The Hidden Meanings in Kids' Movies

While I question a few of the things he says, it's an interesting video and it fits in well with the theme of our blog. It's only 10 minutes long, so take a quick break and enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx8RRIiP53Q

Finally! Some "progress" in gender-neutrality of toys??

Hasbro to unveil gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven

According to the Geena Davis Institute of Gender in the Media, "Hasbro has announced plans to begin selling gender-neutral versions of its long-successful Easy-Bake Oven. A teenage New Jersey girl launched a campaign, including a petition that quickly attracted over 40,000 signatures, against the company after she was unable to find an Easy-Bake Oven in a color other than pink or purple."

I give props to McKenna Pope, of Garfield, N.J., the young woman who took action against our overly-gendered culture of toys in the U.S. She's an example of how one person acting on her dissatisfaction with the status quo can positively change the culture we consume.  

At the same time, I find it disheartening that she had to do anything at all. When I was a girl in the seventies, the Easy Bake oven came in a variety of colors (among them turquoise, avocado green, harvest gold, white, and black) and its ad featured boys as well as girls. Why are we regressing?

Calling all in the multi-layered audience of YA lit

If you share Maggie Stiefvater's claim that you "don't care what a book is classified as: [you] care that it's good," then continue reading about five books you will never outgrow. Perhaps, like me, you might consider reading them, too, over break?
www.npr.org/2012/12/20/167562764/5-young-adult-novels-that-youll-never-outgrow

"Frozen" Disney Princess Movie 2013

On the topic of the first official concept art for Disney's 2013 computer-animated film Frozen:

The above images were released and met with a general disappointment for the character designs. The art is sure to be phenomenal (I mean just look at those ice-sculpture-things, wow) but many felt there was something lacking in the characters Anna and Kristoph.

I have included the rest of my post under the break. I tried not to have this post turn into a big discussion of "What Disney could have done." I am very interested in looking through original concept art of animated films, and I find it so interesting because the creators can literally create any appearance for a scenery or a person. It is always fascinating to see what could have been and what they officially decided upon.

Please read on for some thoughts on this Tangled lookalike, how it compares to the original Hans Christian Andersen story, fanart that potentially improves on the Frozen setting, and sketches from concept artists:

The Girl Effect

I just saw this posted on facebook (you all should follow Cranky Fat Feminist if you don't, she's a former Denison student!), and I though I'd share it here. I'd never heard about The Girl Effect before, but it would have been really cool to talk about... Here is the link to their website: http://www.girleffect.org/

Pink Loves Consent and Victoria's Secret

I heard about this on Sunday from Jordan, and I see it was mentioned briefly on our blog before the word broke that it wasn't officially connected with Victoria's Secret. But it seems http://pinklovesconsent.com/ is trying to do a really cool thing in making the line official, or at least raising awareness for "the consent revolution."

Googling, I found their twitter: https://twitter.com/loveconsent

A disheartened article on Jezebel from December 3rd: http://jezebel.com/5965323/no-victorias-secret-does-not-have-a-new-line-of-anti+rape-panties

A hopeful, December 4th article on Jezebel: http://jezebel.com/5965486/but-what-if-victorias-secret-launched-a-consent+themed-line-of-underpants

And a HuffPost article, "Why Pink Loves Consent Is Important": http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-cheung/pink-loves-consent-victorias-secret_b_2264289.html

I have some problems with Victoria's Secret that stems not from the qualities of their products, but the way they advertise, especially when compared to Dove models (which I love). I saw this comparison a while back:

Above: Victoria's Secret and Dove comparison

Above: More of Dove's Real Beauty ad

Yeah, Victoria's Secret has some different skin tones thrown in there, but all of the women are the same height and have the same swoopy hair and skinny body build. Dove makes an effort to find diversity with their models, and it's something that I appreciate greatly.

Look how fun and beautiful everyone is! Silly faces, genuine smiles, as opposed to very glossy, rail-thin models posing for "sexy." It's interesting to observe the comparison from an compositional perspective: VS models pose and contort their bodies to have angles rather than smooth edges.

Speaking of Dove, body diversity, and squeamishness over the sexuality in old-age:

Dove's Pro-Aging Campaign.

I didn't know this, but the above video was "banned in the US for showing too much skin." Sigh.

I think Victoria's Secret should seriously consider a Pink Loves Consent line. Why not? It would be extremely progressive to see such a mass-consumed company like Victoria's Secret actively participating in the molding of impressionable pre-teens, breaking of stereotypes, and an attack on rape culture.

Even so, it seems far-fetched. In mid-November at the Victoria's Secret televised fashion show (a show produced "in order to show America the true meaning of the word 'sexy'"), a model on the runway wore a mock-traditional Native American headdress. Wearing faux-Native American paraphernalia has long been seen as offensive to those of the culture.

I'm a little weak in explaining this, but the tumblr account http://this-is-not-native.tumblr.com/ calls out tumblr posts (mostly of hipsters in headdresses) and gives a list of resources for combatting ignorance. 

An important link is "My Identity Is Not A Costume for You To Wear": http://whebrhotub.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-identity-is-not-costume-for-you-to.html

Interestingly enough, in response to the VS fashion show, Jezebel also writes on this topic: http://jezebel.com/5959698/a-much+needed-primer-on-cultural-appropriation

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012

Culture is not a joke, and when you are uninformed and insensitive when dealing with and displaying a person's culture merely for aesthetic entertainment, it is a serious offense. While VS formally apologized for their insensitivity (http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/11/15/victorias-secret-apologizes-after-using-a-native-american-headdress-in-their-fashion-show/), the whole thing makes me very skeptical about the potential for an official Pink Loves Consent lingerie line.

But that being said, WOW it would be awesome if this were made a reality: http://pinklovesconsent.com/pink/pink.victoriassecret.com/before_after.html
And wasn't that the intent? I agree with Erica Cheung's outlook in her Huffington Post article: "Even though I was disappointed that Victoria's Secret wasn't actually promoting this positive image, I was very happy to realize that I had been tricked. I was so impressed than an activist group was able to reach so many people and garner such a positive reaction to a campaign that has to do with women's bodies and sexuality."

This post has covered a lot of topics (Pink Loves Consent, Victoria's Secret vs Dove ad campaigns, and the importance of cultural sensitivity....), but I hope I provided some informative links!

**The group behind "Pink Loves Consent" is FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture. You can see their news and blog here: http://upsettingrapeculture.com/

conversations between mothers and daughters.....

Reexamining identity and difference in ways unimagined only a few decades ago. Watch this video showcasing the love between parents and children grounded in the grit of experience.

http://www.onbeing.org/blog/stories-identity-and-love-difference-video/4933