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therightfangirl2012-07-09 10:52 pm
brendala.livejournal.com) wrote in therightfangirl2012-07-09 10:52 pm
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WTF review of 'Brave': EW article says "Girl not wanting arranged marriage=LESBIAN"
A friend of mine pointed me to this article. It's Entertainment Weekly's review of Pixar's Brave. Well, it's not a "review" so much as a manifesto declaring that the main character is a lesbian because....she refused an arranged marriage and disliked wearing gowns that limited her mobility.
I think it's pretty telling that films starring single females who remain single for the entire film are so rare that, the moment a big studio makes one, everyone (including paid professional reviewers) goes nuts and assumes the girl MUST be gay or sexually confused or whatever.
I hate the implication that a girl who doesn't immediately want to date/marry once they hit the proper age must have some deep-rooted issue with her sexuality. Heck, Merida herself never said "I don't want to get married to a man EVER". She just hated the idea of being given out like a carnival prize to some bozo she's never met!
This article reminds me of how Velma from Scooby Doo (one of my favorite fictional characters, btw) has been pegged as a butch lesbian for ages simply because she's "ugly" (translation: she doesn't fit the Barbie mold that 90% of female protagonists fit into) and didn't act like a typical "token girl" character. Even as a kid, I never got why people pegged her as a tomboy (what self respecting "tomboy" would prance about in a red mini-skirt?). Her overall demeanor and behavior was rarely any less feminine than Daphne's. I guess it's because she had non-girl interests like....being smart. :P
While I sympathize with gay folks who want to find a character they can relate to; it still bugs the crap out of me when dumb stereotypes are used to prove that a character is a gay icon (even if their canon has established them as straight).
I think it's pretty telling that films starring single females who remain single for the entire film are so rare that, the moment a big studio makes one, everyone (including paid professional reviewers) goes nuts and assumes the girl MUST be gay or sexually confused or whatever.
I hate the implication that a girl who doesn't immediately want to date/marry once they hit the proper age must have some deep-rooted issue with her sexuality. Heck, Merida herself never said "I don't want to get married to a man EVER". She just hated the idea of being given out like a carnival prize to some bozo she's never met!
This article reminds me of how Velma from Scooby Doo (one of my favorite fictional characters, btw) has been pegged as a butch lesbian for ages simply because she's "ugly" (translation: she doesn't fit the Barbie mold that 90% of female protagonists fit into) and didn't act like a typical "token girl" character. Even as a kid, I never got why people pegged her as a tomboy (what self respecting "tomboy" would prance about in a red mini-skirt?). Her overall demeanor and behavior was rarely any less feminine than Daphne's. I guess it's because she had non-girl interests like....being smart. :P
While I sympathize with gay folks who want to find a character they can relate to; it still bugs the crap out of me when dumb stereotypes are used to prove that a character is a gay icon (even if their canon has established them as straight).
no subject
Unfortunately though, this sort of thing just does not surprise me from people anymore. The best way I can think of to describe it is that it's very similar to how extremely hardcore shippers act -- they're going to find "evidence" to support their claim, no matter how obtuse and out there it may be, and God help you if you think otherwise. You can do all you can to refute it, but they're going to find it anyway. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to step up, but at the same time, I've seen this enough to know that people like this are too narrow-minded and pretty much a lost cause.
Like it's been said, this article is pretty universally reviled from both sides of the equation for pretty much the exact same reason, and that it perpetuates dangerous stereotypes and ultimately hurts the LGBT cause more than it does help. It's especially noteworthy on Tumblr -- the Brave tag is nigh-unsearchable because literally 90% of the posts are people raging on why the article is crap, with a good number of them being "hey I identify as gay/lesbian and this is extremely hurtful", etc. [Which, I'm glad people are being united over this, but I wanted to find nice gifs and graphics, not the same article being slammed over and over again...]