Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Alice in Wonderland

Fabulous! What a cool movie for girls. And boys. And men and women, for that matter. I have no complaints or concerns whatsoever. Here are some gender-related thoughts I had:

- The trouble everyone has dealing with Alice's ever-varying size was interesting. She is always too big or too small. I have no idea if the film meant for that concern to be a commentary on expectations for the female appearance, but I thought it was a compelling theme. Would they be so concerned about a boy being the wrong size (particularly too BIG?) I don't know, but maybe not.

- The White Queen is a wonderful character. She is sweet and good, but just enough over the top that it goes from a stereotype to a gentle parody of a kindly princess.

- I don't care what the rest of the world says about gender not mattering, it IS easier for me to look to a brave protagonist as a role model if she's a female. Particularly, I noticed, if she's a female around my age.

- There was a lot of talk about thinking impossible thoughts. In fact, Alice needed to think these impossible thoughts in order to break free of her social obligations outside of "Underland." The film stopped just short, I think, of making Alice's turn from marriage to business too easy. The idea of dreaming impossible dreams allowed them to acknowledge just how difficult it would be for a Victorian era young woman to do what Alice does.

- This is another film where a particularly cool female character sees her dad as a role model more than she does her mother. I'd love to see a movie someday where a girl looks to her badass mom to set an example.

That's all. See this movie. You'll love it.

No comments:

Post a Comment