So I finally got around to watching Brave. Yes, I realize I’m a couple of years late here, but that’s my life. I came across it on Starz, and my kid was willing to actually watch it with me which is unheard of for him to sit still for ninety minutes. But it was spring break, and we were bored, yada yada.
**SPOILER ALERT** (even though we’re two years past release)
As I watched this movie, I kept wondering when the prince would arrive. Where was the handsome guy – the love interest? As each of the sons of the leaders was introduced to Merida, I kept thinking the prince would be next, and when he wasn’t, I kept looking for him to emerge from the crowd, or show up later on…because that’s how it works, right?
Then when Merida pulled out that bow and said that she was going to compete to marry herself, I sat up. A movie with a princess and no prince? What was this? How did I feel about it? Without a romance, would it hold my attention? I got my answer as soon as the queen turned into a bear but retained her own personality. A permasmile etched itself across my face from that point on until the end of the movie.
I LOVED this concept (says the romance novelist). I know, I’m the last person who needs to be loving a romance-free princess adventure, but for a movie aimed at the ten and under crowd, what a unusual treat – a girl who hones her skills at archery and decides she wants to control her own destiny rather than settle for a guy she doesn’t love. No starry eyes. No crush to distract her. Just a girl going for what she wants.
You hear a lot about the changing times, and apparently things were so much better during “simpler times.” (When have times ever been simple, by the way?) But I got to say, one thing certain writers are doing splendidly these days is offering heroines for our young girls to look up to. Just like Katniss in The Hunger Games (the books, not the movies – you get the picture so much clearer in the books). Yeah, there’s a romance there, but it takes a way, way backseat to her survival and protection of her family. As I read that first book in the series, I wished I had a daughter to hand it to so she could read about a girl who figures out how to hunt and barter and survive in the woods. And that’s before she enters the games.
So kudos to these writers who are working to set examples for our youngsters. (Wow, I just aged myself off the charts.) Please keep these stories coming, and hopefully they will aid in helping us to rear a generation of confident young ladies…or bossy little girls, possibly. Whatever works!