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We hate to admit it, but we humans are easily influenced.
For example, you’ll have a hard time finding someone who’ll admit that the main reason they bought an Apple computer was because of the way it was advertised and marketed.
Or that they vote for their political party because that’s what their culture tells them to do. Or be able to explain the weird coincidence that what they believe to be the one true religion just so happens to be the faith they were born into.
We prefer to lie to ourselves and claim we’re individuals, but we’re not. We’re more like collections of ideas and influences, many of which were purposefully programmed into us so cunningly that we think they’re a natural part of our basic personality.
Friends, parents and other leaders all play a part in shaping who we are, but perhaps the most influential of all is mass media. It starts its bombardment before our fontanelles close, and doesn’t stop until our metabolic process reaches its final destination.
Mass media never stops telling us what to think, feel, value, like or lust after. And it’s damn good at its job.
Which is why Disney’s attempt to redesign Merida, the redhead girl of Brave fame, was met with such a huge backlash that the company quietly removed the offending image from their site, replacing it with the original Merida from the movie.
The reason for the redesign was to enable Disney to slot Merida into the company’s saccharine, submissively sexual harem of princesses.
They made her thinner, curvier and apparently gave her a boob job. They also made her eyes bigger and more coquettish, fixed up her hair, which transformed from a tangled tomboyish mess to stylishly flowing mane that would do any shampoo advert proud.
But it doesn’t end there. They also disarmed her – she typically carried a bow and arrow – and gave her an elegant dress – a slight redesign of the same dress she rebelled against and ripped up in the movie.
Disney has redesigned their characters many times before, but Merida in Brave was far removed from the standard Disney heroine.
She was still a princess, of course – little girls demand a royal bloodline in their stories for some unfathomable reason – but she was also strong, rebellious and independent – characteristics that turned her into a bit of a feminist icon (she wasn’t really feminist, but when compared to previous Disney princesses, she comes across like Andrea Dworkin).
This is why 218 thousand people (including actor Lily Cole, on whom Merida’s original features were based) signed a petition demanding the new design be dropped. Not because they’re crazy, obsessive fans, but because the new design, as the petition states, “does a tremendous disservice to the millions of children for whom Merida is an empowering role model who speaks to girls' capacity to be change agents in the world rather than just trophies to be admired”.
No cartoon is just a cartoon. All the media you see, from an episode of CSI, to a Coke commercial, to a drawing of a little redhead girl, is full of social politics, lessons in morality and suggestions on how to perceive the world.
Millions of girls embrace Disney princesses as their role models, and are conditioned to be passive, obsessed physical appearance and to submit to traditional gender roles.The Merida character is an antidote to all that. No wonder people were pissed off.
Wouldn’t you prefer your daughter look up to a free thinking ass-kicker than a vapid piece of arm candy?
Follow Chris on Twitter.
Do you think it's high time the public started fighting back and telling mass media what they want to see?
For example, you’ll have a hard time finding someone who’ll admit that the main reason they bought an Apple computer was because of the way it was advertised and marketed.
Or that they vote for their political party because that’s what their culture tells them to do. Or be able to explain the weird coincidence that what they believe to be the one true religion just so happens to be the faith they were born into.
We prefer to lie to ourselves and claim we’re individuals, but we’re not. We’re more like collections of ideas and influences, many of which were purposefully programmed into us so cunningly that we think they’re a natural part of our basic personality.
Friends, parents and other leaders all play a part in shaping who we are, but perhaps the most influential of all is mass media. It starts its bombardment before our fontanelles close, and doesn’t stop until our metabolic process reaches its final destination.
Mass media never stops telling us what to think, feel, value, like or lust after. And it’s damn good at its job.
Which is why Disney’s attempt to redesign Merida, the redhead girl of Brave fame, was met with such a huge backlash that the company quietly removed the offending image from their site, replacing it with the original Merida from the movie.
The reason for the redesign was to enable Disney to slot Merida into the company’s saccharine, submissively sexual harem of princesses.
They made her thinner, curvier and apparently gave her a boob job. They also made her eyes bigger and more coquettish, fixed up her hair, which transformed from a tangled tomboyish mess to stylishly flowing mane that would do any shampoo advert proud.
But it doesn’t end there. They also disarmed her – she typically carried a bow and arrow – and gave her an elegant dress – a slight redesign of the same dress she rebelled against and ripped up in the movie.
Disney has redesigned their characters many times before, but Merida in Brave was far removed from the standard Disney heroine.
She was still a princess, of course – little girls demand a royal bloodline in their stories for some unfathomable reason – but she was also strong, rebellious and independent – characteristics that turned her into a bit of a feminist icon (she wasn’t really feminist, but when compared to previous Disney princesses, she comes across like Andrea Dworkin).
This is why 218 thousand people (including actor Lily Cole, on whom Merida’s original features were based) signed a petition demanding the new design be dropped. Not because they’re crazy, obsessive fans, but because the new design, as the petition states, “does a tremendous disservice to the millions of children for whom Merida is an empowering role model who speaks to girls' capacity to be change agents in the world rather than just trophies to be admired”.
No cartoon is just a cartoon. All the media you see, from an episode of CSI, to a Coke commercial, to a drawing of a little redhead girl, is full of social politics, lessons in morality and suggestions on how to perceive the world.
Millions of girls embrace Disney princesses as their role models, and are conditioned to be passive, obsessed physical appearance and to submit to traditional gender roles.The Merida character is an antidote to all that. No wonder people were pissed off.
Wouldn’t you prefer your daughter look up to a free thinking ass-kicker than a vapid piece of arm candy?
Follow Chris on Twitter.
Do you think it's high time the public started fighting back and telling mass media what they want to see?
