Moana is the First Disney Princess to Show that Leaders don’t Have to Fight to be Strong
By Caroline Siede, Quartz
For fictional female characters, strength is often demonstrated as rebelliousness or ferocity. However, Disney’s newest animated film, “Moana,” takes a different route, showing the titular lead character’s strength through her skills as an empathetic leader and explorer, rather than a fighter. As Siede notes, “’Moana’ argues that leadership doesn’t just have to look like aggressive men giving forceful commands. It can also look like a young woman reaching out with compassion.”
The Infuriating Cancellation of ‘Good Girls Revolt’
Marianne Cooper, The Atlantic
Amazon Video’s “Good Girls Revolt,” based on a book by journalist Lynn Povich, centered on a discrimination lawsuit filed by her and 45 other women against Newsweek in 1970. Despite critical acclaim and positive reviews by viewers, a group of all-male Amazon media executives cancelled it just 5 weeks after its premiere. In this piece, Cooper points out that “homogeneity of the decision-makers” takes a toll, and not just on the marginalized. “This tendency for white men to disproportionately control editorial decision making — to use their particular experience and taste as a proxy for everyone else’s experience and taste — can have real consequences for brands and bottom lines.”
The Progress and Pitfalls of Television’s Treatment of Rape
Maureen Ryan, Variety
Depictions of rape in movies and on television have become the lazy writer’s way to add a dramatic emotional backstory — very often for male hero characters, and not the female victims, Ryan explains in Variety. “Whether writers think it adds ‘edge’ or connotes character depth — and both of those assumptions are fraught — rape is prevalent in prestige vehicles, procedurals and genre shows alike,” she says. Through interviews with writers, she examines rape tropes and past failures — and spotlights efforts to challenge the formula.
Why Photographer Nydia Blas Only Makes Images of Women of Color
Priscilla Frank, The Huffington Post
Photographer Nydia Blas uses her talents to celebrate a diverse array of relationships between women. “I was inspired by their friendships,” she tells Frank, “the way they supported each other, cared for each other, and celebrated their differences.” The subjects of her photographs are always women of color, in a purposeful effort to combat the persistent lack of them in media. This piece explores Blas’ motivations and inspirations and showcases her evocative imagery.
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