Merida and the Forest of Fear!
I just finished watching (and re-watching) the Japanese trailer for the movie that's being released as Brave in the United States, and I've got to say this trailer looks a lot more interesting than the US trailer to me, both as a fantasy fan (Hey, this movie DOES have supernatural elements after all!) and as feminist. This trailer, which has English subtitles with voice actors and narrator speaking Japanese, doesn't set my internalized misogyny meter beeping nearly as much: It reveals a third significant female character (the movie still looks very man-heavy for what was originally supposed to be a mother-daughter story, but at least it's a little better). It reveals a plot beyond Special Girl Is Special and Defies Oppressively Girly Mother To Prove She's As Good As a Man. Merida's mother is shown talking about other things besides how Merida should be more ladylike, and she's also shown with a very poignant expression of worry; the Japanese trailer paints the mother character as someone who has legitimate worries about her daughter's safety based on knowledge of past events, whereas the US trailer pains her as an unreasonable, unthinking rule-enforcer who wants Merida to Be More Ladylike because that's what she should do according to The Rules for Princesses.
Most interestingly to me, the Japanese trailer attributes Merida's dissatisfaction with the status quo to her feeling too constrained and wanting freedom in a very broad sense, and the suitors who are so prominent in the US trailer just background characters here. The US trailer put a lot of emphasis on the competition to marry Merida and how unimpressed Merida and her father were with her suitors-- so much so that it's unclear whether Merida's displeasure with the situation was because she didn't want to be the prize in a contest or because the men who entered the contest just aren't tough enough/manly enough for her. The Japanese trailer makes me expect Merida's happy ending to be saving the kingdom, whereas the US trailer just made me worry that it might be finding a prince who can outshoot her.
Plus, there are curses and magic and little blue fairy-creatures, and ominous forest spirits and a horse that seems to be really perceptive about human body language! That fits a lot better with Pixar's other movies about strange adventures than the message I was getting from the US trailer, which seemed to be all about how this unusually boyish-and-therefore-special girl was going to get out of having to wear tight dresses and marry a wimp. Now, anybody who's been following my journal for any length of time knows that I am totally against anyone being forced to wear tight clothes, wear dresses, or marry anyone they don't want to. But I'm really, really uncomfortable with that being what The One Story with a Girl Lead boils down to, when stories about boys get so much variety, weirdness, and excitement.
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Most interestingly to me, the Japanese trailer attributes Merida's dissatisfaction with the status quo to her feeling too constrained and wanting freedom in a very broad sense, and the suitors who are so prominent in the US trailer just background characters here. The US trailer put a lot of emphasis on the competition to marry Merida and how unimpressed Merida and her father were with her suitors-- so much so that it's unclear whether Merida's displeasure with the situation was because she didn't want to be the prize in a contest or because the men who entered the contest just aren't tough enough/manly enough for her. The Japanese trailer makes me expect Merida's happy ending to be saving the kingdom, whereas the US trailer just made me worry that it might be finding a prince who can outshoot her.
Plus, there are curses and magic and little blue fairy-creatures, and ominous forest spirits and a horse that seems to be really perceptive about human body language! That fits a lot better with Pixar's other movies about strange adventures than the message I was getting from the US trailer, which seemed to be all about how this unusually boyish-and-therefore-special girl was going to get out of having to wear tight dresses and marry a wimp. Now, anybody who's been following my journal for any length of time knows that I am totally against anyone being forced to wear tight clothes, wear dresses, or marry anyone they don't want to. But I'm really, really uncomfortable with that being what The One Story with a Girl Lead boils down to, when stories about boys get so much variety, weirdness, and excitement.
This entry was originally posted at http://gryphonsegg.dreamwidth.org/59551.html. Please comment there using OpenID.