On March 8, Netflix released âDamsel,â a subversive take on the classic damsel-in-distress trope.
Starring âStranger Thingsââ Millie Bobby Brown, âDamselâ follows the story of Elodie â a beautiful, yet humble, princess whoâs been dealt a rather difficult set of cards. After marrying a rich and handsome prince for a lavish bride price that will save her impoverished people, Elodie finds that her new husband has no intentions of making her his wife. Rather, she is to be a sacrifice to pay an ancient debt.
Shortly after the marriage ceremony, Elodie is led into the mountains to perform a seemingly benign ritual. However, just when she thinks the odd blood-binding ceremony has concluded, the prince throws her into a dark abyss where a ghastly dragon waits to devour her. Elodie is the only one who can save herself from the jaws of the beast.
Now, before you get upset that weâve just spoiled the entire movie for you, know this: everything mentioned above is âinformation that we, the audience, were given in the trailer for this film,â says Lauren Chen, noting that this was one of her many issues with the movie.
âThe trailer for this movie, which was released months before the movie actually came out, contained 95% of the film’s plot in it,â leaving only about â5%â remaining for the audience to discover, she says.
As for âDamselâsâ rejection of the traditional prince-saves-princess motif in an effort to be subversive, Lauren asks, âIn 2024, can it really be said that deviating from the traditional fairy tale is actually subversive?â
âSomething stops being subversive once it actually becomes the norm, and I feel like nowadays, it actually is very much the norm,â she explains, citing âSnow White and the Huntsmanâ as evidence.
In addition to the not-so-original deviation from the traditional fairy tale plotline, Princess Elodie is predictably characterized as ânot like other princessesâ in that sheâs a âbada**â who engages in physical labor like woodchopping.
Further, the evil royal family she marries into is also predictably âa little stuffyâ and obviously âCaucasian,â adds Lauren.
And while thereâs nothing wrong with a movie that is predicated on female strength, âDamselâ âis pretty over-the-top cringey in terms of the girl-bossing.â
Thatâs not to say the film was entirely irredeemable, though.
In regard to âthe production, design, the costuming, the set, [and] cinematography,â Lauren admits that âthey did a really good job.â
But thatâs where her praise ends.
To hear specific spoilers â such as Elodieâs strange âheart-to-heartâ with the dragon (who talks, by the way), a poorly executed plot twist, and the moral framework of the story, which essentially centers around dismissing centuries of abominations in the name of victimhood â watch the clip below.
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