Brave (New) World? You keep using that word...

[ibmiller]

During my recent happy trek to my home state, I had the opportunity to watch Brave with my sister and one of my closest childhood friends and his wife. Since 2009’s Wall-E, I’ve tried to see Pixar films in theaters (I’m still kicking myself for missing The Incredibles my freshman year of university, Fall 2004). I actually had watched Up in 2010

Comments

[mosinging1986]

Thank you for this review! This was something I have been worried about from the start, but I didn't want to research too many reviews for fear of being completely spoiled if I do decide to see it after all:

Furthermore, though the males are viewed as irresponsible figures of fun (which, as it gets into gender issues that I’m attempting to avoid, I won’t say much more about),

I, personally, would love to hear the gender issues, if you choose to do that. As soon as I saw yet another 'brave girl defying her family', I wondered if this would be yet another dull GRRRL POWER flick, where males are portrayed as mostly useless. I'm a girl, but I am sick to death of such stories.

[ibmiller]

Sorry if I spoiled anything - I forgot to add a spoiler warning at the top.

The problem with gender issues is that people have done it so much better than me - Here from the less feminist perspective (http://hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2012-06-28.shtml) and here from a more feminist perspective (http://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2012/07/brave.html) - both excellent reviews. I wrote the review because I was quite disappointed in the quality of the world Pixar created, and that was something I was't seeing in the discourse surrounding the film. So hopefully I've added a bit of something to that discussion.

Thanks for commenting!

[mosinging1986]

No worries about spoiler warnings. I chose to keep reading. (And I didn't find it too spoilery anyway.)

Thanks for the other reviews. That was exactly the sort of thing that was worrying me from the moment I learned about this movie. I hate both extremes: the 'men and women are exactly alike/interchangeable except for physicality', and the 'men are evil/stupid/useless' routine. If all of this is accurate about this movie, it's weird that not many people seemed to pick up on it.

I'll probably catch it after it leaves theaters, just to see for myself. But it's not something I'll choose to pay for and end up getting stuck sitting there or losing my money if I'm annoyed and choose to walk out.

Thanks again. I appreciate a guy's POV as well.

[ibmiller]

Oh, good. I think sadly our culture is so saturated with bith of those male stereirypes that people forget it happens- I do myself sometimes, even though I hate the pattern. Sexism is bad both ways. Even in my favorite films (like Beauty and the Beast).

[mosinging1986]

I loved 'Beauty and the Beast' on a lot of levels. But it bored me to tears when Beast became a man. It could be because we never got to get to know him in that form. In my opinion, it was the grouchiness of ol' Beast that gave him his charm. I'm guessing the feminists hated him because he was abusive or something?

*rolls eyes*

[ibmiller]

Oh, I am sure they did, but I was more thinking of the dad being utterly useless.

[mosinging1986]

Oh, I forgot all about him. (Which goes to your point!)