Getting BRAVE!

So the folks write up movie reviews for this little monthly newsletter that a friend puts together.

*SPOILER!* Have you seen BRAVE yet? If not - I'm giving hints away herein!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, with that said, and if you don't mind spoilers, here's my take. I typically avoid getting confrontational, but this one really blew my top off. They wrote in their review:
"Brave- Good movie. Interesting moral to the story. Very female dominated movie. The men were just background fluff"


I STRONGLY disagree. There were folks who liked the movie who happened to be males also. I don't think the men were "background fluff" at all - sure, they were caricatures of some of the squabbling, fighting, brawling, charging-in, egotist sides of SOME men, but just as pointedly highlighted were the FEMALE characteristics placing narrow-minded values solely on cultivating domesticity, keeping the home, developing diplomacy, and so forth. So if ONE gender is going to be viewed as "fluff" I equally counter that the mother in the film iconically and rigidly represents a 1950's housewife focus on appearance first and foremost (being the most superficial of characteristics), and being so overly attached to the stigma of "being a lady" that even while transformed she is utterly TRAUMATIZED by the simplest of social gaffes! How transparent is that layering of a role that WHO YOU ARE is WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE!? Not your skills, your intelligence, your independence and free-thinking, but in the all-encompassing demands to conform to the ideals of what "being a lady" entails is entirely what defines you and gives you your self-worth? This queen holding herself to a higher social standard while in a beastly form makes for quite humorous situations, though the loss of that sense of propriety is portrayed as the mother is "degrading" in a sense (not that I believe necessarily in human superiority over animals, that isn't my point!) as she is truly becoming feral, animalistic, and losing touch with that which makes us "human." So if there were a moral to be found in the movie (besides the obvious - witches never play fair and there's ALWAYS a catch...) is that the overriding LOVE of family and finding the sense of self is TRULY what makes us human and sets us apart from the bears and the beasts. Regardless of gender stigmas.

And overall - IT'S A MOVIE! How many YEARS of helpless-female victimized women have been portrayed needing to be rescued because they're suddenly and utterly helpless from breaking a nail!?!??!? It's ridiculous the way that women have been INFANTILIZED by Hollywood to the point of being simpering eye candy, depleted of a backbone entirely! If you ask me, which you didn't, but you're getting my rather heated opinion anyway because... well, I'm writing it down and I guess you could skip over this paragraph if you're desperately offended by it.......... THE POINT is that it is a movie about a young girl trying to find her place in the world, coming into her individual identity, discovering the importance of her family, the meaning of love, and being accepted for herself entirely - ARROW-SHOOTING, HORSE GALLOPING, REFUSING TO BE TIED DOWN self! And the mother's recognition of that independence of spirit (though admittedly fierce and often defiantly misplaced!) in her daughter and accepting her decisions as her own to make rather than be dictated.

To me, the men were portrayed as funny, brave, stalwart in defending their honor, their families, their clans, and their love. They were portrayed as a bit unruly, yes, but HELLO!?!?!? Has anyone OPENED a book on human culture and the woes of "civilization"? (quotes deliberate!) Human history is littered with the remains of tribal, clan and territory disputes - we are STILL engaged in the business of ever-more-technologically killing each other off on a global scale! Just as stereotypically portrayed would be the buxom serving woman whose main job is to carry tarts, scold the unruly triplet brothers and scream... seriously -that's her entire purpose in the movie! Particularly lots of screaming. Just because a female lead is shown in this movie doesn't mitigate or in any way diminish the importance of men, and it's this same kind of gender finger-pointing that got us all into this whole mess in the first place of "gender roles and duties!"

This was the entire plight of my childhood - some folks wanted me to be a lady in lace and china tea cups and pink EVERYTHING and I just want to be ME!!!!!! Tomboy, horse-riding, playing-in-the-dirt, falling off my bike, playing in the doghouse with the puppies ME!!!!!!!!!! (Thank goodness my dad let me help in the garden and split wood for kindling and hand him wrenches while he worked on cars and never treated me differently!) And now, I feel like I can do a pretty good job of balancing the tomboy with the lady, but despite wearing heels, I still have a BRAIN in my skull and the ability think for myself!

So to me, given that I rarely if ever pay to see a movie in the theater TWICE... my rating is that it was an excellent movie, I loved a strong female lead (yes, G.I. Jane-style!) and this particularly story hits super close to home! To trivialize the role that men play in the movie is just the kind of strange role issue that I see in comments made to me like "You're married, but you're traveling ALONE?!" And "You're driving ALL THAT WAY, and by YOURSELF?!" Holy heck! I am not incapable of getting onto an airplane operating a gas pump just because I have a pair of boobs!

I loathe the "helpless female" act. I concede that there are many things that I am not proficient at doing. I'm ridiculously, incomprehensibly and entirely terrified to change a tire, fearing the vehicle will fall off the jack and squish me like a bug. I am leery of jumper cables after Dad made them spark and I was certain he'd electrocute me on the spot. I'm basically mechanically inept. I have zero knowledge, interest in, or even awareness of professional sports save martial arts or equestrian events. But I am witty, clever, creative, domestically disinclined, a culinary incompetent, and a moderately good archer. I do love my horses and flowers from my husband, but I also love digging in the dirt, being sweaty from a great workout and playing video games. And I can pull off an updo, mascara and heels as well. This doesn't make me less capable or confident, or less of a woman. Even if I do call AAA to change my tire.

 Anyway, thought I'd let off a little steam...thanks for reading!