This wasn't a good movie. My family and I turned it on thinking it would be fun, but it was just uncomfortable and we couldn't stand to watch it. Yes! Puberty is a good thing to talk about, but it needs to be in a tender, non-chaotic way. One that makes you feel supported, not afraid or uncomfortable.
This movie was also uncomfortably fast paced; which added to the chaos, and was also very sexualized. People don't live for that. Shouldn't live for that. And we shouldn't be teaching it by showing it. The point isn't to look all pretty like those guys, or to be head over heels for them like the girls and vice versa (Ugh cringe!). It was uncomfortable to watch, and it was offensive. I'm a teenage girl around the main character's age, and that's not what I'm like. That's not what I stand for. And that's not how I want to be represented. That isn't how I want to talk about puberty either.
This is not meant for kids, and is a terrible representation and example. I expect better from you Disney. You're trusted, so live up to that. There are many Disney movies that I love, and they are heartwarming and funny, and teach good lessons, and I love the animation. This movie was just dysfunction, and bad representation. And people are already so influenced by the media in bad ways, normalizing sexualization and not seeing anything wrong with it. It is uncomfortable. And studies have shown that sexualization lowers people's self esteem, and makes them feel less confident about themselves. No one's telling them it's wrong, and that it's fine. But really it isn't, and we need to speak up. But now it's being overly shown in a PG Diseny movie? I just cannot believe it. I'm shocked. It makes me angry just thinking about the movie. And I feel angry that this is what we've come to. That this is what people stand for. You may not realize it, but what we show to our kids, and what they see, is what's teaching them. This shapes the next generation. Kids live to learn and they do that by mimicking what they see, and they try to do it. I understand that I'm not strictly talking about the movie anymore, but this is what the movie is promoting. It's not right. It's not good. And it's not something I want the next generation to live off of.