All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees
Over the weekend, I took my son to go see the new Pixar movie UP. Come Monday morning, while reading some NPR articles I saw this one, and it caught my attention.
I guess that I could be counted as one of the girls who ran around with band-aids on my knees. They probably had images of Wonder Woman printed on them too and I get what she is saying, it is hard to find really kick-ass female role models. If you don't know where to look. Maybe that is one of the reasons why I liked books more than television and movies, and the few times when I got to witness a really bad ass female character (like Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 or Ripley and Vasquez from Aliens) I entered instantly into insane fangirl mode. Woo-hoo!
Okay, so Pixar is going to make a princess movie. Have you read the description of the movie? It sounds like Princess Merida is going to be a super cool character, defiant of the role slapped onto her by her "princess" title. I want to see her pride get her in way over her head and then the desperate scramble to make things right. Honestly, she looks pretty damn cool, this isn't a costume I would ban a little kid from wearing:
Pixar really hasn't done me wrong with their female characters. Eve from Wal-e is the one who comes flying in to scoop up Wal-e in her arms and carry him around. Mrs. Incredible gets such awesome lines "Leave the saving of the world to the men, I don't think so!" and "What, while I watch helplessly from the sidelines!?" But I've gotcha, they weren't billed as the numero uno in the story.
I guess the reason that doesn't bother me is that no one lives in a bubble isolated from all other human contact. So the movie was named Wal-e and not Eve, technically Eva, but Wal-e can't say her name right. Of course the Bear and the Bow isn't named Princess Merida either. I don't think that a female character is any weaker for having male friends or not hogging the spotlight. I don't think I would call Helen (aka. Elstagirl) a secondary character. UP was mostly about Ellie, Monster's Inc. was mostly about Boo, these female characters are really pushing the story forward and not by looking pretty and waiting for a prince to come rescue them.
Pixar and Disney are corelated, in that same iirritating way as Chipotle and McDonalds are. I decided a long time ago that I didn't want my money to go to McD's, but then when Chipotle offers yummy vegetarian options with no growth hormones or weirdness in it it gets confuzzing. So while Pixar makes cool female characters old Uncle Walt is still pushing from the grave through the Disney store in the mall pink gowns and tiaras and soundtracks of "someday my prince will come".
I'm not defending the Hollywood machine, but I am defending Pixar I suppose. I've enjoyed every Pixar movie that I've seen so far. If you are looking for role models you need to get off your lazy butt and do some leg work yourself. Don't wait for Pixar and Disney to make role models for you that is not their job. Their job is to make money so that they can keep making movies. As long as people are willing to buy the tiaras and pink frills they will keep selling them.
Honestly, if you want to find the best role models for girls, don't rely on Disney to give them to you. That is like relying upon McDonalds to stop serving double bacon cheesburgers. Maybe pick up a damn book and read about Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart or Eleanor Roosevelt. These are the real world examples, but there are awesome fantasy heroines out there too. I'm about to turn into Levar Burton: "I can go anywhere. Take a look, it's in a book." If you are sick of hunting and sick of waiting then make your own stories about characters YOU want to see.
Of course I'm not going to deny that if Pixar made a movie about Amelia Earhart I would probably fall over and skin my knees on accident in a mad dash to the theater to go see it. I doubt I would be wearing a princess dress or plastic shoes while doing so.
I guess that I could be counted as one of the girls who ran around with band-aids on my knees. They probably had images of Wonder Woman printed on them too and I get what she is saying, it is hard to find really kick-ass female role models. If you don't know where to look. Maybe that is one of the reasons why I liked books more than television and movies, and the few times when I got to witness a really bad ass female character (like Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 or Ripley and Vasquez from Aliens) I entered instantly into insane fangirl mode. Woo-hoo!
Okay, so Pixar is going to make a princess movie. Have you read the description of the movie? It sounds like Princess Merida is going to be a super cool character, defiant of the role slapped onto her by her "princess" title. I want to see her pride get her in way over her head and then the desperate scramble to make things right. Honestly, she looks pretty damn cool, this isn't a costume I would ban a little kid from wearing:
Pixar really hasn't done me wrong with their female characters. Eve from Wal-e is the one who comes flying in to scoop up Wal-e in her arms and carry him around. Mrs. Incredible gets such awesome lines "Leave the saving of the world to the men, I don't think so!" and "What, while I watch helplessly from the sidelines!?" But I've gotcha, they weren't billed as the numero uno in the story.
I guess the reason that doesn't bother me is that no one lives in a bubble isolated from all other human contact. So the movie was named Wal-e and not Eve, technically Eva, but Wal-e can't say her name right. Of course the Bear and the Bow isn't named Princess Merida either. I don't think that a female character is any weaker for having male friends or not hogging the spotlight. I don't think I would call Helen (aka. Elstagirl) a secondary character. UP was mostly about Ellie, Monster's Inc. was mostly about Boo, these female characters are really pushing the story forward and not by looking pretty and waiting for a prince to come rescue them.
Pixar and Disney are corelated, in that same iirritating way as Chipotle and McDonalds are. I decided a long time ago that I didn't want my money to go to McD's, but then when Chipotle offers yummy vegetarian options with no growth hormones or weirdness in it it gets confuzzing. So while Pixar makes cool female characters old Uncle Walt is still pushing from the grave through the Disney store in the mall pink gowns and tiaras and soundtracks of "someday my prince will come".
I'm not defending the Hollywood machine, but I am defending Pixar I suppose. I've enjoyed every Pixar movie that I've seen so far. If you are looking for role models you need to get off your lazy butt and do some leg work yourself. Don't wait for Pixar and Disney to make role models for you that is not their job. Their job is to make money so that they can keep making movies. As long as people are willing to buy the tiaras and pink frills they will keep selling them.
Honestly, if you want to find the best role models for girls, don't rely on Disney to give them to you. That is like relying upon McDonalds to stop serving double bacon cheesburgers. Maybe pick up a damn book and read about Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart or Eleanor Roosevelt. These are the real world examples, but there are awesome fantasy heroines out there too. I'm about to turn into Levar Burton: "I can go anywhere. Take a look, it's in a book." If you are sick of hunting and sick of waiting then make your own stories about characters YOU want to see.
Of course I'm not going to deny that if Pixar made a movie about Amelia Earhart I would probably fall over and skin my knees on accident in a mad dash to the theater to go see it. I doubt I would be wearing a princess dress or plastic shoes while doing so.