I'm going to see this! This is the Disney I grew up to like, not the Miley Cirus etc craziness of today (yep, I'm an old bish). I know they're trying to keep up with the times and be more teen-oriented or whatever, but I do really miss old Disney stuff.
@Vivelafat says Sweep the leg, Johnny.: Whatever. Everyone knows Robin Hood was the most handsome, charming and foxiest Disney character ever. No one can come close to Robin Hood.
....except for my irrational crush on Clopin from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I blame that on the voice more than the appearance of the character.
@Vivelafat says Sweep the leg, Johnny.: What about the hunk from Mulan? He's in contention for the hottest cartoon man ever, with Dmitri from Anastasia.
@all: Can we all at least agree that the Prince from Beauty and the Beast was the worst. I think my 11 year old self told my mother, " He looks constipated." #tips
@morninggloria: I love Anastasia. It's such an honorary Disney film, and Dmitri was smoking. Plus, I loved how even though in most movies the girl gets knocked out during the fighting scenes, it's Dmitri who's out like a light the whole time. Glorious.
@Vivelafat says Sweep the leg, Johnny.: I don't know, I always thought Aladdin was pretty foxy. It helped that he was voiced by DJ's boyfriend Steve from Full House, who I also had a crush on, though.
@Vivelafat says Sweep the leg, Johnny.: The only thing that keeps me away from Pips (gotta love the gingers) is that he is voiced by Christian Slater. I...I can't get over it.
Oh lord, now I'm picturing Christian Slater dressed as a fairy...with his voice...talking...basically I'm picturing his character from the Heathers.
(but as an aside, Aladdin kicked some serious ass)
@Lady Saira, Vere de Vere: How could you not know?? That voice is just so...like...I can't explain. Slatery.
And I mean, sure it makes it fantastic, but also I can't get out of my head every single character he has ever played ever. And then I picture them all balled up into this one fairy character...and it...it just doesn't work. Cognitive incogruence.
@Vivelafat says Sweep the leg, Johnny.: human-Beast had no. Personality. Whatsoever. When he transformed I was like, "That pretty boy was the motherfucking Beast??" LAAAMEEE
I am going to return to an old tradition of going to the CD store on the way home from the movie to pick up the soundtrack. I promise you I will know every one of these songs IN A WEEK! YAY! (who am I kidding, I will probably buy the soundtrack off Itunes before I go)
I know it's problematic, but I still want to see it because I want it to make money so that Disney won't have the "well it didn't make any money!" excuse against making another black princess movie that's maybe not so problematic.
@Zombie Ms. Skittles: Apparently the movie-related merch is totally outselling all the other princess gear, so I suspect it will make a lot of money in the theater.
@PrettyB is like Whoa: Awesome. I've been a little worried that the merch will become non-existent next year as soon as the DVD comes out. Kind of like Pocahontas stuff.
I still disagree with the opinion that having a light-skinned prince is a negative factor in this film. Every Disney film before this had a prince and princess of the same ethnic background. If anything, isn't better to portray a biracial couple?
That said, I agree with the New York Times; I'm bummed that Tiana even needs a prince charming in the first place. I know everyone's expecting romance but I dislike the whole prince charming = savior plotlines of most of the Disney movies (rock on Mulan and Belle!).
@JessickerFletcher: I also object to calling the prince "light." He may be lighter-skinned than Tiana, but that doesn't make him "light." I was reading tumblrs a couple days ago only to see a conversation between several posters looking at film stills and lamenting, "Why couldn't Disney have picked a black actor to voice their first black prince?" Unless you've been following the movie's background like many of us here have, I don't think it's obvious that he's not black.
I think the interracial couple thing is great, and Disney made a much more interesting choice by making his race ambiguous than if they had spelled it out. (Although, of course, I hope we get a black prince soon. But the fact that we didn't in this movie is not an attack on black men.)
@JessickerFletcher: A light-skinned black man is still a black man. And while I understand the cultural issues surrounding skin-tone (I don't mean to dismiss anyone's feelings about it); I can't help but think that we're just perpetuating the problem of using skin-tone to judge someone elses "blackness." If he's black, he's black. He shouldn't be viewed as not black enough just because his skin tone is lighter.
@pichou: That wasn't really what I (or the other commenters, I think) was going at. It was pretty clear to me, from the 3 seconds I saw of him in the preview, that Naveen (a Sanskrit name - thanks AfroJezeBella!) isn't of African ancestry (he could be biracial, though).
@JessickerFletcher: While I agree that it sucks she needs a prince (even if she saves him), I think that if she didn't, people might be mad that the black princess didn't have a love interest when everyone else did. I could be totally off, but that' the feeling I get.
@JessickerFletcher: I love that he could be biracial. While I agree that it is important to use characters of specific racial backgrounds besides white, I find biracial characters to be some of the most intriguing because when they are shown, it reminds everyone that race doesn't have to be something that will shove everyone into categories for the rest of eternity. The next generation is going to have many more biracial people and that thrills me.
@JessickerFletcher: I was actually in agreement with you, but I was also adding that bi-racial status aside, if his skin-shade shouldn't define his racial-cultural identity alone.
Maybe my comment should have stood alone. Sorry :)
For all those who have been anxiously awaiting a return to hand-drawn animation as much as a black (amphibious?) princess, I hope this film does gangbusters!
@Bitingpika: No lie, I have an aunt who looks exactly like Ursula. This isn't an insult, just an honest observation (one I was able to make after seeing The Little Mermaid in first grade).
@Rooo sez BISH PLZ: There's TONS. They have some on the Disney Store website but going into the actual Disney Store, there's a whole two sections devoted to the movie. Multiple dresses, accessories, dolls, figurines, plushes, play sets. collectibles, etc.
I for one am going to be pissed if the first gay Disney Princess is morphed into an amphibian for the bulk of the movie.* You can put that descriptor under my face Tyra.
*No offense to Nefarious Newt meant by this comment.
@merely_a_muse: Personally, I'm taking the position that "yeah, it sucks but if it doesn't make money they'll use it as a reason to NEVER do another black princess so grumble grumble grumble but I have to encourage the baby steps..."
Sadly, they don't like all female stories, just ones with enough buzz or fanatics behind it.
'Whip It' did NO where near these kinds of numbers and sadly it seems the worse the movie, in the case of New Moon, the bigger the female audience. Im hoping that Hollywood will look at this and say, "Oh we need to get more females behind the scenes so we can develop better films for them", but what it will probably mean is about two - three more adaptations of YA series on vampires, which will eventually kill the whole genre.
curious headline, considering the vast majority of the twilight-related content on jezebel has been dismissive of or condescending towards twilight fangirls.
You know what grinds my gears? How every time there's a Jez article about how women are marginal in movies, WOMEN fall all over themselves to establish how much they prefer dude-centric fare like Star Trek and Zombieland to chick-tacular crap. So what? Not every movie about women is an insulting romantic comedy(not that there aren't good romantic comedies out there) and everyone already knows that women will see movies about men. It's beside the point of the article and it adds nothing to the discussion.
@Kayleigh R. Carter: The point wasn't about taste. And yes, it does have something to do with men. This article was about the success of films that are marketed toward and primarily feature women (in the latter, I'd concede that Twilight has as much to do with its male characters as it does Bella Swan, but that's not really the point). Saying "I'm a woman and I like Star Trek/Transformers/etc." doesn't have much to do with this because filmmakers already know that. The film industry knows that women will see movies that are primarily about men.
But they apparently aren't even sure there's a market for movies that are primarily about women.
@Hana Maru: I think my biggest problem with that is that so many female centric movies try to sell an idea or specific version of woman hood- the princess, the sassy love interest , the spunky non-conformist, and male characters are still just written as characters. And yes, I prefer movies with characters rather than tropes. So, I trend to prefer dude movies.Until a real change happens, you're going to get hazy answers about dude movies from chicks.
@Raised-byHeathens: Excluding princesses, those are things you won't actually see in female-centric movies, but you will find in male-centric ones. A lot of smart women buy into stereotypes about female-centric movies being pandering crap, so they don't go to see them. They stereotype all female-centric movies as being like Bride Wars, while considering each male-centric movie on its apparent merits.
In our society we value men and things that are associated with men. That's why women get praised for being "genderblind" and doing guy stuff. Girl stuff has an automatic stigma of being frivolous and stupid, and women aren't immune to that impression. The real change is already happening, and you're missing out.
At any rate, these anecdotes still add nothing to the discussion, except to clog it with a bunch of identical pointless comments.
@shoroko: I have a hard time believing that her comment had nothing to do with taste (just because you said so). I wasn't commenting on the article, I was commenting on her statement, which was "everyone already knows that women will see movies about men."
No, no ma'am, everyone already knows that women (or anyone) will see a movie. Just because that movie has more men then women means nothing to who will see it, because it is the plot and the writing that should count, not what gender the actors are.
Also, frankly, saying there isn't a market targeting women is absurd. Romantic comedy's, right there.
Maybe you want an entire market full of good movies with main characters? Because there are many, many movies with women as main characters, but it doesn't mean any of them are to your taste.
How can an entire genre be targeted at one group and still satisfy everyone? It's impossible. I personally don't like vampire/werewolf ass kicking, or horror, but I love action thrillers, comedy and indie. That means I watch man only targeted programing? Hell no. That's ridiculous.
What is really the problem here, the fact that the main female characters your getting in movies aren't memorable enough, or the fact that you feel you would enjoy a movie with less men in it?
Now write me back, and try not to say, "It's not about men".
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*grabs coat, empty computer chair spins wildly*
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PS. I want Tiana's dress
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....except for my irrational crush on Clopin from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I blame that on the voice more than the appearance of the character.
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@morninggloria: Dmitri doesn't count because he isn't Disney. Otherwise, this GQMF would win hands down.
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Oh lord, now I'm picturing Christian Slater dressed as a fairy...with his voice...talking...basically I'm picturing his character from the Heathers.
(but as an aside, Aladdin kicked some serious ass)
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Cuz Snape had that thing with Hermione and even tho she's a Gryff ... Just read the fanfic.
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Also Divine as Ursula.
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Oh lord, no, now that makes him even more fantastic.
This is beautiful.
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This is one scary song to a 6 year old.
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And I mean, sure it makes it fantastic, but also I can't get out of my head every single character he has ever played ever. And then I picture them all balled up into this one fairy character...and it...it just doesn't work. Cognitive incogruence.
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That said, I agree with the New York Times; I'm bummed that Tiana even needs a prince charming in the first place. I know everyone's expecting romance but I dislike the whole prince charming = savior plotlines of most of the Disney movies (rock on Mulan and Belle!).
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I am not a name expert, but Naveen sounds more like a West Indian/Indian name to me.
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Edit - Also, the only biracial couple I can think of in Disney history is Pocahantas and John Smith.
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I think the interracial couple thing is great, and Disney made a much more interesting choice by making his race ambiguous than if they had spelled it out. (Although, of course, I hope we get a black prince soon. But the fact that we didn't in this movie is not an attack on black men.)
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I definitely want to see The Princess and the Frog, too. It looks like it has great potential!
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#tips
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Maybe my comment should have stood alone. Sorry :)
#tips
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#tips
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When I go on the Tyra Show, under my face it will say:
rodmanstreet, 24
feels fat because Lady Kluck was the nearest depiction of her in Disney films
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*gets excited about Disney gear for the first time since Aladdin*
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#tips
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*No offense to Nefarious Newt meant by this comment.
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'Whip It' did NO where near these kinds of numbers and sadly it seems the worse the movie, in the case of New Moon, the bigger the female audience. Im hoping that Hollywood will look at this and say, "Oh we need to get more females behind the scenes so we can develop better films for them", but what it will probably mean is about two - three more adaptations of YA series on vampires, which will eventually kill the whole genre.
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They have different tastes, so they stand up for them. Has nothing to do with men.
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But they apparently aren't even sure there's a market for movies that are primarily about women.
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This is like the sexist version of "I don't see color"
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In our society we value men and things that are associated with men. That's why women get praised for being "genderblind" and doing guy stuff. Girl stuff has an automatic stigma of being frivolous and stupid, and women aren't immune to that impression. The real change is already happening, and you're missing out.
At any rate, these anecdotes still add nothing to the discussion, except to clog it with a bunch of identical pointless comments.
#tips
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No, no ma'am, everyone already knows that women (or anyone) will see a movie. Just because that movie has more men then women means nothing to who will see it, because it is the plot and the writing that should count, not what gender the actors are.
Also, frankly, saying there isn't a market targeting women is absurd. Romantic comedy's, right there.
Maybe you want an entire market full of good movies with main characters? Because there are many, many movies with women as main characters, but it doesn't mean any of them are to your taste.
Ranging from drama filled hallmark movies to action thrillers (Inglorious Bastards for one--Mélanie Laurent was amazing) to vampire/werewolf ass kicking, horror to comedy to indie. Really, just think of anything with Angelina Jolie or movies written by Quentin Tarrantino.
How can an entire genre be targeted at one group and still satisfy everyone? It's impossible. I personally don't like vampire/werewolf ass kicking, or horror, but I love action thrillers, comedy and indie. That means I watch man only targeted programing? Hell no. That's ridiculous.
What is really the problem here, the fact that the main female characters your getting in movies aren't memorable enough, or the fact that you feel you would enjoy a movie with less men in it?
Now write me back, and try not to say, "It's not about men".
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