Originally posted on July 12, 2012 by Clara Bow

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It was Horton Hears a Who that made me first think about writing feminist movie reviews. I had taken the nieces to see it. As the movie went on the sexism became so bad that I considered walking out. We discussed sexism in the movie afterward; how perhaps the worst father ever has 96 daughters and one son, yet the boy gets all the attention and saves the day. But I still wished that I had read something before I went that would have steered me clear of exposing the nieces to such blatant sexism. I wanted someone to give me a thumbs up or down as to whether I could enjoy potential movie experiences without being overly distracted by how the women were presented as clueless or the men as the only strong characters in the plot. These are things that wouldn’t necessarily be obvious in a trailer.

Brave gets a thumbs up. Take any children you know or see it with adults. I haven’t met anyone who didn’t get a tear in their eye at the end. It gets a lot of things right. Most obviously the main character in our story is female. The primary relationship explored is with her mother, so it sails through the Bechdel test with flying colors. Merida goes on dangerous adventures, rides a horse, and is completely self-sufficient in the wilderness. She is an expert archer, not bad with a sword, and defends her mother with a ferocity topped only by her mother’s defense of her. The conflict of the story revolves around Merida’s refusal to get married despite her mother’s insistence. This is indeed a different kind of fairy tale princess. And the ending doesn’t disappoint. She does not fall in love with a brave prince who saves her. She and her mother save each other, gain a better understanding of each other, and her suitors go home.

It does get a few things wrong, but they were not so dramatic as to make the movie unwatchable. Queen Eleanor is the nag and disciplinarian in the family, who enforces typical gender roles, while Merida’s father is the entertainer and encourager of fun. This stereotype is maintained in the younger generation as Merida’s triplet younger brothers are mischievous, fun-loving and unruly.

I will save my rant about how the need for historical accuracy in works of fiction is a lame excuse for excluding all minorities. Needless to say it was an all white film.

I’ve quoted from the Geena Davis Institute before, but it bears repeating, “Even among the top-grossing G-rated family films, girl characters are out numbered by boys three-to-one. That’s the same ratio that has existed since the end of World War II. The Institute’s research indicates that in some group scenes, only 17% of the characters are female.” The latter is what bothered me about Brave. Many of the group scenes with 30-40 characters were all male except for Merida and Queen Eleanor. Again from the Institute, “these absences are unquestionably felt by audiences, and children learn to accept the stereotypes represented.” Sure Brave has two strong female characters, but they are clearly not the norm. The rest of the brave, strong characters in the movie are men.

Despite all of this, I found myself heaving a pleased sigh of relief at the end of the film and thinking, “Finally.”