Enchanted is Terrible

I was excited to take my children to see Enchanted, the new Disney film, this past weekend. I had read reviews about what a wonderful movie it was and how it did a great job of skewing the traditional fairy tale.

It turned out that this was not true. Enchanted is a very traditional fairy tale that uses some gimmicks to sell itself as a modern recreation. As I have written before, I am not a fan of the traditional fairy tales. I am only interested in a princess who is able to save herself and perhaps not even want the prince when she’s done. This bit of tripe with a focus on marriage as the ultimate attainment is just disturbing.

The princess, Giselle, is as wide-eyed, dewy and dopey as the best 1930’s creations. I think that she is supposed to be seen as naïve because she is in a strange land, but the beginning sequence sets her up as naïve and incompetent in her own land as well, so I thought that her confusion, once she lands in New York from her animated fairy tale land, just seemed like a continuation of her lack of mental acuity.

SPOILER ALERT!

Of course, Giselle is expecting to be saved from New York by her prince and brought back to the poorly named animated fairy tale land, Andalasia. And, of course, she falls in love with the guy who randomly picks her up and brings her back to his apartment with his six year-old daughter. The only part of the movie that seemed remotely plausible, (even if this is a fairy tale) was when the father had the daughter sleep in his room so that she won’t be left alone in her room while the clearly delusional princess sleeps on the sofa.

There is a small part where Giselle stabs the evil queen after she turns into a dragon and where she saves her love by throwing a sword that sticks him to a post while the dragon falls to her doom, but it was just too gooey for my taste. This bland bit of brain candy isn’t worth the price of the ticket.

SPOILERS END

Not to mention that I am just completely done with the entire Disney Princess franchise. What happened to the idea that princesses would be feisty and diverse, like Belle, Jasmine and Mulan? I want my children to see movies with characters that are willing to stand up for their beliefs and have an interest outside of marriage. As the single mom who took her daughter to see this movie with me said, “How am I supposed to talk to my daughter about this?” The rapt focus on marriage as the ultimate end goal made this movie seem like it was from the 30’s and I wish it would have stayed there.

For the same age child, I would just wait until Nancy Drew comes out on video.

Why Aren't We Talking About Race Anymore?

I teach a class on critical media theory to students at a private school and we have been focusing on race and discrimination for the past few weeks. I was looking for a quiz they could take on-line that would challenge their assumptions about stereotypes and/or highlight the subtle ways that discrimination can take place. These students are relatively liberal and do not see themselves as being prejudiced and I wanted something that would help them understand the ways they see the world, and how their discrimination may be unnoticeable to them because they live in such a privileged and secluded world.

I was surprised that this type of quiz is much harder to come by than I had initially assumed. I had thought that many quizzes would have been developed and waiting on the amazing internet to help instructors like me. I was wrong. It turned out that I had to use Google.uk to find a quiz that I thought would be helpful. I found two quizzes; one was British, the other Australian. The scarcity of quizzes led me to thinking and then to some research.

From my research, it seems to me that the conversations about race and ethnicity are much more out in the open in the UK and Australia, than they are here. This is not to say that there is not discrimination and prejudice in these other countries, just that they seem to be talking about it a lot more. This got me thinking to the way the television shows are cast. I watch a lot of BBCAmerica and the BBC, in particular, is very careful about the way they cast their shows using a more diverse cast that represents a wide variety of ethnicities. Now, Americans might argue that Keeping Up Appearances, and Time Goes By, two staples of BBC comedies shown on PBS, are not at all diverse. But those are not modern shows. I am thinking of Torchwood, Doctor Who, and Hotel Babylon. These are programs where the cast is diverse and in a really natural way.

The diversity seen on BBC programs makes me think about how segregated our casts have become. There is always a spectrum, and I am not certain why we are swinging in this way. Are we confident that as a country we have overcome racism and discrimination and refuse to see it when it exists, or are we just tired of the battles and are hoping they will go away and things can go back to the way they were? You know, when everything was perfect and money was flowing from the taps and children were always polite, those halcyon days of yesteryear that we all hearken back to as we get older.

The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard is Amazing

This is not minutia, this is a big thing. If you have not had the chance to experience The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard on PBS' Masterpiece Theater, you need to re-think your viewing choices. This show is AMAZING!

It takes place in the UK and is about a woman who becomes Prime Minister and the head of a new political party partly through her shrewd understanding of people and partly as a result of the professionals that attach themselves to her as the next big thing. I really appreciate the fact that although it is about a woman as Prime Minister, it does not take the line (so far anyway) that she is a stooge or a befuddled mother. She is befuddled often, but only as a result of her lack of experience as a politician. Her entire cabinet is made up of women who are all working with their own motivations and the fact that they are women is simply not discussed. I sort of expected the other political parties represented to belittle the government because they were run by women, and it just has not come up.

So watch it and let me know what you think.

Halloween Recap

I can only speak to my neighborhood, but I have to say that, as usual, the media misses the details. Of course there was a big brouhaha about the state of the world based on the scantily clad outfits being sold to girls for Halloween. Certainly, no one was commenting on the inappropriate outfits being sold to boys, but back to my point.

The media can finally put down their bells and alarms, the state of the world has not changed dramatically, Halloween outfits this year are standing firm. I witnessed girls dressed as fairies unlicensed by Disney, aliens, fighter pilots, and doctors. There was a large segment of creepy vampires of both genders and the requisite cats, bunnies, various insects and yes Disney princesses. Basically the same outfits children have been wearing for the past ten years.

I am tired of the fear of female sexuality being played out in super creepy and inappropriate ways, such as through a bizarre discussion of slutty Halloween costumes for girls. Lots of things exist in the marketplace every year with the hope that it will sell, but that doesn’t mean that the world has changed and they do sell. These are just the same fears being revisited in different forms. The next thing you know people will be talking about how birth control causes girls to have sex, the boys not so much, but the girls are the ones to watch out for. Very scary indeed.

Of Princess Dreams

So Annie Leibowitz has a new photography project where she is recreating images from Disney movies with famous actors and athletes. Rachel Weisz is featured in a story in the Daily Mail about the project and discussed how happy she was to be featured at Snow White, because, “it is every little girls dream.”

Really?! I thought that each girl had different dreams uncontrolled by the Disney Corporation. I certainly don’t know many little girls who dream of being rejected by their new step mother based solely on their appearance, clearly ignored by their father and needing to flee to an isolated location to escape certain death at the hands of the stepmother’s henchmen. And while children, including some girls, do enjoy playing in the kitchen I don’t think they often dream of making a move down from princess to cook and housekeeper stuck with a limited social group, none of whom can relate to you only to be put to sleep by a poison apple and then placed in a glass box. All this, just to be awakened by a man you never knew and being unable to go back to your own home, you need to leave with him for his kingdom with the hope that his family will accept you.

Yeah, wow. That just sounds ideal. I mean if I was required to choose a Disney princess to emulate Snow White would not be it. At least Belle has an intellectual life and fights back. My favorite, of course, is Mulan who was a real woman that saved a freaking kingdom. Now there’s a Disney character I would want to be.