Have you heard that Disney is going to stop making princess movies. Why?
Because "boys think they're icky."
Cinderella, Snow White, there's some bad news ...
Tangled, is the studios 50th animated release, cause celeb? Not so much. Disney Animation is in the midst of a major freak-out/reinvention. John Lasseter (Pixar/Disney) stated he's done making movies about fairy tales and princesses.
After Tangled "we don't have any other musicals or fairy tales lined up." Reason? The studio doesn't want to alienate boys, who supposedly won't see something like last year's "The Princess and the Frog." The other reason, frighteningly, is that young girls consider themselves too cool to want to be princesses.
Dafna Lemish, who has written about the influence of film and television on children, said "By the time they're 5 or 6, girls are not interested in being princesses. They're interested in being hot, in being cool. Clearly, they see this is what society values."
(That's right: A girl born in 2005 already is worrying about how "hot" she is. Have fun with that, moms and dads of the world.)
So, if "Tangled" (based on the Rapunzel story) will be the last fairy tale/princess movie Disney makes for a while, what will the studio be working on instead? Next year we'll get a new Winnie the Pooh film, and there's talk of "Reboot Ralph," supposedly about an old-school videogame character who has to contend with life in the Xbox era. In other words, get ready for a bunch of animated movies for boys.
Yes, I have 5 boys and yes, 3 of them loved "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Iron Man." But really? I thought everyone loved princess movies.
And on a side note......... I have always wanted a couple of girls to temper the testosterone here but after finding out 6yr olds are concerned with being too fat, and wanting to be "hot," I like all the roughhousing, bugs in jean pockets, and "big wheel moto-cross" just fine, thank you very much.
