Feminis-n't
Howdy, first thing first - is that a terrible title? I think that might be a terrible title. I have to do this stuff unsupervised so things like that will happen. Anyhee, this post will have a wee look a 'strong' female roles by focusing on two recent-ish animations: Brave (Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (co directed Steve Purcell), 2012) and Monsters vs Aliens (Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon, 2009). The main reason for this is twofold I've loved Monsters vs Aliens since the first time I saw it, in Norway no less, and I think it was woefully undervalued, in particular the lead character always who stood out for me. The other reason is the (over)praising, as I see it, of Brave; it was garnished with awards, fawning reviews, and all sorts so it must be good, right? Well, it's not only good but it is politically challenging! It's shaking cages and rattling...some...some other cages - and knocking bins over or something...I dunno - it's progressive! But hey, don't take my word for it - Look!
Blogger A. Lynne (if that is her real name), known as the Nerdy Feminist (which I'm absolutely positive isn't her real name), explains that as she 'sat down...and the lights went dark in the theatre, I was amped for a strong female character. What I got was that and much more.' (Nerdy Feminist, 2012)
Jordan Zakarin from 'The Hollywood Reporter' felt the need to write about the film under the headline 'Pixar's 'Brave' Feminist bet: Does a Princess need a Prince Charming?' (The Hollywood Reporter, 2012). Tom Watson is a bloke at 'Forbes' and he thinks she is a bold step forward and the film is 'an important mainstream feminist document.' (Forbes, 2012)
So Merida, a Princess, refuses her traditional, arranged marriage and bests the boys in "feats of strength or arms", plays the boys at their own game, big bloody manly challenges, and then goes in the huff with her mum and gets her turned into a bear. She then realises that bears are crap at being mums, so tries to get her back and that's about it. Patriarchy is never challenged; although the mum takes a commanding role in the house "I am your mother and you'll do as I say." This is in all familial matters and so she is firmly placed in a role within the household, while the King rules all around it. "I want a spell to change my mum. That'll change my fate." The mother has to change - not the father! Not the social order! The mother. In fact, it's perhaps arguable that the all that really happens is that the two are taught a lesson for their transgression.
Another problem here for me is that Merida, and to an extent her mum, may be deemed to be strong mainly by virtue of all the guys being completely and utterly useless. Hanna Rosin appears to agree with this and believes it to be evidence of a great leap forward in ideology and characterisation for the studio: 'If a boy's club made this movie than [sic] the boy's club was drunk or bamboozled. The men in Brave are all oafs, idiots, or sissies; not a shred of intelligence or heroism among them.' (Slate, 2012) I totally agree with Hanna's evaluation of the male characters but I think that this is hugely problematic as any strength in Merida's character may then arguably appear to come from the lack of comparative strength shown by any of the others; it's like saying someone wins because everyone else is shit, which demeans and diminishes any strength of character Merida might possess. This is one big reason that I don't think that Brave makes a feminist statement, I don't think it makes any kind of statement at all. The representations of the males make the Princes different from a normal Disney representation but the princess not fantastically so. Just because there are no infallible, desirable male characters doesn't make the female characters any more emancipated or powerful; poor representations of everyone doesn't make a good representation of anyone. What would she have done if there had been a Prince Charming among the suitors? Or Nicolas Cage or Justin Bebo? I dunno whomever is deem attractive these days. Peter Bradshaw seems to be left with a similar distrust of the 'strong' females in Brave:
Another point here could be that her father is a kind and caring one, overly coarse and physical perhaps, but it is he who encourages his daughter's leanings away from tradition, he encourages her to roughhouse, to ride horses with her legs any way she wants, and buys her a bow and arrow. All things that her mother staunchly opposes as it breaks with tradition. So where does this leave the notion of who is imposing the roles on Merida and who is she rebelling against?
I think it could be said that youth seems to be more of a focus regardless of gender. It is simply teenage rebellion, a noble topic to discuss, but it is nothing more. No politics. No revolution. No big statement. The boys feel just as put upon as Merida does and also benefit from her break with 'tradition'. The system has been perhaps amended, the arguments and revolts subside for now, but hierarchically nothing has changed. That is ultimately all that we get, as with any generation they seek to be seen apart from the generation they follow and, as often happens, they ultimately become the thing they sought to challenge.
The representation of Merida may be progressive by Disney standards who's attempts at diversity so far seem to have extended to a slight darkening of Esmerelda's skin tone (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996), Pocahontas (Pocahontas, 1995) and Mulan (Mulan, 1998) representing Native Americans and Chinese and Ariel being ginger and half fish (The Little Mermaid, 1989), all small superficial moves that ultimately marked very little, if any, real shifts in their modes of representation.
So what do I think it might take to create a strong female character (I convince myself) I hear you cry? Well not much different actually if we look at Monsters vs Aliens (2009), but while the differences may be slight I think they speak volumes.
At the start of the film Susan is to be married and she is far more accepting than Merida ever was, in fact she is downright cock-a-hoop (whatever that means, I'm assured it is good). Her life is mapped out for her and it is mapped out around her man. So our two female characters start in very similar situations. Susan's position in society is more imperceptibly imposed on her (kinda Althusserian) than Merida's, so an act of rebellion won't cut it because she see nothing to rebel against. But then society rejects her when, after a subtle change (a meteor smacks into her, she grows quite a bit...about 50 feet or so, and she gets kidnapped by a male orientated government organisation - I'm not sure I know what subtle means), she no longer fits with, or corresponds to it's norms. She is forced out of this comfortable state (and forced awake to the things she accepted in her life) but for a while she laments this loss of her life and gets little to no sympathy - "Awh don't cry little lady it makes my knees hurt" but within this environment she flourishes and it's precisely because of who she is and because of that what she can do.
There is arguably a similar approach to characterisation in both films in that Susan (like Merida) is the most human, intelligent character and the males often fall way short (Ha ha! She's a giant woman!) - it's similar, but handled in an importantly different way. It's not just a parade of idiots here, it's more like the usual male persona is split across the male characters: machoism (The Missing Link), (pseudo)intellectualism (Dr. Cockroach), militarism (General W.R. Munger), the (undeservingly) most powerful person in the world (President Hathaway) and the challenge for that power (Gallaxhar) and BOB speaks for himself, although I'm not quite sure where I put Insectosaurus in this but still. They aren't (all) bad and they do exhibit intelligence and heroism at times, something that Hanna Roisin noted to be lacking in Brave, just not all at the same time, but they do have strong, obvious flaws, in fact they are perhaps each an embodiment of a particular character trait (flaw) and so can only really exist in relation to each other. So by splitting it like this no one man is to blame (although her fiancé Gallaxhar are obviously dicks) but the characteristics are perhaps borne of the way society is structured; the males are flawed and guided by their privileged position, just as Susan was blinded to her subordinate one.
The only really complete person in the piece is Susan and she can stand independently against and above all these others things. Her character arc is also much more questioning of social positioning, as she is to be married at the beginning of the film, all the sacrifices she must make to make this marriage work are presented, critiqued and finally dealt with, on Susan's terms. This is all done without necessarily saying that marriage in itself is a bad thing; her parents present a loving, unified front, who come to respect and be proud, albeit maybe a wee bit scared, of their daughters individualism. Susan doesn't play the boys at their own game because there are no games established as being for the boys - there is a world and that is obviously represented as a man's one as there are hardly any women in it; she stands alone, she stands tall (HAHA! D'you see what I'm doing here? Three weeks that one took. Genius!), and she succeeds on purely her own terms, she doesn't rebel to gain some inches (Done it again! Didn't mean that one though. I'm a natural) and then fit in, she establishes herself. They accept her for who she is - not for her title or a position she'll eventually hold, but for who she is now - in fact they can't function without her and they acknowledge that. Susan is no longer validated by the company she keeps (even by herself) she is now merited for the things she achieves in her own right. She redubs herself, "...and the name is Ginormica", she choses her side, she decides who/what/where to be. Most importantly she choses her own path. Merida modifies her position and so her future - a bit - but she doesn't really change it.
Contextually, some of the events surrounding the production of Brave may also be slightly problematic in making the argument of the film as a feminists statement as the studio saw fit to sack Brenda Chapman as director and hire some blokes as 'executives started demanding story changes that she [Chapman] had no interest in making. When push came to shove, she felt powerless' (Joe Satran, 2012) Monsters vs Aliens was directed by men granted but it was made at DreamWorks in an environment which is said to have become, 'One of Hollywood's Most Female-Driven Studios' (Pamela McClintock, 2012). This of course maybe has nothing to do with anything, unless it does - but back to the point.
So what makes a strong female character? Is it rebelion? Is it out-male-ing the males? Or is it self awareness and discovery? Is it having the strength of character to be yourself and define your own role in society? I dunno, I'm a bloke, I've got it easy, but it seems to me that the two characters deal with similar situations differently and this makes them quite distinct; Princess Merida starts from a position of rebellion and ultimately softens that position, Susan starts from a position of conformity and we see her react to the pressures placed on her by others and ultimately find herself and, importantly, the strength to be herself.
I'm not suggesting that Brave is necessarily sexist but it ultimately felt fairly empty for me, where was the bold direction that was promised? In terms of feminism, I feel that this is like the filmic equivalent of claims like Thatcher being the first female prime minister was empowering to women; it was good to see (party politics aside) but at best empty and at worst damaging for women. Monsters vs. Aliens was seen by the studio as disappointing and so will never see a sequel (or maybe that's a good thing) but to me this film seems much more of a step forward and infinitely more progressive. It's a shame that box office takings seem to be the only indicator of success. J
Blogger A. Lynne (if that is her real name), known as the Nerdy Feminist (which I'm absolutely positive isn't her real name), explains that as she 'sat down...and the lights went dark in the theatre, I was amped for a strong female character. What I got was that and much more.' (Nerdy Feminist, 2012)
Jordan Zakarin from 'The Hollywood Reporter' felt the need to write about the film under the headline 'Pixar's 'Brave' Feminist bet: Does a Princess need a Prince Charming?' (The Hollywood Reporter, 2012). Tom Watson is a bloke at 'Forbes' and he thinks she is a bold step forward and the film is 'an important mainstream feminist document.' (Forbes, 2012)
So Merida, a Princess, refuses her traditional, arranged marriage and bests the boys in "feats of strength or arms", plays the boys at their own game, big bloody manly challenges, and then goes in the huff with her mum and gets her turned into a bear. She then realises that bears are crap at being mums, so tries to get her back and that's about it. Patriarchy is never challenged; although the mum takes a commanding role in the house "I am your mother and you'll do as I say." This is in all familial matters and so she is firmly placed in a role within the household, while the King rules all around it. "I want a spell to change my mum. That'll change my fate." The mother has to change - not the father! Not the social order! The mother. In fact, it's perhaps arguable that the all that really happens is that the two are taught a lesson for their transgression.
Another problem here for me is that Merida, and to an extent her mum, may be deemed to be strong mainly by virtue of all the guys being completely and utterly useless. Hanna Rosin appears to agree with this and believes it to be evidence of a great leap forward in ideology and characterisation for the studio: 'If a boy's club made this movie than [sic] the boy's club was drunk or bamboozled. The men in Brave are all oafs, idiots, or sissies; not a shred of intelligence or heroism among them.' (Slate, 2012) I totally agree with Hanna's evaluation of the male characters but I think that this is hugely problematic as any strength in Merida's character may then arguably appear to come from the lack of comparative strength shown by any of the others; it's like saying someone wins because everyone else is shit, which demeans and diminishes any strength of character Merida might possess. This is one big reason that I don't think that Brave makes a feminist statement, I don't think it makes any kind of statement at all. The representations of the males make the Princes different from a normal Disney representation but the princess not fantastically so. Just because there are no infallible, desirable male characters doesn't make the female characters any more emancipated or powerful; poor representations of everyone doesn't make a good representation of anyone. What would she have done if there had been a Prince Charming among the suitors? Or Nicolas Cage or Justin Bebo? I dunno whomever is deem attractive these days. Peter Bradshaw seems to be left with a similar distrust of the 'strong' females in Brave:
Now, in some respects, it is interesting and unusual not to have a conventional love interest, but what we are offered instead is something oddly regressive, binding Merida into the family unit just when she was making that bid for independent adulthood, and we don't learn anything very interesting about Merida or her mum. (Guardian, 2012)
I think it could be said that youth seems to be more of a focus regardless of gender. It is simply teenage rebellion, a noble topic to discuss, but it is nothing more. No politics. No revolution. No big statement. The boys feel just as put upon as Merida does and also benefit from her break with 'tradition'. The system has been perhaps amended, the arguments and revolts subside for now, but hierarchically nothing has changed. That is ultimately all that we get, as with any generation they seek to be seen apart from the generation they follow and, as often happens, they ultimately become the thing they sought to challenge.
The representation of Merida may be progressive by Disney standards who's attempts at diversity so far seem to have extended to a slight darkening of Esmerelda's skin tone (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996), Pocahontas (Pocahontas, 1995) and Mulan (Mulan, 1998) representing Native Americans and Chinese and Ariel being ginger and half fish (The Little Mermaid, 1989), all small superficial moves that ultimately marked very little, if any, real shifts in their modes of representation.
So what do I think it might take to create a strong female character (I convince myself) I hear you cry? Well not much different actually if we look at Monsters vs Aliens (2009), but while the differences may be slight I think they speak volumes.
At the start of the film Susan is to be married and she is far more accepting than Merida ever was, in fact she is downright cock-a-hoop (whatever that means, I'm assured it is good). Her life is mapped out for her and it is mapped out around her man. So our two female characters start in very similar situations. Susan's position in society is more imperceptibly imposed on her (kinda Althusserian) than Merida's, so an act of rebellion won't cut it because she see nothing to rebel against. But then society rejects her when, after a subtle change (a meteor smacks into her, she grows quite a bit...about 50 feet or so, and she gets kidnapped by a male orientated government organisation - I'm not sure I know what subtle means), she no longer fits with, or corresponds to it's norms. She is forced out of this comfortable state (and forced awake to the things she accepted in her life) but for a while she laments this loss of her life and gets little to no sympathy - "Awh don't cry little lady it makes my knees hurt" but within this environment she flourishes and it's precisely because of who she is and because of that what she can do.
The only really complete person in the piece is Susan and she can stand independently against and above all these others things. Her character arc is also much more questioning of social positioning, as she is to be married at the beginning of the film, all the sacrifices she must make to make this marriage work are presented, critiqued and finally dealt with, on Susan's terms. This is all done without necessarily saying that marriage in itself is a bad thing; her parents present a loving, unified front, who come to respect and be proud, albeit maybe a wee bit scared, of their daughters individualism. Susan doesn't play the boys at their own game because there are no games established as being for the boys - there is a world and that is obviously represented as a man's one as there are hardly any women in it; she stands alone, she stands tall (HAHA! D'you see what I'm doing here? Three weeks that one took. Genius!), and she succeeds on purely her own terms, she doesn't rebel to gain some inches (Done it again! Didn't mean that one though. I'm a natural) and then fit in, she establishes herself. They accept her for who she is - not for her title or a position she'll eventually hold, but for who she is now - in fact they can't function without her and they acknowledge that. Susan is no longer validated by the company she keeps (even by herself) she is now merited for the things she achieves in her own right. She redubs herself, "...and the name is Ginormica", she choses her side, she decides who/what/where to be. Most importantly she choses her own path. Merida modifies her position and so her future - a bit - but she doesn't really change it.
So what makes a strong female character? Is it rebelion? Is it out-male-ing the males? Or is it self awareness and discovery? Is it having the strength of character to be yourself and define your own role in society? I dunno, I'm a bloke, I've got it easy, but it seems to me that the two characters deal with similar situations differently and this makes them quite distinct; Princess Merida starts from a position of rebellion and ultimately softens that position, Susan starts from a position of conformity and we see her react to the pressures placed on her by others and ultimately find herself and, importantly, the strength to be herself.
I'm not suggesting that Brave is necessarily sexist but it ultimately felt fairly empty for me, where was the bold direction that was promised? In terms of feminism, I feel that this is like the filmic equivalent of claims like Thatcher being the first female prime minister was empowering to women; it was good to see (party politics aside) but at best empty and at worst damaging for women. Monsters vs. Aliens was seen by the studio as disappointing and so will never see a sequel (or maybe that's a good thing) but to me this film seems much more of a step forward and infinitely more progressive. It's a shame that box office takings seem to be the only indicator of success. J
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