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The first self-saving Disney Princess gets a sexier, more feminine make-over.

kyuuei

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Source: http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/di...ge--merida-petition-goes-viral-175251230.html

Basically, the summary is:

- The original character, Merida, is awesome, tomboyish, and was the role model that a LOT of mothers were looking for when it came to Disney figures.
- Disney marketing changes her because, fuck you, that's why.
- People are signing a petition because they
object to what they’ve called the sexualizing of Merida’s image, in which the character now appears older, with a tinier waistline, sultrier eyes, a coquettish expression, tamed curls, and more exposed skin peeking out from a bedazzled, off-the-shoulder version of the constricting teal dress she so resented in “Brave.”
Not to mention she's lost her bow in the new version.

This stunt really, really pisses me off. I think she was a very, very important character, especially with today's day and age of starting girls out in a world where they can actually change their fate more readily than they were ever able before. I found this character to be extremely important and bigger than just a cartoon disney movie.
 

Totenkindly

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Some of it is overblown, Disney has always changed its princesses for imprinting on all the merchandise they publish.

Here is the actual picture the "revision" occurs in:

all-disney-princesses.jpg


I don't see Mulan wearing her armor either. None of the princesses are carrying anything. Not sure why she would be carrying her bow. I chalk most of the changes up as some artist creating a stylized picture where all the various princesses look similar -- hence their body shapes were streamlined as well. Does Jasmine look like herself either here? Half of the princesses look out of character; this is nothing new, but now suddenly with Merida there's a protest because I guess she was further out of the mold to begin with.

This is the kind of crap that happens when people create stylized, cheap-o merchandise imagery; it never looks like the original. Have you seen the Disney dolls of various styles and sizes for the movie characters? Most of them suck; I find the lack of precision in the toys they peddle to be almost more offensive and not doing justice to the original characters.

I'm tired of Disney being used as a standard for little girls, and I'm also tired of Disney marketing their crap everywhere without trying to preserve any originality that managed to make its way into the movie process to start with.
 

kyuuei

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Some of it is overblown, Disney has always changed its princesses for imprinting on all the merchandise they publish.

I ranted and raved about Mulan as well, but when I was a kid.. My mom asked if I wanted a doll of her, but the dolls sucked. None of them had her armor, horse, and battle gear. Not even the damn firecracker dragon thing!

None of the princesses are carrying anything. Not sure why she would be carrying her bow.

But the issue is it has NOTHING of the original. Pocahontas is at least in the outfit she wore in the movie. While Mulan was technically in that kimono, she also protested it.

The Brave Princess though has NOTHING of her original looks. Not her dress, her bow, her hair, her face, her body style. It is all completely re-done. They literally had to change everything about her to make her look like the other princesses, and somehow she's the same size even though she's much younger in the movie, which is rather creepy to me. She's the only one that's still a kid, and she's still being made to look sexy and just as feminine as the other, fully grown women, in the line up.

but now suddenly with Merida there's a protest because I guess she was further out of the mold to begin with.

Most of the princesses are the mold they are there for--changed or not.. Pocahontas is, surprisingly, untouched for the most part (I would argue there was a sudden emphasis on her breasts here vs the movie).. but the rest? Sleeping Beauty? Cinderella? These are feminine, pretty women that are there for that purpose. This girl doesn't really fit in with that line up at all. She's way too young.

This is the kind of crap that happens when people create stylized, cheap-o merchandise imagery; it never looks like the original. Have you seen the Disney dolls of various styles and sizes for the movie characters? Most of them suck; I find the lack of precision in the toys they peddle to be almost more offensive and not doing justice to the original characters.

I agree there.. With the exception of Toy Story, most of the dolls are down right awful to begin with. But this isn't even a cheap production of a doll.. this is a drawing. It costs them nothing to draw her either way.. and yet, they went this creepy as hell way with her.

I'm tired of Disney being used as a standard for little girls, and I'm also tired of Disney marketing their crap everywhere without trying to preserve any originality that managed to make its way into the movie process to start with.

I agree with this entirely.. but to pretend it isn't something I grew up with (disney movies, that is) is just something I cannot do. Though I definitely had my favorites, I still watched them growing up, and many kids still do. It's a machine that isn't going to stop anytime soon.. but they ought to at least keep their originality in tact if they're going to create things. Disney does sometimes create really amazing things. They just usually destroy those things.

And I found this particular princess to be rather important. SO many moms exploded on online blogs talking about how this movie literally changed their relationship with their daughters, for the better. It actually taught actual lessons, to adults and not to kids only. It had no prince, no charming man, no savior, no nothing.. it was about a girl and her mother and their relationship with each other. It isn't often a girl is the center of attention in a Disney film and she isn't fainting/being kidnapped/being rescued/getting married. Even Mulan, strong as she was in the movie, ended up with a dude at the end.
 

digesthisickness

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What is Disney's obsession with dresses?
 

unnamed

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I don't like the design of this character.
Both of them looks sucks.
ae0e5db4-4d5e-41e8-845d-b04eea6eebd9_630_merida_before_after_v2.jpg
 

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Ever since I was a kid I had always hated Disney's merchandise, even when I liked the animated movies themselves. I was convinced the dolls and toys were created by completely different people who had never even seen the movies.

I do have a plastic toy of Mulan's horse from McDonald's though, and a Sebastian the crab plush :blush:
 

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I'm afraid Princess Leia (debuted in 1977) is the first self-saving Disney Princess.
 

kyuuei

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What is Disney's obsession with dresses?

Honestly, I'm surprised they have Mulan in a kimono and Pocahontas in a skirt.. They do the dress thing constantly.

The bitch is ugly regardless.

:/ And people ask me why I feel society is doomed to fail..

I'm afraid Princess Leia (debuted in 1977) is the first self-saving Disney Princess.

No. First, I refuse. and Second. She was being saved left and right.
 

digesthisickness

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Star Wars being a Disney movie is news to me. And, it's a weird, freaky world when even drawings of women are objectified.
 

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Um, all of the princesses are sexualized and feminized?

I thought also that the African American young lady in the Frog Prince was pretty self-sufficient, I don't recall anyone saving her, and thinking she was also probably an ESTJ, as well as being attracted to losers (that frog was a loser).
 

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Ever since I was a kid I had always hated Disney's merchandise, even when I liked the animated movies themselves. I was convinced the dolls and toys were created by completely different people who had never even seen the movies.

I do have a plastic toy of Mulan's horse from McDonald's though, and a Sebastian the crab plush :blush:

The animals are probably the only thing I like about Disney after 1970.

Something VERY BAD happened to Disney in the 90s. I just remember blindly hating pretty much everything they've put out since then, thinking it was infantile and commercial and insulting.

When I think of Disney stuff I like, it's old, like Mary Poppins and Lady and the Tramp. Even when I like parts of newer films, it's because of random animal companions, never because of the completely insufferably annoying human characters.

When people are all like "I love Disney" I'm all like "I love to crush your head."

Because frankly that's how I feel about Disney since about 1990.

My favorite Disney character is Donald Duck, though, if that means anything.
 

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Star Wars being a Disney movie is news to me. And, it's a weird, freaky world when even drawings of women are objectified.

Oh Jesus christ, I know right? I don't want to be near anyone who is attracted to something animated.
 

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One more thing to add (then bed):

Princess FairyTale is skinnier and looks more feminine.
Where's the problem?

An ideal is an ideal. Case in point:

Disney doesn't portray its "Prince" as an unemployed, balding, diminutive, asymmetrical weakling with no ambition in life or adventure in his heart. Unless, of course, said Prince is being played for parody.

In no way does this dehumanizing message impact impressionable young men!
 

digesthisickness

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That's a different conversation. Probably a worthy one too, but the one here is that she was fine the way she was before, so why amp it up? She wasn't a "classic" beauty on the outside, but she was never supposed to be about her looks or even about her being a girl (other than how she "failed" at being one). That was the point of the movie, and why I think it's bugging some people.
 

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Even when I like parts of newer films, it's because of random animal companions, never because of the completely insufferably annoying human characters.

:wubbie: @ random animal companions
 

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When the male ideal is about being adventurous and ambitious, and the female ideal is about being skinny, something's wrong.
 
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