I'm visiting people for Christmas, people who have small children. Naturally, it's been a decade or more since there's been much in the way of Disney flicks at the Borepatch household, and so this was an interesting comparison of the old Disney and the new Disney. Cutting to the chase, short Disney stock.
I always thought that Disney put out a decent entertainment product, and the kids seemed to think so, too. However you feel for the Empire Of The Mouse, the films were almost always good adventure entertainment, one that would pull the kids in for repeat viewings.
I can't say that's true anymore, based on Frozen. More specifically, it is but only for girls. The ending left no place for boys to aspire to heroics, and so I doubt very much that my kids would have watched it more than once.
What that means is that if Frozen is the new model for Disney films, they're punting half of their target audience. Of course the critics love the tough, you-go-girl theme - as do the Moms, from my experience watching the crowd watching the movie. But the male characters are really pretty irrelevant to the story, and so it's hard to see how boys would bet sucked in to the same repeat viewing pattern that #1 Son and #2 Son had, Back In The Day.
What's quite odd is that the older Disney movies had a ton of strong and compelling female lead characters. It's just that they had good male lead characters, too. That seems to be gone.
It's a shame, really. It makes me glad that my boys are older and don't have to have a load of feminist nonsense pushed down their throats in their formative years.
Frozen is just one movie. I wouldn't worry just yet. Now, if their next kid's movie does the same thing, I'd start worrying.
ReplyDeleteAlso, don't forget that Disney owns both Marvel and Star Wars, two big properties that will keep going strong for at least a few more years. I wouldn't short that stock just yet.
Frozen and its most-immediate "princess" predecessor Brave, are very heavy on "girl power, no boys necessary", but the next-most-recent "princess" movie, Tangled is much better, with strong female AND male leads.
ReplyDeleteA much more worthy film, in my estimation. Plus, the parents don't die. :)
With roughly a billion dollars over production costs on the movie alone, Frozen did pretty good.
ReplyDeleteAnd the movie making part is only a part of the Disney Corporation.
I watched Frozen with my oldest Granddaughter.
ReplyDeleteDisney really went cheap on the production for that one.
Most animated Disney Movies have been pretty entertaining.
Frozen was, well frozen. Story line, acting, music and lyrics were all wooden at best.
I was embarrassed on their behalf.
This is just one piece of the larger cultural trend in the US. The elites in entertainment are largely focused on strong female characters to the exclusion of strong male characters. Not just movies, either.
ReplyDeleteI started reading science fiction in 1960, and shortly thereafter added fantasy to my reading mix. (Military history, my other passion, is going to remain essentially free of feminist claptrap.) Today, both genres are dominated by female protagonists. I don't know if I would have been as enthusiastic a reader if I was a child today. (We'll leave the massive drugging of today's active boys aside for the time being.)
Much of the fantasy I see on the bookshelves is along the lines of: young female in repressive patriarchal society discovers some magical powers (that she can effectively use without any training or hard work) and either escapes or reforms that society. Happily ever after. Grrl power.
Science fiction, even military science fiction, will have female leaders/protagonists also. Now, the use of enhanced exoskeleton fighting suits (see "Starship Troopers" the book, not the movie) may make females the physical equals of males, but differences in emotional reaction to stimuli between young males and females will mitigate against the effectiveness of mixed-sex fighting units. Unless both sexes are "fixed" with drugs and/or nanites. We've started that with the boys already. (Told you I'd get back to the drugging of boys.)
Brave new world our elites want for us.