After checking out the Sesame Street version from our library, Maeve is a big fan of Peter and the Wolf. So despite not having a chance to re-watch and check it out first, I let her watch the Disney version off Youtube yesterday. Well, I was sitting right there, and made sure it was a legit version and nothing twisted and wrong as Youtube is wont to do.
As we were watching, I tried to dispel some of what I perceived as stressors in the movie - I reminded her they catch the wolf in the end, the duck is fine, don't worry about it. However, it appears I didn't really need to do that, as Maeve had already rewritten the plot and characters for herself in a way that suited her.
She informed me, after a few viewings, that Peter is a girl, and she's very smart and brave. Most of her animal friends seemed to be girls, too, except for the cat, and they're all very brave. So Maeve tells me. And also, they aren't attacking the wolf, they're protecting it.
Can I just tell you how that makes my feminist/animal protection heart swell with pride and joy? I totally get why she thinks Peter is a girl - she's wearing pink pants, has longish blonde hair, and I think Maeve is prepared for most protagonists to be girls, she's been fed on a steady diet of Miyazaki movies and good books. Plus, she's very brave and smart, so she's obviously a girl.
And the wolf? Maeve thinks the wolf is hilarious, despite Disney's portrayal of a slavering, wild monster. He's funny, she says. And Peter and her friends are going to protect him. Believe it or not, this is not due to any sermonizing on my account about the great chain of being and how it's very wrong to kill predators because there are so few of them left, etc. Nope, Maeve just decided the poor silly wolf needs protection.
I feel like I am accomplishing many things without even realizing it.
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| Smart girls protecting a silly wolf. |
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