The first Pixar fairy tale film, which is also the first Pixar film with a female protagonist, begins with a fantastic first act that is full of potential. Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) is a young Scottish princess and a skilled archer who is completely disinterested in living the life of a princess. She is the antitheses of the type of female lead that appears in most classic Disney and contemporary non-Pixar Disney feature animation films. Such female leads are mostly either princesses who have been denied their birthright or beautiful young girls whose good deeds are rewarded by them becoming princesses through marriage. Instead Merida hates the demands that come with the dubious honour of being born into royalty. Her tangled, matted and wild red hair is a constant reminder of her defiance against the restrictive and mannered lifestyle she is supposed to lead. In one scene where she is forced to look presentable, she protests against the tight and uncomfortable clothes, which hamper her archery, and she plucks out a strand of hair from her bonnet in protest. She stands up to her parents who are pushing her into an arranged marriage and more than holds her own against the suitors who are presented to her. Everything about the first act of Brave suggests a story of independence and following your own path, so it is disappointing when it instead becomes a moralising tale about the importance of obeying your parents.
The main source of conflict in Brave is between Merida and her mother Queen Elinor (voiced by Emma Thompson). Initially audience sympathies are with Merida for being pressured into an arranged marriage, with Elinor depicted as the driving force behind the arrangement. Merida’s father King Fergus (Billy Connolly) is portrayed as far more supportive of Merida’s freedom, although he does little to prevent the situation, but is nevertheless let off the hook and is represented as just a bit goofy rather than an actual threat. At the key turning point in Brave, the message of the film becomes extremely confused. While Merida seems to have every reason to be angry with her mother and justified in taking action, her major act of defiance is shown to be extremely severe and destructive. Brave then becomes a redemption story about Merida undoing the harm she has caused.
The resulting film is about the mother and daughter dynamic where Merida must learn that mother knows best and that she was wrong to act against her. While Brave offers the suggestion of a fun filled adventure film, and while some kind of heroic journey is more often that not the core of such coming-of-age stories, the action in Brave is located within the castle and its immediate surrounds making it more a domestic drama. The middle and final acts of the film not only lack spirit, but contain a mixed and contradictory message, made even more bewildering by how Merida’s and Elinor’s attitudes change during the film. Brave wants the audience to believe that it really is in favour of people choosing their own fate, but it makes Merida suffer guilt for trying to escape hers and it presents her arranged marriage as a necessity for social stability. It is astonishing just how much Brave presents Merida’s desire for independence as a selfish act that could destabilise society and potentially result in war.
The male characters in Brave are also presented in a way that gives off mixed messages. On the one hand, they are all comical and somewhat ineffective. King Fergus is loveable and kind, but ultimately a bit of a windbag. He begins as the one who most sticks up for Merida, but ends up as one of the biggest threats to the physical safety of the women – albeit unintentionally. The other rulers are all hotheaded and filled with petty rivalries while the three suitors are a preening Alpha Male, an inarticulate lug and one who appears to be severely mentally handicapped. Nevertheless, it is ultimately the word of the men that dictates how things eventuate. The women get to ‘manipulate’ behind the scenes, but the men get the final say. While Disney and Pixar haven’t been afraid to kill off a parent in male-centric stories (Bambi, The Lion King, Finding Nemo) they instead merely have Fergus lose his leg, which is then played throughout the film for laughs. It’s as if the filmmakers were afraid to commit to a fully female centric film and felt the need to include the rule of the father, even though the father is mostly redundant throughout the film.
Brave argues that it is good for young women to demand independence and free will, but warns that if they push too hard they will potentially do irrevocable damage to their family and possibly society. Girls can have freedom, but only if that is okay with their parents. This film has the veneer of feminism and a strong female protagonist, but it still reinforces a lot of patriarchal constructs. The resolution appears progressive on the surface, but it is only possible with several conditions that are ultimately very conservative. Brave is the equivalent of a man patting a woman on the head and saying, ‘Go and exercise your free-will sweetie, but just make sure you play by my rules. Isn’t self-determination cute!’
Pixar don’t really need to ever prove themselves again having produced a consecutive string of outstanding animations that include WALL·E, Up and Toy Story 3; three of the best feature animations ever made. However, after the bland Cars 2 and now Brave it does feel worryingly like the good times may be coming to an end. Brave is a much more coherent and engaging film than Cars 2, but its troubling subtext and limp narrative hold it back. And like Cars 2, it seems to be aiming for more of a younger audience and has lost the sophistication of the earlier films where the humour wasn’t disposable and could be enjoyed on several levels. While the animation is the most complex seen in a Pixar film to date, it simply doesn’t contain the necessary magic, awe or wonder required for the visual style to overcome the narrative weaknesses. Maybe it is unfair to be so harsh on Brave because Pixar films are held to such a high standard, but watching Brave is a frustrating experience and mostly because it began with so much promise.