Please spare us the ‘Disney princess’ programming
The media needs to show more diversity rather than the rigid gender roles of old
The other day — one on which I was lucky enough to be playing great auntie to one of my awesome great nieces — I watched the Disney movie “Ralph Breaks the Internet” with said great niece. It was my second time seeing it, the first being a few years ago with a male friend (who is now in his late 50s … we both still love “kid’s movies”) and really enjoyed it.
While viewing it the other day, this occurred to me: one, “how awesome it is that this movie shows a male and female as simply good friends, with no romantic undertones” — at least as far as I could tell anyway. In most films you can tell almost right away who is going to eventually hook up and/or end up together as the credits roll. It’s so obvious.
But in “Ralph Breaks the Internet” the two main characters, Ralph and Vanellope start and end as friends (although at a distance due to her pursuing her dreams in another video game more exciting than her own, Sugar Rush). So instead of having romantic tension — or the predictable ole Disney theme of “beautiful princess waits for her prince to come sweep her away from her mundane life and they live happily ever after” — this movie teaches good lessons about friendship.
