From the Mary Sue:
“On May 11th Brave‘s Merida will be officially crowned as the 11th Disney Princess, the impact of which is that Disney will be selling more stuff with her on it, I guess? Anyway. Along with the “coronation ceremony,” to be held at Walt Disney World, Merida’s gotten a new redesign…”
A great summary from Toward the Stars:
Here’s one of my favorite pre-botox, pre-makeover Merida expressions.
Pithy analysis from Peggy Orenstein on the eventual fate of way too many of Disney’s female characters:
Because, in the end, it wasn’t about being brave after all. It was about being pretty…I’m especially creeped out by Belle who appears to have had major surgery… In addition to everything else, they’re pushing the brown girls slowly but surely to the edges…
I’ve always said that it’s not about the movies. It’s about the bait-and-switch that happens in the merchandise, and the way the characters have evolved and proliferated off-screen. Maybe the problem is partly that these characters are designed in Hollywood, where real women are altering their appearance so regularly that animators, and certainly studio execs, think it’s normal.
The disease of homogeneous, anorexic, botoxed, generic females has spread worldwide, through these kinds of images. Did you see the Reddit story about the Korean beauty queens: “Has plastic surgery made these beauty queens all look the same? Koreans complain about pageant clones.” Talk about creepy.
One commenter wrote:
‘The surgery takes away their individuality and uniqueness and its sad. Most are beautiful without it but telling them that their Korean ethnic features are in fact lovely is as effective as screaming at a brick wall.
‘They wont believe you because they’ve been brainwashed to think westernization of their features is superior, I don’t think they want to look white, but a mix of white and Asian and definitely less Korean.’
I so agree with you
say no to the merida makeover! sign this petition: https://www.change.org/petitions/disney-say-no-to-the-merida-makeover-keep-our-hero-brave
I saw this on Tumblr and I am simply outraged…I really liked Merida a lot,nut this makeover….UGH why Disney….
This is one bad move…
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Great post! Thank you. I’m so over the need for girls and women to fit into an ideal mold. Crossing fingers that we get to keep the prettier Merida that we already have!
Because it’s absolutely impossible for an empowered women to look sexy.
No rbdvcs, it’s impossible for women to be empowered when one manufactured look dictates sexiness.
Thanks for continuing to be on top of these issues. (And a funny side note: my 5 and a half year old daughter’s name is Merida. Yes, we named her well before the movie, thinking it was a beautiful name and would be rather unusual. We’ll see if people start naming their children Merida now.)
How cool, I love the name!
Awful that they take such a positive character and destroy her individuality. Incorporating some vapid idealised pose of simpering girlishness. 🙁
Do not forget that Mulan has received the same treatment before! Her story was never about marrying, she was strong, independent and able to fight anyone or anything coming her way. Now all her merchandise is about her looking pretty in Chinese costumes, not kicking Huns’ asses.
I’m glad your daughter has a positive guide. Too bad Disney doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone.
Well written. I also hope my daughter never feels that way! With us as parents hopefully they have a chance!