Thursday 16 May 2013

update on merida makeover

just a quick post to say that activism does work sometimes.  after a successful petition and significant backlash against the proposed makeover of merida (covered in my previous post), disney has decided to pull the sexualised image:

In preparation for her "coronation ceremony" last Saturday, Disney gave the Brave heroine Merida a makeover, redesigning the character as thinner with a bigger bust, more revealing dress, a face full of makeup, less wild hair, and replacing her signature bow and arrows with a sassy sash. People were pissed and turned to the internet to voice their protests—which seems to have worked.

As a response to the public outcry, Disney has quietly pulled the redesigned Merida from its Princesses website and replaced it with the original Pixar version. It seems like petitions actually are useful sometimes!

in a world where we're constantly made to feel that our voice doesn't matter & there is no point in trying to change things, even small wins are meaningful.  anything that can counteract our collective feelings of helplessness can only be good.

2 comments:

K said...

I'm please to hear that Disney listened!

Unknown said...

hmmm ... really? on the australian website the pic of merida still looks pretty different from the original images in the film. i think they've added back in the quiver of arrows, but apart from that it still looks like the sexed up version to me.