Podcast Stuff Your Mom Never Told You - “Feminist Movie Friday”
This is a podcast from iHeartradio hosted by Anney Reese and Samantha McVey discuusing the film Mulan.
The podcast’s main point was to break down how the 1998 film Mulan broke gender stereotypes and discuss the characters. They also provided historical information about China, matchmakers, and other story versions. They use music and brief sentences to state a sponsor or the next topic; it mainly is just a chat between friends.
I want to include the podcast’s point on the femininity and masculinity of Mulan. This quote was very interesting to me because it is a new idea, “ I think she succeeds by embracing both her feminine and masculine side.” This perspective I had not seen, yet I feel it does show a clear difference how female characters are being portrayed in Disney films now compared to past ones.
“Looking into the Magic Mirror, Haas and Trapdeo”
The essay “Looking into the Magic Mirror, Haas and Trapdeo” was written by Lynda Haas and Shaina Trapedo discussing Disney and its films.
The main idea was to explain how Disney became a staple part of Western culture entertainment and how it has expanded world wide. It also discussed how the earlier films had female characters in an outdated portrayal and why that changed later on.
The essay had this quotes that was a very good point on Disney’s reasoning for their portrayal of female characters, “That Disney did not attempt to update the female role in the early films is not surprising, since the goal was to make films that would bring the company popular acclaim, and the passive female role was the mainstream perception at the time.” This is a good way to explain how Disney decided to change female characters into a more up to date version, such as Mulan. She is now a strong and courageous woman due to the audience desiring a new look on how the women are portrayed.
Shane Black Was Forced to Gender Swap a Major 'Iron Man 3' Character to Sell More Toys
This is a movie review about Iron Man 3, by Adam Chitwood that discusses the decision by Marvel to gender swap the villain Aldrich Killian.
The main idea was discussing how the director of Iron Man 3 , Shane Black, had to change the villain to a male due to Marvel not believing that enough toys would be sold. The author of the review stated that the director’s view was ahead of its time because in later films female characters would be implemented more.
In the review the author states this, “ And for what? How many kids were dying to get their hands on Aldrich Killian toys when Iron Man 3 hit theaters?”; this is a point that is very important. Marvel said that a female villain would not have made as much money in toys, yet the audience wasn’t going to focus on Killian. I would like to discuss how female characters were not given prioritization, due to the assumption that they would not sell, but they were not given an opportunity.
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