Kids Films

[kickassangel]

I took dd to see The Smurfs this week.

I expected to be thoroughly bored (which I was), but I was hugely disgusted with the use of stereotyping (not ALL kids films are this lazy), particularly of Grace the Virgin-Mother type figure. It truly upset me.

I've always deliberately avoided Cinderella because I think it just lays down the worst kind of stereotypes for young girls, with them rushing into marriage without knowing what life & relationships are really about.

SO - What films are there for a young girl (age 8) to watch, that can give her some fun & enjoyment AND great role models, or at least not awful ones?

She loves cartoons btw.

I'm thinking that the Narnia films, and Bolt are about OK (but not great), any other ideas?

Labyrinth, charlie and the chocolate factory

Clone Wars

ooh any studio ghibli films, like kiki's deliver service

absolutely fantastic films and really lovely to watch

delivery service! not deliver

second studio ghibli

madeline? spy kids? enchanted? lemony snicket?

haven't seen any of them in a while but remember them being OK...

There's a thread somewhere about films which pass the Bechdel test - there might be children's films in there to consider.

We don't go to the flicks much, and tend to watch DVDs - if you want to balance out what's on offer in the cinema with your home viewing, you might want to thinks about:

The Golden Compass
The various Narnia films
Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief (yes, main part is a boy, but Annabeth and the other female characters have good roles)
The Harry Potter films - a mix of female characters, and some parts do pass Bechdel.

Actually, this is a bit depressing as I can't think of many others. The Incredibles and Despicable Me, perhaps?

Hi

Can I ask what is the bechdel test?

Any studio ghibli films. Fab female characters. It's Japanese anime. I love em and so do my girls x start with Totoro or spirited away. They can be a bit dark/scary sometimes. Fab films

Bechdel test:

Does the film:

• contain two named female characters
• who have a conversation with each other
• about something other than a man

It's depressing how many films fail that test.

Thanks melpomene I'm concerned that a lot of my unfortunate views on relationships stem from too many Disney princess stories and while I want to share these with dd I also want to give a more balanced picture.

The Bechdel Test comprises of 3 parts.

For it to pass it needs.

1. 2 female characters, with a name
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something other than a man.

SGM, interesting you said Megamind. I found myself extremely frustrated that despite Roxanne's strength, she still needed saving.

Big fan of Enchanted, myself. Takes a while, but it gets there eventually. I think The Little Mermaid has some hints to feminism, albeit VERY slight. And Pocahontas. Another firm favourite.

DS loves The Rescuers as well. Bianca's the stronger character. Ooh, and Shrek.

Stardust - although Yvaine's a stronger character in the book.

Penelope - still quite girlie, but more about self acceptance than anything.

The Shrek ones? The princess has a curse put on her where she is an ogre after midnight, and will only be pretty if her true love kisses her. But of course, how will she ever fall in love when she is ugly?(!) At the end, Shrek kisses her, she stays an ogre, and at first she's upset because she thinks the spell didn't work, but it turns out that her ogre-form is the one which is beautiful to him. It's not a perfect concept, but it's less problematic than many others. I don't think I've seen Shrek 2 or 3 though.

Most of the Pixar ones tend to not have love stories as the central theme. If they are on the sideline it's not massively emphasised.

I have a feeling Ella Enchanted is good, but it's been a long time since I've seen it. It's about a princess who gets "blessed" with a "gift" at birth of obedience, meaning she has to to everything she is told, ever. She does fall in love with a Prince, but the climax is all about how she breaks the curse and doesn't marry him because she is mindlessly obeying, but because she wants to.

What's Tangled like, anyone? I keep seeing reference to it, but not sure what it's actually about.

Tangled is based on Rapunzel. I'm kinda mixed on it from a feminist perspective, but overall it's a good film. DS now knows the bloody thing word for word.

Wall-E! The first 'half' of the film is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen but it's quite a subtle rendering of a dystopia brought about by over-consumption - an eight year old should be fine with it, but very young children might get a little bored. It picks right up as the film moves on and has two great characters in Wall-E and Eve. And it wins points because the US far right hate it for it's eco message.

UP is another great one, it's mostly male characters but Mr Fredericksen is an OAP and a total hero with a fantastically enriching relationship in his past. Apparently Pixar had difficulty persuading backers that children would want an elderly person as a hero. But luckily they did because the film is amazingly good. And bright! I was in HMV and it was the film chosen to demonstrate the shiny new HDTVs. I was entranced!

Neither of them pass the Bechdel test, but they're examples of films that might not pass but remain good.

Sorry that I did a post & run - got tied up with work.

Some of those we have (wall-e, narnia, potter (though i think Hermione is a stereotype, thought quite strong), shrek)

am off to google studio ghibli

thanks so much for this - i just don't want dd thinking it's all about a man swooping in to save her & then it's happy ever after. i know that rl experience should counter balance the whole disney dream, but it's so very pervasive that i think we need to consciously work against it.