what do you see in him again?

[kar3ning]

We went to see New Moon this afternoon. Lord help me.

It was cheese-tastic. You can visit thefreak to read the blow by hilarious blow, but suffice it to say, there was much laughter, we were loudly shushed by some Twi-hards, and when wolf boy took his shirt off, I think 100 women ovulated all at once

Comments

[forestcats]

Excellent original critique! This mindset in girls often starts quite early at Disneyland. Beauty & The Beast, the message is that only by your suffering and being kind to an asshat can the prince come out. It is all your fault he isn't a prince.

Cinderella, you have to meet expectations far above your own self to be acceptable even worthy of dancing with the prince. Suffering is a good thing.

Little Mermaid Ariel you have to completely change who you are because you aren't worthy. You have to throw away your life.

Snow White you are not responsible because someone evil is to blame. Only a fantasy character can save you. If it isn't Mr. Perfect who will overlook all YOUR flaws...

Even Jasmine the Arabian princess who seems so free spirited falls for flash.

[j3nzie]

I am sorry, as a Disney fan I have a different take on a couple of these

[nemogbr]

From what I remember the Aladdin and Mulan stories may be the best ones in the matters of being role models for young girls.

As you said Jasmine liked the poor Aladdin and was not impressed with the prince.

Mulan was brave and showed girls what it was like to be in a man's world. What she lacked in brawn, she made up for it with her brains. As someone mentioned she was also not too buxom....you don't need big breasts to save China...lol

She managed to get up that pole and retrieve the arrow, before anyone else.

[j3nzie]

Mulan is my favorite Disney female cartoon lead. I adore how strong she is: I had written this in addition to the above about Mulan - but it was two many characters for one comment so I cut out the Mulan part. You might appreciate it though

[forestcats]

The only thing that's kind of stupid about Mulan is the ending: "Make this woman my personal advisor" "thanks, your majesty, but I better head home to my farm and feed the chickens"

...yeah, smart choice there, Mulan.

[j3nzie]

well when you put in that way it does seem weird.

But really - it just further proves her that motivation always just to save her father from going to war. it was never to be famous and she knew her family probably feared she was dead. She needed to go home and reoncile with her family.

[goblinkatie]

There is nothing wrong with turning down a big job to be there for your family. One could just as easily argue that she IS a feminist because she made a decision based on what she wanted and what she felt she needed to do. The character wasn't motivated to do anything because she was or was not a feminist, that's a label that others place on her, she was motivated by her sense of love and duty to another person. Just because a woman chooses to be there for her family doesn't mean she has no spine or strength. A woman isn't weak because she puts family first, it just means she feels the greatest need for her time and attention lies there

[forestcats]

Not that I'm disagreeing with you re: Disney, but addressing your "Disney always..." statements, didn't Pocahontas decline John Smith's request that she join him across the ocean in order to lead her tribe? *cringing, 'cause I really wasn't nuts about that movie*

[julietvalcouer]

Or one could argue that, for all the liberties they took they couldn't in the end ignore that Pocahontas doesn't marry Smith, she marries John Rolfe, so the decision to stay comes down to historical accuracy.

[mikepictor]

You may enjoy
http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thedudette/nostalgia-chick/12823-mulan

[clynne]

I agree with Jenzie here. And I think the problems with the Beauty and the Beast movie actually are problems with the original story.

Which is actually true of a lot of stuff -- it's not just Twilight that trains our teenaged girls that abusive relationships are really twoo wuv. I read a crapton of teen novels, and many of them teach girls to be strong, think for themselves, not accept being subordinate in their love relationships, etc. Unfortunately, the ones that get made into movies seem to be the ones that encourage broken, abusive behaviors. Even when the strong books get turned into movies, a lot of the time the requirement for a Hunky Love Interest with Lots of Screen Time means the stories get rewritten badly, and end up with these weirdly abusive plotlines.

[mikepictor]

"She was not meant to be a servant."

so...who is meant to be one?

[j3nzie]

Although in our current society it is not the case, we must remember that in the time period the fairy tales were written there was a "servant" class of people. In the case of women, to get out of that class you needed to “marry well” if possible. In the case of men, it was rare to rise above that class