Normality In The Movie Brave

The movie, Brave, demonstrates a young girl going outside of the female gender normality. Much like the normalities defined and described in "Understanding Gender," The girl, Marida, was destined to become a fragile little princess, but she wanted to be more. She wanted to take after her father; she wanted to practice her archery and wrestle with her brothers. Marida did not take to the stereotypical gender roles that girls usually do. She wanted to be herself and go outside of what was expected of her, the norm.

Instead of growing up playing with girly tools, Merida's father, King Fergus, taught her how to shoot an arrow. He was more privileged in what he wanted to do with his life because as a man, he is the deciding factor in most situations. He could be a tough fighter because he was a man. Merida could not participate in masculine activities because she was a girl. King Fergus was a big, strong masculine man, and her mother queen, Elinor, was a polite and gentile queen. She said, "Really, an arrow? She's a lady." …show more content…
Merida was holding an arrow aiming for practice.

Her mother wanted her to be a sweet little princess because that is who she is supposed to be, but she was not comfortable with that life style. She went outside of the gender norm. She wanted to do more masculine things like climb rocks, run through the woods, and shoot arrows instead of doing feminine things that her mom wanted and expected her to do as a young girl, like dress up and do her makeup. She even ate food like a boy would, fast and sloppy.

In one scene, the whole family was sitting at the table eating, and Merida came and set her weapon on the table. Her mother stated that a princess, and a girl for that matter, does not put weapons on the table or even have weapons in the first place. Also, her mother did not approve of the fact that she had so much food on her plate because princesses were to be polite and not eat a