Friday 10 August 2012

The Disney Princess Opinion

With the release of a new Disney (teamed with Pixar) Princess film Brave I thought I would talk about the Disney Princess films. Over the decades there has been a lot of criticism thrown towards these films. These criticisms mainly concern the 'unrealistic' portrayal of love and relationships, and the representation of women. I explored part of this in my A Level Media Studies coursework and I found it to be a really interesting subject to delve into, especially as I watched and adored them when I was a little girl.  People tend to find that they form very strong opinions concerning these subjects and I thought I would point out the issues and put forward my opinion, so that you can form your own.

Disney's apparent 'unrealistic' portrayal of love and relationships has left parents questioning whether they should let their children watch the films.  Personally, I am in love with the idea of true love, soul mates, the happily-ever-after and I think it stems from my viewings of the Disney Princess films. They promote these ideas about relationships to little girls and in a way I think that these little girls (me included) always hope for it. Who wouldn't? The perfect relationship. However, I'm also a pessimist and I find it hard to believe that everyone will have a happily ever after and meet their true love. Your soul mate could have already found someone they're happy with and the divorce rates don't exactly help the idea of true love. But, that doesn't stop me hoping. I'm an optimistic pessimist. I know that some parents don't let their children watch the Disney princess films because they don't want them to have false expectations about love. I would happily let my children watch the films because I know that (as my mum did) you can educate them yourselves about relationships.

I will admit that women on a whole aren't represented very well in the Disney Princess films. They're always slim, beautiful and have no flaws. Up until Pocahontas the Princess were all white with blonde/brunette hair. Even when Disney diversified, the women were still unrealistically beautiful. It leaves the little girls aspiring to look like them. There are reasons for why women were represented in this way. First of which is they were originally constructed by men to appeal to men. This explains the low cut dresses and flawless beauty.  The animators had to base the images of the princesses on real people and they found the easiest people were ballerina's. This explains the original images of Snow White; Slim and elegant.
All of the princesses are vain. I think the majority of them look in the mirror to make sure they are presentable for the 'prince.' This implies that to the little girls that they need to look perfect to impress a man. The evil villains tend to want to stop/kill/imprison the princesses because of their beauty. The films are obsessed with the idea of beauty. There are only two instances that I can think of off the top of my head where Disney suggests that beauty isn't about image, but about what is on the inside. This can be seen in Cinderella II (Die-hard Disney fan here) with the ugly sisters and the Princess and the Frog. I think the Princess and the Frog is a great example because the prince falls in love with the frog version of Tiana rather than the beautiful human version.
All of the princesses are domesticated, even the most recent, Rapunzel (sorry I haven't seen Brave yet...out next week). They all clean and cook. You never see men doing the chores. If you take these films by when they were made, then it can be seen as a fair and realistic representation. But, Rapunzel was released in 2010 and this isn't a fair or realistic representation now. Women are more equal to men and men have started doing more chores. I know women who don't cook. Their husbands do it for them.
However, the Princess are changing. They have become more independent and less girly. The earlier princesses waited for their Prince Charming's to save them from their dreadful fates. Where as, Pocahontas refuses to marry her father's choice and Mulan runs away from home to join the army as a man to save her father. They have also become less interested in domestication and more interested in reading and playing chess.

Even after all of these points which are valid and they do disturb me slightly, I still love these films. They were the best films of my childhood. Every little girl wants to feel like a princess and these films make you feel like this.  You have to take these films with a pinch of salt and take into account when they were made. They are wonderful films and you can see that Disney are trying to change their representations of women. Brave looks really good, an independent, strong princess who can kick butt for little girls look up to (It's about time). I can't wait to see it and I hope it's everything they promised. Now I leave you to make your own verdict.

Wednesday 1 August 2012

3D: You Either Love It Or Hate It

3D, the newest craze in the film industry. I neither love it or hate it. I know many people who are fascinated with 3D. They will go and see 3D versions of films and will complain when films aren't in 3D. However, I also know twice as many people who don't like 3D and I understand why.
The first 3D film I saw was Spy Kids 3-D. As a child this was one of the most amazing films ever. You got to wear the retro glasses and objects came flying out at you, making you jump. This is what I loved about 3D. It was great before it became all stylised and techno-dependent. I will also admit to liking Avatar in 3D and that was the main reason I wanted to go and see the film. In 2009 we were drawn to the cinema to see Avatar because of the 3D and I feel that if it hadn't been in 3D, it may not have had as large a box office takings as it does.
However, now I feel that 3D is being over used and in the wrong kinds of films. Avatar, for example, was just as good in 2D. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger's Tides was better in 2D for me because I found it really hard to concentrate on certain action scenes when it was in the 3D format. This goes for the majority of live action films. I still enjoy seeing animations in 3D, but once again they're just as good in 2D. You can obviously tell when watching a 2D film that it was made for 3D, but that doesn't take anything away from the film.
3D has become a gimmick to make money in my opinion. Cinema prices shot up when 3D was introduced to pay for the new equipment that they needed to play the films, but after 3 years these prices either haven't change by much or have risen. You have to pay extra for the glasses and the luxury of seeing the film in 3D. The price for a 2D ticket alone is ridiculous for an adult, but then add the 3D charges on top and your spending a small fortune, especially in a recession. As I said in a previous post, the film industry is there to make money by entertaining us and this seems to work, but at a small, extra price(A large one if you have a big family).
Recently James Cameron re-released Titanic in 3D for the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking and I don't agree with this. The film was perfect in 2D and it would have made just as much money in the re-release if it was left like this. I don't understand what 3D adds to a film like that...a little bit of depth, but that's all. The film wasn't made to be in 3D.
This doesn't apply to everyone, but the glasses do annoy me. I have to wear glasses to the cinema anyway and it's not comfortable wearing two pairs of glasses and frankly you look like a bit of an idiot. I think this puts of many people because they cant wear the two pairs of glasses. I think if they really want 3D to catch on they need to do something about this. Today, I went to see Ice Age: Continental Drift and my friend and I had chosen to see it in 2D. The screening before ours was in 3D and our film was 30 minutes late because they seemed to be having problems with the screen after the 3D showing. This is another issue they need to sort out if they really want the craze to catch on.
Overall, I do enjoy 3D films to a certain extent, but I believe that it is being over used and should be kept to certain genres of films because it's hard to watch certain films in 3D and it isn't always necessary.