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Today I watched Brave with the usual gang of old classmates, and it's kind of an amazing movie for what is covered.
I had actually heard a lot about the movie since its production, since people on DW kept posting stills and talking about the story. It was a surprising story about a mother and her daughter. It was touted as a feminist movie.
At the heart of the story is the relationship between a girl, Merida, and her mother, the queen. They are shown to really care for each other right from the start, in an idyllic picnic scene. It's also where Merida discovers her love for archery. The atmosphere is destroyed by a vicious bear.
The easy rapport is broken by the time we get back to the family. Merida and her mother are falling out over what they perceive to be the real duties of a princess.
It's interesting that Pixar and Disney chose to release this as the next princess movie after Tangled. In Tangled, we have a controlling mother. But we know that she's not her real mother, and her rendition of Mother Knows Best is a villain's song. In Tangled however, Merida's mom does insist that she knows best, but while the queen is sometimes mistaken for a villain Merida insists that more importantly, "She's my mom!"
In the same way, this is a "typical princess story" that is also not a typical princess story. The argument between Merida and her mother is the same argument that dogs princess stories. I can tell Pixar had a lot of fun playing with princess tropes. There's the deportment lessons and public speaking from princess grooming movies, and history lessons from just about every story where the rich privileged girl requires a personal tutor. Merida gets to wear a pretty dress and go to the "ball" to find her significant other. At one point, Merida's father locks her up in a tower with narrow windows, and there's a shot where she can only look helplessly through a window at what is going on below, since the windows are too narrow to climb through. Princess in a tower trope indeed.
Merida goes kicking and screaming through all of these tropes, and she does turn a fair few of them on its head. She enjoys archery and horse riding more than princess lessons. She takes out her anger by hacking at bedposts with a sword. She wrecks her pretty dress and goes home alone from the ball. She breaks herself out of the tower.
But when it is necessary, she uses those princess tropes too, because a princess, and as her mother shows, a queen, is powerful in her own right. Both Merida and the queen command attention, and fight an equally spirited battle of words to inspire and direct. The queen might be able to throw a feast in the castle, but Merida knows the arts of fine dining in the wilds. They use history and stories to figure out a mystery (a whodunit! Who'd have thunk). And one part of breaking the spell in this story requires sewing. Hello Brothers Grimm.
I actually appreciated that. While I'm all for princesses breaking themselves out, especially when they do it as uniquely as Merida does, I'm also appreciative of the other aspects of being a princess. Fighting is a strength. Diplomacy is also a powerful weapon.
I'm glad Pixar made this movie to show both sides of being a princess. I hope more people can understand what Merida discovered - it's good for princesses to save themselves, but they don't have to give up other more subtle strengths that go with it.
In conclusion - can we have more princesses like Merida please?
I had actually heard a lot about the movie since its production, since people on DW kept posting stills and talking about the story. It was a surprising story about a mother and her daughter. It was touted as a feminist movie.
At the heart of the story is the relationship between a girl, Merida, and her mother, the queen. They are shown to really care for each other right from the start, in an idyllic picnic scene. It's also where Merida discovers her love for archery. The atmosphere is destroyed by a vicious bear.
The easy rapport is broken by the time we get back to the family. Merida and her mother are falling out over what they perceive to be the real duties of a princess.
It's interesting that Pixar and Disney chose to release this as the next princess movie after Tangled. In Tangled, we have a controlling mother. But we know that she's not her real mother, and her rendition of Mother Knows Best is a villain's song. In Tangled however, Merida's mom does insist that she knows best, but while the queen is sometimes mistaken for a villain Merida insists that more importantly, "She's my mom!"
In the same way, this is a "typical princess story" that is also not a typical princess story. The argument between Merida and her mother is the same argument that dogs princess stories. I can tell Pixar had a lot of fun playing with princess tropes. There's the deportment lessons and public speaking from princess grooming movies, and history lessons from just about every story where the rich privileged girl requires a personal tutor. Merida gets to wear a pretty dress and go to the "ball" to find her significant other. At one point, Merida's father locks her up in a tower with narrow windows, and there's a shot where she can only look helplessly through a window at what is going on below, since the windows are too narrow to climb through. Princess in a tower trope indeed.
Merida goes kicking and screaming through all of these tropes, and she does turn a fair few of them on its head. She enjoys archery and horse riding more than princess lessons. She takes out her anger by hacking at bedposts with a sword. She wrecks her pretty dress and goes home alone from the ball. She breaks herself out of the tower.
But when it is necessary, she uses those princess tropes too, because a princess, and as her mother shows, a queen, is powerful in her own right. Both Merida and the queen command attention, and fight an equally spirited battle of words to inspire and direct. The queen might be able to throw a feast in the castle, but Merida knows the arts of fine dining in the wilds. They use history and stories to figure out a mystery (a whodunit! Who'd have thunk). And one part of breaking the spell in this story requires sewing. Hello Brothers Grimm.
I actually appreciated that. While I'm all for princesses breaking themselves out, especially when they do it as uniquely as Merida does, I'm also appreciative of the other aspects of being a princess. Fighting is a strength. Diplomacy is also a powerful weapon.
I'm glad Pixar made this movie to show both sides of being a princess. I hope more people can understand what Merida discovered - it's good for princesses to save themselves, but they don't have to give up other more subtle strengths that go with it.
In conclusion - can we have more princesses like Merida please?
