Boo who

Sigh. I have mentioned before that if I was the mother of a girl my blood would boil and erupt through the roof every time I went to the cinema to see a children's film (or even just when I read about them). This may only be a slight exaggeration. The latest outrage is Horton Hears a Who at which Peter Sagal of NPR eloquently and, may I add, movingly expresses his dismay at the subplot involving 96 girls and one boy.

Have the clowns who made this movie ever met a daughter? Have they dated one? If they did, did they meet the daughter's father? Did they then ask that daughter's father if there was anything more dramatic, interesting, arresting, and moving to him than his relationship with his daughter? Did they ask him if he might find that a close relationship with said daughter might be something he would care about? What do they imagine that we do — sit around, and watch our daughters grow and change and suffer and fail and triumph — and idly wish for something more INTERESTING?

This comes after the male bees in Bee Story and the diminishing of the girl's role in The Water Horse in favour of the boy's role (in the Dick King Smith original, as far as I can tell, she is the main character). I've just done some research on The Water Horse and I am struck by the lack of indignation on this issue. I was also struck by the fact that no-one seemed to care that Princess Fiona was the rightful heir in Shrek the Third.

Well, I do.