Category Archives: Ellie

First International Day of the Girl

Important reasons for Mars settlement stem from the cultural change millions of people living on another planet will catalyze here on Earth – simply by the fact of their thriving as a robust vibrant civilization on Mars. Settlements will need to educate every person to their fullest potential. Anticipation of such a society through depictions in film, concept art, mission plans, business proposals, fiction writing, etc., reenforces progressive cultural change now, here on Earth.

Role Model to Superheroes: Maya Angelou

 
Phenomenal Woman
 
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
 
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
 
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
 
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
 
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me. 

Gendercide: The War on Baby Girls

The Economist headlined as their cover story an article titled “Gendercide: The War on Baby Girls,” the most important take-away being: cultural appreciation for the value of girls rather than economic development prevents gendercide:
 
“It affects rich and poor; educated and illiterate; Hindu, Muslim, Confucian and Christian alike. Wealth does not stop it. Taiwan and Singapore have open, rich economies. Within China and India the areas with the worst sex ratios are the richest, best-educated ones.”
 
“In the 1990s South Korea had a sex ratio almost as skewed as China’s. Now, it is heading towards normality. It has achieved this not deliberately, but because the culture changed. Female education, anti-discrimination suits and equal-rights rulings made son preference seem old-fashioned and unnecessary.” [I’m not a Christian fundamentalist psycho — and hardly understand what Christianity even means — but it is worth noting South Korea is now more “Christian” than Europe and most parts of the United States; this may be a factor.]
 
“And all countries need to raise the value of girls. They should encourage female education; abolish laws and customs that prevent daughters inheriting property; make examples of hospitals and clinics with impossible sex ratios; get women engaged in public life—using everything from television newsreaders to women traffic police. Mao Zedong said “women hold up half the sky.” The world needs to do more to prevent a gendercide that will have the sky crashing down.”
 

The Case for Ellification of the Universe, ASAP PDQ PLZ : ) ♬♫♪♫

First, the most obvious argument for Ellie: she exists as a proven character created by artists still working together at the most successful animation studio in the frickin’ universe, Pixar. She would be hard to screw up. Second: Ellie radiates virtues and passions difficult for any of us to evoke whatever our gender, age, or calling; she can show humanity worldwide how to make everyday life fun, meaningful, and authentic — while being entertaining and adorable.

This is especially important when independent, expressive, ambitious young girls, women, and the men who adore them (and who are made stronger by them) are under attack so explicitly on cultural — not economic — fronts, worldwide. As bizarre as it may be, we share a world with fathers who pay physicians to cut the clitori off their daughters — at a rate of over 2 million girls every year; amazingly, we are also sharing our God-forsaken planet with parents who kill — solely because their children are girls — nearly 100 million Ellies before they are born every year. Neither of these direct assaults against female humans are due to economic reasons. How is this possible? These attacks are motivated by ideas which can be changed for free — at no cost — even while temporarily psychotic minds undergoing change pay to be altered and entertained.

Then there are the glass ceilings of our open-air global madhouse: the incompetent uneducated men throughout the world who are somehow dependent upon women to calculate, translate and basically transact everyday business for the companies these men supposedly manage.

Dowries, arranged marriages, veils, chadors, mandatory headscarfs, required overcoats, full body swimsuits, hajibs, niqabs and God knows what else to hide and sequester feminine beauty — round off this cultural attack on all humanity. We do not need to make societies wealthier to change these ideas. We can change expectations by teaching lifestyles embodied in entertaining, fun, endearing characters everyone wants to watch everywhere.

Pixar could run with this opportunity as quickly and as far as Ellie’s spirit will take them — with little risk, with the virtual assurance of profitable accolades, and, with the satisfaction of having woven deeply into our global social fabric the most important female spirit thus far recognized. She does not need to be a freckled red-headed cartoon, either; Ellie’s spirit could be embodied in an animated caterpillar, carrot, or gigantic monster — who can imagine what: with a vibrant sense of self-respect, a fun uninhibited exuberant drive for self-expression, and an uncompromising straightforward sense of oneself as a unique female person.

The following are comments by National Public Radio’s Linda Holmes about Ellie from an article titled “Dear Pixar, From All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees“:

“Please make a movie about a girl who is not a princess […] Of the ten movies you’ve released so far, ten of them have central characters who are boys or men, or who are anthropomorphized animals or robots or bugs who are voiced by and imagined as boys or men. […] And Up…oh, Up has Ellie, who I could have watched forever. Seen only in flashbacks to the main story, Ellie is warm and hilarious, ambitious and fearless, and then gone for most of the movie. She provides the engine for the story, in many ways, but it’s an old man and a little boy who actually get to hit the gas.”

If you would like to watch the entire segment of Ellie’s spirit embodied as an adorable young girl — the most profound Pixar character yet created — check out:

Congratulations to Peter Docter, Bob Peterson, Ronnie del Carmen and the entire Pixar story crew for boarding such a precious positive role model.

O Ellie, Ellie! Wherefore art thou!!!!!!!!!!

http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/09/short-film-life-for-yemeni-girl/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-selective_abortion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chador
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_segregation_and_Islam
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/06/dear_pixar_from_all_the_girls.html?sc=fb&cc=fp
http://www.titlesequences.com/heroines/whereRthey.html

(As an interesting side note on the transmission and life of ideas independent from any one one particular mind, the motivation for this post arose after Emma Coats (a story artist at Pixar) asked through Twitter “where have all the folk heroines gone?” with a link to this article: Google Cache (backed-up on Titlesequences here). A moment in the life of this idea can be seen by clicking on the ‘Favorites’ link of my profile: http://twitter.com/oceanbluesky/favorites Changing the world is a team sport; righteous fury is a gift from God. Enjoy!)

EllieAndFriendsClub YouTube Channel ♫ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪

What a pure pleasure…spent down time this week listening to hundreds of uplifting songs about inspiring women to create the Intergalactic Ellie Fan Club channel!  : )  Whoowhooo! (Not official Pixar — Ellie on film charms everyone; her Intergalactic Fan Club frankly doesn’t pull any punches. When it comes to female foeticide, burkas, genital mutilation, and all male anything — brace yourself — Ellification of the universe is a forgone conclusion.
 
(Bless you precious muses!! Art is Powerful. Hope this little μούσα-who-could finds you inspired and smiling! Special thanks to Emma Coats, Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Ronnie del Carmen, and the entiré Pixar story crew for bringing this beautiful archetype to us!)