I also have serious thoughts about Scooby-Doo
Help me, folks. I think I've finally cracked. I find myself wanting to writing a deep feminist analysis of Barbie: Princess Charm School.
Because really, I just cannot sort this out.
I mean, besides the weird politics (there's a princess of...Kentucky, I think? Some state. We just started our umpteenth viewing, so we haven't gotten to that part yet. And you're born a prince or princess but aren't really one until you complete this course. It's seriously weird.), there's the usual near total absence of male characters - seriously, there are three male characters with speaking roles, and I think they have two dozen lines between them. Barbie movies are seriously like opposite planet.
And the country it's set in seems to be a matriarchy, I think. Blair (Barbie's character) is of course the long-lost daughter of the late Queen, and because she's believed to be dead, the crown is passing to her cousin, Delancy. Who's becoming a princess, not a Queen. Don't ask me to explain this stuff. Delancy's mother, btw, is the villain of the piece, who not only recognizes her as the spitting image of the late queen, but who engineered the car crash that killed the royal family.
Again, in all of this, there is pretty much NO MENTION of men. There are no fathers anywhere. Blair's adoptive mother is a single mother who adopted (in Blair's case, found on the doorstep) two daughters. Her biological father is dead, but he's really not talked about.) There's no mention of Delancy's father, even though I would assume he's the reason she's the heir.
Because (and this is what set me off at 5:30AM) it's made clear that her mother is only "special" because of Delancy's status, not her own - she went to the school but failed to earn a spot after her own graduation from the school. This is said to make Blair feel better about "Dame Devin" always cutting her down. And they're not outright saying that marrying into status is inferior than earning it, but you know, it's kind of implied whether they meant it or not.
See? I told you to talk me down. And did you? No.
Oh, God, she woke me up at 5:30AM.
This entry was originally posted at http://cereta.dreamwidth.org/985512.html. If you can, please speak there.
have spoken there.
Because really, I just cannot sort this out.
I mean, besides the weird politics (there's a princess of...Kentucky, I think? Some state. We just started our umpteenth viewing, so we haven't gotten to that part yet. And you're born a prince or princess but aren't really one until you complete this course. It's seriously weird.), there's the usual near total absence of male characters - seriously, there are three male characters with speaking roles, and I think they have two dozen lines between them. Barbie movies are seriously like opposite planet.
And the country it's set in seems to be a matriarchy, I think. Blair (Barbie's character) is of course the long-lost daughter of the late Queen, and because she's believed to be dead, the crown is passing to her cousin, Delancy. Who's becoming a princess, not a Queen. Don't ask me to explain this stuff. Delancy's mother, btw, is the villain of the piece, who not only recognizes her as the spitting image of the late queen, but who engineered the car crash that killed the royal family.
Again, in all of this, there is pretty much NO MENTION of men. There are no fathers anywhere. Blair's adoptive mother is a single mother who adopted (in Blair's case, found on the doorstep) two daughters. Her biological father is dead, but he's really not talked about.) There's no mention of Delancy's father, even though I would assume he's the reason she's the heir.
Because (and this is what set me off at 5:30AM) it's made clear that her mother is only "special" because of Delancy's status, not her own - she went to the school but failed to earn a spot after her own graduation from the school. This is said to make Blair feel better about "Dame Devin" always cutting her down. And they're not outright saying that marrying into status is inferior than earning it, but you know, it's kind of implied whether they meant it or not.
See? I told you to talk me down. And did you? No.
Oh, God, she woke me up at 5:30AM.
This entry was originally posted at http://cereta.dreamwidth.org/985512.html. If you can, please speak there.
have spoken there.