This is terrific, Noah--much more thoughtful than the original Douthat column. I don't think Crazy Rich Asians is the right model to use for "a romance plot that sweeps you along with the power of falling in love, embeds that in a larger life narrative, and appealing both to today’s kids and their parents" though; CRA is essentially just the same Cinderella/Pretty Woman rom-com that (I think, anyway) most kids have tired of. Making The Fault of our Stars appealing to parents as well as their tweens, however? And animated with a soundtrack? That would be like printing money.
Thanks! I'm sure you're right that CRA isn't the right model. But I don't agree with your description of that movie. Cinderella/Pretty Woman are stories about a woman being rescued. That's not what CRA is about at all. Quite the contrary. Nick Young is the one who needs rescuing; he's the one being held captive by his (apparently evil, but actually quite sympathetic) mother. In fact, it deftly combines the favored contemporary themes of intergenerational trauma and therapeutic reconciliation with a more traditional rom-com structure. That's why it came to mind. What it doesn't really have is the *rush* of romance. But that's why CRA isn't *itself* the imagined movie I'm talking about.
I haven't seen The Fault In Our Stars. Do I have to?
With the Fault in our Stars, kids really respond deeply to the tragic plot, right? Is it conceivable for a Disney animated film today to have a tragic ending?
Jeremy's point about TFIOS (in my family of John Green fans, I actually know the acronym) and its mix of romance with tragedy is actually what I was getting at, Noah. I still see CRA as Cinderella-ishL a wicked mother that needs to be escaped from--or, in this case, empowered so as to confront. So maybe Nick is Sleeping Beauty, who needs to be woken up? Anyway, my point is just that romances that end happily by defeating the opposition isn't where I suspect that the sort of stories of romance and sexual maturity which Douthat thinks are missing from today's Disney films are to be found; instead, the potential audience of today may likely think they should end, I suspect, with some kind of companion tragedy, or at least bittersweetness. And I don't think at all that means I'm insisting the Disney films of the future have to play along with the "adultness" Douthat seems to be suspicious of; elements of tragedy have been a part of the Disney childhood film canon since Old Yeller. (Though, now that I think about it, to the extent that you can see the ending of CRA as showing a humbled Eleanor, who has lost something even as she has been changed, maybe CRA could be a good model after all.)
I think you're right that some of the shift in kids' animated films' sensibility is earlier and independent from the "woke" vibe shift Douthat is looking at.
I read an article a while ago about market research Disney did around the time when they were rebuilding and expanding the "Disney Princess" brand. They did open-ended interview with fans, mainly young girls, and they learned that the romance was one of the least exciting elements for fans, who were more moved by the trappings, aesthetics and persona of princesses, their confidence and kindness, and by the theme of friendship. That clearly informed storytelling going forward.
This is terrific, Noah--much more thoughtful than the original Douthat column. I don't think Crazy Rich Asians is the right model to use for "a romance plot that sweeps you along with the power of falling in love, embeds that in a larger life narrative, and appealing both to today’s kids and their parents" though; CRA is essentially just the same Cinderella/Pretty Woman rom-com that (I think, anyway) most kids have tired of. Making The Fault of our Stars appealing to parents as well as their tweens, however? And animated with a soundtrack? That would be like printing money.
Thanks! I'm sure you're right that CRA isn't the right model. But I don't agree with your description of that movie. Cinderella/Pretty Woman are stories about a woman being rescued. That's not what CRA is about at all. Quite the contrary. Nick Young is the one who needs rescuing; he's the one being held captive by his (apparently evil, but actually quite sympathetic) mother. In fact, it deftly combines the favored contemporary themes of intergenerational trauma and therapeutic reconciliation with a more traditional rom-com structure. That's why it came to mind. What it doesn't really have is the *rush* of romance. But that's why CRA isn't *itself* the imagined movie I'm talking about.
I haven't seen The Fault In Our Stars. Do I have to?
With the Fault in our Stars, kids really respond deeply to the tragic plot, right? Is it conceivable for a Disney animated film today to have a tragic ending?
Jeremy's point about TFIOS (in my family of John Green fans, I actually know the acronym) and its mix of romance with tragedy is actually what I was getting at, Noah. I still see CRA as Cinderella-ishL a wicked mother that needs to be escaped from--or, in this case, empowered so as to confront. So maybe Nick is Sleeping Beauty, who needs to be woken up? Anyway, my point is just that romances that end happily by defeating the opposition isn't where I suspect that the sort of stories of romance and sexual maturity which Douthat thinks are missing from today's Disney films are to be found; instead, the potential audience of today may likely think they should end, I suspect, with some kind of companion tragedy, or at least bittersweetness. And I don't think at all that means I'm insisting the Disney films of the future have to play along with the "adultness" Douthat seems to be suspicious of; elements of tragedy have been a part of the Disney childhood film canon since Old Yeller. (Though, now that I think about it, to the extent that you can see the ending of CRA as showing a humbled Eleanor, who has lost something even as she has been changed, maybe CRA could be a good model after all.)
Great title...
I think you're right that some of the shift in kids' animated films' sensibility is earlier and independent from the "woke" vibe shift Douthat is looking at.
I read an article a while ago about market research Disney did around the time when they were rebuilding and expanding the "Disney Princess" brand. They did open-ended interview with fans, mainly young girls, and they learned that the romance was one of the least exciting elements for fans, who were more moved by the trappings, aesthetics and persona of princesses, their confidence and kindness, and by the theme of friendship. That clearly informed storytelling going forward.