Comments on la soubrette: The 7 Most Sexist Disnney Characters

I personally thought this list was both hilarious ...

2009-10-28T21:06:42.721-04:00

I personally thought this list was both hilarious and insightful. I am often annoyed by people employing the "there are bigger offenses in the world" argument: why yes, there often are. And other people are probably writing about them right now. Why not take note of something less obvious that makes us all think a bit about the impact those "little" things we do and say and see really have?

I'd like to make an additional note: the true unfortunate moral that seems to appear in nearly every Disney film is, "If you are a female and mildly attractive/skinny, you are a helpless nitwit whose only aspirations in life involve acquiring a husband." Examples: the Fairy Godmother is a competent, chubby female next to the useless slender Cinderella; the Faeries in Sleeping Beauty; the villainesses in The Little Mermaid, Snow White, 101 Dalmatians who are all allowed some semblance of intelligence; etc. Thoughts?

"Unfortunate moral: Your man is more important tha...

2009-08-15T16:48:15.261-04:00

"Unfortunate moral: Your man is more important than your friends and family."

And yet, even in this day and age, that moral is still accepted. Twilight, anyone?

I really liked Disney, and still do. Even if they're evil.

You do realize that three out of seven of these ex...

2009-05-08T03:08:00.000-04:00

You do realize that three out of seven of these examples are Disney remaking fairy tales -- in many cases, changing the fairy tale around to make it less bloody and depressing and more palatable to children -- so it's really not a feminism fail on Disney's part, correct?

And ditto the Anonymous sticking up for Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins. The movie came out in 1964, which meant that the script was probably written even earlier, by at least a year or so. That's early as anything to be showing a character like that. I'd actually give Disney props, for both her and Mary Poppins herself. 101 Dalmations came out around that time, too, which makes the more stereotyped portrayals make a lot more sense.

Also, I don't know if we're just reading the movie differently or not, but I never even considered that Duchess acted the way she did because she was female -- just because she was a pampered housecat and had been her whole life. All three of her kittens, daughter included, were younger and therefore found it easier to adapt. It's kind of like Lady and the Tramp -- Lady sure as hell didn't have any street smarts, but it wasn't because she's was a girl, it was because she was a pampered lapdog.

I'm not getting the big deal on most of these. I understand the article's just for humor, but when I entirely disagree on the points made about all but one of the movies (Toy Story does, I think, have valid problems in it if only for the utter LACK of female characters in the first movie besides Bo Peep; she wouldn't have been bad at all if she'd had a balance, since being a highly sexualized woman who knows what she wants isn't INHERENTLY feminist, but certainly is a problem if she's the only gal in the flick), it takes a lot away from the funny.

Then [Aurora] just lies around for a while, lettin...

2009-03-17T00:12:00.000-04:00

Then [Aurora] just lies around for a while, letting the prince do all the damned work until he shows up and wakes her up.

You give the prince too much credit. The good fairies do everything difficult - namely, getting the prince to the castle in one piece in spite of the fact that his fighting style is based around swinging his sword wildly and hoping to hit something. ;)

I'd say that the real moral is, everyone will still think the guy with the sword is the hero, no matter how much help you give him or how much more screentime and personality you get.

Woah, relax. It was meant to entertain, not to inf...

2009-03-03T14:46:00.000-05:00

Woah, relax. It was meant to entertain, not to inflame.

Most of what's left of sexism (and I mean misandrony as much as misogyny) is not institutionalized, it is social. Media and communication is the best if not the only way to "make a difference".

You're insane. You want to see REAL sexism? Look...

2009-03-01T12:13:00.000-05:00

You're insane. You want to see REAL sexism? Look at the middle east! Look at Asia! Look at Europe!

Bitching about Disney movies just makes you sound foolish and clueless. I'm a woman and I find it embarrassing that people like you contaminate the meaning of "women's rights."

Step off your fucking soapbox and go make a difference if you care so much.

While I agree that sexism is a huge problem with D...

2009-02-15T13:54:00.000-05:00

While I agree that sexism is a huge problem with Disney, I think Mrs. Banks deserves a tad bit more credit. Her character isn't ideal, but I think that teaching kids about the Suffragist movement is worth her duplicity--if you think about it, she's choosing to use a man for his money and perform acts of radical feminism behind his back and without his "permission." Of the options a woman had at the time, that might not have been the worst.

As far as The Little Mermaid, I'm so glad you placed her as #1. . . the movie was made in the late 80's, so there's no "it was a different time!" excuse, and I'm amazed that more people don't notice the poor example her story provides to the kids who go nuts for the film. She's marrying someone with whom she has never had a full conversation, at SIXTEEN YEARS OLD!!

The last one isn't really as bad as it's being mad...

2009-01-30T16:13:00.000-05:00

The last one isn't really as bad as it's being made out to be. It's been tamed down a bit from the original story, where she commits suicide because she can't be with him (instead of getting the fuck over it). It was written in the 1800's, and that's how most women were viewed then. Atleast they gave her a happy ending.

I don't think they take stuff that was previously ...

2009-01-30T01:49:00.000-05:00

I don't think they take stuff that was previously published online. First electronic publishing rights and exclusivity and all that.

Try selling it to Cracked. http://www.cracked.com...

2009-01-29T22:03:00.000-05:00

Try selling it to Cracked. http://www.cracked.com/article_16821_hate-cracked-wed-like-see-you-do-better-seriously.html