Question of the Week
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Question for the week of March 15, 2010:
A couple of weeks ago, Disney announced that it’s changing the name of its December animated release from Rapunzel to Tangled in order to expand the potential audience of the film—and stay away from the girlcentric “Princess” label. Do you think this was a wise choice? How do you feel about the fact that many animated films try to stay away from girl-centric storylines to appeal to a wider demographic?
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Steve :
Animator :
Disney has been formulaic for far too long. Miyazaki\'s works typically feature a female heroine, and are bolstered by good writing and a strong story. Films like \"Spirited Away\" have broad appeal because of this. Disney can change names as much as they like, but until the story-telling is strengthened it\'s just a band-aid.
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dina :
yes.. girly title sells well if it\'s done in the way that appeal to girls . disney had a goldmine of corning the girl market(1/2 of kid population) now they want to ruin it by making lukewarm and lackluster cross titles..go figure..
just create more girl titles and step outside of just princess themes. do a girl title about a girl who loves animals. or a girl who\'s a witch in training(oops that\'s kiki\'s delivery service), something,,, something different.
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M. M. :
As if the title will change the movie! People will watch the trailer and know what the movie is about after all. Rapunzel is a much more suitable name than tangled. And I still think it may appeal to wider audience, despite the girlish theme. Snow White did that, Beauty and the Beast did that, and lately, Alice did that. I can see no reason for changing the title.
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Anonymous :
The Little Mermaid seemed to do well that\'s definitely a girly title.
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KTB :
Student :
I think it\'ll work. People are over the \"Damsel in Distress\" type characters and want to see a girl stand up for herself. Look at the more recent Disney Princesses: Ariel, Belle, Tiana. They all have a sense of independence and strong will.
Changing the name from Rapunzel is a good idea in any case. It won\'t be the original story just like other Disney versions of fairy tales.
So yes, the Disney marketing team in team made a good decision.
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dina :
artist :
i think the key is NOT appealing to wider audience. boys and girls are very different developementally. the key is to do girl properties that steps OUTSIDE of princess themes. girls don\'t just want princesses. they just want stories about friendships, people, or cute animals. not gadgets and training dragons..
boys like stuff, stuff that moves, but girls like people, stories about people.(or if it\'s animals they need to have at least be as humanistic as lassie to sustain a 2 hour movie)
i work in the industry i can\'t remember how many times i\'ve been told by marketing and directors that when in doubt appeal to boys. it\'s really crazy and unsavvy strategy since girls are the ones who read more. and boys are mostly interested in video games and not so much books and movies (unless it\'s star wars)
why do they keep doing it..??? b/c alot of decision makers are men..animtaion directors, animators, writers(more women writers now but the final say is still men, the director.)
just look at pixar, they\'re yet to do a film based on a girl. they don\'t want to turn off the boy audience..
but on the other hand miyazagi films are all have girl heros. I don\'t see the box office suffers in asia b/c his films star girl characters.
they need to take a page from japanese manga industry. they do a good job of having enough girl-centric and boy-centric titles and cross titles.
it\'s not true girls will watch boy stuff and boys don\'t vice versa. girls will watch boy stuff b/c there\'s NOT enough girl stuff. so they have to resort to watching boy stuff.
also enough is enough.. this country is overly uptight. it\'s ok if a boy loves kiki\'s delivery service, besides loving star wars.
dina
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David :
Animator : Disney
I think Disney is in trouble and this is a desperate move. If they are worried about the boy crowd then don\'t make films aimed at girls full of broadway show tunes. Do what Pixar is doing and create interesting characters and good storys for a broad audience.
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Anonymous :
I agree with David you want to draw in the boys make a more uni-sex cartoon that everyone can enjoy. Even if you change the name the moment a guy see the show he will flip the channel. You can change the name of a flower but it will still smell the same.
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sarah :
how about stop basing stories on old stories like reponzel which is clearly a very female oriented fairytale. and give some new writers with interesting contemporary stories a chance??
how about stories based on everyday life.?
no matter how you change reponzel it\'s still a story about marriage..
why would a boy be interested in that??
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Dawn Marie :
It’s discouraging that the heads are going to change the name of the classic fairy tale to something that sounds like a Saturday Morning cartoon title. Fairy Tales are the bases of so many of stories, there is no reason to change the movie’s title – not Snow White, Beauty and Beast, Aladdin. Keep the name, teach the kids the name of the story they can refer back to. Let’s not help the books disappear from the next generation. I read the original Little Mermaid after seeing Disney’s Movie.
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Wayne :
I hardly think Tangled would be a better name for the movie. I remember when the movie was originally titled \"Rapunzel Unbraided\". Even though the story I hear has changed since, the title may still be a good fit. At least don\'t toss the \"Rapunzel\". Girl-centric or not, it is an identifier. Who\'s going to think of a Disney fairytale when they hear \"Tangled\"? Without reference, I would think of a B-horror flick.
It would be the marketing department\'s responsibility to present Rapunzel right, not take out Rapunzel and hope the market would respond.
I won\'t give suggestions for fear of copyright issues if they do choose a different name. ;p But definitely don\'t lose what started the project in the first place. Your audience won\'t grow by losing it.
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