Merida (Brave) is too chubby. She's getting a makeover.

[crazy4wdw]

'Brave' Director Brenda Chapman Calls Disney's Princess Merida Makeover 'Atrocious'

http://news.moviefone.com/2013/05/1...id10|htmlws-main-bb|dl7|sec1_lnk2&pLid=312327

 

[dadddio]

I'm thinking that Ms Chapman needs to remember who owns the character and signed her check. Her disloyalty is appalling and not something that she should be modeling as an example for young girls to follow. I hope she isn't wanting another directing gig from them.

 

[dadddio]

I just read that Ms Chapman ended up being replaced on the film because she was difficult to work with. Methinks there is a bit of sour grapes there.

 

[DizCaptain]

To me, it looks like the aged her.

Merida in the movie is a very young teen, isn't she? Like 13 or so?

The re-do makes her look more like early twenties to me.

This. I also think they sort of aged her with a more mature look in both physique and apparel. It's not like they slimmed her down barbie style; she still has curves and a fuller face. It may not be what we saw in the movie, but as this poster said, she's more mature looking. I'm not outraged, or intrigued by the change, I'm just here on the sidelines watching the game.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Merida was a beauty just the way she was!

Plainly this change was not needed and from reading, not wanted!

AKK

 

[MarieLightning]

I personally dislike Rapunzel's makeover more than Merida's, not to mention Mulan and Pocahontas! (And *they* were already in 2D!)

I understand the whole deal of "she's supposed to represent something else, it's gonna give a bad image to little girls". I think they did a good job of matching her up with the rest of the line and keeping her authentic though. They left her in her dark green dress - yes, they added sparkles to it, but it's still the same dress she wears thorought the movie, with the accents of her Scottish background. It's not the turquoise dress she hates - which they could very well have chosen to put her in because it's more princessy.

The curls, yes, are more tamed, but her hair is still just as thick, just as red, and in a 2D way, just as curly. It still has the end of curls going all over the place - but you can't do as much of a messy hairdo look with these kind of drawings without it looking bad.

As for her getting a makeover because she's too chubby, I completely disagree and actually find that slightly ridiculous. For one thing, Merida was not chubby to start with - she has a round face. And that's the first thing I noticed when I saw her remake. They kept that feature of her. She still has got her nice round cheeks - the rest of her was always thin to begin with.

 

[SpectroMagic*o*]

Whats next, is Merida gonna dye her hair blonde to be like everybody else too? I am appalled by the makeover, it is so unnecessary and now it's unrelatable because we all got to know and love the Merida in the movie. I don't even know who this new Merida is. BAD DECISION!!! STOP FIXING THINGS THAT ARENT BROKEN!!! Merida quickly became my daughter's favorite princess, why not give this girl a chance to be her own person instead of trying to look like all the other princesses?!!

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Whats next, is Merida gonna dye her hair blonde to be like everybody else too? I am appalled by the makeover, it is so unnecessary and now it's unrelatable because we all got to know and love the Merida in the movie. I don't even know who this new Merida is. BAD DECISION!!! STOP FIXING THINGS THAT ARENT BROKEN!!! Merida quickly became my daughter's favorite princess, why not give this girl a chance to be her own person instead of trying to look like all the other princesses?!!

Agreed! 100%

AKK

 

[MarieLightning]

Whats next, is Merida gonna dye her hair blonde to be like everybody else too? I am appalled by the makeover, it is so unnecessary and now it's unrelatable because we all got to know and love the Merida in the movie. I don't even know who this new Merida is. BAD DECISION!!! STOP FIXING THINGS THAT ARENT BROKEN!!! Merida quickly became my daughter's favorite princess, why not give this girl a chance to be her own person instead of trying to look like all the other princesses?!!

There are more black haired princesses than blonde haired in the line

Personally I think the issue dwells further than Merida herself. The majority of people were unhappy with the redesign in the first place, for *all* the princesses, regardless of what they are supposed to represent. None of these princesses were broken - they all got a remake. It's a marketing thing.

I guess people are gonna go rabid over all the princesses though. Not looking forward to what's gonna happen when Frozen comes out and Anna gets her own redesign

 

[Minnies Boy Toy]

Whats next, is Merida gonna dye her hair blonde to be like everybody else too?

Are there other Disney princesses that have dye jobs? Or is this just some sort of general blonde-phobia?

I am appalled by the makeover, it is so unnecessary and now it's unrelatable because we all got to know and love the Merida in the movie. I don't even know who this new Merida is. BAD DECISION!!! STOP FIXING THINGS THAT ARENT BROKEN!!! Merida quickly became my daughter's favorite princess, why not give this girl a chance to be her own person instead of trying to look like all the other princesses?!!

She's not a "girl" or a "person". She's a cartoon character, and Disney is attempting to market her. I love Disney and its iconic characters too, but at some point I've seen them all change, and that has not lessened my affection for them. My guess is your daughter will make the same adjustment. Mickey doesn't look like what he did back when either. Back in the day he had bulky eyes, a long tail, skinny arms and legs, no gloves and his body was shaped like a pear. But I guess he hit the weight room at some point....

 

[kayemgi]

She's not a "girl" or a "person". She's a cartoon character, and Disney is attempting to market her. I love Disney and its iconic characters too, but at some point I've seen them all change, and that has not lessened my affection for them. My guess is your daughter will make the same adjustment. Mickey doesn't look like what he did back when either. Back in the day he had bulky eyes, a long tail, skinny arms and legs, no gloves and his body was shaped like a pear. But I guess he hit the weight room at some point....

Good point!

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

Mickey doesn't look like what he did back when either. QUOTE]

I think there is a vast difference between updating a character over many generations versus one that came out a year ago.

For what it's worth, I was curious about my DAUGHTER'S opinion on this, since she is the "target" audience for this character all around. I did not preface it with ANY conversation - just a "Hey, c'mere... lemme show you something. Here is Merida's new look..." and when I turned the monitor around her jaw dropped & so did her attitude.

"WHY?", she wants to know, "WHY did they CHANGE her? What was WRONG with her & WHY OH WHY is she wearing THAT dress that she fought so hard to get out of?? She CAN'T wear THAT in the woods, shooting arrows!"

She really, truly identified with Merida as a strong female character. She is completely disappointed.

 

[MarieLightning]

"WHY?", she wants to know, "WHY did they CHANGE her? What was WRONG with her & WHY OH WHY is she wearing THAT dress that she fought so hard to get out of?? She CAN'T wear THAT in the woods, shooting arrows!"

She's not wearing the turquoise dress she wanted to get out of though... she's wearing the dark green dress she wears through the most of the movie. Only difference is they added sparkles and a bit of gold detailing to it, like they did to everybody else, even Mulan who's the hero of China, and Pocahontas who's a free spirit.

Regardless of the sparkles though, it has no similarity to the dress she hates

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

Regardless of the sparkles though, it has no similarity to the dress she hates

It does from a child's perspective.

 

[amberg93]

The change of merchandising has nothing to do with the movies. Merida was never chubby to begin with so I'm really unsure where this is coming from. She's got a round face, but she does in the make-over as well. The other changes are no worse than when Rapunzel was made 2-D.

As for her dress, I can see that it's different but honestly, this is a good lesson to teach children. People are long past pitching a fit about Mulan's outfit not being what she wears for the majority of the movie. Merida can still be the same brave person that she also was no matter what she wears. It's a great lesson to tell your kids, "What you wear doesn't define who you are." And that's true, no matter if Merida is now in sparkles, she's still Merida. Girls can be tough while wearing 'pretty frilly' clothes and girls can be girly while wearing 'tom-boy' clothes.

 

[celestialred]

I just read that Ms Chapman ended up being replaced on the film because she was difficult to work with. Methinks there is a bit of sour grapes there.

From what I understood, Pixar was trying to change the storyline she wanted to pursue, the more action-adventury @$$-kicking Merida. Instead, she got replaced, Pixar got their way; and instead of a self-rescuing princess, I got a massive guilt trip and called my mommy to apologize for being such a teenage brat.

I think I'd be rather miffed if my vision of something was being altered as such too, hence the "difficult to work with" label.

 

[SpectroMagic*o*]

I think there is a vast difference between updating a character over many generations versus one that came out a year ago.

For what it's worth, I was curious about my DAUGHTER'S opinion on this, since she is the "target" audience for this character all around. I did not preface it with ANY conversation - just a "Hey, c'mere... lemme show you something. Here is Merida's new look..." and when I turned the monitor around her jaw dropped & so did her attitude.

"WHY?", she wants to know, "WHY did they CHANGE her? What was WRONG with her & WHY OH WHY is she wearing THAT dress that she fought so hard to get out of?? She CAN'T wear THAT in the woods, shooting arrows!"

She really, truly identified with Merida as a strong female character. She is completely disappointed.

It does from a child's perspective.

Thank you thank you thank you!! Exactly. This princess is brand new, by Disney saying she's not marketable the way she is, it sends a bad message to kids. Like she's not good enough. She needs a makeover. Its terrible. Maybe to you and me, she's "just a cartoon character", but this isn't about you and me. This is about the kids who live in a society where they are being told that looking a certain way isn't good enough. We're addressing children here. And you know what? I think she looks disgusting now. I don't want to buy anything with that over aged face lifted stranger on it. I want merchandise that has the Merida I know on it. They didn't even give her a chance with her look. So offensive.

 

[SpectroMagic*o*]

This has gotten so out of hand. The makeover was solely to fit her in with the cartoonish princesses.


Her features and look have only changed as to fit in with the Rapunzels and Cinderellas. They conveniently leave this picture out of the story:


Here is how she would look, unchanged. Stands out a bit, don't you think?:

http://images6.fanpop.com/image/pho...-Merida-disney-princess-33090465-1039-556.jpg

Here is a new one with all of them together. You can see why the makeover was necessary:

http://images6.fanpop.com/image/pho...-Merida-disney-princess-34123367-1179-624.png

Everything that you said is everything that's wrong with this whole makeover. Why does she have to fit in? Why cant she be different? Not everyone fits in somewhere and that should be ok. Not everyone looks like Cinderella and Rapunzel and that's ok. What's wrong with standing out? And since they used advanced technology on Rapunzel, I know they needed to "cartoonize" her, but she still looks like herself, like a fresh faced kid. They managed to make Merida look like a 40 year old plastic surgery obsessed mess.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I think there is a vast difference between updating a character over many generations versus one that came out a year ago.

For what it's worth, I was curious about my DAUGHTER'S opinion on this, since she is the "target" audience for this character all around. I did not preface it with ANY conversation - just a "Hey, c'mere... lemme show you something. Here is Merida's new look..." and when I turned the monitor around her jaw dropped & so did her attitude.

"WHY?", she wants to know, "WHY did they CHANGE her? What was WRONG with her & WHY OH WHY is she wearing THAT dress that she fought so hard to get out of?? She CAN'T wear THAT in the woods, shooting arrows!"

She really, truly identified with Merida as a strong female character. She is completely disappointed.

THIS!..YES!!!

While there are strong Disney princesses, EI Mulan and Pocahontas, Merida was a great new *style* Princess and role model!


AKK

 

[SpectroMagic*o*]

And for all the supporters of Merida's old look, I passed along the petition on my Facebook page and so many people agree and signed the petition!! I looked at the petition page and it looks like they only need about 1,600 more signatures to hit the goal! So happy to see people understanding the bigger issue here! And for the record, I know all the other princesses got makeovers too and I loathe them as well. They all look like Beverly Hills Housewives. Did those princesses need to be MORE marketable? I'm sorry but I thought they were selling just fine. Another case of fixing something that isn't broken