[From Boing Boing]
Alternative titles for this post:
1. Why It’s The Aristocats and Jungle Book And No More
2. When Preying On Kids’ Separation Anxiety Isn’t Enough
3. Mainstreaming Grimm’s Medieval Germany In Modern America
4. Hey, Eeyore Is A Princess, Too
Eh, not too sure about The Aristocats. The stereotypes in the band are pretty blatant, especially with the Chinese Siamese piano player cat. They might as well have brought Mickey Rooney in from “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” for that one.
But, a cat’s the only cat who knows where it’s at.
One of the commenters over at BB argues that “they are just reflections of the culture at the time the movies are made.” Really? Feminism was in the 19th century around the time The Little Mermaid and Beauty & The Beast were made? I can’t see a film like The Aristocats airing now so why the same stunted portrayal of women? One could argue that Pocahontas and Mulan are empowered women, but they aren’t Princesses, at least not the kind that sells pixie dust and trips to Disney World.
Surprised Tiana isn’t up there. Then again, she had to wait the entire movie to marry a prince in order to become the promised royalty.
It takes a princess to know one.
I’m all for the sparkles, makeup and pink tutus, but the whole concept of Prince Charming makes me gag. Waiting on one to save my princess behind would make me throw up.
Actually, most of the Jewish American Princes out there had no appeal for me ’til my husband came along. Really. If you don’t get brought up believing marriage can save you and give you self-worth, that stuff you missed will NOT be missed. Don’t get those faux glass slippers, girls – go make your own and sell ’em as art.
Disney movie to be avoided at all costs, speaking of THAT topic: Dumbo. Epic FAIL on all stereotype counts in that one.
Hey, that Prince Charming thing ain’t all rice and beans neither – talk about an idealized version of man.
In Western popular culture, us fellas only have value as in-shape sons of kings or wealth and our only motivation is to find the prettiest, most virginal girl in the realm. To do so we have to survive a guantlet of conniving step-mother-in-laws, step-sisters, angry crones, various impossible-odds obstacles and deadly creatures usually spitting some terrifying earthly element like fire or lightning and shit, or some evil wizard and his hundred faceless minions. We must do so without opinion, professional ambition or display of pants-crapping fear, armed inadequately with only a sword.
We usually have to accomplish this alone, though sometimes we are allowed to employ an incredibly obnoxious sidekick, sort of a wing-man for dirty jobs of all sorts.
That, or we can be wily rascals who pretend not to care what the outside world thinks about us, because we are SECRETLY sons of kings or wealth, always ready with a well-timed one-liner before we spring our improbable and clever trap to escape from the guantlet of conniving step-mother-in-laws, step-sisters, angry crones, various impossible-odds obstacles and deadly creatures with their fire and lighting and poison breath….
Once that’s all “accomplished” we’ve got to earmark a slice of the Realm’s Budget to keep the Princess decked out in fine, sparkling, stain-resistant dresses; running up a massive account at the local salon to keep that hair just perfect; and magical carriages drawn by unicorns and shit so she can take her old angry crone stepmother out to lunch on the Barony’s dime. After which, Princess comes home and talks our ears off about how all her evil crone of a step-mother does is criticize her, and this only exacerbates her self-image issues she herself self-perpetuates by reading women’s clothing scrolls and watching the merchant’s guild advertise their beauty product wares on the magical hypnotic cube invented by the crazy gnome in the clock tower.
No, she’s not going to tell her evil crone of a step-mother to stick it, and no, it doesn’t matter if we think she looks perfect in jeans and a t-shirt, with no makeup on. Stupid talking mirror bullshit.
Because watching the cube is all Prince and Princess do in “Happily Ever After” anymore since she’s made us stop hunting on the weekends after we bring one of her “WTF talking woodland creature friends” (that she never told us about lest we think she’s REALLY bonkers, even though she KNEW we were going HUNTING in the FOREST) home for dinner one time. ONE TIME.
And if a fella can’t deal with all that and have a smile on his face, he’s not going to get the girl and might as well just go be a wart-covered peasant who cheers for the guy who can get the princess. If we’re really lucky, we’ll find some wart-covered peasant hag and have a beautiful daughter who will catch the eye of a prince.
Dammit.
2 things, Coozan:
– A fairy-tale wing man. I am now suddenly thinking of Anthony Edwards in a freaking velvety Middle-Ages suit, complete with striped bloomers, a high collar, and tights, singing “Giant Spheres Ablaze” or some such medieval permutation of a Jerry Lee Lewis tune. TIGHTS, I tell you. Thanks a bundle for that mental picture.
– Remind me never to wear a particular conceptual art t-shirt ’round you. It had a phrase on it that I used to get into rip-roaring arguments with one of my guy friends over: ROMANTIC LOVE WAS INVENTED TO MANIPULATE WOMEN
Holy shit, Pat, do you think the brothers Grimm saw into the future and copied Real Housewives episodes into “fairy tales?”
Anything’s possible with faerie dust and baby unicorn blood!
I just think they used their writing as a way to get chicks without having to actually go through all that derring-do nonsense. Like writer-y types of any century (and toddlers being taught conflict resolution) they learned that “using your words” can bring positive results.
Then Disney dusted off those tomes like a cheesy Bourbon Street cover band, and sold them to an America abandoning the traditional expansive family structures for the artificial “nuclear family” life and alienation of the suburbs. What better way to capture viewers and sell product than by indoctrinating children to unsustainable social constructs at an early age?
Illustrate for that money, boys! Illustrate for that MF money!
Whoa, whoa, back it up a little bit. Disney dusted off those tomes like a cheesy Bourbon Street cover band, copyrighted them out of the public domain, had them illustrated at pennies on the dollar, sold them to the ‘burbanites, continue to exert their considerable influence in keeping these stories and characters copyrighted and slap small businesses with infringement lawsuits if they as much as think about Winnie the Pooh or Mickey Mouse outside the Disney context.
True, true. That does make it more difficult to come up with a more realistic, counter-narrative to present to children.
Wait.
Reality as counter-intuitive? Something tells me that a society that operates under such pretenses may have problems planning for, accepting and dealing with certain emergency situations that could occur….