I waited to read the spoilers until after I had seen it today with Aidan. Checking out various reviews online, you are NOT the only one commenting about the gender cliches.
I want to start by saying I enjoyed the movie. I also cried. And Aidan cried. And hugged me when I cried, because he's a good, caring empathetic kid.
The whole "Scouting-esque" thing failed for me, because in Scouting, the Moms DO participate fully (I'm a case in point). So, mom wouldn't have been sitting in the audience letting her son be humiliated, she would have been putting that badge on Russell.
Its almost like Pixar can only take on so many stereotype bending points per movie. This one was that "life stops when you get old". Or perhaps, "adventures are only for the young". Or something of the sort. I think it would have been cool if there could have been a more active female character, even the villain would have been interesting as a female explorer gone bad. I didn't see Ratatouille, I've seen all the other Pixar flicks. The only time the gender has had a really strong female not in type character, was Cars. I'm not sure what that says.
I'm kind of curious what the future will bring. Meanwhile, this is the type of thing I will discuss with my boys. And I have to keep in mind that its all about the bottom line with a movie company. Message is secondary at best.
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Date: 2009-06-01 08:57 pm (UTC)I want to start by saying I enjoyed the movie. I also cried. And Aidan cried. And hugged me when I cried, because he's a good, caring empathetic kid.
The whole "Scouting-esque" thing failed for me, because in Scouting, the Moms DO participate fully (I'm a case in point). So, mom wouldn't have been sitting in the audience letting her son be humiliated, she would have been putting that badge on Russell.
Its almost like Pixar can only take on so many stereotype bending points per movie. This one was that "life stops when you get old". Or perhaps, "adventures are only for the young". Or something of the sort. I think it would have been cool if there could have been a more active female character, even the villain would have been interesting as a female explorer gone bad. I didn't see Ratatouille, I've seen all the other Pixar flicks. The only time the gender has had a really strong female not in type character, was Cars. I'm not sure what that says.
I'm kind of curious what the future will bring. Meanwhile, this is the type of thing I will discuss with my boys. And I have to keep in mind that its all about the bottom line with a movie company. Message is secondary at best.
Thanks for the review.