As I was poking around on the refurbished Disney.com site (it’s very pretty and well-organized now, I’ll have to do an overview of it later) I noticed something called “Girl vs. Monster.” Immediately my hackles rose. I know I should give Disney the benefit of the doubt, but I guess I was just jumpy after the premiere of “Once Upon A Time,” where Belle stays with Rumple again to “change him with the power of love,” or some other terrible abusive-vibe thing like that.
I’m glad I followed the link to learn more about it, though, because “Girl vs. Monster” looks great. It’s the Disney Channel’s latest original movie, set to air today. I probably won’t end up watching it myself, but I can totally get behind the idea; it’s like a mini Disney-Channel-does-Buffy story line.
It would take a lot to live up to the full potential of my beloved Buffy, but “Girl vs. Monster” looks like it’ll deliver a similar awesome female hero in the span of 90 minutes. “Kickin’ It” (a Disney XD series)’s Olivia Holt plays Skylar, a typical middle/high school teenager. She’s not entirely normal: she’s fearless. Nothing scares her, so she’s always the type up for a challenge, always taking dares.
She finally has to face her long-dormant fears when a gang of monsters sweep through town and kidnap her parents. She learns, too late, that her parents are monster hunters, and their fearlessness is in her blood. It’s up to her and her friends to save her parents and the town, before it’s completely overrun.
I brought up Buffy because the elements are there: a pretty young blonde teenager, who at first glance many might write off, fights the supernatural. She does so alongside her friends, making them a modern-day Scooby gang. It’s not entirely the same, but there are heartening parallels. Particularly those that set up a great message for kids: appearances don’t matter, heroes can come in any shape or form, you don’t even need to be a chosen one or from a line of supernatural hunters in order to be special, brave, or worthy.
I would have been all over this Disney Channel movie when I was a kid. The network always did manage to produce movies with awesome female heroes. It’s been on notice this year, despite “Doc McStuffins,” due to Princess Sofia. Good job on “Girl vs. Monster,” Disney Channel. Keep making things like this. Just next time, try to make your heroes a bit more diverse than pretty blonde girls.
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*(The above image by Salvatore Vuono is from freedigitalphotos.net).