My girls believe the conflict in Brave was faulty. They feel Pixar was lazy choosing the old "I want the freedom to love when I am ready, and with whom I should be married." It is old and overused in many princess stories. I disagree and would posit that this very conflict in the progressive princess stories have shaped and formed a perception of how to find "true love" for good or bad. I would like them to rethink their formation stories and examine this dynamic for the more than romantic love.
Snow White was saved by a prince, Cinderella the same. Parents were not around to care for, or arrange the best for these two princess'. Sleeping Beauty progresses to caring parents who shelter their only child in the forest to protect her from evil, so that they can provide for her later. Setting her up to continue their traditions with the union of their daughter with another royal family. The Princess meets her betrothed unbeknown to either of them and there is a conflict for a short time. Evil interrupts and misunderstandings cause more problems and the fight is on for good to triumph. In my estimation it is not JUST love, but the good of the Kingdom. Two lovely families are able to continue the tradition of goodness beauty truth and transcendence (at least that is what we hope) extended to the next generation.
The next Princess movie, Ariel, the conflict is more serious. Ariel wishes to abandon her own body as a Mermaid and become human. She is so obsessed with something she is not, that she turns to evil to get what she wants. In the Hans Christian Anderson story of the Little Mermaid, the Mermaid moves from her own wants to the sacrifice of her own life for her beloved. She does not get what she WANTS. She does NOT live happily ever after in new skin, but becomes seafoam.
Belle/Beauty comes next, she is self possessed and wants the 'more than this provincial life'. She has 'thinking' and wants more than serving a man who doesn't even notice her outside of his own wants and uses. Love is more than utilitarian objectification and appearances. True Love makes the world Beautiful, it is not selfish or rude. This story is Beautiful and True!
Aladdin, another story where the mind of the Princess is made up, her vision of who she wishes to marry is in opposition to tradition. Aladdin makes a few mistakes, but his heart is good we are to believe. He is handsome and funny too. In the end this modern version sends the couple on a tour of the world on the magic carpet, they may or may not get married... who knows.
Pochantas, this fairy tale revising history makes John Smith out to be the student of life and love. Pocahontas is his teacher. The Judeo/Christian influence; how we know what it is to appreciate life and live in with and through the Source of all Love is absent from this fairy tale, though these very virtues are present, they are sourced in a New Age sprituality. Not Pocahantas' history.
Mulan's familial love drives her to war and we find that love and friendship can be found when we are doing the right thing for others. Mulan suffered a great deal for her father and her country. "You don't find a girl like that in ever dynasty."
Tiana's story is the story of determination and hard work, ambitions for self preservation, of dreams, sensual pleasure and power. In love and family/neighbor united we find our fulfilled purpose and being. Tianna has part of the story, but she struggles with the less temporal part of her purpose. The love responsible for existence, man and wife.
In Brave one Blogger has this to say.
"If there is a moral to this story, I don’t think it’s about squashing rebellion or pleasing authoritarian parents. It’s not even really about compromise: in the end, Merida gets what she wants. She doesn’t have to get married unless she wants to. Brave is about a mother and daughter learning to see each other as individuals."
Everyone needs to know who they are, it is part of the human condition to journey to union with the Creator who made us. In relationship to the Holy Trinity we find THE ONLY answer to the question, "For what purpose did you make me?" "Please God, Tell me who I am?" Yet That journey to find our purpose is filled with testing our fields of formation. A journey of integration, and differentiating NEVER ends. It is not done just once in early adulthood, but is a cycle we continue through our lives, hopefully bringing us closer and closer to the Holy Trinity.
Even so, the hardest relationship to sort this out with, I dream to be the easiest, but seems to be the most difficult. Psycologists have concluded that when this conflict with parents is not resolved, it stilts maturing, likened to the stuck disposition of an alcholic. Every human being is the only one that will be held accountable for listening to that voice of God and responding for fulfilling their own unique mission in the world. What would have been Brave, would have been Merida appreciating love, and some sort of connection to that circle of life. EVEN if it is one she has yet to know, a clear understanding that she will accept her mission to contribute to the world in some meangingful way. Single or married, but with determined purpose. Something 'more than' "I want my freedom!" For TRUE freedom comes from Love and Responsibility to self and others, the past the present and the future.
1 comment:
You are right. Brave is only half a story, and so very unsatisfactory. Pixar wanted to make a girl movie that would make what Karen refers to as “the Feminist in her,” happy. They wanted to say that a woman doesn’t need a man to complete her life. That message if fine. There’s nothing wrong there. As you said, the Church has always insisted that marriage is only one of three vocations to which a woman could be called. The problem is that even with all the hype about destiny in the movie, Merida never gets to find hers. Brave ends up telling us that an archery competition is a bad way to choose a husband, 14 is too young to get married, and tribes should honor the bonds of friendship even if they aren’t back up by bonds of marriage. That’s fine, but unsatisfactory. Merida is left hanging. Clearly marrying on of these guys isn’t her destiny, but what is? As you pointed out, in Love and Responsibility John Paul II says that discerning our vocation is an indispensible part of human maturation. Merida doesn’t get that far. She gets to say no to an arranged marriage, but not Yes to anything, and so we are left unsatisfied.
It’s also true that the reason Holywood didn’t notice the flaw in this story is that it thinks happiness is freedom from responsibility. Children being the most poignant image of responsibility, you know that when the sacrifices involved in rearing them are discarded, the baby goes out with the bath water (although in this example it was the bath water they wanted to keep.) If you aren’t saying yes to some kind of vocation – that is, a purpose for which you will sacrifice inordinate desires – you end up saying yes to nothing. No purpose, no happiness. Brave doesn’t have a happy ending. This is a movie that actually can’t stand without a sequel.
A well thought out analysis.
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