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Given the importance of archery to Merida’s tomboy identity, the role of the sport in how she performs gender ( Butler 2004) merits analysis.

Of note, the feminine transformation also dispensed with her bow and arrows, excising her toxophily and eliminating her “refreshing” tomboy image ( Lester 2019, p. The Merida doll was shaped in a more sexualized form than in the film, reflected in the curves of her body and the appearance of wearing makeup. The controversy in 2013 that ensued when Disney re-formulated Merida as part of her “coronation” as an official Disney princess reveals the salience of her archery accoutrements. This attribute distinguishes her from other princesses whose identities are not linked to a sport. 2018a), or Merida products such as t-shirts on ). In discussions of Merida’s influence as part of the Disney princess collection, however, the importance of her prowess in archery has been largely overlooked, even though promotional material and products generally feature her with her bow and arrows (see for example ( Hine et al. In fact, folklorist Jack Zipes lauded Brave as “a feminist fairy-tale film” with an empowering departure from the tale of “King Thrushbeard”, a story with a tale type that closely aligns with the plot of Brave (Aarne–Thompson tale type 900) ( Zipes 2015). Even with its coverage of the fraught balance between “masculine” and “feminine” traits in a role model for children, Disney/Pixar won significant acclaim for Brave ( 2020 see the lengthy “Awards” section on Pixar website). Within its depiction of mother-daughter tension, Disney/Pixar explored a “range of femininities” in which Merida as “mighty maiden” breaks free of the princess mold ( Reilly 2016, p. This desire to control her own fate occurred as she navigated the complexities of mother-daughter dynamics ( Kapurch 2016 Manwell 2016), a long-standing cross-cultural theme in fairy tales and other children’s stories ( Tatar 2020). Princess Merida, the heroine of the 2012 Disney/Pixar film Brave, received notice for acting as her own narrator (unlike her same-era peer Rapunzel in Tangled), while asserting agency in resolving conflict ( Whelan 2012).