***WARNING*** If you haven’t seen the movie “Brave” yet, you really shouldn’t read this post because I will probably wreck the movie for you. You’ve been warned.
I’d seen the previews for the movie and I figured I would *HAVE TO* see it. I mean, Merida is obviously a bad ass princess with crazy, wild hair. Um, this move was made for me:
See?!?! Isn’t she awesome??!?!
Yesterday afternoon we headed out to see the movie. We paid for our tickets and stood in line to buy a couple sodas. I happened to notice that The Social Guy’s ex-girlfriend was in the opposite snack line. (He was dating this girl when he freaked out on us and had his big blow-up/move out thing.) Ugh. Whatever, they’re probably not seeing the same movie as us anyways.
We walked into the theater and I had Nathan pick out our seats¹. Unfortunately he didn’t realize the seats he picked out where right behind that girl and her family. Again, I blew it off and decided that if they were uncomfortable with me laughing and enjoying myself then that’s really up to them. I’m such a grown-up.
The movie starts and it’s pretty predictable: Princess is wild and crazy (cool), but she is being forced to marry someone from another clan to keep peace in the land (not cool). Her mother is all about tradition and feels that the whole ‘select your mate from another clan thing’ is the right thing for the girl, the family, and the village. The girl wants to skip tradition and, to quote Merida’s father, impersonating the princess (pretend you are a giant man and use a really shrill voice): “I don’t want to get married, I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the wind as I ride through the glen firing arrows into the sunset. “
The princess stumbles across a witch’s cottage and demands that the witch changes the princess’ fate…by changing her mother. Yeah. She didn’t want to change her fate on her own or have the witch change her. Oh no. That would be, I don’t know…too much work or a sacrifice? Instead, she wanted a spell that would change her mother, because obviously everything that is wrong in this young girl’s life is her mother’s fault. Excuse me? Really? I’m starting to have my doubts about this, so called, awesome princess.
The witch makes the spell. The princess gives the poisoned cake to her mother and her mother turns into a bear (which by the way is the number one ENEMY of Merida’s father).
None of this is Merida’s fault. She says so several times. It’s the witch’s fault and her mom’s fault, but not her own. SRSLY?!? You’re not going to take credit for the fucked up mess you made? Wait. That’s right. This is a movie. This is not ‘based on actual events’. But is sure feels like it.
It sure feels like I’m watching a mother and a whole family get betrayed by a selfish child. This child is running around, telling lies about being abused to the very people sitting in front of me willing to change her mother into ‘whatever’, just so he can sleep over at his girlfriend’s house she can have a different life. But wait, eventually Merida feels bad and takes actions to save her mother and her family. Of course this is Hollywood and if Merida didn’t ‘mend the tear’ she created by the second sunrise, then her mother would be a bear forever.
So I sat there behind a few of the people who helped my son betray me and I cried as Merida did the things she needed to do to mend the tear she created. My chest felt like it was going to implode as Merida held her (bear) mom and told her she was sorry. And when her (bear) mom turned back into her regular mom and they held each other in their arms I thought I was going to die.
Because my son may choose to never mend the tears he created²…
¹Yeah, that sounds totally chauvinistic and all, but he’s blind in one eye and sees better from different angles, plus I have total anxiety about ‘picking out the place to sit’. I have no idea why, I chalk it up to being a bit crazy.
²And yes, I do think Merida was brave for doing everything she could to make things right. We all make mistakes and it takes a very brave soul to stand up to their mistakes and fix them.
Awww! I’m in tears! Love you and sending you many hugs!
I will take them <3
LOVE!! I wanna hug your face right now! I loved the movie- and I gave my daughter some…let’s call them well meaning elbow jabs as Merida was blaming EVERYONE but herself!!
LOL! Exactly! (and I did love the movie…cried like a baby, but loved the movie.)
Ah, tears. I really, really, really wanted to watch this with my girls. I saw the first five and the last ten minutes thanks to Little Bit being uncooperative. Dad got to sit at watch it with them. :( I’m sorry you’ve had such a rough time with your man child. I hope you two can mend the tear soon. xsnos
I went and saw the movie with my 14 year old daughter and my mom. We all loved it! To be fair though,Merida and her Mom both did some compromising. It wasn’t until she’d turned her mom into a bear that her mom got to see all that she was and could do and began to see Merida as a person in her own right. Merida also realised all that her mom meant to her and her family.She was willing to marry one of the clan if it would get her mom back and her mom wanted her to be happy and made it so she could choose who she would marry. I think they each had to realise that people aren’t perfect and sometimes they do the best they can. WE as parents can only try our best to raise good,decent kids and hope and pray that they listen to what we’ve tried to teach them and somehow turn into decent adults. That’s all we can do and I truly hope that you two can mend the tear in your relationship (did you notice tear and tear as in crying tears are spelled the same? coincidence?)
Oh, totally. As far as the movie goes (and in real-life too) there needed to be compromise on both ends. I do hope and pray that some day we can mend our tear, obviously it won’t be for awhile since I had to get a restraining order against him to make him stop sending me harassing texts, but we’re still praying <3 (And I had to look up tear and tear about 100 times! LOL!)