Sleeping Beauty
Cinderella
Themes: Damsel in distress, helpless, women are the enemy, man overcomes and saves the woman
There has been a seismic shift since these early films. Women have taken on a more meaningful role outside of the home. These old school movies were perpetuating a way of conformity for boys and girls. Now we find movies where these previous stereotypes and themes are debunked. This was a gradual change. Look at Beauty and The Beast or Aladdin. Its been a long time coming.
I have been watching more animated movies as of late. I love them. No shame here. However, I have noticed an even more stark change in the message we are now presented with. Its exactly opposite of previous themes. Look at the below films and their female lead solo song.
Movie - Character - Song
Zootopia - Judy Hopps - Try Everything (yeah, Shakira sang it, but its her jam too!)
Trolls - Princess Poppy - I will get back up again
Moana - Moana - How Far I'll go
All of these movies portray a strong female that overcame great obstacles and doubts.
- Judy chose to be a police officer as a bunny. No small feat. She did this despite her species, her family's doubt, and leaderships hope that she would fail.
- Poppy went to rescue her people from a people who would EAT her. She turned hate into love. No small feat.
- Moana sailed an open ocean, faced a demi-god, Demonic coconuts, a massive singing crab, and an angry volcano.
Here is the themes now: strong woman, teamwork, able to accomplish anything, hope
This message makes me excited for next generation, who grew up singing:
I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail
I won’t give up, no I won’t give in
Till I reach the end
And then I’ll start again
Or
I'm not giving up today
There's nothing getting in my way
And if you knock knock me over
I will get back up again
OR
See the line where the sky meets the sea it calls me
And no one knows, how far it goes
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me
One day I'll know, how far I'll go
No comments:
Post a Comment