Mayim Bialik rants about Frozens sexism & Bratz-like animation

Publish date: 2024-05-14

Mayim Bialik

If you would have ever told me that I’d write about Mayim Bialik twice in one week, I would have laughed like Sheldon in Big Bang Theory. That’s not very attractive. This pattern of wall-to-wall (former) Blossom coverage is a disturbing trend. I’m probably mistaken in giving Mayim a gossip platform for her Kveller columns. I’m amused by her “get off my lawn” antics. This could change at any moment.

Mayim last shook things up by complaining about Ariana Grande’s billboards. Now she’s trolling her audience by slamming the top kiddie flick of 2013. Unlike most kids, Mayim’s sons do not like Frozen at all (or so she says). Mayim goes even farther by writing a column titled, “Why my sons and I hate Frozen.” Hate is a pretty strong word (especially for a harmless Disney flick). Mayim lists her three main issues with the film.

1. Plot/Feminism? The search for a man/love/Prince is still the reigning plot line in the movie, as it is with pretty much all movies for young people which are animated. The sister’s desire to marry this guy she just met, and the other sister getting mad at her–we still have a plot about the identification of a woman being based on her desire and search to meet a man.

My issue is that this is a movie geared to small children who I don’t think need to be focusing on that as the main driving plot of a movie. These characters are young; certainly not old enough in my socially conservative opinion to be searching for mates! I’ve had just enough already with this finding a man business in most every kids’ movie. Disney classics were all about this and look where it’s gotten us! Naked billboards of singers and women still not paid equal pay for equal work and ridiculous standards of beauty and body image and campaigns such as “Why I Don’t Need Feminism” and tons of other things proving we still have a ways to go.

2. Denoument/Male Bashing? The Prince/hero turns out to be a scheming villain. He pretended to love her and then he double crosses her and she gets the lesson taught to her not to trust those nasty scheming conniving men. Because you know, men can’t be trusted? Meh. I know, you’re confused by me. Yeah, take a number. First I claim to be a feminist and now I claim to be against male-bashing. That’s because feminism doesn’t equal male-bashing. And this movie isn’t empowering because it shows that a Prince is a jerk and should not have been trusted. That’s weird too. It’s just confusing.

3. Women as Dolls?: OK, my biggest problem with this movie was the way the female characters are drawn and animated. The male characters look like cartoon men. They have some exaggerated features, sure. But by and large, they look like they have the proportions of human beings. Not so with our lead ladies. They have ginormous eyes. Like really ridiculously big. Teeny-tiny ski slope noses. Exaggerated delicate ski sloppiness, actually. Barbie doll proportions of their bodies in general: tiny waists, ample busts, and huge heads. They look like dolls. They don’t look like the same species as the male characters even! What’s up with that?! My sons thought the females looked like BRATZ dolls, truth be told. I kind of agree.

[From Kveller]

Mayim worked in another jab at those dastardly PG-13 billboards. Nice cross promotion. You know what? Mayim scores a few points for never making me bleep f-bombs in her columns. She is a little worked up over a throwaway movie. People remember the music of Frozen more than the actual story (Tangled was a better movie).

Almost all Disney movies focus on the girl trying to meet Prince Charming. Even their recent “groundbreaking” movies do this. 2009’s The Princess and the Frog focused upon a very ambitious woman who settled for a womanizing playboy. My problem with Mayim isn’t that she’s upset about the sexism in princessy Disney films. It’s that she expects to point her grievances out and have the problem solved. She doesn’t offer solutions. Perhaps I’m expecting too much, but Mayim is smart enough to hold a PhD. She could toss out some constructive criticism during her rant.

I do agree with Mayim’s point that Frozen‘s female characters looked like dolls. The filmmakers took a lot of heat for this point. Head of animation, Lino DiSalvo said drawing women is hard because they’re “sensitive” and “you have to keep them pretty.” Disney does not want any Claire Danes-style crying in its animation.

Mayim Bialik

Photos courtesy of WENN

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