive figure, given authority based on beauty or other sexually appealing factors that brings a real authority figure to want them. Or, they are born to such authority figures, gaining power and authority through privilege bestowed by others, expressing such power through wealth and comprehensive beauty products.
Princess's are for girls what romantic comedies are for adult women. Idealization of self and relationships that can't be actually sustained in the real world, thus undermining strength, confidence and self-rescuing.
The whole goal of both is to say that worth is not found in oneself but only happens inasmuch as a powerful man bestows power, saving them from moments of tragedy or just being bored with life.
I hated the fact that the doll version did not come with a bow and arrow, which is a significant part of her character.
Also, Mulan was always my favorite anyways.
I don't think girls and women should ever "be recognised as true princesses."
Re: Paddy O:
A princess by the very nature of the role is a passive figure, given authority based on beauty or other sexually appealing factors that brings a real authority figure to want them. Or, they are born to such authority figures, gaining power and authority through privilege bestowed by others, expressing such power through wealth and comprehensive beauty products.
I have long looked upon Anna Comnena as a kind of examplar of princess-hood. As she wrote in her Alexiad:
Time in its irresistible and ceaseless flow carries along on its flood all created things, and drowns them in the depths of obscurity, no matter if they be quite unworthy of mention, or most noteworthy and important, and thus, as the tragedian says, "he brings from the darkness all things to the birth, and all things born envelops in the night."
But the tale of history forms a very strong bulwark against the stream of time, and to some extent checks its irresistible flow, and, of all things done in it, as many as history has taken over, it secures and binds together, and does not allow them to slip away into the abyss of oblivion.
Now, I recognized this fact. I, Anna, the daughter of two royal personages, Alexius and Irene, born and bred in the purple. I was not ignorant of letters, for I carried my study of Greek to the highest pitch, and was also not unpractised in rhetoric; I perused the works of Aristotle and the dialogues of Plato carefully, and enriched my mind by the "quaternion" of learning.
She was eventually imprisoned in a nunnery for conspiring against her brother, the Emperor John II. Because she thought she should have inherited the throne of the Roman Empire.
What's the deal with this princess thing? Isn't just a fantasy about being effortlessly beautiful, rich, and powerful? I can see why a kid would fantasize about that, but I can't see why a parent would concern himself with encouraging it.
Umm Director, should we read anything uh sexist into mom being made into a bear? Or was that just some fantasy for fantasy sake?
Way way WAY overhyped.
Merida was a whiny brat who got into trouble, spread the trouble around, and ended up with Mama Bear saving her bacon.
Not the type of princess I'd want my daughters (had I any daughters) to emulate.
It's a definite plus for a Princess to look like a Princess. Compare Princess Di to Princess Anne. I think Prince Harry looks like a real Prince. I hope he drowns his brother in a hogshead of wine and gains the throne........I bet Disney is secretly funding these groups to gain publicity for its product line. Who on earth has the time to worry about such things?
A petition launched on the Change.org website
LOLOLOLOL
You slay those dragons, Change.org do-gooders! Fight the important fights!
It's not unusual for tomboyish girls to reject the idea of the glamorous woman, but who later accept that image when they reach a certain age and see the appeal of looking glamorous.
That truth of course doesn't change the fact that 'Disney is evil'.
Lost in all this is that Brave is a pretty crappy, dull movie. My kids find it boring, even the daughter who goes nuts for all princess things.
Balfegor, that's a great quote.
Great woman = bad princess. At least in the expectations people had for a princess.
A princess by the very nature of the role is a passive figure
Dejah Thoris, Leia Organa, Wonder Woman and Xena could not be reached for comment.
Thorley, the exceptions prove the rule.
Am I too old to understand the effect of Cartoons on people's conflated perceptions of reality?
I suppose doll collections and cartoon worlds really are where its at.
Get off my lawn!
I think a princess ought to be physically beautiful, if she can. So there. Meanwhile, most modern Disney princesses get a big F for fail, because they are all about personal fulfillment rather than duty. True princesses perform their duty to their country and subjects. Merida was the worst of the lot. We really wanted to like it, but she was truly an awful, selfish character. The best lines were from her parents:
King Fergus: [mock Merida voice] I don't want to get married, I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the wind as I ride through the glen firing arrows into the sunset.
Princess Merida: I want my freedom!
Queen Elinor: But are you willing to pay the price your freedom will cost?
Balfegor said...
"I have long looked upon Anna Comnena as a kind of examplar of princess-hood. As she wrote in her Alexiad"
Anna of Byzantium is great historical fiction for middle and high school age girls (and boys who like history). It appears frequently in home school book catalogs. It is a nice antidote to Disney Princessification, and it is one of my daughter's favorite books. Not sure why - it is pretty depressing.
A couple of thoughts crossed my mind (and collided):
First -- I've noticed that dolls made to look like screen characters don't always look "right." Maybe it's because we're looking at a three-dimensional rendering of a two-dimensional object. I don't really know, but is the redesign meant to make Princess Merida look "right" in a 3D sense, rather than to make her look sexy?
Second: Regardless of what it looks like or why, the Princess Merida doll could hardly be something imposed on the children (and their parents) meant to be its target audience. They still have to buy the toy, after all. And if they think it's an insidious "disservice to the millions of children for whom Merida is an empowering role model," then I guess they won't buy it.
Or they'll buy it anyway, the blasted unenlightened peasants! Which might be part of Chapman and Change.org's problem anyway.
Has anyone noticed that all the princesses look alike now? The shape of their eyes, their mouths, all the facial features are pretty much identical except maybe eye color. The only real difference between the princesses once they come off the big screen is hair, skin color and outfit. So this is just following the same pattern.
I actually think the whole "make them look all the same" is stupid.
Lost in all this is that Brave is a pretty crappy, dull movie.
...and what script committee decided to name a Scottish heroine after the state capital of Yucatan?
"...most modern Disney princesses get a big F for fail, because they are all about personal fulfillment rather than duty. True princesses perform their duty to their country and subjects. Merida was the worst of the lot."
I don't know that she was worse than the others, and I sort of liked that the main story was more or less her having to take responsibility for what she screwed up to start... but they just about undid it again with the whole "marry who you want" moral that almost seemed tacked on there. Not that people shouldn't marry who they want to marry but, yes, she was a princess (sort of... daughter of the clan leader) and should have been thinking about what was best for her people or *at least* making the argument that every one ought to be able to get along without the marriage alliance which (Historically) didn't seem to work very well anyhow.
But the way it was presented really was in a completely selfish light.
Princess dolls all look alike except for the hair and outfits so you can use the same plastic molds and give them new hair and outfits instead of designing and manufacturing a whole new line every time.
Follow the money.
Synova said... "
I don't know that she was worse than the others"
What shocked my kids was how unconcerned she was about turning her mother into a bear. She was still primarily concerned about herself at that point.
At least Mulan, for all the warrior princess stuff, was motivated by love and duty towards her father. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White had some character traits worth emulating as well. Merida was just a harridan.
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