And the living is easy...
Hammock. Popsicles. Books.
Garden growing like crazy, and smelling delicious.
Puppy chasing ducks at the lake.
Sunshine.
What's not to love?
6.17.2009
6.04.2009
Princess Power
So there's a new Disney princess coming to town, and everybody's talking because she will be their first black princess. Welcome to the modern melting pot, Walt. So there's all this brouhaha about whether or not she's upholding negative stereotypes or is a positive role model who can be a shining beacon for little girls of color everywhere...
Well, I'm not actually that invested in the race issue, but it brought up an old peeve of mine, regarding those darling princesses, and Disney in general. It's that whole gender thing. Why do all those girls have an impossible hourglass figure, which they tend to show off in fairly revealing outfits? Why do they always rely on a man to come to their rescue? Do we really want our girls growing up thinking that a kiss from Prince Charming is going to solve all their problems?! (a prince they've never met, by the way, who often kisses them on first sight and often while they are unconscious...) And what about the mothers - they're always dead and their replacements are always vile. Aging in Disneyland seems to mean turning wicked and warty - where are the elder wise women to look up to?
So we basically have this constantly repeated message that beautiful is good and ugly is evil. And by "beautiful" we only mean one thing, regardless of skin color: perky boobs, tiny waist, rounded hips, flowing locks. And make sure you are somewhat hopeless without the help of a hunk - even if you're a little bit kick-ass, you can't do it all alone! I admit I haven't really been in the Disney loop lately, so maybe there's a whole slew of riot grrl princesses with spiky hair that come in all shapes and sizes and don't ever need a man, or maybe they even do some saving of their own, or hell, even love another woman! But I haven't seen them.
I love pink. I think being a girl means all kinds of things, and that frilly and strong can go hand in hand. I'm not against love or fairy tales, but the image Disney holds up just pisses me off. It's time to bring fantasy a little closer to reality.
Well, I'm not actually that invested in the race issue, but it brought up an old peeve of mine, regarding those darling princesses, and Disney in general. It's that whole gender thing. Why do all those girls have an impossible hourglass figure, which they tend to show off in fairly revealing outfits? Why do they always rely on a man to come to their rescue? Do we really want our girls growing up thinking that a kiss from Prince Charming is going to solve all their problems?! (a prince they've never met, by the way, who often kisses them on first sight and often while they are unconscious...) And what about the mothers - they're always dead and their replacements are always vile. Aging in Disneyland seems to mean turning wicked and warty - where are the elder wise women to look up to?
So we basically have this constantly repeated message that beautiful is good and ugly is evil. And by "beautiful" we only mean one thing, regardless of skin color: perky boobs, tiny waist, rounded hips, flowing locks. And make sure you are somewhat hopeless without the help of a hunk - even if you're a little bit kick-ass, you can't do it all alone! I admit I haven't really been in the Disney loop lately, so maybe there's a whole slew of riot grrl princesses with spiky hair that come in all shapes and sizes and don't ever need a man, or maybe they even do some saving of their own, or hell, even love another woman! But I haven't seen them.
I love pink. I think being a girl means all kinds of things, and that frilly and strong can go hand in hand. I'm not against love or fairy tales, but the image Disney holds up just pisses me off. It's time to bring fantasy a little closer to reality.
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