{"id":5404,"date":"2012-06-25T13:02:40","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T12:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=5404"},"modified":"2012-06-25T13:02:40","modified_gmt":"2012-06-25T12:02:40","slug":"brave-from-pixar-how-good-is-good-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/brave-from-pixar-how-good-is-good-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Brave from Pixar – How Good is Good Enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Settling down in the theater seat I saw what seemed like a dozen trailers for upcoming animated films. There is a lot of competition out there!<\/p>\n

All of the visuals for the coming attractions looked great, and so does Brave<\/strong>. \u00a0Every review of Brave<\/strong> (even the bad ones) wax poetic about\u00a0 the lush scenery, the gorgeous colors, the spectacular hair, the realistic fur, and the impressive claws!<\/p>\n

Folks, I’m here to tell you– The technology war is OVER. How much more realistic can you make rippling water, wind-whipped tresses, galloping horses, and \u00a0sleek bear pelts? \u00a0Great visuals are now the norm. Every animated studio film has them and the incremental improvements, unless they are game-changing, don’t add up to very much in my book. Are technological advances in fur, hair, and water really the reason why we go to movies? Is it to watch a fabulous moving painting?<\/p>\n

We go to movies for the same reason people sat around the castle hearth in 10th century Scotland– for a great story filled with memorable characters! Brave<\/strong>, set in that very time and place, repeats over and over “Legends are lessons.” That is true of the best stories. They tell us what it is to be human in all our fragility and strength, blindness and insight, and selfishness and transcendence.<\/p>\n

What story exactly is Brave<\/strong> telling? What is the lesson in this legend? The film’s very muddled narrative adds up to a lack of complexity and not enough heart. If the film’s visuals were on a par with the story we’d be watching stick figures.<\/p>\n

I knew Brave<\/strong> was in trouble from the first few words spoken in voice over as the film began. Merida (Kelly Macdonald)\u00a0uses the words “fate” and “destiny” interchangeably. \u00a0This muddle-headedness is at the heart of the film’s problem.<\/p>\n

What’s the difference between fate and destiny? Philosophers through the ages have distinguished the two based on choice. Fate is something that happens TO you. Destiny is something that happens BECAUSE of you.<\/p>\n

Fate is at the root of such words as “fatal” and “fatalistic.” It implies LACK of choice. Philosopher Rollo May says fate is what we are born into, something that cannot be changed and that we have no control over, such as race.<\/p>\n

May says destiny is what we create based on what we were given. Destiny is all about CHOICE. It’s what we choose to do with what we have.<\/p>\n

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Merida is a wild rebellious child with special talent as a rider and archer. The demonstrations of her skills are absolutely breath-taking. \u00a0She is unique and extraordinary and initially looks very much like a Power of Idealism<\/a> character.<\/p>\n

These kinds of characters are driven by their passion. They abhor what they consider to be a mundane, boring, or mediocre life. They want to seize some grand destiny that is uniquely theirs.<\/p>\n

The film starts out like a Power of Idealism<\/a> Coming of Age story. The deeper human questions at the heart of these stories are: How can I be true to myself and find my rightful place in the world? What is my own special destiny?<\/p>\n

Well drawn female protagonists in this vein are:<\/p>\n

Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes) in Whale Rider<\/strong>. This film, for those who haven’t seen it is described on IMDB as “A contemporary story of (family) love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.”<\/p>\n

Jess Kaur Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) in Bend it Like Beckham <\/strong>is another example. IMDB states the film’s log line as “The (talented) daughter of an orthodox Sikh rebels against her parents’ traditionalism by running off to Germany to play with a girl’s football team (soccer in America).”<\/p>\n

Unlike Paikea or Jess, Merida doesn’t fight for what she believes is HER destiny. Merida, instead, decides to change her mother! \u00a0Perhaps this is because Merida has no clue about what she is really called to do.<\/p>\n

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Instead of figuring out who she is and what she uniquely is called to do, Merida must again deal with who her mother is. In the struggle over the middle part of Brave<\/strong>, Queen Elinor becomes the protagonist.<\/p>\n

The definition of a protagonist, in my book, is the person who makes the biggest emotional sacrifice in the story. It is the person who undergoes the most profound transformation. This is clearly Elinor on every front.<\/p>\n

Queen Elinor is a Power of Conscience<\/a> character. She is a strict and demanding taskmaster, a perfectionist, and is driven by a strong sense of tradition and duty. Over the course of the story she recognizes her daughter’s uniqueness and fully appreciates Merida for who she is.<\/p>\n

The first important glimpse of Elinor’s change of heart is the brawl in the great hall after Merida has disappeared. \u00a0When Merida strides back into the hall it is Elinor who puts words in Merida’s mouth. Elinor speaks through her surrogate about going against tradition and marrying for love. It is Elinor who makes an eloquent plea for choice and following one’s heart. Merida is just her passive interpreter. At the end of the film Elinor is willing to sacrifice her own life in a battle with the ancient cursed bear, who one would assume, was the monster who took off her husband’s leg. Or not? Who knows?<\/p>\n

Even more confusingly this monster turns out to be the legendary brother, it would seem, who destroyed the ancient kingdom so long ago because of his pride and selfishness. \u00a0How did he turn into a bear? Was it mother love or something else that breaks his curse?<\/p>\n

When a legend and curse is set up so carefully it should have a pay-off having to do with Merida or her destiny– if the film is really about Merida.<\/p>\n

And what does Merida do that is so brave? \u00a0She scurries around looking for the witch’s house after her mother turns into a bear. \u00a0She stitches up (with big clumsy childish stitches) the tapestry she slashed separating her from her mother. \u00a0She does a lot of running away and running around. She is ineffective in battling the monstrous cursed bear. And she collapses in tears remembering her mother’s loving kindness as the second sunrise threatens to make her mother’s bear curse permanent. In other words, she acts like a child– or worse a girl.<\/p>\n

At the end of the film, Elinor has changed but not Merida. \u00a0Merida is the same galloping wild child as she was in the beginning. \u00a0This refusal to accept restrictions, grow up, or take responsibility is Power of Excitement territory. It is a sinking back into childhood rather than striding toward an adulthood based both on duty and and an individualistic sense of self. If you are a young woman, what is the lesson here?<\/p>\n

Brave<\/strong> offers no alternative vision of how Merida might help unify the clan in some way that is uniquely hers. It provides a very unsatisfying resolution. How has Merida changed or grown? What happens when King Fergus and Queen Elinor are too old to rule?\u00a0What is Merida’s role going forward?<\/p>\n

MANOHLA DARGIS NY TIMES– \u00a0discouragingly uninspired script by Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman and Irene Mecchi. (Ms. Chapman, the first woman hired to direct a Pixar feature, either left or was removed from \u201cBrave\u201d and now shares directing credit with Mr. Andrews.)<\/div>\n
The association of Merida with the natural world accounts for some of the movie\u2019s most beautifully animated sequences, and in other, smarter or maybe just braver, hands it might have also inspired new thinking about women, men, nature and culture. Here, however, the nature-culture divide is drawn along traditional gender<\/div>\n

There is so much missed opportunity in Brave<\/strong>. \u00a0Manohla Dargis writing in The New York Times<\/strong> laments: \u00a0“The association of Merida with the natural world accounts for some of the movie\u2019s most beautifully animated sequences, and in other, smarter or maybe just braver, hands it might have also inspired new thinking about women, men, nature and culture.”<\/p>\n

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King Fergus himself, is a simple lovable loud-mouth lout. He is the very broadest brush-stroke Power of Will<\/a> character. He’s a big, larger than life presence. He is a man of lusty appetite– for food, wine, and brawling.<\/p>\n

Merida’s three suitors are a joke. None of them is remotely appealing. \u00a0This is a huge mistake and gives Merida no pause for thought nor any temptation to chose a different path. \u00a0It removes essential inner conflict for her. All the conflict in the story is the simplest external conflict. No one has self-doubts. No one struggles within themselves.<\/p>\n

How did the film go so wrong, except for the visuals? \u00a0Joe Morgenstern writing in The\u00a0Wall Street Journal <\/strong>reports: “Brave<\/strong> was a notoriously troubled production, with a change of directors that clearly led to a change of narrative direction. (The complexity of the final credits reflects the tortuous history: directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman and co-directed by Steve Purcell, from a script written by Messrs. Andrews and Purcell, Ms. Chapman and Irene Mecchi.)<\/p>\n

Colin Covert writing for The Minneapolis Star Tribune <\/strong>pretty much\u00a0sums it up: “The standout characters, exciting set pieces and memorable songs that we’ve come to expect are absent. The truest advertising tagline would be, “From the studio that brought you ‘Cars 2.’<\/strong>“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The standout characters, exciting set pieces and memorable songs that we’ve come to expect are absent. The truest advertising tagline would be, “From the studio that brought you ‘Cars 2.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,47,53,54,60],"tags":[372,1218,25,26,376,27,28,30,31,32,33,34,507,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42],"class_list":["post-5404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies-character-development-screenwriting-screenplay-script-blog","category-random-thoughts-pop-culture-political-movie-television-blog","category-power-of-conscience","category-power-of-excitement","category-power-of-will","tag-animation","tag-brave","tag-character","tag-characters","tag-disney","tag-emotional-toolbox","tag-etb","tag-film","tag-films","tag-laurie-hutzler","tag-movies","tag-nine-character-types","tag-pixar","tag-screenplay","tag-screenplays","tag-screenwriting","tag-script","tag-scripts","tag-scriptwriting","tag-tv","tag-writing"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"ttshowcase_normal":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",125,94,false],"ttshowcase_small":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",75,56,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"Image Size 500x500":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",500,375,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x400.jpg",300,400,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-600x450.jpg",600,450,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Laurie Hutzler","author_link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"\"The standout characters, exciting set pieces and memorable songs that we've come to expect are absent. The truest advertising tagline would be, \"From the studio that brought you 'Cars 2.'\"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}