THR: So back to writing, is your Sweet Valley High film going to happen?
Cody: Yes, yes, yes it is. I feel like I keep
telling people it’s going to happen, and now they’re going to stop
believing me, but I’m telling the truth. It’s just that the development
on a musical is longer, because you’re writing a lot of musical material
and you really need to find a qualified director for something like
this, so that’s what’s really dragging it out. But I’m telling you: 2013
is the year I’m making it happen.
In her first in-depth profile, Kennedy
reveals how she landed Abrams to direct "Episode VII" as THR talks to
Steven Spielberg, David Fincher and producer husband Frank Marshall, who
remembers meeting her: "There was no way I was going to screw this up
by hitting on Steven's assistant."
Is it more intellectually dishonest to present a make-up kit as
"Diva" or to present a "Princess" without any power or responsibility? Female rulers are
important models for little girls who seek to make a difference around
them, and when female rulers are presented as vapid and superficial and
that being a woman in power is only about dress, politeness and backbiting social situations... well THAT is a problem that needs solving.
There are a lot of princess products aimed at little girls. Lots of Little girls love dressing up in costumes, they love sparkly, grown-up seeming things. Beyond any distaste for marabou feathers or excessive glitter, teaching girls that there isn't anything more than politeness and talking to magical animals dismisses female rulers throughout history as mere baubles.
In a variety of television shows aimed at girls there are princesses and queens, obviously, Sofia the First, but also My Little Pony, Super Why, Dora The Explorer has princess adventures, there is a sense that if you have a female character, princesses are inevitable.
Unfortunately, while princesses creep their way into TV shows over time, most princess articulations is that largely they ignore actual elements of what a real princess does as part of her job.
These princesses that creep into our kids TV shows are often imperiled, trapped, magical deus ex machinas, hidden as normal girls, and frankly, we don't often see them ruling over the land. Which is actually part of royal life, you know, ruling.
We have diminished the meaning of princesses in a way that is totally unhelpful. The idea that princesses exist as window dressing, are only expected to be pretty and wear fancy clothes is a dreadful oversimplification of female royalty.
Kate, Dutchess of Cambridge as a Brownie at age 8
The problem with princess creep, the constant princessing of girls media and toys is an issue for several reasons, not just that it makes all feminine products generic; but that over time that limitation applies not just in aesthetics but in underlying meaning.
I'm not a monarchist by any means but pretending that "Princess"
isn't a career, with expectations, responsibilities and power that needs
to be used smartly is simply terrible and a huge dis-service to our
girls. The modern meaning of princesshood has changed somewhat as democracy has profoundly overtaken the once total power of royal families.
The stories of actual princesses are stories that are
compelling because they are nuanced portraits of real women,
privileged, wealthy, often glamorous, but they have lives and
interests and most importantly: These women accomplish things, and their position gives those things more attention and reach than other people have.
Princesses are people who because of their station have
tremendous impact on the world around them. From Princess Diana and her work with Land Mines, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge's charitable work with kids, they impact millions of people and that's just one country. The simple fact is that they are the heads of
state, or symbolic figureheads for entire countries. Why are we ignoring that when we present them in media? Why are their clothes more important than their actions?
Here in this Rav4 Genie add from the super bowl, is some princess creep I can get behind, because it gives you a totally difference sense of depth.While it's simplistic, it's shockingly rare to see a different princess role depicted in advertising.
But beyond simple swordplay, or Sofia the First joining the boys flying horse race team, the actual meaning of being a member of a ruling family and it's associated responsibilities are rarely part of the character package.
Sofia, which is ostensibly about a fish out of water everygirl learning what it means to become royalty, most of the screen time of the introductory movie and the first 4 aired episodes are about mean girls and clothes, rather than actual outreach and compassion, what she can do as a princess and the insights that her non-royal origins actually give her. It's early yet, there's a lot of time for her to grow, but I'd love to see stronger references to the woman the girl with become. I want that, and am disappointed because I expect it because other shows do this well, they show strong female characters on a pathway to rulership that echo all the way from episode 1.
Which brings me to My Little Pony,
My Little Pony's Fictional Universe is lush with Princessess, Princess Celestia is the absolute ruler of Equestria (note, not Queen). Her sister, Princess Luna rules over the night, and they have complimentary powers although Luna is the minor of the two.
Seen here in a healthy relationship with her husband, who she works with to protect the kingdom.
Princess Miamore Cadenza aka Princess Cadence, regularly helps the core cast defeat powerful magical enemies with her devoted husband, and shows tremendous responsibility to the ponies of Equestria even though she doesn't have a clear land of her own to rule. These ponies are magical, responsible, and have a sense of genuine concern over the fate of others.
This weekend, the show's protagonist, Twilight Sparkle, who has been studying magic at the feet of Princess Celestia for most of her life is becoming a princess herself.
In MLP‘s Equestria, “princess” is a designation that’s earned, not freely given — and though princesses have specific leadership roles
in pony society, being one really means “being a good pony who shares
the gifts that they have been given with others,” according to McCarthy.
“We’re building a very unique mythology around being a princess,” she
continues. “Every little girl wants to be a princess, and not everybody
can get to be a princess — but you can live up to the ideals that should
come along with being a princess.”
The archetypal, campbellian journey of the hero takes an initiate to a hero, and a hero to a ruler. Over time, shouldn't we want our girls to aspire to great power, great responsibility and the ability to inspire others to greatness?
"GIRLS on Film: Secrets, Seduction and Reclaiming the Body on Camera" at Indiewire "We don’t often see women
having agency over their own bodies and, indeed, much of the focus
surrounding Dunham’s nudity has been on her insistence on placing her
characters in a range of strange, unfulfilling, and sometimes
humiliating sexual situations. But the scene I love most in Girls
is the one of Hannah naked and happy, eating cupcakes in a bathtub.
This simple image is strangely radical: a private moment where we see a
woman enjoying her body just as it is, a naked woman who exists for no
one else."
"The funny thing about Hannah and Fiona is that they have pretty much the
same job. Hannah works at a coffee shop and Fiona is a cocktail
waitress (though that’s just one of Fiona’s many gigs). In context of
the modern economy, it’s not hard to picture the two rubbing shoulders.
As the service sector grows and the opportunities for the middle-class
shrink, young people of all classes find themselves making minimum wage
together, and our class distinctions are getting more complicated as a
result. Retail and food service are where the post-crash jobs are"
“She’s the most complex black female lead we’ve ever seen in prime
time,” Dr. Cooper said. “You’re not getting an archetype, you’re not
getting a stereotype, you’re getting a fully fledged human being,” she
said."
"Asked whether she felt any pressure being in this unusual position, Ms.
Washington... She said in an e-mail: The question was: Are audiences ready
to have the stories that we tell on television to be more inclusive? Are
we ready for our protagonists to represent people of all different
genders and ethnicities?” "
"[Olivia Pope] is a fully realized woman," says Oprah. "She's not
just in this role because she is African-American. [She represents] a
new moment for our culture."
"The other week, as the debate about the depiction of torture in "Zero
Dark Thirty" raged on, I chatted with Alex Gibney about his upcoming HBO
doc "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God" and the piece he wrote in Salon
about his issues with Kathryn Bigelow's film, which he felt
misrepresented how useful so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques"
were in finding of Osama bin Laden. Meanwhile, on TV, Huck (Guillermo
Diaz), one of the main characters in Shonda Rhimes' ABC drama "Scandal,"
was accused of attempting to assassinate the President, taken to a
windowless room somewhere and tortured in an attempt to get a
confession."
"On the very same night that Vice President Joe Biden
met with entertainment industry leaders to discuss the issue of media
violence and its impact on children, ABC—the television network owned by
a company named for Walt Disney—aired an intense, explicit and bloodied
torture scene during its show Scandal," the PTC wrote in a statement Tuesday.
"Scandal's a runaway success not because it's a black show from a black writer but because it's a great show from a great writer. (Although let its inclusively be a lesson to the networks and showrunners who can't manage to employ any people of color… What's stopping you?)"
