Disney pulls 'Sexy Merida' from Web site

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/sexy-merida-pulled-disney-backlash-181258013.html

The backlash to Merida's makeover, which included a slimmer figure, a slightly more full bust, less-wild curly hair and a clearly made-up face, was swift.

 

I was there in November, and the woman they had playing Merida at the character meet and greet was smoking hot.

I don't understand the backlash, based on that photo... It's not like they made her look like Barbie.

 

I do like the original better than the "makeover"

 

Part of the backlash was because that fancy dress is the very one her mother tried to force her to wear, which started the entire plot of the movie. So putting her in that dress negates the whole message of the movie.

 

I'd read something on this last week, before Disney pulled it.

I haven't seen the movie and I wish I could track down the exact thing I read, but from what I understood the whole point was that the character was a tomboy who could stand up for herself.

When the "Princess" wand was waved, it not only altered her looks -- including having her wear the aforementioned hated dress -- Disney also removed her bow and arrow, which was a big part of her character.

From the creator:
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/05/11/disney-princess-merida-makeover-redesign

 

My daughter loves Disney and loves to dress up as a princess (sh'e 5 and a half). I have told her that she can wear a princess or tinkerbell costume next time we go.

At the risk of overthinking it I don't want ther to fall into the "waiting for the Prince" stereotypes and always modify the stories I read her so that the girl is the one making the decisions.

In light of that I found this off Bruce Arthur's Twitter feed, thought it was pretty cool.

So my amazing daughter, Emma, turned 5 last month, and I had been searching everywhere for new-creative inspiration for her 5yr pictures. I noticed quite a pattern of so many young girls dressing up as beautiful Disney Princesses, no matter where I looked 95% of the “ideas” were the “How to’s” of how to dress your little girl like a Disney Princess. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Disney Princesses, from their beautiful dresses, perfect hair, gorgeous voices and most with ideal love stories in the mix you can’t help but become entranced with the characters. But it got me thinking, they’re just characters, a writers tale of a princess (most before 1998)…an unrealistic fantasy for most girls (Yay Kate Middleton!).

It started me thinking about all the REAL women for my daughter to know about and look up too, REAL women who without ever meeting Emma have changed her life for the better. My daughter wasn’t born into royalty, but she was born into a country where she can now vote, become a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut, or even President if she wants and that’s what REALLY matters. I wanted her to know the value of these amazing women who had gone against everything so she can now have everything. We chose 5 women (five amazing and strong women), as it was her 5th birthday but there are thousands of unbelievable women (and girls) who have beat the odds and fought (and still fight) for their equal rights all over the world……..so let’s set aside the Barbie Dolls and the Disney Princesses for just a moment, and let’s show our girls the REAL women they can be.

http://www.jaimemoorephotography.com/2013/05/09/not-just-a-girl/

 

That's awesome. Thanks.

 

When Brave came out, a couple of the gay groups were trying to imply that the character was gay because the character isn't interested in an arranged marriage in the movie. It's a colossal leap.

It makes you wonder if any of this was done to counter some of that.

 

I doubt the gay-friendly Disney Corporation would be thinking along those lines.

 

All I can add is that Ariel is a saucy little show-off with extreme daddy issues. My kind of gal.

 

They reacted pretty strongly last summer when some of the gay groups made the suggestions...

I don't blame them for a second... It's a cartoon for kids and nothing was even remotely sexual about the character, it's a kids' movie and for the groups to suggest otherwise go back the notions that cartoons or puppets like Peppermint Pattie and Bert and Ernie are gay...

It gets idiotic. It's no wonder even a company as gay-friendly as Disney would be put on the offensive.

 

She went from a 5 to a 6.