Movie rec: Pixar's "Brave"
Dec. 30th, 2012 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
capri0mniThe other day, dharma_slut posted this link to a TEDx Talk by Colin Stokes, about the correlation between our modern rape culture and the lack of movies that pass the Bechdel Test:
http://youtu.be/Nx8RRIiP53Q
Quick summary of his thesis:
A) It's not enough that we empower girls to protect themselves against the Patriarchy; we have to teach boys to fight the Patriarchy, too.
B) Adventure movies aimed at young male audiences that Don't pass the Bechdel Test have the following subtext: "The role of the True Man is to go out Alone and Kill the Bad Guys, and then come home and collect his reward: a woman who has no friends, and doesn't speak."
So:
C) It's time for fathers to teach their sons that it's a good thing to want to be on Team with the goal of helping others, instead of being a Solo Renegade, even if the leader of that team is a woman, and that Real Men trust their sisters.
And part of his talk was a strong endorsement, by name, of Pixar's new Movie "Brave."
Based on that recommendation, I did something I'd never planned on doing: Gave Google my credit card number, and rented "Brave" for 48 hours of watching over the Internet. I just finished watching the first time through tonight... May watch it again before time's up tomorrow.
Anyway: I wanted to report: not only does it pass the Bechdel Test (the whole movie is basically a long conversation between Mother and Daughter about How to Lead yourKing Queendom), it also passes the Disability Test I came up with a couple of weeks ago.
The King loses half his leg in the first act (before the tenth minute), in a fight with a demon bear. And for the rest of the film, his peg leg is treated as proof that he Survived, rather than a reason to be pitied.
So it has a disabled character. And while he boasts about getting revenge against the demon, that's clearly for the sake of a good story; he spends all his actual energy trying to maintain the peace in his kingdom (mainly between his wife and teenage daughter), so it's clear that that's his real motivation. And the movie has a happy ending, even though (*gasp*) he still has a peg leg at the end.
Anyway, the movie's page on YouTube has snippets of reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, and while the majority were positive (overall 78% positive), even the good reviews were kind of lukewarm. Now that I've seen the movie, I think a big reason for that is what I call: "Mashed potatoes Vs. Vanilla ice cream Syndrome;" they may be the best mashed potatoes ever to come out of any chef's kitchen, but if you gobble down a mouthful expecting ice cream, you're going to hate them.
The number one thing that I noticed about this film, in comparison with all the other Pixar movies I've seen is that it is so much darker.
First, it's literally darker. Every other movie from them has been "candy-colored:" the worlds of children's toys, and tropical fish in coral reefs, and crayon-colored monsters in closets. This movie was set in the Scottish Highlands, in the Middle Ages, and its color palette is dominated by fog, and stone, and deep, dark forests (still image from the film of the heroine riding her black horse through a fog-shrouded ring of standing stones). I, on the other hand, love those forest/earth tones. But I still recommend watching the 2-D version, and turning the brightness on your screen all the way up.
Second, it's thematically darker (and that may be what dampened reviewers' enthusiasm most of all). Usually, these kinds of "kids' movies" get their happy ending from the moral: "Free spirits just have to be Free!!. But this movie gets its happy ending from the moral: "Free Spirits must learn to temper their Hearts' Desires with Responsibility Toward Their Community." The soaring ballad during the closing credits is "Learn me Right," and it's all about owning up to your mistakes: needing, seeking, and earning, forgiveness.
According to Box Office Stats (unfortunately powerful), this was the first Pixar movie to fail to come in the Top Ten of the Year (it came in #11). I can't help but wonder if it would have done better as an autumn movie-- it certainly had an autumn feel, rather than summer vacation and cotton candy... you know?
Anyway, I liked it.
dharma_slut posted this link to a TEDx Talk by Colin Stokes, about the correlation between our modern rape culture and the lack of movies that pass the Bechdel Test:http://youtu.be/Nx8RRIiP53Q
Quick summary of his thesis:
A) It's not enough that we empower girls to protect themselves against the Patriarchy; we have to teach boys to fight the Patriarchy, too.
B) Adventure movies aimed at young male audiences that Don't pass the Bechdel Test have the following subtext: "The role of the True Man is to go out Alone and Kill the Bad Guys, and then come home and collect his reward: a woman who has no friends, and doesn't speak."
So:
C) It's time for fathers to teach their sons that it's a good thing to want to be on Team with the goal of helping others, instead of being a Solo Renegade, even if the leader of that team is a woman, and that Real Men trust their sisters.
And part of his talk was a strong endorsement, by name, of Pixar's new Movie "Brave."
Based on that recommendation, I did something I'd never planned on doing: Gave Google my credit card number, and rented "Brave" for 48 hours of watching over the Internet. I just finished watching the first time through tonight... May watch it again before time's up tomorrow.
Anyway: I wanted to report: not only does it pass the Bechdel Test (the whole movie is basically a long conversation between Mother and Daughter about How to Lead your
The King loses half his leg in the first act (before the tenth minute), in a fight with a demon bear. And for the rest of the film, his peg leg is treated as proof that he Survived, rather than a reason to be pitied.
So it has a disabled character. And while he boasts about getting revenge against the demon, that's clearly for the sake of a good story; he spends all his actual energy trying to maintain the peace in his kingdom (mainly between his wife and teenage daughter), so it's clear that that's his real motivation. And the movie has a happy ending, even though (*gasp*) he still has a peg leg at the end.
Anyway, the movie's page on YouTube has snippets of reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, and while the majority were positive (overall 78% positive), even the good reviews were kind of lukewarm. Now that I've seen the movie, I think a big reason for that is what I call: "Mashed potatoes Vs. Vanilla ice cream Syndrome;" they may be the best mashed potatoes ever to come out of any chef's kitchen, but if you gobble down a mouthful expecting ice cream, you're going to hate them.
The number one thing that I noticed about this film, in comparison with all the other Pixar movies I've seen is that it is so much darker.
First, it's literally darker. Every other movie from them has been "candy-colored:" the worlds of children's toys, and tropical fish in coral reefs, and crayon-colored monsters in closets. This movie was set in the Scottish Highlands, in the Middle Ages, and its color palette is dominated by fog, and stone, and deep, dark forests (still image from the film of the heroine riding her black horse through a fog-shrouded ring of standing stones). I, on the other hand, love those forest/earth tones. But I still recommend watching the 2-D version, and turning the brightness on your screen all the way up.
Second, it's thematically darker (and that may be what dampened reviewers' enthusiasm most of all). Usually, these kinds of "kids' movies" get their happy ending from the moral: "Free spirits just have to be Free!!. But this movie gets its happy ending from the moral: "Free Spirits must learn to temper their Hearts' Desires with Responsibility Toward Their Community." The soaring ballad during the closing credits is "Learn me Right," and it's all about owning up to your mistakes: needing, seeking, and earning, forgiveness.
According to Box Office Stats (unfortunately powerful), this was the first Pixar movie to fail to come in the Top Ten of the Year (it came in #11). I can't help but wonder if it would have done better as an autumn movie-- it certainly had an autumn feel, rather than summer vacation and cotton candy... you know?
Anyway, I liked it.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-01 04:21 am (UTC)And according to the Wikipedia article about the movie, Brenda Chapman, who wrote the original story and started out as director, was replaced by the studio over "artistic differences," though in the same article, she's quoted as saying the overall feel of the film was still true to her original vision, and she's proud to have her name associated with the project. But I can't help but wonder if some of her original complexity was taken out.
The "Wondertale Geek" part of me did think it odd that the spell would become permanent after the Second sunrise, instead of the usual Third (for stories in the European/Celtic tradition). I must admit: there was almost the "record scratch" sound effect in my brain when the movie came to that line. I wonder if the original story had a third day of living under the magic, and more things happening with their relationship...
I don't think there was much of a danger of children not getting this story... kids are a lot more sophisticated than adults give them credit for. But I can easily see the execs at the movie studio getting nervous if a story pushes too far outside their comfort zone of tropes.
Off on a Tangent
Date: 2013-01-01 06:24 pm (UTC)I wanted to see more about the wicked/impulsive prince who was changed, and how his story would inform the main story. Ah! But as I type this, I think I know one large thing that didn't sit right with me about Brave: you can't make other people change. The *Queen's* fate was changed, too, and that doesn't seem right to me. Faerie tales are often about choices in the face of outrageous situations. "Goldilocks" is especially about choices, since G makes a wrong one in entering the bears' house and eating their food, etc., when she is making the "just right" choices.
Re: Off on a Tangent
Date: 2013-01-01 09:38 pm (UTC)That didn't bother me, so much. Because, whether it's actually possible or not, the wish that we could change other people is still true to life (especially in a contest between two strong wills). And the fact is: the actions we take and the decisions we make do alter the paths and fates of others. If you decide, in a hurry, to drive through a red light, and crash into another car, and the passenger in that other car survives with a spinal chord injury, than you have, in fact, profoundly changed that other person's fate.
You can not, however, change another person's Self-- and it's within that Self that the other person has the freedom, despite your actions, to choose how to respond to their altered fate. Likewise, Queen Elinor was free to respond in her own way to her changed circumstance. She could just have easily come out the other side of that experience (trying to discuss this without too many spoilers) clinging even more tightly, for safety, to the protocols and traditions of the past, instead of embracing the change she had been through. That was her choice.
In his TED talk (where he recommended this film) Colin Stokes pointed out the role of peacemaker and community-builder role as leadership models for both girls and boys. So I was hoping for more of that in this story -- there's that one speech the princess gives in the Great Hall. But I was hoping for more...
Re: Off on a Tangent
Date: 2013-01-01 11:53 pm (UTC)Re: Off on a Tangent
Date: 2013-01-02 12:32 am (UTC)That's another reason I want my entire circle/s to watch this film! It's made me thinky, and I want to Talk all about this scene and that scene, ooh, and that clue over there about what might have been cut, and did you notice the bit with...?
Besides the fact that it was written and (originally) directed by a woman, and it passes the Bechdel Test, and has a decent depiction of Disability. And this sort of thing ought to be rewarded with real monies, so we get more of this sort of thing!
(But also, want to talk about it without having to mince around the spoilers)