to be saddened by the lack of children's films that promote female independence?

[Objection]

Trying to find movies for the kids I occasionally look after.
I'm really struggling to find PG movies that don't feature a female being stereotyped as either weak, overtly girly (not that there is anything wrong with girlyness) or highly dependent on men (being rescued etc).

In fact, I basically have Mulan and possibly Tangled as an option.

AIBU? Or are there a whole slew of children's films with strong female protaganists that I don't know about?

Brave?

The Princess and the Frog?

YANBU btw

Brave, spy kids, The early Harry Potter films, just off the top of my head. I would be more concerned about the onslaught of pink toys marketed to girls than films TBH.

Brave! Forgot about that one! Fab. The Princess and the Frog, forgot that too!

Harry Potter is quite impressively gender-neutral in some respects - but unfortunately wouldn't hold the interest of the 2 & 3 year old just yet!

Kiki's Delivery Service. A thirteen year old witch moves to a big city, gets a job, works hard, rescues her male friend when he is in danger.

My Neighbour Totoro. Two sisters meet nature sprites and have adventures.

No point in looking for this sort of film if you then dress her head to your in pink and reinforce all the usual guff stereotypes.

Beauty and the Beast? The way Belle tells Gaston to fuck off always appealed to me. All the dancing furniture is fab.

My Neighbour Tortoro is what you need : D

Yup Studio Ghibli movies, especially Miyazaki films are what you are after

Spirited Away is great.

Pretty much all the studio ghibli films have well rounded female characters who usually save the day.

My dc love them!

Children's films aren't great for make role models either, so don't forget the boys you look after in your quest to find gender neutral and gender positive films.

I think males are often portrayed as stupid, or less intelligent than their female counterparts, or they are there only to 'save' or benefit the female in some way. I can't even think of a male character that is shown as sensitive and intelligent and not there to benefit a female, although I hope there are some characters like that that others can think of!

No point in looking for this sort of film if you then dress her head to your in pink and reinforce all the usual guff stereotypes.

Stereotypes about gender roles yes, but dressing in pink doesn't make a blind bit of difference. I've fully allowed both DDs to be as princessy and wear as much pink as they like, now they have realised there are other things in life and have moved on and they are only 8 and 4.

They have watched and enjoyed all the Disney films, even those based on the traditional folk tales where women have more traditional gender roles. I consider these tales and to some extent the films as part of my culture and heritage.

In short, there are many, many more films with strong female roles than there used to be when I was small.

Matilda is another one which has not been mentioned yet.

Loads of films have central male characters who are good. Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Aladdin are all good.

I came on here to recommend studio ghibli too! :o

Nim's Island.
Fly Away Home.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Matilda.
National Velvet.
Shrek.

Meg in Hercules is a strong (ish) character "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle it!"

Pippi Longstocking is certainly not in need of rescuing. There are several movies and series about her.

Monsters Vs Aliens is one of the most feminist films ever, I absolutely love it.

No point in looking for this sort of film if you then dress her head to your in pink and reinforce all the usual guff stereotypes.

I don't

This is great, keep them coming!
(I've not even heard of some of these )

Wreck it Ralph, Vanellope is awesome!

The baby mammoth in Ice Age 3 (4? can't remember when she arrives) is pretty cool. And of course Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

Nim's Island