The reviewer said that Cinderella and Ariel and Belle are all fine examples of spunky Disney heroines [though he doesn’t seem all that thrilled with traditional role models for women]. I’d say that he got one out of three right. Cinderella has charm and grace, but I do not find her particularly spunky. She is good, in the insipid manner of many a B-movie heroine. And Ariel is just a brat who lucks out, regaining her voice and winning the love of a clueless but handsome male. [I am not bashing men in general; I am bashing Prince Eric specifically.]
As far as I’m concerned, Belle is the first *intelligent* Disney heroine. She reads, she thinks, and she is not fooled by that handsome, swaggering bully Gaston. Unlike Ariel, who just wants more, Belle is willing to sacrifice her comfort and her future to save the life of her father. The beast wins her love not through overwhelming masculinity, but by offering her a gift that is meaningful: free rein in his library. [Much the same as the hero of Phenomenon, who buys the chairs of the woman he loves.]
This would correspond in my world to Brother Right owning a used bookstore, a yarn shop, a llama herd, and an Arthur Murray franchise.
Me, I like Movie Mom over on Yahoo! though I’m having a hard time finding her these days.
Movies that I’ve watched over the past few days: The Illusionist, which I loved because of the golden and red color light in which it’s photographed, the costuming, the soundtrack, and protagonists that I found far more compelling than those in The Prestige.
Hairspray, which I adored. Fourthborn called me on Saturday night and asked if I had seen it. I hadn’t, so she brought it over. Love John Travolta, loved the costumes and the singing and the dancing and the sly wit of the lyrics. Loved seeing Elijah Kelley, who danced in Take the Lead.
Much fun, and snippets of soundtrack are still bouncing off the walls of my brainpan this morning.
LittleBit and I went out in the field for drivers ed last night. We went down to the parking lot at church and used chalk to mark the space that Lorelai takes up vs. the space that needs to be our bubble of safety. We didn’t do anything like that when I took drivers ed almost 40 years ago. LittleBit is taking paperwork to school today, and I am taking a form to get notarized at work, so that we can go get her learner’s permit. If we have our ducks in a row, she may get to start driving to seminary in the morning, with me in the front seat next to her. We have *one month* to get this done before she turns 18 so we get the discount for drivers ed.
Knitting content? Here you go ~
It looks as if I’ll only need three repeats of Clue 2 to get me the length I want before working the heel. I’m off to seminary and to work on the other sock.
5 comments:
I wonder if Julie is thinking of the extended Cinderella. You know they have Cinderella II (all stupid) and III (mostly stupid), and a number of other princess-based DVDs for little girls. My granddaughter Misha and I must have watched "Disney Princess Christmas" or whatever it's called fifty times while her parents were moving this summer.
my parents met in an Arthur Murray studio. she was 22, he was 39. 43 years later, they are still together.
I also watched Hairspray Sunday night! Lauren, Kara, and I all went and saw it at the movie theatre this summer and I loved it, so now that it's out on DVD I had to rent it. John Travolta is funny, and I really liked the girl who played Tracy.
Tola, that's so cool about your folks! I sure hope that when Brother Right shows up, he's a dancer.
Julie, Fourthborn bought the version that has 2 CD's and oodles of extra stuff. If I end up buying this myself, that's the one I'm getting.
Tan, I don't know which Cinderella Julie had in mind; the only one I know about is the original, because I don't buy sequels unless they are good enough to stand on their own. Julie's comment on her own blog was about the movie that Cranky Reviewer was trashing, which was [I think, could be wrong] "Enchanted". I saw a trailer for it online when I was home sick last week, and it sounded like fun to me. Not enough fun to pay full price for tickets, but fun enough to rent it when it comes out on DVD.
Heading out to Knit Night. I went to the wrong location after work and was "treated" to three obnoxious high school students, one of whom was a girl who needed her mouth washed out with soap, or maybe Tabasco.
Just to clarify, I was commenting on the new Disney movie Enchanted starring Amy Adams. (I have never seen any of the extended Princess line of movies, only the originals.)
I only rented the Hairspray disc that has the movie on it, not the extras. Lauren has already purchased it though, so hopefully she is bringing it when she comes for Christmas and I can watch all the extras then.
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