So I found this video really interesting because it reminded me of Croteau's Media and Ideology. In class when we broke into groups, group 1 pulled out this quote in particular and I think it does a great job of representing Merida.
"This articulation is accomplished, in large part, by the fact that popular media, particularly television and mass advertising, have a tendency to display a remarkably narrow range of behaviors and lifestyles, marginalizing or neglecting people who are "different" from the mass-mediated norm." (Page 163)Just because Merida is not willing to get married she is considered to be a lesbian. And I've seen this movie a bunch of times and not once has that thought crossed my mind, but watching it in class made me think of this movie with a new perspective. I also kept thinking about what it would be like if this was different or that was different. For example: Would it have made a difference if the writers had put in a true "prince charming... or even a more normal guy" character for Merida? If she had gotten that love at first sight moment like all the other princesses, would her story have turned out differently?
This leads to me believe that there is a secret education that is so deeply engrained within us: that some of us want the prince and princess to fall in love and live happily ever after, I am one of them. The secret education...
"instructs young people to accept the world as it is portrayed in these social blueprints. And often that would depicts the domination of one sex, one race, one class, or one country, over a weaker counterpart." (Page 176)Christensen is talking about all of the things that Merida is going against in the movie Brave. Not only does she not want to be the typical princess by dressing up, taking orders, singing all day, finding a man to take care of her, but she is helping kids, especially girls learn that you don't have to be a "princess".
When comparing this movie to Peggy Orenstein's Cinderella Ate My Daughter I really compared my noted to my blog from last semester. One thing that I have commented in my notes is that, why is it that the writers have portrayed women in such a way that their breasts are just ginormous? I wrote in my blog last semester about body sizes being very important to Princesses.
I also wrote last semester how important a girl's hair is to her, especially a princess's hair. And maybe it is a keltic or Irish tradition to hide a princess's hair, I honestly don't know but I also made a note of Merida's hair when she was being presented to her potential suiters.
I liked your video about the movie and I agree with you. that you can do what guys do and not be a lesbian and enjoy having bows and arrows.
ReplyDeleteWow, great videos and connections! I also noticed the unnecessarily huge boobs of the maid! I like the quote you chose from Christensen, and the reason I think that it works so well is because Merida doesn't fit into that narrow definition by the media and so too many people didn't know how to react, and that is where the lesbian accusations came from. People didn't know how to handle a princess who didn't have any interest in being married or men. They couldn't handle the fact that there was no love interest. Great post!
ReplyDeletegood videos and i thought it was funny how you mentioned them having big breast cause it was true. and i thought it was interesting when you mentioned how important their hair was to them cause the princess didnt really care about her hair, its always bushy and wild and in one scene she even had like twigs or something in it.
ReplyDeleteGreat connection. I like the quotes you use from Croteau and Christensen; I chose to connect those texts to Orenstein, too. Further, I really like your connections of princess culture to body images; I think the constant bombardment of images of the thin princesses often used for Disney princesses are extremely damaging for little girls' sense of self-esteem. Of course, there are girls with naturally thin body types (and I'm not saying we shouldn't represent them, too), but a variety of body types are needed so that this thin prototype isn't the only thing they see. Well done on your post!
ReplyDelete