Before watching the latest delight from Pixar, Toy Story 3, last weekend, I saw the preview for Disney’s next animated-cartoon film, Tangled. It’s the next in Disney’s line of princess films, this time based on the story of Rapunzel. There’s something refreshing about seeing Disney still doing what they do so well—the classic story of prince and princess—and yet, as I watched the latest preview, I couldn’t help but be turned off.
It seems like for any traditional story of prince and princess to fly these days, the princess has to outdo the prince. When’s the last time you’ve seen a princess saved by her prince? These days, she has to win the battle instead of him, or else, well, or else it will look like a patriarchal fairy-tale story that tells girls they’re dependent on men. Or so say many womens-studies departments.
So here we have the charming story of how Rapunzel meets her prince: She beats him up. I don’t know about you, but movies that take the manliness out of men (and the femininity out of females, for that matter) aren’t movies I’m terribly interested in.
And they say they were trying to attract boys to this movie–ha!
June 30th, 2010 | 4:07 pm
Yes, it looks awful. Like a cross between Shrek and I-don’t-know-what. And all the gags that are supposed to be funny in the trailer– didn’t even elicit a smile. Ugh.
June 30th, 2010 | 6:31 pm
Please, the damsel in distress trope has been done to death.
June 30th, 2010 | 8:32 pm
And Princess Grrl Power isn’t?
June 30th, 2010 | 9:57 pm
Quite frankly, if a random man shows up in a woman’s room where she lives alone, I see nothing wrong with her defending herself.
Princess Grrrl Power can certainly be appropriate in some situations!
June 30th, 2010 | 11:12 pm
@JonathanR. not to nearly the same extent as the former….not even close, in fact.
July 1st, 2010 | 10:52 am
Yes Wat, I’d say in the last two decades or so we’ve more than compensated for all those years with the damsel in distress trope.
But I can see this movie appealing to some boys. Gay boys, like the ones who make most Disney movies.
July 13th, 2010 | 1:39 am
[...] with a new stereotype! Women are men, and men are buffoons! But I disagree with [the author of "Has Anyone Asked Rapunzel What She Thinks?"] about Disney. Disney is 60% dumbness. Studies suggest that even if they stuck with their [...]
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