Even after what happened with Brenda Chapman, and even though I'm still annoyed that Pixar's first film with a female main character is about a princess...
Original director, fired from her position over creative differences, although she will have some sort of naming credit for the film. She's been remarkably quiet about it (except a quote about the sad state about women in the animation industry), but last I heard, she's leaving Pixar.
I know films change directors all the time, and by itself it doesn't mean that the film will be bad quality or anything (ex: Toy Story 2), but apparently whatever happened left a bad taste. And so far, Pixar films have been directed by men. It just would have been a good change if it had been a woman telling a story about women, rather than a man telling a story about a woman once again. (Not to say that a woman doing it would've automatically been good, but so far there's lots of white males telling stories about women and not much other POVs on stories.)
I remain firm in the idea that there is still room in the "princess" narrative for fruitful exploration, and I'm looking forward to the results. Though I do agree that non-princess efforts would certainly be more than welcome!
There's nothing wrong with being a princess. Certainly there are kids (and adults) who like the idea and find it appealing. But there's not much else out there for everybody else, for the kids who aren't princesses and don't want to become one.
I wouldn't have minded if, eventually, Pixar made a princess film. I just wish that their FIRST female-starring film wasn't a princess movie. Because who knows when they'll make another. We're totally covered on princesses, but not so much for other kinds of people.
I guess part of me is worried that if Brave is in any way less successful than usual, that Pixar/Disney will blame it on the fact that it was a movie with a central female character. (Disney said as much about Princess and the Frog - they blamed its disappointing ticket sales on the fact that boys didn't want to see a princess movie, so they retooled Rapunzel into Tangled and gave the male lead a larger role. So it's not entirely impossible that they'll feel that nobody wants to see a movie about a woman having adventures
( ... )
I think it's less about having a strong girl and more about having a movie about a PRINCESS. The word "princess" just sounds frilly and prissy and makes you think of sparkles and crowns and pink...and girls love that stuff, but boys will get teased over it.
I think if they had a regular movie about characters of both genders and the "hero" wound up being female, it would be different. They could call it something androgynous and market to both genders and still have a female lead. Like how The Lion King was marketed to both boys and girls and made a fortune... It wasnt a girl OR boy movie...it was just a movie. And the sequel had a female lead and boys were okay with it because it was gender-neutral. If they did the same sort of thing, without animal characters...it would work.
In the poster, she's holding her bow and her quiver is hanging off her side, but I think she's got some kind of blade. I think she's mainly an archer rather than a swordfighter, though. There was a teaser attached to Cars 2. I'm still hunting for a high-quality upload of it.
I've yet to see any concept art in which there's an identifiable Love Interest, so I'm really, really hoping that it's a movie about Princess Merida riding around kicking ass without a wedding for an ending.
Pixar is doing a movie with a female lead??? How did I miss this????
Once I get over my surprise I may have doubts about the whole princess thing but at the moment, I'm all STARS IN MY EYES about the female lead. I think they could do a great job with it - Ellie's character in Up was awesome, even if we didn't see very much of her. (I want a movie about The Adventures of Young Ellie. Would that not be amazing?)
Also, Merida's mother is voiced by Emma Thompson. I hope she has a juicy part.
Comments 23
Reply
Reply
Reply
What happened with Brenda Chapman?
Reply
I know films change directors all the time, and by itself it doesn't mean that the film will be bad quality or anything (ex: Toy Story 2), but apparently whatever happened left a bad taste. And so far, Pixar films have been directed by men. It just would have been a good change if it had been a woman telling a story about women, rather than a man telling a story about a woman once again. (Not to say that a woman doing it would've automatically been good, but so far there's lots of white males telling stories about women and not much other POVs on stories.)
Reply
Reply
I wouldn't have minded if, eventually, Pixar made a princess film. I just wish that their FIRST female-starring film wasn't a princess movie. Because who knows when they'll make another. We're totally covered on princesses, but not so much for other kinds of people.
I guess part of me is worried that if Brave is in any way less successful than usual, that Pixar/Disney will blame it on the fact that it was a movie with a central female character. (Disney said as much about Princess and the Frog - they blamed its disappointing ticket sales on the fact that boys didn't want to see a princess movie, so they retooled Rapunzel into Tangled and gave the male lead a larger role. So it's not entirely impossible that they'll feel that nobody wants to see a movie about a woman having adventures ( ... )
Reply
Reply
I think if they had a regular movie about characters of both genders and the "hero" wound up being female, it would be different. They could call it something androgynous and market to both genders and still have a female lead. Like how The Lion King was marketed to both boys and girls and made a fortune... It wasnt a girl OR boy movie...it was just a movie. And the sequel had a female lead and boys were okay with it because it was gender-neutral.
If they did the same sort of thing, without animal characters...it would work.
Reply
But it looks from that poster that she has a sword in hand, and that's my kinda princess movie!
Reply
I've yet to see any concept art in which there's an identifiable Love Interest, so I'm really, really hoping that it's a movie about Princess Merida riding around kicking ass without a wedding for an ending.
Reply
Once I get over my surprise I may have doubts about the whole princess thing but at the moment, I'm all STARS IN MY EYES about the female lead. I think they could do a great job with it - Ellie's character in Up was awesome, even if we didn't see very much of her. (I want a movie about The Adventures of Young Ellie. Would that not be amazing?)
Also, Merida's mother is voiced by Emma Thompson. I hope she has a juicy part.
Reply
The Adventures of Ellie would be the best film ever. They should make a short film about it, at the very least.
Reply
Leave a comment