Despicable Me 2
Jul. 15th, 2013 08:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerBecky came down to visit me and see Despicable Me 2 this weekend. Her visit was awesome! But the movie itself, not so much.
First: I thought the minions were adorable in the first movie, but they really get too much screen time in this one, and it made the movie drag. Their scenes seemed flabby: they neither advance the plot nor get any character development - one might object that the minions can’t talk, but then, neither could WALL-E or EVE in WALL-E, and they had had a full-blown romance.
Second: I think Gru’s love interest Lucy was supposed to come across as adorably awkward, but she tended to strike me as embarrassment-squicky awkward, which made her scenes rather painful. Moreover, a lot of the humor in the movie revolved around romance, and it just struck me flat. I particularly disliked the scene at the beginning, with the busybody woman trying to set Gru up with her ugly friend. Haha, ugly women, their existence is hilarious!
Mostly the movie strengthened the impression that The Lorax gave me of Illuminations Entertainment: their work is cute and fun and flashy, but that’s a pretty wrapping that only half-hides the fact that their stories are soulless.
***
A few weeks ago Emma and Rick and I had an argument about Most Feminist American Animation Studio, with them on the side of Pixar and me on the side of Disney, partly to be contrarian, and partly because - Pixar. We are talking about the company that didn’t make any movies with a female lead for more than two decades, right?
Sure, they have some great female characters (Dory! EVE! Ellie! Never mind she dies in the first ten minutes of the movie...). But the female characters are woefully outnumbered by male characters, and until Brave it was always, always the male characters who were the center of the story.
Whatever else Disney does wrong, it’s the only major American animation studio that has a commitment to making films with female main characters who are the center of the story rather than a love interest or a sidekick, and who drive the forward motion of the plot. Films that are specifically aimed at girls.
I tend to think this makes people more willing to criticize Disney - that making stories for girls puts a target on their back, because culturally we’re more willing to criticize things that are aimed at women. Look at the scorn heaped on romance novels.
In any case, thinking back now, I think the whole premise of our argument was flawed: both Pixar and Disney have strengths in their portrayals of female characters, but they also both have such massive blind spots that it’s rather silly to argue about which is more feminist. The correct answer is clearly “neither.”
And perhaps also “Why should this contest be limited to American animation studios?” Because if we open it up to include the whole globe, then clearly Studio Ghibli wins hands down.
First: I thought the minions were adorable in the first movie, but they really get too much screen time in this one, and it made the movie drag. Their scenes seemed flabby: they neither advance the plot nor get any character development - one might object that the minions can’t talk, but then, neither could WALL-E or EVE in WALL-E, and they had had a full-blown romance.
Second: I think Gru’s love interest Lucy was supposed to come across as adorably awkward, but she tended to strike me as embarrassment-squicky awkward, which made her scenes rather painful. Moreover, a lot of the humor in the movie revolved around romance, and it just struck me flat. I particularly disliked the scene at the beginning, with the busybody woman trying to set Gru up with her ugly friend. Haha, ugly women, their existence is hilarious!
Mostly the movie strengthened the impression that The Lorax gave me of Illuminations Entertainment: their work is cute and fun and flashy, but that’s a pretty wrapping that only half-hides the fact that their stories are soulless.
***
A few weeks ago Emma and Rick and I had an argument about Most Feminist American Animation Studio, with them on the side of Pixar and me on the side of Disney, partly to be contrarian, and partly because - Pixar. We are talking about the company that didn’t make any movies with a female lead for more than two decades, right?
Sure, they have some great female characters (Dory! EVE! Ellie! Never mind she dies in the first ten minutes of the movie...). But the female characters are woefully outnumbered by male characters, and until Brave it was always, always the male characters who were the center of the story.
Whatever else Disney does wrong, it’s the only major American animation studio that has a commitment to making films with female main characters who are the center of the story rather than a love interest or a sidekick, and who drive the forward motion of the plot. Films that are specifically aimed at girls.
I tend to think this makes people more willing to criticize Disney - that making stories for girls puts a target on their back, because culturally we’re more willing to criticize things that are aimed at women. Look at the scorn heaped on romance novels.
In any case, thinking back now, I think the whole premise of our argument was flawed: both Pixar and Disney have strengths in their portrayals of female characters, but they also both have such massive blind spots that it’s rather silly to argue about which is more feminist. The correct answer is clearly “neither.”
And perhaps also “Why should this contest be limited to American animation studios?” Because if we open it up to include the whole globe, then clearly Studio Ghibli wins hands down.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-07-15 04:15 pm (UTC)True. Films centered on female characters that aren't just about finding a prince, unlike Disney.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-15 08:27 pm (UTC)But there is always a prince in Disney, and it refreshing to get away with that with Studio Ghibli films.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-15 05:43 pm (UTC)I really loved the minions in the first movie--too bad they muffed it in the sequel.
I saw someone else's pointful critique of the sequel: she said that one big problem was that whereas the first movie showed the beauty, and possibility for success--of a created family, a family of choice--the sequel embraces the notion that the girls can't be happy without a mother in their lives--that somehow their family is wanting as it is because there's no mother.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-15 08:43 pm (UTC)I think if they had done the plot differently, the romance plotline would have worked: after all, a family of choice can add new members, and I can see why the girls might want an adult more emotionally accessible (and emotionally mature) than Gru in their lives.
It could actually have been touching to see Gru realize that he can't be everything to his girls - I think that would have been painful for him - and trying to find adults that can help them in the areas where he's lacking, teachers or mentor figures or what have you.
But I don't think the filmmakers really thought it through. Their thought process seems to have been "The girls need someone thoughtful and nurturing! Sounds like a mother!" and then apparently assumed that Gru's love interest Lucy, being a girl-person, could naturally fulfill this vision of motherhood, despite the fact that it seems rather at odds with her character and we never see her interact with the girls.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-16 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-16 05:10 pm (UTC)And yes, I would have loved to have more time with the girls and Gru's mom. I think the trying to hook Gru up storyline would have worked much better if it was Gru's mom doing it, because after all she has a reason to care and a history of being interfering.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-16 08:06 pm (UTC)