Kate Thurston

Compare-Contrast

9/28/12

Professor Renee Hobbs

On June 22, 2012 the Disney/Pixar media industry mega power released what they

hoped to be the highest grossing animated children’s film of the year. The film, which according

to PixarPlanet.com earned seven hundred and thirty million domestically and abroad in said

year, was entitled Brave. At its core Brave is the rollicking tale of a fiery, young, Scottish

princess, named Merida. As the first born and only daughter to the loveable King Fergus and

conservative Queen Elinor, the energetic lass has the natural beauty of her mother yet the

innate, wild, unruly demeanor of her father. She is an expert archer and horseback rider, who is

rather tom-boyish and unwilling to conform. When she learns her non-consensual hand in

marriage will be vied for by members of allied clans in the Highland Games, she declares she

will beat them all by fighting for her own hand.

The spirited Merida and the conversely proper Queen Elinor obviously do not see eye to

eye and the distressed teen takes off on a hasty journey joined solely by her beloved horse

Angus. This is the point where he plot explodes with spells, suspense, and surprise and the

viewer witnesses Merida asking, “If you had a chance to change your fate, would you?” Merida

must decide to put her own ego aside for the benefit of her family and uncovers the balance

between self and loved ones.

Brave is an animated film that certainly provides the expected elements from the

children’s genre. The premise is alluring to each sex, both boys and girls alike, for some of the

same reasons and some seemingly different. Sure the central character, Merida, is a female

which surely appeals to the young ladies. However, there are many masculine qualities of the

film, for example sword fights, archery, and burly, warring Scotsmen that definitely capture and

hold the imagination of little boys. That being said, it is the overall enchanting story line that is

truly the essence to drawing in the attention of the child audience. There is a common universal

charm and reliability to the characters. The fable like theme within Brave is utilized in many

Disney movies and allows the children to hopefully leave the theater with a learned lesson and

the ability to apply it to real life.

It appears a fair amount of the strategic choices within the film were clearly decided

upon with the child audience in mind. While thoroughly fulfilling, both visually and audibly,

Brave stealthily intertwines many educational aspects to the child viewer. The Scottish

Highlands setting, with its rolling green hills, the indigenous clans in their traditional garb, and

the many myths and legends presented, serve as virtual history lesson. The presence of the

ancient, folk-lorish and uniquely European will-o-the-wisps and menhirs, inspire immediate awe

and curiosity. Disney/Pixar yet again successfully delivers that potent one-two combination

punch of children’s entertainment, oh so nonchalantly combined with enlightenment and

wonder.

With the debut of Brave one cannot help but to become reminiscent of another

passionate, fierce, Disney animated red-head, who desperately yearned to conspire to change

her ultimate fate. In nineteen eighty- nine, the film The Little Mermaid featured sixteen year old

Ariel, who lived a splashy life “under the sea” with her family and friends. Under the control of

her commanding father King Triton, Ariel, like Merida must try to navigate the future of her

existence.

The similarities that lie within these two films are much more extensive than the mere

formerly mentioned. Besides the distinct fire-engine colored coifs that both girls adorn, there

are many common threads woven into each fairy tales. Both Merida and Ariel are strong and

aware of their individual needs, neither afraid to pursue that which they desire. They each

endure a familiar conflict between parent and child, Merida with her antiquated value driven

mother and Ariel with her overwhelmingly overbearing father. There is the mutual rebellion to

the rules and what is expected of them, to their parent’s dismay, as they honestly had their

child’s best interest at heart. Then, of course, there is the essential deal that they each must

make with the “devil” that each time comes in the form of the evil, old, conniving witch…and

then the spells are cast. The conclusions to both films involve the slaying of the villains and the

heroines receiving theirs sought after happiness.

With as many coinciding themes as appear in the films, there are even more extensive

contrasts. While Ariel is very feminine and demure, Merida is stoic and silly. Ariel wishes, in

essence, to change who she is from mermaid to human, and leave all she knows and loves, for

none other than a man, whom she has seen twice. In the deal she makes with Ursula the sea

witch she trades the one thing that woman have fought for centuries to attain, her voice. Her

voice. What kind of message does that send to young, impressionable girls? Merida, on the

other hand, uses her voice to assert that she will not be subject to a marriage founded in

arrangement and ostentatious, foolish, male rituals, which she proves to be better at in the

first. While Ariel does not learn any real lesson in The Little Mermaid except that if you cause

havoc on the lives of your family and friends in a selfish pursuit, you will in the end be

rewarded, the outcome is different in Merida’s case. She acquires the wisdom that one can be

themself while still valuing and embracing that which makes us the same yet different from our

family.

The similarities and differences in the two films do showcase how far we have come as a

society in twenty three years. It seems apparent that children and adults alike love a good, old

fashioned, well written, story. To have a character like Merida, who is strong, athletic, bold, and

beautiful and is not afraid to stand up for her sense of self and personal beliefs, yet also adores

her family, is quite telling to us as a society. It proves that, hopefully, gone are the days of the

docile princesses like Ariel, who only fight for something like a man and give up themselves. It

seems that girls and woman are being depicted in a more respectful, positive, cerebral light,

even in children’s media where it just may be most important. I asked my seven year old niece

Caroline to tell me in a few words what she learned from watching Brave, the answer was short

and sweet like her, “Girl Power Auntie.” A final thought is keep up the good work Disney/Pixar,

we have come a long way baby.