Merida's New Look

dopeylover

dopeylover

Well-Known Member
I get what everyone is saying, esp. about the lowered bust line. However I read something someone posted in regards to this yesterday I agreed with. Something to the effect that most girls (Merida included) grow up and become a little more refined, esp. for a special ceremony as Merida had this past weekend. Even in the movie, much to her chagrin, when she was in 'formal wear' and being presented, she acted and looked more refined than she did riding Angus through the forest. In the end, she still maintains her spirit, but realizes that when you grow up you face different responsibilities. I'm not super happy with what they've done w/ the unneeded makeovers w/ the princesses in general (I just bought my DD a Disney Princess nail polish kit and Ariel was sporting some major cleavage that shocked me), but I don't think it's extremely over the line. Do I like it? No. But they aren't changing the characters personalities to match the makeovers, which really would have buttered my buns. If Merida looks a little more mature, but still has her independent spirit, I'm kind of Ok with it. If Cinderella, Rapunzel, Merida, etc. were all made over to be submissive hyper sexual girls, I'd be MAJORLY upset. But each of them, even when being rescued by a prince in some cases, shows a good example of what it means to believe in yourself, be independent, and stick to your dreams, and that message is really the most important for me.
 
The Empress Lilly

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
Merida's creator, and the original Brave director, weighs in:
"I think it's atrocious what they have done to Merida,"she wrote to her local newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal. "When little girls say they like it because it's more sparkly, that's all fine and good but, subconsciously, they are soaking in the sexy 'come-hither' look and the skinny aspect of the new version. It's horrible!
"Merida was created to break that mould," she added. "To give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/may/13/brave-director-criticises-sexualised-merida-redesign
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The Empress Lilly

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
Marin filmmaker Brenda Chapman, who won an Oscar for writing and co-directing the animated feature "Brave," blasted Disney's sexy makeover of her movie's feisty heroine, Merida, as "a blatantly sexist marketing move based on money."
Chapman, a Mill Valley resident, modeled the headstrong Merida on her 13-year-old daughter, Emma, creating her as a role model for little girls.
In an email to the Independent Journal on Saturday, she said she has given Bob Iger, president of Walt Disney International, "a piece of my mind" for the entertainment giant's decision to glamorize the tomboy character she envisioned.

"There is an irresponsibility to this decision that is appalling for women and young girls," she said, writing from Chile, where she has been on business. "Disney marketing and the powers that be that allow them to do such things should be ashamed of themselves."
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More 'ouch':
. In basing Merida on her teenage daughter, then a student at Mill Valley Middle School, she said she wanted the movie to be "a contemporary fairy tale" that resonates with today's working mothers and daughters. Her character's image as a different kind of princess turned out to be hugely successful, grossing more than $550 million, winning an Oscar, a Golden Globe and the Bafta Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

"They have been handed an opportunity on a silver platter to give their consumers something of more substance and quality — THAT WILL STILL SELL — and they have a total disregard for it in the name of their narrow minded view of what will make money," Chapman wrote. "I forget that Disney's goal is to make money without concern for integrity. Silly me."
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Looks like Disney commercialism went one step too far (again), spectacularly backfiring. I wish the original designers of WDW, of EPCOT, would have the guts to lash out at Disney like this, for taking a great creative product and destroying it into something trite, meaningless and overly commercial, unfit for people who take raising children seriously.

It had to take a woman to say publicly what all the fans and creative personel are thinking privately. No wonder this woman conceived of Brave.
http://www.marinij.com/millvalley/c...lasts-disney-blatant-sexism-princess-makeover
 
Monkee Girl

Monkee Girl

Well-Known Member
I love how it took Merida being changed to make people realize that Disney's redesigns was a mistake. People didn't care that Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty were turned into Barbies pretending to be princesses and that Mulan and Pocahontas has the same issues as Merida. But no, it took Merida to actually get a petition going. Well, if Merida is going to be the spokes girl, cool with me. As long as it makes Disney realize that they can't just redraw already known and favored characters and expect people so just sit back and take it.

I would not have minded if the redesigns were for a few months of merchandising. They have done dress changes before; no big deal. Actually changing the look of the characters and turning the park characters into representations of the merchandise is just offensive to me. The merchandise should reflect the characters not the other way around. For example, I loved the gold dress campaign. I thought it was cool and the toys were pretty. But at least the princesses themselves didn't change. Their hair and faces were the same. And Disney didn't decide that the big puffy gold dresses were going to be the official park meet and greet look. It lasted a while and then went away. No big deal. This new campaign however, I wish they would just stop and fire the people who thought of it.

Back to Merida. Not a big fan of hers. The movie was ok but I wasn't completely invested in it. I did meet her in Disney this past April and she was very sweet. she LOVED my sword pen I was using for autographs. Seeing her being reverted to "Disney Princess" status is bizzarr. She is not that type of character. Neither is Mulan and Pocahontas so seeing them dolled up with gold and jewels and whatnot is just weird. Especially when you know their characters. I guess the marketers forgot Pocahontas II?

546086_1285286064691_full_zps5e97e7ef.jpg


And Merida ripping up her dress to shoot her bow? They just don't fit the mold of sparkly glammed up vixens that is the representation now.

Turning Merida into a dainty princess is just wrong. Sure a girl can try on a new dress…But we know Merida is not that kind of character. If she were shopping, she wouldn't be the kind to go into a store and say 'oh look at that sparkly dress! I want!" she would be happier going into Walmart and getting the first dress she sees on the sale rack.

So I hope Disney get's the hint and turns the girls back to what they were supposed to look like because I am tired of not being able to buy princess stuff.
 
jmorri26

jmorri26

Well-Known Member
:-/ Doesn't bother me really.

They vamped up all the other princesses and people didn't make quite as much a fuss til Merida because Merida is supposed to be more tomboyish. I get that. The changes are pretty subtle too. Plus at her coronation, the CM wasn't acting all twirly and "princessy" like the others do. Her, Rapunzel, and Pochahontas are all more flat footed girls/women than pageant queens.
They put Ariel in that horrible green dress, Belle has her crazy boudoir hair now, and Cinderella sexed up her makeup- it's all of them really.
 
Monkee Girl

Monkee Girl

Well-Known Member
RandomPrincess said:
This is from Inside the Magic - Link for video of ceremony and more pictures
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If I am not mistaken, this isn't a redesign dress but the original dress she received for her official meet and greet. I actually wonder if Disney had the redesign in mind when they designed it.

c3a64a22-5e52-452f-a5b2-633d2c826013_zpse56ed10d.jpg


Now, I think the 2d version is very representative of this, save for the lowered shoulders. That's why the dress itself isn't an issue for me. It's more the the lowered shoulder and the face change and just the basic glamming up of a tomboy character like her. she looks much older and more sultry and it just bothers me.
 
M

moonwishes2013

Active Member
jmorri26 said:
:-/ Doesn't bother me really.

They vamped up all the other princesses and people didn't make quite as much a fuss til Merida because Merida is supposed to be more tomboyish. I get that. The changes are pretty subtle too. Plus at her coronation, the CM wasn't acting all twirly and "princessy" like the others do. Her, Rapunzel, and Pochahontas are all more flat footed girls/women than pageant queens.
They put Ariel in that horrible green dress, Belle has her crazy boudoir hair now, and Cinderella sexed up her makeup- it's all of them really.
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Most people are not talking about the Characters in the Parks, it is the Pixar's Merida in 2D that they changed so much. The characters in the park are expected to be different, there is no way they can look like the animations.
 

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