Brave was a Disappointment 

Came across this on reddit. Really well-produced essay. Brave was above all else a failure to pick and solidify a direction. I've always known that but I've never seen it so eloquently explained. Keep up the good work.

Imagine having an idea, working out a story about a thing as personal as your relationshio to your own daughter, getting the opportunity to make it into a film, just to be replaced by some guy who rearranges all of the elements and maybe doesn't even get what you were trying to do, and then having people talk about how bad that movie was.

This plot was originally going to be the next mulan of female empowerment...then they got high,watched brother bear,someone yelled no balls and we lost about 30 minutes of actual plot.

I love the bow burning scene so much, just the way she immediately turns to pull it out, crying and covering her face because her anger has subsided and she realizes she lashed out to hurt her daughter instead of teaching her. God damn, I’m so sad this wasn’t the rest of the movie.

Saying gender has nothing to do with brave’s story is like saying carl’s grief over ellie has nothing to do with up’s story.

what drives me nuts about brave most was that the movie starts with these beautifully rendered vistas of scotland, vast valleys and misty mountains, and merida meets a wisp and you get so hyped for a fairytale adventure. But nope, those vistas that probably took weeks of work just show up for 5 seconds and we spend the rest of the movie going back and forth between the same 3 locations. Say what you want about Frozen 2, at the very least they actually physically go to the gorgeous backgrounds they set up :/

Disney be like : "Damn this is getting serious. Lets add animals."

God, just watching the scene where her mother tries to pull the bow out of the fire makes me cry. When I was in high school, my dad got angry at me that I didn't keep my room neat enough and, while I was at school, "cleaned it for" me, throwing things away that weren't where they should be. And when I got home I couldn't find my sheet music book where all the songs I had ever wrote were contained. I couldn't even be angry, I just went to the basement where I slept and laid there, not talking to anyone. My dad tore apart my room trying to find it and when he couldn't, he sat next to me and told me he was so sorry he destroyed the thing that meant the most to me. It was one of two times I say my father cry.

Coming back to this, I think I can see, theoretically, how the bear transformation _could_ work. In this form, Eleanor is without her soft power; she can't talk, and by extension negotiate or use any kind of diplomacy. You could then put both women in a situation where they'd have to learn to appreciate each other's approach to power. Eleanor, as a bear, learns how valuable it can be to just physically overpower an opponent or use a more direct approach to problem solving. Merida, because she can't rely on her mom to talk them out of things, has to step up and learn how to frame things to other people, the way she did with her brothers. (This could serve as the scene where she's learning to do this before she's able to master it and smooth things over between the clans at the end.) You'd have to come up with a scenario in the woods that they encounter while they're trying to break the curse that sets that up and allows it to happen. But this would tie both ideas together, as one enables, enforces, and supports the other.

i like how now as we watch this video we all realize that the reason we loved Brave was the first 15 minutes and forgot about the rest of the plot

Nothing hurts more than watching wasted potential.

I genuinely hope that Brave can be rewritten and reproduced by Chapman. The movie had so much potential that was ruined after it strayed from her ideas, and I think it has the potential to be amazing if it was complete by her.

that bow burning scene also really stuck with me. as an artist nothing would hurt me more than having my most prized possessions and passion being taken away by my own mother. its such a big slap in the face

disney is like uh oh we're getting too close to meaningful commentary we gotta turn them into an animal

I can’t believe Disney fired the first director for this film. They fired the person who directed Prince of Egypt!!!

Turning Red really flexed on this movie's leadership team and replacement director by proving that extremely specific, personal Pixar movies directed by women about teenage girls being expected to repress themselves as they grow up, women turning into giant animals, and mother-daughter relationships can still be relatable to wide audiences, even if they are about gender

I want to add that since Finding Nemo, (a story, _funnily_ enough, with a much cleaner, well executed conflict between a father and son pairing) Disney/Pixar has been allergic to justified child/parent rebellion, where the child of the pairing was unequivocally in the right. Other movies that hint at this idea (especially more recent films) have it so that even when a parent or authority figure was in the wrong, it's framed as "Well, _they both_ needed to learn things about each other." Unless I'm forgetting something. That's the vibe I've been getting for a while; like a lot of animated, family-focused movies tip toe up to that line and then don't cross it. So it was really validating to see you point out how stupid it was that the idea that Merida was wrong and selfish was the moral they went with when all considering, she was being pretty reasonable.

Elinor trying to save Merida’s bow from the fire was actually very surprising to me when I first saw it because it’s basically the first real portrayal of a 3 dimensional person by Disney, a mother no less. Movies either paint the protagonist’s mother out to be a complete monster or a kind soul but, like a real person, Elinor is both. Then they made her a *bear*

Honestly, this is a rare case where a body swap would have been a decent plot.

Pixar first female directed film was stolen from the original director and ruined. Bao however, another film about smothering mothers (directed by a woman!) was amazing and in the like 10 minutes the film ran for I was brought to tears. Pixar could make good films they've shown that, but they need to let directors be creative and tell the stories they have to tell, woman man or otherwise.

"gender has nothing to do with this movie" translates to "i think femininity is a static state of being and don't understand how patriarchy uses those who fit into the 'ideal' feminine to oppress those who don't fit the mold."

Pixar: Look! It’s our first female protagonist! Also Pixar: We can not express enough that gender has nothing to do with this movie. 😐

The really funny thing is: I clicked on this video being absolutely like "how in the world can that movie be disappointing it was great" and then realized I had completely forgotten the bear plot. My memory has deleted that entirely

After Turning Red came out, I feel like that movie did what Brave wanted to do.

this guy dropped three of the best video essays based on animated movies i've seen in my life and then left

It almost feels like they set out to make a serious movie with strong messages, then remembered “wait we work at Disney, aight back to the drawing board”

I feel like a part of the reason of this awful derailment was "But we need a fantasy plot twist!" Except there are SO many things they could do that would allow both the mother And Merida can participate in. Hell, Scotland has a very good one in their belief of the fey, and how FRIGGEN TERRIFYING those lil guys can actually be. To survive the Fey, you need to be brave and cunning (like Merida) , but also need to know grace, the importance of words, and the rules of hospitality (seriously, its a thing) which the mom knows best. It would have been the perfect fantastical backdrop to have these two people to explore each others' strengths.

If Disney is going to keep on doing remakes, they need to do Brave. This could have been a movie with a powerful message to many young girls about gender norms and accepting themselves when they don’t fit the standard. The director had her idea stolen and twisted into misogynistic bullshit and an unrelated bear plot. If they do remake it though scrap the bear plot and keep it as an animation. Brave deserved so much better.

I just watched Turning Red and watching the behind the scenes video on it. The team behind this was all women that didn't have the cringe of High Guardian Spice and it shows. They made a great, natural movie. I think this movie is the mother-daughter movie that Brenda Chapman was going for. It took Disney 10 years to get it right and to give them more freedom. I found it funny it took another red-headed girl and her furry mother to set it right this time.

They fired the woman who directed *PRINCE OF EGYPT* for a guy with pretty sub par movies under his belt 'sighs' thanks John Lasseter

I COMPLETELY forgot the Mom turned into a bear like ENTIRELY.

When I watched Brave when I was little I was legit interested in the first half of the movie with the Merida-mother-society plot. Then when the mother turns into a bear and it continues into the second half of the movie I was genuinely bored. I seriously wanted to see more of the conflicts involving the mother and Merida in the beginning, not the conflict involving the mother turning into a bear.

Elinor becoming a bear was the biggest plot twist for me. It wasn’t hinted at all in the trailer or in any of the promos during at that time. It was a huge “WTF” moment for me when I saw it in the theatre. Elinor pre-transformation vs after feels like two different films. I just rewatched it after randomly thinking about it tonight (for the first time in 10+ years), but there’s a reason why people don’t really revisit it as much as other Disney films.

To summarize in a few words: Brave was doing well until a man took over and ruined it

Idk why, but when she rips the dress it’s just really satisfying Edit: Keep y'all's transphobia out of my replies. I made a comment about how her dress was satisfying and somehow it turned to 'oh yeah, clothing=gender' like no. I reported the comments, so no need to worry, but Jesus H. Christ can we go one day without that stuff?

I remember seeing a trailer and going to see it in theaters because "scottish bow girl on horse" looked really fun and interesting. With the will o' wisps, I expected a story exploring celtic folklore. Then I saw this thing in theaters and I came out of it unsatisfied. I didn't know anything about the bear plot. It's like the people who put the trailer together knew it was a bad plot thread and decided to omit it to lure in an audience.

When I first watched this movie when I was younger it has struck a cord with me. This dynamic is the same thing I felt with my parents, and it’s such a shame that they had to redirect the story line and give it to the “Boys Club,” pretending girls/women don’t struggle with these societal expectations.

This was the last movie I saw with my mom. She was in the hospital and Brave was on the TV in her room. She jokingly said that rebel girl was just like me. Of course, I told her she was just like that strict mom. She fell asleep before Elinor became a bear and woke up near the end to see mother and daughter happily united. My mother said that was just like us. I finally got a sense of acceptance from my mother. My mom was 89 and I was 69 at the time. BTW I'm glad my mom didn't see that bear plot line. She would not have been amused!

This really shows how female directors in places like Pixar and Disney are treated. She had a brilliant idea but she was thrown out because of the views she put in the story and how it was, and then they replaced her with someone who says how the story isn't about females at all and is genderless. It's truly horrible.

If it's any consolation, the film Wolfwalkers gave us the film Brave was trying to be: a story with Celtic lore, a free spirited red headed girl trying to save her mother, magical elements, and animal characters. I think what made Wolfwalkers work, was the fact it was made by actual Irish filmmakers, as opposed to Pixar producers who are most likely not familiar with Celtic heritage, if fact, I felt the producers of Brave went to a local Renaissance faire, and that became inspiration for Brave, which is a real shame, Pixar took away Brenda's film, which if made could have been on par with the Secret of the Kells.

i love how they handled femininity and womanhood in the movie and that they made it clear that Merida still fully identified as female. anyone suggesting that she wants to be a boy for liking arbitrarily male-coated activities is not only misogynistic, but also transphobic, cause such a statement still holds on to an extremely narrow, externally imposed view of femininity and tries to take control over someone's identity just based on how they act and what they do rather than taking their word. i think the movie handles the subject really well and it's a healthy message to give to kids that they define themselves rather than they have to act a certain way to be defined a certain way, or they have to like certain things to be viewed in a way they feel comfortable with. it's also nice that the father nourishes Merida's interests, even though he's complaisant in the marriage plot even as he sees how uncomfortable she is. watching the movie felt so jarring and i have forgotten most of the bear curse part. i think there were some good moments there, but it all felt so disjointed.

I went into this thinking “but I like brave!” Then I realized that all of those moments I remembered fondly were from the beginning.

maybe this is the one disney film that actually could benefit from a remake

To be honest I don’t have a problem with the bear plot at it’s core, it’s a way of turning an ordinary story (of the relationship between mother and daughter) and giving it a new element. I did really like the moment when Merida sees her mother as a bear, and when she realises through her fear what she had done and what she had lost she felt so guilty. The way the bow burning scene feels like the last straw of the relationship, she does something extreme and she feels the consequences heavily. Like a form of grief. I saw this in theatres when I was very young and her mother as a bear made me cry. The goofy bear antics are just disappointing and it’s really a shame for such a beautiful movie

See I always saw the bear plot as Elenor learning that Meridas version of power and feminity is just as valid as her. I still take issue with Merida blaming herself the whole time tho.

God, everything the director says makes me more and more annoyed, Its clear that he's not the one behind the amazing first 30 minutes of the film. The two plots are more removed than Merida and her mother...

The thing that bothers me the most about this movie is the marketing. The trailers, poster, and title all implied this epic adventure with a badass heroine, which as a young girl I was really excited for. Also, nobody knew what the central plot was gonna be, apart from Merida not wanting to get married. All we got were the wisps in this mysterious forest... And then the movie came out and it was about Merida turning her mother into a bear. Remember how cool she looked with her bow and arrows? It doesn't affect the plot that much. A princess who's a fighter? More like a rebellious teen. Adventure? Nah, it's all about _emotions_ and _relationships._ And of course you can make a great story with those, but why would they show something so different in the trailers?

as a scot i strangely enjoyed the story of brave, only things i disliked was the fall back on a mystacle element to push the plot and weirdly when a man speaks dòric(a dialect of scots) they seem to speed him up. but yeah i really love your input on the movie. it really gives insight about what brave could have been and what it did right rather than certain "productions" that call it bad a million times then end the video.

Your ideas to fix Brave are a lot better than mine. My idea was for Mordeau to show up and lead the jilted clans to war so Merida and Elenore work together to stop him. The catch being their roles are reversed: Merida the fighter has to manage peace talks while Elenore the diplomate has to engage in guerilla combat.

Dude said "this movie has nothing to do with gender" simply because that’s not something HE wanted. It is gender focused, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

My theory is that the tapestry didn't have anything to do with the spell to begin with. I think when the witch said "mend the bond torn by pride" she actually meant the emotional bond between Merida and Eleanor. Merida just made a mistake and assumed the witch meant the tapestry. This is why the spell didn't break when Merida fixed the tapestry and covered her mother in it. The spell broke when Merida apologized and confessed her love for her mother which mended their relationship aka their bond as mother and daughter.

As a young teen, I actually didn't mind much about the bear plot. I only watched movies for enjoyment instead of taking in any messages in it. But I got to say, even as a casual audience, I was VERY peeved at the way the curse broke. There's no beautiful symbolism in it, no poetic in its ending. As lacking in education about good literature as I was, I still could feel it when a story is off. Merida was tasked to mend the broken bond before the dawn, she came to a quick conclusion of the tarp she ripped off to challenge her mother's authority. After all the bear's plot, I even forgot about the tarp. The way it's built up so Merida patched the tapestry back and put it over her bear mom to break the curse is... Stupid. It's so vague at its best and I don't see the point in it. Ofc if the tapestry was fixed with BOTH of them fixing it while communicating their difference, it would work much better. The problem with that is, her mom is a bear and can't communicate with her. If they add more nuances or even details about her mom's power throughout the film and Merida came to an enlightenment of her mother's love for her as she fixed the symbol of her mom's soft power, I would like it more! Because that means, emotionally, they're already reconnected and the curse broke because of that, not because of the tapestry. Especially with the weird dark bear being as the previous cursed person who also destroyed the symbol of his family in a stone carving (which he can't fix, because stone breaks and won't mend back). It made me question the rule of the curses, as I came from a country where such things (curses) are pretty common. This is also the same in Frozen. I love that movie and the estranged sisters' struggle to reconnect but the ending could be done better. Once Anna returned back from being frozen and Olaf said "An act of a True Love will thaw a frozen heart." Elsa shouldn't suppose to immediately connect love with her power. She's a princess isolated for _years_ and distant to most people. I won't deny that she knows love better than Anna who wants to marry a man she just met, but Elsa won't know much about it either. Rather than immediately providing them with immediate resolve of the problem at hands, the movie should have shown Elsa reluctantly staying in Arendelle for Anna and finished Hans properly to win back the people's trust and apologize. Imagine what a beautiful sight would it be if the story kept going and focused for just THREE minutes of montage of Elsa trying her best to salvage the situation in Arendelle and then breaking down while giving up but Anna held her up. Imagine if Elsa, while taking care of the townspeople stuck in 'eternal' winter, realized that it hurts her to see people in misery and realize she loved her kingdom and the people (whom she had never met nor take care before), how she WANTS to keep the legacy her father left to her- and then, because of her realization of love and desire to make Arendelle better again, the snow thawed and spring slowly emerged again? The dialogue of "An act of true love can thaw a frozen heart" came back to her and she tried to channel that love more into her power. THAT would have shown her development not only as a sister and as a traumatized young woman, but as a QUEEN of a kingdom! Like in Encanto, it's done right because the characters were given a time at the end to accept their new changes, to look at each other and apologize, they also had the chance to learn more about each other without the use of their powers. So when EVERYTHING goes back to how it was before at the end of the movie, you don't feel miffed about it. They paid for the fall first before it turned back to normal. It becomes smoother and it's SO great to see. And the symbolism at the end is so GREAT. The 'blacksheep' of the family is not actually a black sheep, she's just a bit special amongst her family - of course if I elaborate more on that it will go even longer. My point is, it hurts me to see that many movies don't give their characters more chance to learn what they are and their relationships or the boosting scene for the ending to work.

Okay so I think the bear plot could have worked. Mother becomes a bear, and it's not just like oh no she's a monster now let's fix it! I think that the bear represents how Elinor is now the thing that is nothing of what she was before. She is now disliked in society, lost her power, lost everything about herself. A bear is a ravenous, evil, ill-tempered, smelly thing, which is the exact opposite of what Elinor has been and what she takes pride about. I think that there is also some symbolism in her constantly wearing the crown as a bear; she is trying to hold onto the throne that she has built for herself with her soft power and influence, and obviously that is not possible if you just look down and see she is a big fat bear. So this bear plot COULD have actually taken this ideological conflict plot and made a lot out of it, where Elinor would learn to accept that being not some perfect thing society loves is okay, and Merida learns the value of Elinor's style when she is gone and the kingdom goes into disarray. Maybe this movie could have brought up some of the topics barbie brought up, and we could see that Elinor's oppresiveness was because of her own insecurity or whatevs, and I think that strand of background would have made everything more powerful. Like the little strand of gray in her hair is that example of how she is kind of not perfect, she is deteriorating as much as she tries to maintain that image to society and to herself. And when she lets the hair loose at the end, it would be symbolic of how she is finally accepting herself, maybe her could have been more gray or whatever. Of course that didn't happen, and the movie didn't integrate its two plots well, and it made the bear plot too shallow, but still I don't think the bear plot is inherently dumb. Also, the bear plot makes the movie far-reaching for the children as they can watch something simply entertaining while also seeing the advanced symbolism between the mom and daughter.

Seeing Andrews say that gender had nothing to do with this film just makes me want to roundhouse kick him in the face. As a woman that is still emerging in this industry, I have had the experience of having both my screenplay and the skills I've trained for years to perfect be directly undermined by male directors -- it is truly infuriating. I sincerely hope that Pixar and many other studios can work to one day have any woman be comfortable to stand up and prove just how good of a storyteller she can be. Female driven stories are vital, are needed, and can be successful when done right and truthfully. Brave can go do the goddamn dump as far as I'm concerned.

I'd like to add that as a Scottish person I don't feel that Brave represented our countrys heritage accurately, it's just another Americanisation or caricature of what's actually a very interesting and political time in our history.

Great video. I vehemently detest this movie but I did find myself mentally defending it from some of your points as I disagreed with a number of things. My biggest disagreement is probably the tapestry confusion as it was made very clear to me through context clues that it was indeed a symbolic bond that needed mending and that Merida simply came up with the wrong conclusion and coincidentally fixed the tapestry at the same time she fixed her bond with her mother. The tapestry, as well as the stone carving, were simply being used as metaphors as well as red herrings.

Watching this fantastic video again after Pixar’s newest, Turning Red, really shows how far they’ve grown as a studio and actually letting a mother daughter conflict/story be about femininity through and throughout, not a derailed mess that was turned into something genderless with the removal of the lead director, who wanted to tell a personal story. A literal 10yr difference (2012-2022) and a rework of the studios leadership and trusting artists of all kinds to make their vision, shows that the soul and core of a project is the most important thing, period.

To be honest, the real masterpiece within Brave was when she turned her mother into a bear. It was a beautiful commentary on the social oppression or bears. What a fine work of art!

I hate how the director said gender had nothing to do with brave. The whole first plot is about gender and breaking gender norms and being yourself. Being able to be masculine and feminine, being who you want to be.

I was trying to figure out why people hated the movie so much when i loved it, and its because i forgot about the bear plot. I only remembered the beginning. I truly wish they had kept the original director instead of caving to whatever pressure had her removed. It must really suck for her seeing her story stolen out from under her and turned into a piece of garbage.

So he made a movie with a forced marriage plot AND the main focus is the relationship between a mother and daughter… and he says the movie has nothing to do with gender??? Really?!?

Everyone: don’t do it. Don’t do it Disney. Disney: *turns a main character into an animal for no good reason*

I would have loved if her spell did something different. Perhaps her wish causes the suitors to be kidnapped by fairies or some other creatures and she feels awful and has to fight her way to save them all. As she collects each one, they talk and she realizes they didnt even want to be married either, leading to the final speech at the end where after bonding with the guys, she gives them all the autonomy to choss their own fates. Maybe this would be a dumb addition but she could've wished for the boys to go away, but the wish gets rid of ALL the men of the villiage and her and her mother have to venture out to save them. This way you still get the scenes of the mom being prissy in the wild, while merida gets to show off her survival and fighting skills which gains her mom's respect.

The mother bear brother bear comparison really got me. I will agree w you on that one. The turning someone into a bear to teach them a lesson was already done

thank you for pinpointing and diving into exactly what i couldn't for years.

Okay I know that the “character turns into an animal and grows as a person” trope has been done to death, but can we agree that Emperor’s new groove, Princess and the frog and Brother Bear are great movies nonetheless? Edit: wow that's a lot of likes! Thanks!

"We're going to write a story about traditional female gender roles in a film directed by a man, but it's not actually about gender, and basically the female protagonist who wanted to break gender norms learns that she was wrong in doing so."

I loved Brave when it first came out, however your breakdown of this movie opened up my eyes to take a better look at the film. (Also, I only saw it the one time in theaters.)

I just saw this essay today and the only thing I could think of it’s the contrast that Pixar has made with the mother-daughter relationship in Turning Red, and how it effectively communicates everything Brave could have been, with this female perspective on the story. With a female director and not afraid to touch on womanhood, and even having the turning into a bear/red panda plot

i’ve only watched this movie once and the only scene i remembered was merida fighting for her own hand in marriage. if the buildup is more memorable than the plot twist you have a problem

This explains why i had such a weird impression of this movie. Everything until the bow burned is iconic in my mind. Everything after that is a blurry memory.

I think that's why turning red was so special, and the fact that grown men were complaining that it was "not relatable" while movies about fucking dinosaurs, toys, monsters, cars, etc. were more relatable than one about a human teenage girl was telling. It's a unique flavor of revolting how much society hates anything to do with women.

RU-vid suddenly recommended this video to me again for some reason and I was so excited for a second, remembering this channel and how good your videos where and I checked to see if there were any new ones... I hope you're doing okay, I don't know if you've just been busy or lost inspiration or... something else. But I hope you're doing okay. Your videos are great and I truly appreciate them.

i never realized how brilliant this film could have been if they pulled the whole “mum turning into a bear” part out.

I will forever mourn the film Brenda Chapman was trying to make. She spoke at my school after the film came out and, though she couldn't say much, you could tell she was so defeated and disappointed with the final product. A darker, more emotional fantasy story would have been amazing, instead we have this disjointed mess.

Watched this as a teen. The change of plot to a "mother bear" was so noticeable and weird I couldn't even explain it. It became from life like to something mythical that weren't even explained properly

Saying this because no one else mentioned it: While the video is still about the movies start, the chapter numbers are in European numerals. When it continues into the bear plot, they change to arabic-indic numerals to represent the 180 shift in plot. It's small details like that

*Gender and social roles had EVERYTHING to do with the movie*

I just realized that Queen Elinor’s role in the first half of the movie is literally my WHOLE inspiration for when I write about my own characters. THAT POISE. THE GRACE. THE POWERFUL QUEENLY AURA SHE UPHOLDS. And especially that part when she commanded everyone to calm down just by solemnly stepping through a crowd. I also realize that I love the color green so much because of that dress she wears, which embellishes her powerful stature and queenliness. How did I not realize this before

I periodically remember and go back to this video. Because it's so true. Re-watched Brave and indeed the character of Elinor is subtle, gentle, caring, with her own minuses and pluses - she's gorgeous just the way she is. She doesn't need to unbraid her braids and mount a horse to be a wonderful, original character and understand her daughter. It has to be within her character. For example, I felt like in the beginning before the archery competition, she's kind of holding herself and her emotions back. There's a lot holding her back to say something to Merida. I wouldn't call her cold, though. She's probably tried to act composed more often than necessary (?) It's probably the danger they've been exposed to, the danger to their lives - showed Elinor how important it is to speak. Very strongly I felt - being a bear Elinor couldn't at all say to her daughter, "I love you", it was really scary for her. That realisation would never go away for Elinor. Neither would it for Merida. Elinor started walking on two paws, which looked comical, worried about dresses, put on a crown, built a table. They fished, had fun and suddenly: when her mum staggered into the forest on four legs, became a bear for a while and forgot herself and her daughter, oh God it still just hit the heart.

Upon rewatching this and comparing it to Turning Red, I had an epiphany. Unlike Disney, Pixar (mostly) learns from its mistakes

"i accidentally hit puberty between recording sessions" has to be the best creator's note i have ever seen

I’ve never watched brave, but that scene where the queen tries to salvage Merida’s bow makes me tear up. I have no idea why. The voice actor did a great job expressing her regret.

Honestly I really enjoyed this movie. I watched it a lot as a kid and as someone who had mother issues when I was younger it really stuck with me. Now of course even tho I really love it there is obviously wasted potential. I wish the scenes did get darker with more emotional breakdowns (and I mean *more*). The bear thing honestly was something I didn’t mind and thought it was quite entertaining and a unique concept despite how random it was. Every time someone mentions taking away the bear arc I can’t help but feel the magic of the world may be taken away too. If the bear concept was taken away I would at least want there to still be a feel of magic and wonder in the world (with good writers I’m sure they could take away the bear thing without taking away the magic tho). I also think the movie could have benefited with more in debt plot of how they grew to become so distant and learn how much they truly love each other. A proper mother daughter arc would be perfect and I’m sure it would, like it did to me, make others feel seen and give us something to relate to. I kinda wonder what Brave would have been like if they hadn’t fired the original lady in charge. A remake made by the original girl ( and I mean a proper remake with same voices, similar animation and same feel just different story) could really change the way people see brave and it could be better than the first one.

I just discovered you yesterday, I TRULY LOVE AND ADMIRE THE QUALITY OF YOUR VIDEOS. Please, keep doing more! Marvelously explained and presented. A master piece.

That "gender has nothing to do with it" is the most misunderstood comment in movie history. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a gendered story. In fact, some of the best movies out there have gender focused plots (Fight Club, Portrait of a woman on fire, Moon Light... You name it). The only reason Mark Andrews felt compelled to make that statement is because movies targeting women have (regardless of their quality) always been looked down on.

So. Let me get this straight. They took a story about womanhood and women's struggles and got a man to direct and change it. Got it

The thing that’s the most disappointing to me is that this is one of the most unique Disney princess movies there is. And this movie’s aesthetic and setting particularly strike a chord with me due to the fact that I and all my family are Celtic. And this is the first film from Disney, a studio I’m a fan of (I’m putting Disney the company aside because F*CK THAT), that is in an aggressively Celtic setting. The music, the aesthetic and many things in this movie feel familiar in a way that NO OTHER Disney film has. And it just makes it all the more disappointing that these morons fired a great director and hired another guy who had NO IDEA what the point of the story was.

My problem is that except for her not getting to choose her own husband. None of the characters except the mother seems to give a shit about Merida being feminine or not. Making it seem much less like its about "daughter/mother/society" and more "daughter/mother/mothers idea of society thats doing the "sir not appearing in this movie" thing". Like you can choose almost every single instance of "societys expectations" with "here mothers expectations" and I honestly think that would be a more accurate description of the story.

Personally, I think it's *cowardly* that none of her Suitors were attractive. Her stand against Arranged Marriage would actually _mean_ something if she found at least one of the Suitors attractive 😐🤷‍♂️

The marketing shows us clearly what the issue was. They wanted a genderless movie that would appeal to everyone, they marketed it like an action film with a female lead. Thats what they wanted. They denied Merida her femininity despite the fact that she was clearly still perfectly feminine, she just didnt conform. They changed the plot to be about a stupid teenager being stupid and ungrateful instead of a story about two sides of one coin. The first half hour or so of this movie is the best part, its original and captivating. Im usually very cautious with calling something sexist, but i dont see any other reason this movie got so fucked over other than "ew its about women being complicated, i feel alienated, this is so lame no one wants to see this. Bring in the murder bear."

I remember being 9 at the time when the movie aired, sitting in the cinema being hella confused as to why her mother suddenly became a bear and why the story transformed into what it did.

I always wondered why I loved the first half more than the second! This is one of my favorite analyses on youtube.

I really like how you pointed out that Merida is not actually trying to be manly. What bothers me in the discussion about gender stereotypes is that many people seem to perceive "traditional feminity" as contradictory to being progressive. Like, the 'you can't be pro-women empowerment if you wear your hair down and like dresses and actually want to have lots of kids' sort of thinking. And I always felt it was harmful, because why should I shun my own feminine nature to prove my empowerment and progressiveness and "girl power" to anyone? I adore how Elinor is called a peacemaker, how she's graceful and dignified and that's what builds her strength, these are her assets. By far my favourite female characters in fiction, and also it applies to historical figures and people I know irl, are those elegant, eloquent queen types who can change the course of history without raising their voice. Those who cherish beauty and grace, and achieve their goals by peaceful ways. Why gentle feminity, the classical long-fingered-piano-playing-poetry-reading type is perceived as inferior to the seemingly more empowered "stronger" type, which I'm not saying is wrong in any way! It's just that I don't believe that valuing things connected to the "traditional woman stereotype" is being weak or actually succumbing to the vile patriarchal mentality or whatever.

ah yes, gender has nothing to do with the movie about a 10th-century princess who doesn't want to get married or be particularly feminine, and her mother who wants her to both. surely this scenario would play out exactly the same if they were men. truly, a story without gender.

Merida is my favorite Disney princess! I feel like she was one of the best tomboy princess Disney made.

One thing about the tapestry: The tapestry is definitely a symbol but also supposed to be a red herring. The superficial physical item Merida thought was the answer, but the actual “bond” that needed mending was the love between family yadda yadda. The cracked stone was a weird thing to add in this case because it makes it appear as if that is a key element in the curse or something but I see it as heavy handed implication that there was similar familiar struggles (even though it was literally explained as such by the mom earlier in the film). I see it as the creators not trusting their story telling enough and having to add that flashback and broken stone to really make sure the audience sees the parallel.

"gender has nothing to do with it" is so funny, thats literally the of core theme of the movie & its so obvious too! a mother with traditional old fashioned femininity learning to embrace new, unique femininity from her daughter. imagine someone coming in during toy story & being like "actually them being toys has nothing to do with anything at all" lol, like imagine that movie making any sense, with the exact same scenarios they're getting in, if they weren't toys

One of my teachers worked as an art-director in Brave. He says that before they changed direction, it was like a completely different movie. He sounded a bit disappointed. Might have something to do with throwing out loads of story and... snow? They had designed a lot of snow, lol.

I've watched this video so many times now. It never gets old. Great editing, impeccable analysis, thank you so much for sharing!