Be Brave

I am so excited for “Brave” for so many reasons. 1) Pixar, I love Pixar. 2) Red-Hair, I love red-hair. 3) Scottish accents, I love Scottish accents. And 4) A Heroine, I love a good heroine, not to be mistaken with the sort you inject and listen to jazz with. Though it’s that last bit that’s the most important. In all of its acclaimed history, Pixar has never made a movie around a heroine. They’ve had female characters, clearly, but it’s been the Nemos and WALL-Es and Woodys who have saved the day. But with “Brave,” that’s all different. Brave is set in the Scottish Highlands and follows “tomboyish” Princess Merida (voiced by real Scottish lady and “Boardwalks Empire” actress Kelly Macdonald) who has a shock of fire-red hair and appears to be handy with a bow and arrow. The rest of the voice cast includes Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Craig Ferguson and Julie Walters. Pretty damn impressive, if you ask me.

Now, I know there has been some complicated behind-the-scenes backstory involving the film’s original female director being replaced. But to me, while problematic, it does not detract from the true import of the thing. And that is this: Girls deserve to be the heroes of their own stories. We aren’t just damsels in distress or funny sidekicks or beautiful girlfriends. Sure we can be those things, and we sometimes are. But if that’s all we are shown as, well, then that’s doing a disservice to everyone. Boys, girls, everyone. Because in the real world, women are the heroes of their own stories every single day. You don’t need a focus group or a test market to discover this. It just is. That it’s taken so long for Hollywood to realize it, well, that’s the real fairy tale.