swan2swan:swan2swan:I. Love. This.What we see here is a woman finding out that she’s not as good at

swan2swan:swan2swan:I. Love. This.What we see here is a woman finding out that she’s not as good at something as she thought she was because she just went at it for fun while there are professionals out there doing this for a living. And she is frustrated. She’s having trouble learning and is feeling doubt in herself. No solution magically came to her, she didn’t just leap into this and prove that Girls Are Better Than Boys By Default, and no one is cheating to beat her or even excluding her from the action. She’s just struggling naturally, like anyone in real life. Then there’s a beautiful response where the person shaking her confidence provides positive reinforcement by immediately countering her self-depreciation. Yet he doesn’t say “You’ll get better!” or “Just keep trying!” or anything useless like that–he flat-out says “If you want to get to a higher level, you’re going to have to study this.” He gives a compliment and then follows it up with a cold, hard fact.This is how you do a training session. There’s no misogyny or discrimination here–the only reason why Gabe is defeating Elena is because he’s a royal guard…and as we just learned, he’s a champion himself. There may be guards Elena can defeat in fencing rounds, and of course she could beat her sister and probably her grandfather, but against a trained guardsman? No, she’s going to lose, because that’s life. But as with life, if you work and learn, you can improve. I don’t know how this is going to go in the end of the episode (my money’s on her winning the tournament and also picking up sword skills that will be essential through the rest of the series), but they’ve set up conflict and given her a definitive obstacle to overcome. There’s nothing nebulous or special here: she wants to get better, so she’s going to have to learn how to get better.It’s beautiful.Okay, I’m bumping this back up the Rewatch list.Ah, Elena of Avalor, honestly a Disney Junior series that I wish I saw talked about more. The lessons in it and the music are fantastic. Frankly I’m surprised to see it talked about here, but I’m so glad you did, thank you! Honestly, Elena tackles a lot of great themes, and what I love most is that she’s allowed to make mistakes and grow from them. She’s a genuinely great character, and so are her castmates. Throughout the whole series, they stay consistent but still have some genuine character growth, and this moment here with Gabe? That’s a great example, and it comes with so many more in other episodes that are worth checking out. Frankly, I wish more people saw this, because there’s something all of us could learn from it.Like this isn’t something I would’ve thought to watch myself, but I’ve caught a few episodes here and there because I have a younger brother who likes it, and I’m glad I’ve watched it. Call me crazy, but she’s legitimately one of the best Disney Princesses of the bunch, even if she doesn’t have a formal movie. I feel like I like her more because there’s been more time spent with her on her journey to care for Avalor. This is a series worth watching, whether you’re a kid or someone a little older that just wants a change of pace. And as a bonus, all the music is top notch! -- source link

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