There are a lot of movies from my childhood I’m not real keen on my kids watching. The Lion King for instance has a pretty disturbing beginning where poor Simba watches his father fall to his death. It’s heart-wrenching and far too advanced for a young child to see in my opinion. I prefer my kids don’t have to analyze life and death quite so early on. Then there’s Bambi who loses her his mother, Tod (Fox and The Hound) abandoned in the woods, and of course, Old Yeller. So depressing!
Like so many other Disney movies the only way for the female protagonist to become fulfilled is by falling in love with a man (Cinderella, Snow White, Pocahontas…) It’s annoying to say the least.
In The Little Mermaid, besides the fact that Ariel is willing to make a deal with a monster, completely disregard her father and in general not care about anyone but herself, she is willing to GIVE UP HER VOICE for a man she has never actually met. She saw him once on a boat, thought he was handsome, and was then willing to trade HER VOICE to get to him. Yes, you’re right, she was fascinated by land long before Eric, but what made her choose to make the deal was seeing him.
How symbolic is that? How many women in not so literal terms do give up their voice for the male gender? We should be teaching girls if you should hold onto anything, it’s your voice. For goodness sake, don’t give up your voice.
She was an amazing singer and totally OK with giving up that incredible talent. Isn’t that something parents are actively trying to avoid? Don’t we all preach to our boys to not miss football practice for their girlfriend? Or tell our daughters not to pick a boy over family? This movie tells our kids the exact opposite of the things we’re trying to say.
Oh, and by the way little girls, the only thing you need to make a man fall in love with you is to have a pretty face. You don’t fall in love by spending time together, having conversations, laughing, talking, learning – no, none of that really matters. Beauty is it.
I adore the fact that this is starting to change and there are some fantastic female characters now like Merida, Anna and Elsa. Yes, Anna decides to get engaged in just one day, but there is another beautiful princess telling her that’s wrong and in the end, she realizes that as well.
At the end of the day, I want movies that will show my daughter yes, falling in love is amazing, but it isn’t everything.
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Note: By giving my opinion on one, 26-year-old movie, I have somehow given readers an entire synopsis of my parenting as a whole. I have somehow made you believe that I am sheltering my children, don’t let them watch tv, have no fun, and am probably sitting in a bunker somewhere so they can never learn about the world. That couldn’t be further from the truth, and people who have stuck around for longer than one post would understand that. You read one post and assumed you know everything there is to know about me, my kids and my parenting. Doesn’t that seem crazy to you?
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More to read…
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Liz is a just a mom trying to keep it real about how little she sleeps, how often she gets puked on and how much she loves them. You can find her here every day writing about real-mom moments.