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How to Train Your Dragon 2 turns ten! Come and share your memories on the thread.

Posting reply to Article Claims that Valka Isn’t a Strong Female Character
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Clickable Emoticons	duckizo wrote: > > [url]http://thedissolve.com/features/exposition/618-were-losing-all-our-strong-female-characters-to-tr/[/url] > > This is a pretty great article that lays out all of my frustrations with > Valka and compares her with a lot of other animated women. Here are some > excerpts, although I recommend reading the entire thing: > > [quote]DreamWorks’ How To Train Your Dragon 2 considerably expands the > world introduced in the first film, and that expansion includes a > significant new presence: Valka, the long-lost mother of dragon-riding > protagonist Hiccup, voiced by Cate Blanchett. The film devotes much of its > sweet, sensitive middle act to introducing her, and building her up into a > complicated, nuanced character. She’s mysterious and formidable, capable of > taking Hiccup and his dragon partner Toothless out of the sky with casual > ease. She’s knowledgable: Two decades of studying dragons means she knows > Toothless’ anatomy better than he does. She’s wise. She’s principled. She’s > joyous. She’s divided. She’s damaged. She’s vulnerable. She’s something > female characters so often aren’t in action/adventure films with male > protagonists: She’s interesting. > > Too bad the story gives her absolutely nothing to do…… > > Valka is just the latest example of the Superfluous, Flimsy Character > disguised as a Strong Female Character. And possibly she’s the most > depressing, considering Dragon 2’s other fine qualities, and considering > how impressive she is in the abstract. The film spends so much time on > making her first awe-inducing, then sympathetic, and just a little > heartbreakingly pathetic in her isolation and awkwardness at meeting > another human being. But once the introductions are finally done, and the > battle starts, she immediately becomes useless, both to the rest of the > cast and to the rapidly moving narrative. She faces the villain (the > villain she’s apparently been successfully resisting alone for years!) and > she’s instantly, summarily defeated. Her husband and son utterly overshadow > her; they need to rescue her twice in maybe five minutes. Her biggest > contribution to the narrative is in giving Hiccup a brief, rote “You are > the Chosen One” pep talk. Then she all but disappears from the film, > raising the question of why the story spent so much time on her in the > first place. It may be because writer-director Dean DeBlois originally > planned for her to be the film’s villain, then discarded that idea in later > drafts. But those later drafts give her the setup of a complicated > antagonist… and the resolution of no one at all. (Meanwhile, the actual > villain gets virtually no backstory—which is fine, in a way—but it leaves > the film unbalanced.)[/quote] > > It’s harsh, but I think the author hits the nail on the head. I’d love to > hear what you guys think!
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