I'm Merida, and I'll be shooting for my own hand

Rating: Null/10 (8 November 2014)

"Why do so few writers of heroic or epic fantasy ever deal with the fundamental quandary of their novels...that so many of them take place in cultures that are rigid, hierarchical, stratified, and in essence oppressive? What is so appealing about feudalism, that so many citizens like ours love reading about and picturing life under hereditary lords?" - David Brin
Released in 2012 by Pixar Animation Studios, "Brave" attempts to subvert and overturn the clichés and values promulgated by many Walt Disney features. As it was directed by a woman - Brenda Chapman - and features a plucky heroine in the lead role, the film has also garnered a reputation as a "feminist tract".
Set in the Scottish highlands, "Brave" tells the tale of princess Merida, a fiery red-head with a fondness for bows, arrows and asserting her individuality. Not bound by traditional gender roles, Merida angers her mother, Queen Elinor. Elinor wants Merida to be your traditional Disney Princess – reserved, feminine and infatuated with men, wealth and "acting proper" - but Merida refuses to comply. She's a tom-boy, in love with sweat, grime and the rough-and-tumble ways of her boisterous father. Merida, in short, is your typical post-modern, 21st century woman. The world's her oyster. Anything goes.
"Do you ever bother to ask what I want?" Merida yells at her mother. "No! You walk around trying to make me be like you! Well, I'm not going to be like you! I'd rather die than be like you!" Queen Elinor recoils in horror. Her little princess refuses to be a princess!
When Queen Elinor is transformed into a bear by a mysterious witch, Elinor is forced to question her parochial assumptions. She learns to appreciate the "manly" and "wild" ways traditionally ascribed to men and to see the value in a kind of beastly masculinity. Merida, meanwhile, learns the opposite. She learns to appreciate traditionally feminine traits, and learns to accept the responsibilities of womanhood. She even relies upon a traditional feminine skill - needlework rather than a bow - to save everyone during the film's climax. During this climax, in which "Brave" reconciles the masculine (daughter) with the feminine (mother), Merida essentially reforms feudal Scotland. She agrees to submit to tradition, but only if she is also granted certain "equal rights". Think of her as a young Gloria Steinem.
Though it means well, "Brave" can't escape the insidious clutches of Walt Disney. Chapman, Pixar's first female director, was fired and replaced by Mark Andrews, and the film's tale of female empowerment, as it unfolds within the context of a feudal monarchy, feels creepy. In "Brave", Girl Power amounts to choosing your man, toys, living in a castle and ruling over the poor men and women slaving below you. As the sources of hierarchal power and inequality are not questioned, and as sexism always works hand-in-hand with class oppression, Merida's emancipation is hollow.
"Brave's" first half is as good as Pixar at its best. It's funny, fast, beautifully animated, and Merida makes for a cool hero. Merida's transgressive clashes with her mother and father are also wonderfully dramatic; think Jane Austen soaked in nitroglycerin. Unfortunately "Brave" quickly degenerates into clichés . The film's witches, magic, and giant bears seem below Pixar, Chapman's symbolism is too obvious, her script too often recalls Disney's "Mulan", and a subplot about a mad son who loses his soul (and father's kingdom) because he "refused to obey monarchs" undermines the film's scepticism of parents, status quos and tradition.
7/10 – Other good, recent animated films: Chomet's "The Illusionist", Hosoda's "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", "The Secret World of Arrietty", Oshii's "The Sky Crawlers", "Only Yesterday", "From Up on Poppy Hill", Satoshi Kon's "Paprika" and Yeon Sang-ho's "The King of Pigs". Worth one viewing