Peggy Orenstein’s Cinderella Ate My Daughter reminded me of Christensen’s “Unlearning
the Myths That Bind Us” and Croteau’s “Media and Ideology.” Further, Brave, which we viewed in class, relates
to these texts.
Like Christensen’s piece, Orenstein’s discusses
the negative messages purported through Disney Princesses, centering on the
desire to ultimately win a man. Christensen notes the same thing about the
various interpretations of Cinderella/Cindy Ellie, in that the message remains
the same: that beauty is important and getting a man should be a main goal in
life. The only part of Orenstein’s
princesses analysis I would nit-pick is her discussion of princesses’ lack of
female camaraderie with other women. While this is true for 99.99% of these
characters, it should be noted that, despite the many criticisms of Tiana and The Princess and the Frog in general,
one of the aspects I admired most was Tiana’s friendship with Charlotte. There
is no girlfighting amongst them, to my memory. Charlotte genuinely loves Tiana
and vice versa. Even better, they don’t fight over the male love interest.
Charlotte only wants to help. That is, as noted, if my memory serves right. And
if so, then at least that example does depict positive relationships amongst
girls. Orenstein, like Christensen, discusses the impact Disney Princesses have
on children, but also talks about the gender division of toys and merchandising
(fueled, in my humble opinion, by capitalist greed and corruption), indicating
the affect these influences have on children, both boys and girls.
In this way, to me, it connects to Croteau. As she
speaks about the pink-ifiying of toys, it seems as though these companies are
attempting to create a new hegemony for gendered toys (because as Orenstein
notes, it increases profit by impelling parents to buy the same product twice
for separate children, for example, a blue bat for a boy and a pink one for a
girl). These capitalist enterprises are trying to make “girls” and “pink”
synonymous, indicating that a love of “pink” is “natural;” in fact, several of
the people Orenstein speaks with admit as much about their opinions, claiming
that they’re just giving girls what they want. I, of course, operate under the
opinion that gender segregation of toys is damaging (and that Sweden is correct in their gender-neutral advertising).
But I digress.
Merida from Brave
is interesting in regards to all of these texts. On one hand, the background
characters of the movie are depicted in gender segregated roles: the males are
the ones that go off to battle, hunting down the bears, and are rowdy and quick
to fight while the women are seen doing domestic work, such as working in the
kitchens, or acting as dancers during the festivities rather than performing
more masculine sports, but are also level headed in regards to fighting (though
that poor maid is clearly traumatized by the end). However, unlike the other
Disney Princesses, Merida does not seek to find a man. Although her mother (and
most of society –except for her father) pressures her to choose a husband, she
ultimately is allowed to fall in love in her own time, when she is ready, which
defies the messages of the other movies. Merida doesn’t have a Disney Prince,
and this movie doesn’t focus on one (like, say, Aladdin – which, side note, I still love despite valid criticism).
It should be noted, however, that Brave
is a gender neutral name. I remember hearing that Tangled was renamed from something like Princess Rapunzel to attempt to bring in more male audience
members; likely something similar happened with Brave just as it’s happening with Frozen (and upcoming Pixar/Disney Princess movie). This is
interesting because it reinforces the message from Orenstein’s piece: that
girls will buy products for boys, but boys won’t buy products for girls
(despite that they like them) because there’s something wrong with being a girl. As she notes, her “progressive” friend
will proudly give his daughter Matchbox toys, but balks at giving his son a
skirt. And it should go without saying that there is something fundamentally wrong
with this opinion on girls and femininity.
Finally, I feel the need to comment on the toy
production for Brave. As a cashier, I
can say with confidence that they used to,
at least, sell toy bows for Merida. I
remember that one being a big seller a while back. It was this little plastic
bow affixed to a shiny blue cardboard
piece; I recall, particularly, because I wished I could have had one when I was
little. However, I find it troubling that a quick search of the Walmart website
now has Merida dolls and a “Disney Brave Merida Royal Dress.” Though, the dolls
do come with bows and arrows. One of
them is called the “Disney Brave Fashion
Play Doll,” which, like Orenstein notes with Mulan and her dress, Merida (as a
character) would likely be appalled to be a “fashion” anything.
Questions:
I’m interested in how everyone else in the class
interpreted Brave: what crtiticms did
you find in it? Do you think it presents positive messages? Is it a step
forward? What about Orenstein’s piece? Do you agree with what she says about
Disney Princesses or do you see a benefit in them? What about the pinkification
of toys?
