Despicable Me

746 Words2 Pages

Despicable Me is about a villain. Gru, and his want to commit the ultimate crime: stealing the moon. Gru enlists the help of three orphan girls that had previously sold his enemy, Vector, cookies. He is trying to steal back the shrink ray which will help him get the moon by shrinking it to an adequate size. While this plan goes through he finds that the girls are a little more likeable than he had planned. Gru diverges from gender norms by embodying the role of caregiver to Margo, Edith, and Agnes. When Gru first sees the girls, he fits the feminist lenses almost to perfection. He adopts them to get what he wants and once he has it he will simply return them to the Orphanage. Yet, not getting attached to these girls was harder than he planned. He begins to easily give into their desires. The first time this happens is when the girls want to go to ballet lessons yet he wants to deliver cookies, starting with “Mr. Vector”. The girls refuse this plan and instead begin the trek to ballet lessons on foot. Gru eventually gives in, get the car, and picks them up and takes them to their lessons. Gru could have let them walk all the way to the lessons, or forced them to deliver cookies. After all, he is an evil mastermind. Yet, this is not what he does. He follows the girl’s wishes and takes them where they want to go and do. This is what a mother often does. The mother may sacrifice things such as relaxing on the couch, reading, quiet time, and other adult activities for things that the child wishes to do such as playing, shopping, lessons, and other various child-like things. The second time Gru gives into the girls is when they pass a theme park after delivering Vector the cookies and stealing back the shrink ray. He pictures himself ... ... middle of paper ... ... to that of the girls. He eventually saves all three and Vector is imprisoned on the normal sized moon. Such is an act of a mother. Is it not a mother’s first reaction in the event of a horrible act to protect her child and to shield them using whatever means possible-even if that means using her own body in order to protect said child? That is what Gru does, he gives up the moon- something he has wanted since he was a boy as seen in flashbacks. Gru is the “other” in the Feminist lenses. Gru transitioned from the “subject” to the “object” in a matter of hours in the movie Despicable Me. He provides, sacrifices, and protects the girls just as a mother and father should. He is the caregiver to the girls, and the only true person to ever love them that they know of. This is the goal of a true mother, to make sure their child is always loved and never feels otherwise.

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