I am on two panels which I might be moderating - I'm not sure. One is going to be more of a general discussion, though, since there's only three of us
( Read more... )
Also, you could bring up the whole "young girls and cute animal sidekicks" trope characteristic of both Disney princess movies and many Japanese magical girl anime. In Disney the animals seem to start out as glorified pets who mostly can't speak human language (even when they wear clothes and are obviously reasonably sentient, like the mice in "Cinderella") and only help in relatively minor ways. But in some later films like "Mulan" and the non-Disney (I think), non-princess protagonist Shrek, the animal sidekicks (a fast-talking undersized dragon and a donkey, both with the voice of Eddie Murphy) act more like coaches or meddling best friends who are always full of well-meaning (if not always terribly useful) advice, whether the protagonist wants it or not.
In magical girl anime, on the other hand, the animals talk a lot and try to tell the heroine what to do starting as early as the Sailor Moon manga and anime, at least. In "Sailor Moon," Luna the cat has to break the news of her mission and supernatural powers to the heroine and give her step by step instructions on how to transform into her magical girl form, how to use her various evil-fighting gadgets, etc. (Of course, in the more recent notorious "deconstruction of magical girl tropes" series "Puella Magica Madoka," the cute talking animal who shows up to lure innocent girls into making a contract with him so the girl can have a wish granted in exchange for fighting evil and allegedly saving the world actually has rather sinister motives.)
All of this may or may not relate back in some way to the talking horse in the European fairy tale "Falada" (at least, that's the horse's name, even if the story isn't called that) in which the princess' horse keeps vainly warning her against the "All About Eve"-type servant girl who tricks her into switching places on the journey to her fiance's kingdom, then steals the princess' identity and marries the prince herself--after ordering the horse's head cut off so it can't give her away. Of course, once the severed head is nailed up on a bridge it becomes chattier than ever, and keeps giving the princess-turned-fake servant girl even more astute advice until the truth eventually comes out, I think when the royal procession rides past and the dead horse calls out accusing the usurping servant-turned-princess of her crimes.
Thanks! I wonder if I'd have time to marathon Madoka before I leave...
I once wrote a play loosely based on "The Goose Girl." It was a clunker preaching about how bad it was to be biased against immigrants - not one of my better moments.
In magical girl anime, on the other hand, the animals talk a lot and try to tell the heroine what to do starting as early as the Sailor Moon manga and anime, at least. In "Sailor Moon," Luna the cat has to break the news of her mission and supernatural powers to the heroine and give her step by step instructions on how to transform into her magical girl form, how to use her various evil-fighting gadgets, etc. (Of course, in the more recent notorious "deconstruction of magical girl tropes" series "Puella Magica Madoka," the cute talking animal who shows up to lure innocent girls into making a contract with him so the girl can have a wish granted in exchange for fighting evil and allegedly saving the world actually has rather sinister motives.)
All of this may or may not relate back in some way to the talking horse in the European fairy tale "Falada" (at least, that's the horse's name, even if the story isn't called that) in which the princess' horse keeps vainly warning her against the "All About Eve"-type servant girl who tricks her into switching places on the journey to her fiance's kingdom, then steals the princess' identity and marries the prince herself--after ordering the horse's head cut off so it can't give her away. Of course, once the severed head is nailed up on a bridge it becomes chattier than ever, and keeps giving the princess-turned-fake servant girl even more astute advice until the truth eventually comes out, I think when the royal procession rides past and the dead horse calls out accusing the usurping servant-turned-princess of her crimes.
Reply
I once wrote a play loosely based on "The Goose Girl." It was a clunker preaching about how bad it was to be biased against immigrants - not one of my better moments.
Reply
Leave a comment