The Painted Lion

The story, for those of you who haven't seen it (if you haven't, well then this review will be chock full of spoilers for you, won't it,) follows Giselle, a sweet and naive princess who falls through a wishing well and ends up in New York City. I remember loving this movie as a young teen - catchy songs, fun costumes, and don't even lie, everyone was a little bit in love with Patrick Dempsey. But re-watching this movie many years later has exposed a truck load of issues that we're here today to discuss, so let's get to it, children. Representation Now, being Disney in the early 2000s,  Enchanted was unlikely to actually include any canonically queer major characters, but seriously, did every single couple in the wedding dancer lineup during the "How Do You Know" number need to be a heterosexual one? I mean, we're in New York City, for crying out loud - statistically speaking, at least one of you is gay. And as if that weren

For her sixth birthday, she asked for a tie Like the kind her daddy wore It made him look regal, and handsome, and strong And she wanted to feel powerful too. “Don’t be crazy,” they said, and handed her a dress.  “This is what girls wear.” So she held herself straight in the pink corset  Trying not to think of doctors, and presidents, and kings. In seventh grade, she met a girl who took her breath away Hair like the sun and eyes like the sea Her heart would beat fast and she would smile every day She thought that she might be in love. “It’s just a phase,” they said, and handed her a bible.  “Girls only like boys.” So she danced with a boy and let him kiss her Trying not to think of rosy cheeks and glossy lips. Sweet sixteen, and she found solace in stories  Adventures, and heroes, and noble quests She wrote and drew and dressed as the characters she loved - An expression of everything she was and wanted to be - And she wanted to show the world what she’d creat

WARNING: CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR LUCY TRIGGER WARNING FOR MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE AND RAPE A few weeks ago, I saw a little film called Lucy . Now, like many young women, I was incredibly excited about a female-led action film, especially when it starred the talented and beautiful Scarlett Johansson. After all, female representation in the media is still painfully lacking, and the action genre is no exception. An action film with a female protagonist who kicks a lot of ass is, well, nearly unheard of.  But as it turns out, what you see in the trailers is rarely what you get. Before we talk about the film itself, we must begin by talking about something seemingly unrelated, but something that was incredibly important to the viewing experience of Lucy . I don't know if this was the case for all theaters, but in mine, the trailer shown immediately before Lucy began playing was for Fifty Shades of Gray . For anyone familiar with the books or this upcoming movie,