Merida disliked her makeover as much as you did

Disney has scrapped Merida’s glamified makeover from its site. John Kovalic imagines that Merida had a strong reaction to the proposed new look:

Here’s my view, Disney. I hope you’ll take this debacle like a champ and officially pull your makeover campaign. There’s something to learn here.

Initially you created the rebellious and tomboyish Merida as a kind of acknowledgment that you overdid the submissive princess thing. Recently, however, you caved to the popularity of the Jon Benet Ramsey-esque makeover and gave Merida an inappropriate revamp. I’m guessing your delicate, meditative decision had something to do with the scores of little girls that pass over Merida merch to beg their moms for the pinker Cinderella stuff? I just got back from a Disney World trip (09/05/2013, never 4get) and I didn’t see many little girls–except for one rare natural redhead–sporting Merida gear. Nevertheless, there’s always going to be that tomboyish little girl and she wants to play with a cool toy figure too; it can’t just be a sexualized translation or a male version of herself.

When you create art in your studios, you can’t simply refashion it whenever you want to sell more backpacks. Many fans of anything–both young and old–value artistic continuity. In Brave, Merida shows that she doesn’t need her family picking her husband for her at a young age; needless to say, she never needed mascara or lipstick. There was nothing wrong with Merida’s chosen self-expression and a bunch of fans thought so too. And spoke up.

After all that effort and money, you’re kinda back to what you started with, Disney. The strange thing is we can only guess where you’ll go with Merida from here.