This has been bugging me for awhile, maybe you all can help me find the logic in this. What is up with cartoon movies and the lack of women? Yes, I know there are the "Disney Princesses" but I'm talking about mothers and sisters. Good mothers and sisters, I should clarify.
First we start with Snow White: evil step-mother who casts her out and then poisons her with an apple. Very bad...
Then there's Cinderella, big case in point: evil step-mother and two evil step-sisters! A Fairy Godmother that show up once doesn't count.
Sleeping Beauty: mother briefly mentioned but doesn't play a big role (at least she's not dead or evil I suppose). The Disney version has the cute fairy sisters but that's back to "fairies don't count."
Beauty and the Beast: no mother
Aladdin: no mother
Ariel: no mother, although the TV show gives her semi-normal sisters
Bambi: mother is killed
Finding Nemo: again, mother is killed, geez...
Not to downplay a father's role but most of these movies do have great father figures, a lot of times that's a main part of the script. The only movies I can think of with decent moms (The Lion King, Mulan and Peter Pan) downplay the mother/main character relationship. Lilo & Stitch is fairly unique with its sister theme. Score one out of a million for sisterhood. *sigh*
Don't even get me started on the fact that there's never been a movie with two strong female leads. Sure the "Princesses" are nice and all but do they ever have a great female friend to share their adventures? Now switch to main male characters as friends and there are oodles: Toy Story, Brother Bear, A Bug's Life, Hercules, Shrek, The Jungle Book, The Sword in the Stone, Robin Hood, Emperor's New Groove, Sinbad, Spirit. And those are just off the top of my head, I'm sure I'm missing some.
Of course I don't expect my girls to learn how mother/daughter and sister relationships work from the movies. But throw us a bone here, can't we have one fantastic cartoon movie with a happy mother/daughter team or at least a couple of sisters who aren't evil? Can the writers not come up with a mother's role in a movie that doesn't involve killing her off in the first ten minutes or hating her daughter? Plus women can be extremely good friends, isn't our gender known for that? Wouldn't it be awesome to see a female Woody & Buzz duo?
It just frustrates me. I don't understand why good female relationships have never been addressed in a cartoon movie. Maybe I should switch writing genres. I'll title it: "Kickass Mom and Daughter with Awesome Supportive Sisters Save the World." Okay I know, I've always been crappy with titles but you get the idea... *winks*
(If you want to look up any of these titles, go here: Internet Movie Database. Sorry, I listed way too many movies to go through and link them all.)
All Content at katiefleck.com is Copyright 2003-2008 by Katie Fleck, All Rights Reserved.
