I wrote at length back in March about how Disney executives were attempting to make their adaptation of Rapunzel more boy-friendly by adding a macho swashbuckling hero to the mix. I had no idea how far-gone they were, but now we can see that they really do believe that the reason The Princess and the Frog slightly underperformed was because it centered around a protagonist who had a vagina. This is a pathetically cynical bit of pandering of the highest order, attempting to turn a classically female-driven fairy tale into an adventure story for boys that happens to contain a 'feisty' love interest. Don't worry, I'm sure Rapunzel will be 'strong willed, independent, and not just a damsel in distress', and she may even punch out a bad guy or two. Is that the movie? I have no idea, but that's absolutely what's being sold, to the detriment of the final product (the 'she's been grounded... like, forever' tagline doesn't help either). And while I could sit here and babble on about the gender-relations implications of such a move, I'll simply that this teaser makes the movie look like a terrible, annoyingly 'hip' cartoon, in the vein of Happily N'Ever After. On the plus side, even if it is as bad as it looks, at least it will stink in three dimensions.
Scott Mendelson
Scott Mendelson
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