Part of That.... Blooooooooog

I forgot how much I love this movie! The Little Mermaid is one of my favorite Disney films. I think this is mostly because of the music. Alan Menken is a musical genius. I love listening to “Part of Your World” and “Kiss the Girl.” Compared to the music of a first wave film, The Little Mermaid takes the cake no doubt. The music is catchy, it tells a story, and it isn’t always about a prince! Three cheers for that!

I also found the characters to be must more dynamic than those of a first wave film. There’s a lot going on between Ariel, King Triton, Ursula, Sebastian, Flounder, Eric, Max, Scuttle, the Chef, the mersisters, and all the other sea creatures/merpeople/humans. In Snow White, there are literally 4 human characters, 2 of whom rarely appear on screen (the Prince and the Huntsman). The addition of more speaking roles makes the story much more interesting. Also, while animals were certainly a big part of the movie, they weren’t as central as the animals in Cinderella, who really comprised most of the plot.

I felt the story went a bit downhill once Ariel lost her voice. Without her being able to speak, the plot becomes more fictional and superficial, because Eric only is interested in her for her looks. Speaking of looks, the animation was so much better in this film than Cinderella or Snow White. There were so many bright colors, fascinating fish, and memorable images, such as the reprise of “Part of Your World” when Ariel is singing on the rock and the water splashes up behind her.

 This scene is one of my favorite Disney moments.

One thing that I did not remember was that Ariel is only 16 when the movie takes place. At 16, Ariel gives up her family, changes her body, and gets married. When I was 16, I got my driver’s license and studied for the SAT’s. Ariel’s age is problematic because 16 is really young to be making such big sacrifices for men. Then again, it must be taken with a grain of salt because the film was made in 1989, and it is fiction. Hopefully, no 16 years went out and got married after seeing this film.

The Grimm’s version of the story was much more abstract and frankly, I didn’t like it at all. I thought the plot development was rather slow and confusing. However, one aspect of the fairytale that I did like was how close Ariel was to her sisters. That element is missing from the movie and it infuriates me. If the sisters were more central to the plot, so much more female talent could be showcased. This film is seriously dominated by men, and as an actress, this makes me frustrated! In the musical, the mersisters have their own song. I encourage you to check it out here!

Overall, The Little Mermaid was entertaining and put me in a good mood to start my weekend. Although not without its flaws, I felt the film had more dimensions than its first wave predecessors, rendering it more enjoyable and memorable.

How normal are your opinions about the Disney Princess movies?

Here is a link to a fun poll on your opinions of different elements of Disney Princess films! Certainly a great way to procrastinate while studying for midterms :)

Also check out this cool photo of Disney Princess hot dogs:



I can't quite figure out who the one on the left is!

A Princess Moment

Today I attended a pool party off campus with the cast and crew of Hoof 'n' Horn's 'Sweeney Todd' (shameless plug- check it out here). We were all relaxing in the water, and a small girl, probably around 3 or 4 years old, started waving to us. She was wearing an Ariel bathing suit and floaties, so I already knew I was gonna have to blog about it (#DisneyIsEverywhere #DisneyMerchandiseIsTooReal).

Then, her mother came over and told us that the girl loved Disney, especially The Little Mermaid, and that the young fan knew every word to "Part of Your World." The mother asked us if we would sing it for her. Because we were all theater people, of course we did!

It was a cute little moment, and I really got the chance to see how pervasive the Disney princess culture is in real life. We spend most of our time on a college campus only surrounded by people our age. It was refreshing to see a sample (for lack of a better word) of what we are studying in class!

Get #HYPE for Moana!

Here are 8 reasons to get ~excited~ for the release of Moana! I can't wait to see this film as a class. It opens in almost 2 months! Hopefully this article will help brighten your rainy Wednesday!

Cinderelly, Cinderelly

This weekend, I watched the Disney film of Cinderella, and read the Charles Perrault and Brothers Grimm versions of the story. They all could not have been more different!

I had not seen the Disney film version for many years. It was quite short, only about an hour and fifteen minutes, which I was pleasantly surprised about. I couldn't believe how prehistoric the animation looked compared to what we are used to today with films such as Tangled and Brave. The mice and birds were all so cute! I forgot what a big role they have in the story. In fact, I think Cinderella interacts mostly with animals, including the dog named Bruno, and the cat named Lucifer. I never picked up on that allusion to the devil before. However, that allusion does not even compare to the darkness that was the Brothers Grimm version!

I found myself cringing when the Brothers Grimm wrote about the stepsisters cutting their toes and heels off in order for the feet to fit the golden slipper. I hate blood! This story also involved the incorporation of animals in the form of pigeons singing to the prince that he had the wrong bride. This version didn't have a fairy godmother. Instead, Cinderella would visit her mother's grave and a white bird would give her whatever she wished for. This made no sense to me but I guess that's why it's a fairy tale.

The Perrault version wasn't as dark as the Brothers Grimm or as unrealistically happy as the Disney film. Cinderella certainly underwent abuse and hardships, but no stepsisters were blinded or self-amputated. In this version, I think you see Cinderella's kindness the most. She gives her stepsisters gifts at the ball and once she is married to the Prince she sets the up with good guys and gives them rooms in the palace. I'm not sure if I would be so nice if I was her!

I am glad I read and watched all of these versions of Cinderella. It's a classic story that has been written in many ways, which I think is pretty fascinating!

Moana Body Image Controversy

Here is a very interesting article detailing how the creative team of "Moana" designed the title character with a different body type in mind than the previous Disney princesses. The team wanted her to be "capable of action" and to be able to "physically hold her own." Although Moana certainly appears shorter and less dainty than the other princesses, she still has a skinny waist and beautiful features. Some people argue that Moana really won't be any different than the flawless Disney princesses that we all know and love. I am personally waiting to see the movie until I make any judgements.

Friend Requests and Disney Princess

This weekend, I spent some time looking at the Disney Princess Facebook page. Boy, was there a lot to look at. Between the #DreamBigPrincess campaign, a video telling the story of “Beauty and the Beast in emoji’s, and a whole lot of Disney Princess tennis racket covers, I certainly felt overwhelmed. However, there was one comment on a post that immediately grabbed my attention. One mom wrote:

“For my 6-year-old daughter this is awesome. I do wish there was more movies for my 5-year-old son that had a boy or man as the star. Not a car or a toy or animal. There's so many strong princesses for my daughter to look up to. I want to see something like that for my son.”

This grabbed my attention for a few reasons. First, although there is no “Disney Prince” Facebook page, men certainly are the stars of many Disney films. In the Guo article titled “Researchers have found a major problem with ‘The Little Mermaid’ and other Disney movies,” it is proven that especially during the second wave of films, the men speak significantly more than women. In class we often discuss how the Disney Princesses don’t really do much. The first wave all essentially just clean their homes and look beautiful. Belle is the pseudo feminist because she likes to read, but that’s basically it. So how have we never examined the princes and the fact that they largely do nothing either? The Beast and Prince Charming, for example, just sit in their castles until a woman comes along and shakes things up. I wonder why Disney has not marketed the princes in the same way they promote the Disney Princess brand. Appealing to boys would only help them increase their capital. Perhaps they have tried and failed in the past.

Another thing that caused me to chuckle is that the woman said there are so many strong princesses for her daughter to look up to. I believe this is true especially with the third generation of princesses. Yet, here are these strong role models plastered onto tennis racket covers captioned with “Which one inspires you to #DreamBigPrincess?” Like what? A tennis racket cover has never inspired me. Random branding like that grinds my gears because it’s just such an obvious marketing scheme. Doesn’t it degrade how respectable these characters like Tiana and Merida are?

I suppose the #DreamBigPrincess videos aren’t awful. The cinematography and incorporation of film clips is exceptional, as to be expected of Disney. They inspire girls to do more than just sit and wait for a man, so that’s good. I do not know if they are available anywhere other than Facebook, though. If they are only on Facebook, how are little girls supposed to see them? They obviously don’t have social media accounts (I’d hope).

All in all, the Disney Princess Facebook page is kind of ridiculous, but it’s fine. I was expecting to just see Disney marketing its products on the page, but it actually had some inspirational content for young girls, too. It is an interesting space for mothers with daughters to interact and share their thoughts about the franchise.

Let me tell you how Disney has shaped my views...

Disney has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My cabinets in my den at home are filled with tapes (yeah, that thing before DVDs) of many of the original Disney animations. Some of my favorites included “Peter Pan,” “The Lion King,” “Monsters, Inc.” and “Toy Story.” I think it is notable that my favorites were not the princess films. I found the princesses to be a bit dull. They never really did much, especially the first generation princesses. I enjoyed the action and humor of the other Disney movies more, but I would still watch the princess films occasionally. Today, I look back on this and think that this shaped my views of roles I want to play in theater. I love performing arts, and improv comedy especially. I always would prefer to play the comedic relief part instead of the distressed, boring soprano. I fear being boring. Watching the princesses made me more inclined to be independent and accomplish things on my own. Instead of waiting for my prince, I worked hard and made my own dream come true, getting into Duke. Now I am working even harder to build a future for myself and my family. I don’t need no man!

Being a performer, it was always a dream of mine to get a job in Disney World. I used to want to be one of the actresses that dressed up as the characters and signed autographs and spoke to the children. Around puberty, I realized how strict the requirements are to be one of these people. You need to be in certain height and weight ranges, otherwise you aren't welcome to audition. The emphasis on appearance kind of shattered my dream. As a 5’3” curvy brunette, the only part I could probably get at Disney World would be Mickey Mouse. Until the Disney brand creates more princesses that vary on the size/weight/conventional beauty spectrum, normal people won’t be able to get hired as a character in Disney World, which upsets me.

Even as a teenager, Disney continues to shape my views. One notable instance of this comes with the movie “Frozen.” Although we were not the market audience for the film, many of my friends and I went to the theaters to watch the film. Teenagers all over the country were excited because Disney included its first gay family. The character Oaken is the owner of a small shop and is best known for saying the line, “Yoo-hoo! Big summer blowout!” In a later scene, Oaken is seen with another man and some kids in a hot tub. Even though I supported the LGBTQ community before seeing “Frozen,” I did think that it was pretty awesome that Disney put a gay character in their film. It helped me realize that the world is becoming a more accepting place for gay people, and that we should expect to see them in the spotlight more often. I admire Disney for not being afraid to include an unconventional family in their film. My only criticism is that the family was only on screen for at most five seconds. Nonetheless, the film and the inclusion of Oaken was met with much enthusiasm.

It is hard to put into words the way Disney has shaped my views. I certainly believe that the films helped me explore the realm of my imagination, while the parks made me realize that it is just all magic, and not real. I am excited to see how Disney’s new inclusive line of characters, like Moana, continue to shape me as a college student.