The Importance of Feminism in Pop Culture, Republican Debate Edition

UPDATED BELOW!!!

At the Republican debate on Tuesday, Chris Christie (an actual human being alive in 2015 and actively trying to say things that will appeal to people!) actually said this:

“Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children.”

Since the statement itself is so blatantly sexist I don't even need to deconstruct it, I'll go beyond that and look at this boneheaded remark in the setting of my analysis of Inside Out's poor choice to regurgitate a very tired stereotype of the "normal" family structure.

Now, I am not suggesting for a moment that if only Disney & Pixar had remembered to give Riley's mom a job, then Chris Christie, or indeed any Republican politician for that matter, would be behaving like a decent human being by now. Not even the Mouse has that kind of power.

Shown: the Republican presidential candidates, and their buckets of bigotry.

But, what I will say is that what we see in media has a huge effect not only on how we live our individual lives, but on what we perceive is the "normal," default experince with which everyone is supposed to identify, and that the populace at large is assumed to support. A remark like Christie's takes as its starting assumption that the American voter expects a "normal" family to have a working father and a mother who focuses on the children, and that the roles of these two (heterosexual & married) parents are distinct from each other. The fact that we see this family structure not only in Inside Out, but over and over again in a whole slew of sitcom stay-at-home wifeys, in ads for household products, and so much else, has a cumulative effect in establishing our cultural self-image. When the most prominent media depiction of a family from the biggest and most prestigious studio is a completely uncritical reflection of outdated gender norms, it reassures the more regressive among us that this is still how the world is supposed to operate, and provides tacit support that Christie's comments are how we are supposed to talk about American families.

And let's make no mistake, people NOTICE if a cultural powerhouse like Disney implicitly criticizes their values. It is accutely distressing to those who fancy themselves as the Moral Majority to find out that their views are not, in fact, the majority's opinion or the cultural default. While I generally spend most of my time criticizing Disney from the Left, it's always nice to remind myself that when Disney makes its incomplete-yet-very-important strides toward modernity, the Religious Right goes BATSHIT. In fact, most of the Religious Right has hated Disney since the 1990s, what with their extending partnership benefits to gay employees, promoting paganism and voodooism in The Lion King, and sneaking hidden sexual messages into The Little Mermaid and Pocahontas.

HIDDEN?!

Even setting aside their apoplexy over something with a more overt political message like WALL-E, there are even religious conservatives who threw a hissy fit over the fact that friggin' TANGLED is too progressive, what with its protagonist feeling bored by domestic chores and pastimes, or as the hilariously-named website "Ladies Against Feminism" complains

As this new-fashioned fairy tale unfolds, we’re treated to an interesting commentary on homemakers and why these captives to domesticity are setting themselves up for eventual disenchantment [...] it’s a mockery and misrepresentation of homemaking.

Wait, so let me get this straight: it's okay for a Disney movie to show a heroine who hates housework as long as she's a commoner and a prince makes her a princess, but it is NOT okay for a Disney movie to show a heroine who hates housework if she's a princess and she makes a commoner a prince? Gosh, patriarchy is hard!!

They're even furious that Tangled has such radical notions of independence, individuality, and self-fulfillment, or, to translate into Ladies-Against-Feminism-speak:

We also find out that children’s movies are a great way to ensure a break down of morality in the future. We see this in a number of ways- running away from home with a complete scoundrel, camping out in the woods with said scoundrel, an unbiblical view of love, emotional enticements (e.g. smolder)

Wait...you're not only against my political, social, and economic equality, you're even against THE SMOLDER?!

And, heaven forbid, Tangled even teaches that it's okay to escape from a controlling parent!

But, the fact is that Rapunzel’s actions are carried out in the understanding that this is her mother and it’s really not until the last few minutes of the film that she finds out otherwise. Theirs is the relationship which is modeled throughout the film as mother/daughter. Parents are sinners, just like their children, but one person’s sin doesn’t excuse the sin of another. If we’re prepared to say that Mother Gothel’s sins are inexcusable, we must be prepared to say the same of Rapunzel’s.

Christiananswers.net also helpfully warns Christian parents that you can't get sloppy and let your impressionable Disney-watching children leave the theater thinking it's okay to question the authority of someone who has locked them in a tower for eighteen years:

That’s the one part of the film that I had trouble with. While Mother Gothel was truly a fraud and evil in every way, young Rapunzel didn’t really know that. Instead, Rapunzel deliberately left the safety of the castle against the authority set over her. Once out in the real world she is experiencing a rift of emotions and thoughts that any girl would probably express in the same situation like, “I am a horrible daughter,” followed immediately by, “This is the best day ever!” Why was it the best day ever? Was Flynn right when he tempted her further with, and I’m paraphrasing here, “A little rebellion is normal; it’s part of growing up.” A clarifying conversation may need to take place after the film about all of this with regards to biblical authority in general, as well as the 5th commandment.

Also, whatever the fuck this is.

But of course nothing, and I mean NOTHING, compares to the Religious Right's deranged fury over Frozen, what with all its embrace of individualism and self-actualized female characters:

So, in conclusion, dear Disney: please get it together and remember to embody progressive values in your movies. Not just because it's annoying to see you supporting the kind of thoughtless sexism that still runs rampant in our society, but more than that, it's so much damn fun to see the troglodytes wail when you get it right!

UPDATE 7/17/2016:

Apparently Mike Pence, noted homophobe, misogynist, anti-choice panty-sniffer, and now Vice Presidential candidate had a bit of a freakout about Mulan in the '90s:

The amazing thing about it is that what he actually said is EVEN WORSE than you'd imagine from the headline, and that's saying something!

He even made a point of using Li Shang and Mulan's attraction as a reason it's inappropriate to allow women in the military. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember that Li Shang and Mulan, being ethical people and professionals, never acted on their attraction while they were busy fighting a war, and they never sexually harassed or raped each other. Didn't seem too hard to just wait until they were no longer in a combat unit together before getting romantic, did it?!

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