quite the problem child of fandom

xlivvielockex:

Do you follow Feminist Disney?

Here is the list of movies they have done already. Some good Mulan and Beauty and the Beast thoughts.  

Yes those are good thoughts thank you! I’ve always been…unhappy with Belle? Because there really isn’t much agency there at first and a lot of what does emerge seems centered in Stockholm Syndrome. (And I have an inherent dislike for dreamers who reject pragmatism altogether but w/ever.) OTOH, she runs away almost immediately, and returns specifically because the guy who was terrorizing her proceeds to save her life, and she owes him- so it isn’t really Stockholm Syndrome at all, it’s kindness and gratitude from her. And while his kindness is forced at first, it becomes something natural because of her- not because she’s molding him into the guy she wants, but because she demands it from him. She isn’t going to tolerate his callousness or nastiness, and she essentially tames the beast. And I get how the message of the movie has negative undertones, but I don’t think that Belle herself is nearly as problematic because she’s all about agency.

And Mulan is, too, in a society that that blog rightly points out is patriarchal in nature, even after she’s lauded for heroism. And she slips into an acceptable role temporarily, but I think the most significant part of that is that she does it for a goal beyond masculinity- that male image is a means to an end, no more, and in the end she’s unmasked and still succeeds as a woman- and has three men take on female roles to assist her, even! I find Mulan the least problematic of any Disney movie, I think, and the heroine most laudable. (Maybe Tangled? Idk. I haven’t seen it often enough to think it through yet.)

(Source: temporarilyobsessive)