Dear Pixar, From All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees

[CaptainCanada]

I didn't 'misread' the article; in fact, I didn't need to read much of it at all to get the gist of what the lady said for me to still object to it. The lady is trying to make Pixar her kid's educators, when she should be doing the job of telling her daughter what she needs in order to be the self-sufficient and assertive person she can be. Forcing Pixar to create characters for her to please her daughter doesn't remove the responsibility from the author of raising her daughter. And if her daughter can't find it in Pixar movies, she can read (remember that activity?) about assertive girl heroes in books, of which there are aplenty.

Again, you keep using words like "force". She's making a polite request from a fan of their movies; Pixar's been the gold standard for children's entertainment for 15 years now, so it's not remotely out of line to wish they'd do a movie with a lead heroine. Likewise, nothing she says in the article suggests she doesn't give her kid other heroines from other sources; she'd just like some from Pixar too.

 

[Mojochi]

No worries. And if you're inclined to call me a touchy-feely lefty egalitarian in the philosophical sense, well, go right ahead.

 

[scotpens]

Need I point out what “girls with band-aids on their knees”; implies?

To me, it implies pre-adolescent tomboys who enjoy playing sports, climbing trees, and other kinds of activities that are likely to cause a skinned knee or two.

Why, does it mean something else to you? You must have a REALLY dirty mind.

I've had my problems with Pixar over the years. Given the state of the global environment and the First World's addiction to petro-dictator-supplied oil, I thought that the automobile-worshiping Cars was grossly inappropriate for impressionable young audiences, and hate the idea of a sequel.

Oh, lighten up, for Pete's sake. Celebrating cars is celebrating a major part of American culture. Somehow, I don't think a movie about animated, anthropomorphized vehicles would have been nearly as successful it it had been called Clean-Running, Biodiesel-Fueled Buses or Energy-Efficient, Zero-Emission Mass Transit Trains.

 

[Gaith]

Oh, lighten up, for Pete's sake. Celebrating cars is celebrating a major part of American culture.

So are sex and drunkenness, so if that's your only substantive disagreement to my opinion, then I assume you think it'd be fine for Pixar to make kids' movies about those subjects also.

 

[scotpens]

^ You're honestly equating cars with sex and drunkenness as suitable material for children's entertainment? Besides, animated talking cars are cute and funny.

 

[Neeka Keet]

It's not like Americans are gonna move away from their love affair with cars, America's size and geography pretty much guarantees that. The only significant change will be the fuel source of said vehicles.

I don't see how making a movie with cars as characters will sully young minds. Little boys love cars anyway.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Better yet, why doesn't the author take the plunge and write some scripts featuring the young female protagonists they want to see, and then shop them around instead of just bitching inaccurately about Pixar creating too many princesses on a NPR blog?

Because that would be stupid and unrealistic. Instead, being sane, she's providing customer feedback. What a concept.

 

[scotpens]

. . . I don't see how making a movie with cars as characters will sully young minds. Little boys love cars anyway.

And us big boys too!

Here in Southern California, cars are a way of life. You are what you drive. So I say: Automobiles NOW, automobiles TOMORROW, automobiles FOREVER!

And they can take my car when they pry the steering wheel from my cold, dead hands!

(Sorry, didn't mean to get carried away there.)

 

[Gaith]

^ You're honestly equating cars with sex and drunkenness as suitable material for children's entertainment?

No, I was pointing out how weak the "if it's popular then it's harmless" argument is.

Besides, animated talking cars are cute and funny.

I actually thought that watching a full-length movie without any arms or legs to speak of was pretty creepy.

 

[Neeka Keet]

I must be fucked up in the head because I loved every movie there that I've seen. The Brave Little Toaster is a movie with talking domestic appliances that talk and move. I adored that movie as a child.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Because that would be stupid and unrealistic.

No, that would be gutsy and determined, traits this lady has yet to prove, much like most of the people who bitch about movies & TV also.

Instead, being sane, she's providing customer feedback. What a concept.

The 'concept' would be using that talent of hers to write a script, and then getting it noticed and published. Instead, she uses it to bitch about Pixar. What a waste.

 

[Gaith]

^^ Actually, as a cultural writer/commentator for NPR, she's doing her job, and by b****ing about her column on a far less important message board, you're doing pretty much the same thing you're castigating her for.

 

[Harvey]

Instead, she uses it to bitch about Pixar. What a waste.

The article you posted, which is a pretty level-headed and mostly complementary bit of commentary directed towards Pixar, counts as bitching?

 

[Mojochi]

^^^THIS!!! You nailed exactly what I've been trying to (and should have) conveyed at first.

I would add however, that I do disagree with your perspective on the article that you posted. My remarks were more directed toward comments I read in this thread. I actually didn't find all that much wrong with how the article was presented. She worded it as a respectful request, & made some valid & accurate observations.

As far as her expressing her opinions, she is entitled to them, & didn't present them with any malice. Rather she seemed to be a genuine fan of their work, who has a criticism. There's nothing wrong with expressing that, so long as she is not fully condemning them, as it appeared others did, in this thread.

The only flaw in her critique, is that she failed to indicate why her observations might have come to pass, at Pixar, which as I stated, was likely because their work , over the past 15 years, was mainly created by men, & therefore the perspectives of that gender might naturally be presented more predominantly, adding that such wouldn't be a justifiable reason to condemn them

Sorry about all the run-on sentences folks. Guilty as charged

 

[RJDiogenes]

Because that would be stupid and unrealistic.

No, that would be gutsy and determined, traits this lady has yet to prove, much like most of the people who bitch about movies & TV also.

Instead, being sane, she's providing customer feedback. What a concept.

The 'concept' would be using that talent of hers to write a script, and then getting it noticed and published. Instead, she uses it to bitch about Pixar. What a waste.

This is a joke, right? Please don't tell you're actually serious.

 

[Hermiod]

^I talk about the absence of positive male role models in TV & Film all the time. Doesn't mean I'm deluded enough to think I could write better stories and characters than professionals could.

 

[FPAlpha]

What is it with the entitlemnt feelings in TV/movies?

"Oh.. that show doesn't have a black person in it? Why? Put one in!"

"Oh.. that show doesn't have a gay character? Put one in to promote equality for gays!"

And now someone is asking (in fact it's rather a veiled critique) for women as central characters in Pixar movies. Why is this important? Not one woman i ever knew ever noticed the lack of female characters.. they were swept away under the sea with Nemo, laughed with the Incredibles, got teary eyed by the opening 10 minutes of Up and were loving the little robot that could.

Pixar is doing the stories they feel they want to tell and it just so happens that most central characters are male but you know what? I don't care.. their movies are funny because their themes are funny and gender or gender related stories are not something Pixar apparently is concerned with.

They are in it to tell stories and not make politicial or sociological statements and all groups can go to hell if they try to coopt such companies or groups with their agenda.

 

[Hermiod]

^Pretty much thoroughly agreed.

I admit that I have not seen all of Pixar's movies, but I don't recall anyone ever seriously suggesting that Pixar portray their female characters badly. Okay, they might focus more on male characters but so what ? As you say, what's with this sense of entitlement ?

 

[TheBrew]

I didn't 'misread' the article; in fact, I didn't need to read much of it at all to get the gist of what the lady said for me to still object to it. The lady is trying to make Pixar her kid's educators, when she should be doing the job of telling her daughter what she needs in order to be the self-sufficient and assertive person she can be. Forcing Pixar to create characters for her to please her daughter doesn't remove the responsibility from the author of raising her daughter. And if her daughter can't find it in Pixar movies, she can read (remember that activity?) about assertive girl heroes in books, of which there are aplenty.

Maybe you should stick to 'Go Dog Go', though you might read too much into it.

I can sum up your argument easily.

The Article: "Pixar movies are great, though it would be cool if they had more central female characters."

You: "How DARE she try to regulate her poor parenting skills to Pixar and force them to raise her kids for her! Maybe she should focus on why her child is so ILLITERATE! "

The article made a simple suggestion and made it clear that even if it wasn't taken up, she would still watch whatever Pixar puts out and would take her daughter to it. Your overreacting is not doing you any favors and maybe if you decided to dial back the insane gibbering, you might be taken a bit more seriously.

Even the poster who you decided to go "^THIS!!!" to disagreed with your, shall we say, "unique" interpretation of the article. When even the people who you think are agreeing with you actually disagree, you might want to reevaluate your thought process.

 

[Gaith]

They are in it to tell stories and not make politicial or sociological statements

Narrative stories, especially when told over a course as long as two hours, inevitably constitute political and sociological statements. Some are more subtle than others, of course, but art is a subjective medium - and if you don't think there were socio-political statements made in Wall-E, then you probably slept through the whole thing.

If you're so hell-bent on the supposed virtues of neutral facts, study math.