Last weekend, Disney made major headlines when they rolled
out their future plans at their biennial expo known as D23. Perhaps lost
amongst all the excitement over the news over Marvel, Pixar, and STAR WARS
(read Reel Speak’s recap HERE), was the news concerning their upcoming 2016 animated
musical film, MOANA.
The film, slated for a November release, tells the story of
a Pacific-Island princess who tries to complete her parents’ quest to find a
fabled island which holds the secret to saving her people’s culture. Dwayne “The
Rock” Johnson is set to play a Hawaiian demi-god, and the film will be directed
by Disney veterans John Musker and Ron Clements (ALADDIN, THE LITTLE MERMAID).
It sounds like the standard Disney fare we’ve been seeing
for the past several decades; princess, quest, etc…but this time the House that
the Mouse built is breaking down boundaries. In MOANA, (named after the title
character) the princess is not only a non-white female protagonist, but according
to the information released by Disney…is not a princess who falls in love.
The role of a Disney princess, from SNOW WHITE to CINDERELLA
to RAPUNZEL, have had a difficult time breaking out of the role of being an
adorable girl who accidently does something to save the day, and falls in love
with a handsome prince in the process. The type of female representation in
Disney’s early films reflected founder Walt Disney’s personal feelings about
family life, and it was so successful that the studio built a template which it
reverted to for 75 years of films and other mass media storytelling. It may
have worked very well and given generations of young girls something to look up
to (although that has been debated as well), but in today’s age where there is
a call for equal rights and for female heroes on the screen (read Reel Speak’s
blogs on the issue HERE and HERE), it makes sense for Disney to get with the
times. Adapt or die, as they say.
The issue just doesn’t begin and end with female characters.
In 2012 their Pixar production BRAVE, featured Pixar’s first female
protagonist, and had the first female
director for a Pixar flick (co-directed by Brenda Chapman). When the women on
the screen aren’t portrayed as helpless, then perhaps the women in real-life
won’t be either. Everyone loves a princess, and they shouldn’t go away forever,
but a princess who can save the day…that’s even better.
*
MOANA is set to arrive on November 23rd, 2016.
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