[LMB] OT: Stereotypes was DOS Attack, Iraq Style...

[Sylvus Tarn]

On Mon, 2006-05-01 at 10:44 -0400, Elizabeth McCoy wrote:
> I am entirely blanking on Tarzan's Jane; brown hair, I think?

Yes. Jane was fun; I liked her. Of all the Dizzy heroines, Mulan is my
favorite, 'cuz *she's* the one who wins---she doesn't get rescued by
some guy (never mind that no military grunt would be allowed to disobey
orders they way she did---it's a dizzy film after all);  though I admit
I really liked the way they rewrote the ending to the Little Mermaid
(how I *detested* the original)---also that Eric uses his brains and
tools  (talk about multiplying your power using a whole ship!) to defeat
the sea-witch.  Contrasted, say, to B&B, in which we have that testorone
laden fight for dominance in the end that certainly had nothing to do
with the original (though again, I felt they deserved a few kudos for
observations on mob violence and not using the evil stepsister
meme---loved the way Robin McKinley turned that one on its head, in both
her retellings.)

In fact, the question should be whether they've actually ever had a
blonde heroine with any spine?  (I don't think lions or deer count.)
Cinderella was just a sweet, empty-headed idiot that allowed herself to
be locked up by her step-mother---in fact all the female characters,
with the possible exception of the godmother---were useless in that
story.  The story was about---and the heroes were--the *mice*.  My kids
*adored* that film when they were little, and it made my feminist heart
*cringe*.  They actually would scrub floors.  But only on their hands
and knees! But aside from teasing them I never banned it;  figured it
was better to let them grow out of it, and they have (including the
floor-scrubbing).

Was it Sleeping Beauty that had the competing idiot godmothers with blue
and pink magic that basically gave themselves to the enemy again?---And
needless to say, Snow White was another doormat;  it's the cute dwarfs
that everyone remembers.

sylvus
http://rejiquar.com