Moana and Raising a Strong Woman
Sitting down watching Moana with my just under two-year-old daughter I found myself thinking about the Disney women I grew up watching and how they compared to this Moana chick. Moana seemed to have her sh*t together. She was a tough and independent lady. She didn't need a man to put a ring on it. In fact, her movie and life didn't involve finding love. No, it involved her finding the man that screwed everything up for everyone else and fixing up his mess. So just like in real life, it was up to the woman to clean up the guy's mess *joking guys* #notreally.
Suddenly I found myself full of pride that my daughter had chosen such a beautiful Disney woman to watch again and again on replay every day. *Put me out of my misery* She had chosen her Disney heroine well. But then again I didn't really have any worthy choices to choose from when I was growing up.
Let's see... there was Cinderella who was literally a slave to an old lady (I really think she could have taken on her stepmother in a fight and won. The woman was pretty damn old). Then speaking of old ladies Cinderella than had to have another old lady style her up and send her away in a pimped out ride to a raging party. Cinderella then pretended to be someone she wasn't to get the prince to fall in love with her, and in the end, her problems were solved by a man.
Then their was Snowhite... *UGH* she was even worse than Cinderella. Snowwhite was just so pitiful and helpless that she had to rely on animals to help her and then she found seven little men to do everything for her and to worship her.... hmmm maybe Snowwhite wasn't as stupid as I thought she was. However, in the end, Snowwhite was so naive that she ate a poison apple from some crazy lady off the street and please come on.... there is no way anyone would have taken food from that woman! She had terrible hygiene. Who knows when she last washed her hands. Snowwhite then dies and is saved by true love's kiss from a complete stranger who sang with her one day at a well. WOW! That sounds more like a bad mushroom trip to me than true love.
Now for the Little Mermaid. She may be the worst out of all of them. She actively tries to completely change her appearance for a man to notice her. She doesn't actually know the man, she's only saved him from death, but that's another story. Ariel has decided that this random male is entirely worth giving up her whole life for, her family, and literally half of her body for. She also bargains away her voice too in the deal. Wow, nothing says desperate like selling off multiple body parts. In the end, the prince decides that Ariel is good enough and saves the day by crashing a ship into the mad sea witch. So once again the man saves the day, the woman gives up her entire life to live happily ever after. The end.
Now back to Moana. She is a girl who knows who she is. Who she wants to be and she's not afraid to go get it on her own. Yes, she has to go get a man to help her, but in the end, she solves everything without him because he gets a little whiney, screws everything up again, and then he leaves her during a tantrum. So alas, Moana is left cleaning up the mid-life crisis of a demigod. So if my daughter is going to pick a Disney woman to watch, then I'm glad it's Moana because my daughter needs to get used to cleaning up men's messes because they make a lot of them. Might as well get a little taste of what's in her future.
