Fish and Feminism

I was raised a Disney and Pixar kid. The Lion King, Aladdin, and Sleeping Beauty were some of the classics from my childhood that I grew to love. That is, until I realized how horribly sexist they all are. Disney and Pixar are male supremacist companies whose only apparent goal is to degrade women. Think about it. The Lion King is centered around the life of a male lion, Aladdin is named after its lead male, and Sleeping Beauty is a movie where the “lead” female role can only sleep until her ‘prince charming’ comes. (I will admit that Mulan was progress, but, even so, she still becomes a man’s wife at the end of the movie.) Females in Disney movies are typically helpless youth, absent (preferably dead) mothers, and wicked stepmothers. While these movies frustrate me, the one that infuriates me the most is Finding Nemo.

               Finding Nemo—a sweet story about a loving dad who has to go through a sea of adventures to find his son, right? Wrong. The creators of this movie used this plot line to hide their male supremacist thinking. While it may not be obvious at first glance, on closer inspection, any person with an inkling of intelligence will be able to see the anti-feminist agenda of the film.

               Right from the start the movie screams “I HATE WOMEN.” Within the first couple minutes Nemo’s mom, the only female introduced to us thus far, is brutally murdered, never to be spoken of again. It’s as if the creators are erasing mothers from the face of the Earth, or in this case the belly of the ocean. (The same absent mother occurs for Bambi, Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella, Belle, and Jasmine.) The creators further prove their hatred by making the only two fish to survive the shark attack males—as if only male fish are strong enough to defend themselves against the terrors of a shark. Why can’t the mother survive instead of the father? The movie did slightly backfire on itself when Marlin, Nemo’s father, lost his son. I mean it’s not like anyone actually believes that a male could raise a child without the help of a female; in my opinion, males only impede females from raising smart, talented children. I guess slightly insulting males was a sacrifice the creators were willing to make to fully espouse their hatred of women.

               Later in the movie we are introduced to the lead female fish, Dori. Since having a strong female in the movie was clearly too difficult for the creators to handle, they made Dori mentally impaired. Dori is unable to remember names, addresses, and the fact that she can read. Her highest point of creativity occurs when she creates a song where the only line is “Just keep swimming.” I never knew females could be so creative. This all represents the misconception that women are mentally inferior to men. Not only is this statement false, but the exact opposite is true. With exemplary skills in reading, writing, and mathematics, women are, by far, the mentally superior sex. Men are too ignorant to acknowledge this proven fact, and instead preach the opposite to console themselves.

               Even the minor characters throughout the movie fall to male supremacist stereotypes. For example, sharks are known to be tough animals, and, naturally, all the sharks in the movie are males. Now, everyone knows that women are cleaner than men. So why would the dentist, a person who cleans teeth for a living, be a man? The dentist in the movie should be a woman, and a man should be playing the menial job of the secretary. Finally, the preteen known as a fish killer is a female. Women are nurturers and life givers, and to call them killers is outrageous. Men are the real killers. Have you ever heard of a man giving birth to a child? No, because even nature knows not to put men in charge of a living being. If this movie ever wants to be considered scientifically accurate, then I propose that the male and female minor character roles be switched entirely.

               The movie concludes with Nemo saving a group of fish who get caught in a large fishing net. This scene sums up the flaws of the movie in a clam shell, only to instill in the viewer as much woman hatred as possible. First, which of our main characters do we find is stuck in there with the rest of the fish? Not Nemo, not Marlin, but Dori—as if only a female “heroine” is stupid enough to succumb to the trap of a simple fisherman. Nemo steps up to help, but is first cautioned by his father to be careful—as if men actually care about their children’s well-being. Finally, Nemo miraculously comes up with the plan for all of the fish to swim down together to break the net—as if men actually have the ability to innovate and solve problems. This final scene pushed me to my breaking point. I couldn’t take the tsunami of lies, so I turned the movie off before the credits ended.

               I now am hearing of a new movie being released, Finding Dori, and I can’t even imagine the sexist lies that are going to be presented. I would bet money that Dori won’t even make an onscreen appearance. I propose this film be destroyed before its release and that all copies of Finding Nemo be recalled and disseminated only to history teachers. A movie so blatantly sexist as Finding Nemo should not be readily available to the public. Instead, it should be used as a teaching tool in history classes after women rightly take their place as supreme rulers of the world.

Some people have told me that if I were a little less extreme people might be more open to my ideas, but in the name of equality I will not back down. When movies like Finding Nemo are poisoning our children’s minds with male dominant values, I will take a stand. Change will never occur if people don’t stand up for their beliefs. We must rid ourselves of this male dominated culture. We must replace it with a culture dominated by women. We must fight in the name of equality.