Princesses Spreading Positivity

Many times in class, we can get caught up in looking solely at the negatives of Disney Princess culture. Here is a heartwarming video to remind you of something positive that has come out of this franchise:




This warmed my heart. The full article can be found here. Give it a read, and perhaps find your own inspiration to make a child's day!

A Pre-Halloween Scare: Disney Villains In Real Life!

This Buzzfeed article appeared on my newsfeed this afternoon, and not gonna lie, these drawings are spot on. Be sure to give them a look if you wanna get ~spooked~ this Halloween!

Ice Cube+Oliver Twist=?????

Apparently Ice Cube is going to be Fagin in a new Disney musical of Oliver Twist. This could not be worse. I hate the show Oliver so much and honestly, Ice Cube annoys me. I don't know why anyone would have this idea. Also, the director of "Hamilton" agreed to direct this. Is the world losing it's mind? As you can probably tell, I am not looking forward to this, nor do I think it will be a success. Oliver Twist may ask for "more gruel, sir" but I am saying please no thank you!!!!

*sung to the tune of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman"* Do you want to read my blog post?

"For the first time ever" I decided to "let it go" on a Monday and watch Frozen to relax. It certainly did the trick. Between the incredible music, phenomenal characters, and intriguing plot, it's no wonder that the entire world fell in love with Frozen. I don't think it's possible to finish that movie in a bad mood. America has been #living for Frozen since its release in 2013.

Some have tried to explain the reasons why Frozen was so successful. For me, I love it because it's relatable. I love my siblings more than anything else in the world, so I can certainly identify with the sisters in the film. Elsa as a character is also very relatable. Everyone at one time or another has felt uncomfortable in their own skin for whatever reason, whether it be sexuality, race, or nationality, for example. "Let It Go" is a reminder that we are all stronger than our insecurities. The song has remained an anthem to be proud of who you are for the past three years.

Quite a community has been created on the Internet surrounding Frozen. Ever since the sequel was announced, they have been very vocal. They want many things, but something they have been adamant about it giving Elsa a girlfriend in the sequel.

#GiveElsaAGirlfriend has gone viral! Would you like to see Elsa get a girlfriend in the #Frozen sequel?

— Walt Disney Frozen (@FrozenFans) May 4, 2016

I would love to see a princess with a girlfriend. I definitely think that is the future of Disney films. The films can be an important tool in order to raise the next generation with compassion for all sexual orientations. But I think giving Elsa a girlfriend would take away some of the power of the original story. Isn't her living happily ever after with a girl the same as living happily ever after with a man? Isn't that the problem that people have with Disney films? I think it would be a cool opportunity for Disney to just let Elsa run her queendom independently. That, in my opinion, would be just as groundbreaking as a lesbian Queen. It will be interesting to see what the creative team at Disney decides to do.

Also, Frozen does include Disney's first gay character and his family. Oaken, the owner of Wandering Oak's Trading Post and Sauna is seen onscreen with his family. I wish we could learn more about them and that they could have been onscreen longer. But at nearly one hour and 35 minutes, Frozen was already lengthy for its target audience. 


One thing I am excited for in the Frozen sequel is more music. Even though Frozen came out when I was a sophomore in high school, I listened to the album all day long. The music transcended the film, making Frozen even more popular through word (song?) of mouth. Film critic Tim Robey thinks there will be a big duet with the sisters in the sequel:



Can I just say #BLESSED? My favorite song in the movie is the one that the two girls sing together, "For the First Time in Forever- Reprise." 10/10 would recommend a listen:



The casting is honestly perfect. Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel are my actual queens. Gossip Girl and Elphaba? Have I died and gone to heaven? Also, Josh Gad is probably one of the funniest people alive. And don't even get me started on Jonathan Groff. With a cast like this, there was honestly no way this movie couldn't be a hit. Look how cute they are!

Rejected #Frozen2 announcement photos: #CantTellItsIce #LooksLikeAPillow pic.twitter.com/8NSwGTo3PN

— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) March 13, 2015

Backstage with #JohnLasseter after announcing #Frozen2. As you can see we are not mildly excited.

A photo posted by Josh Gad (@joshgad) on Mar 12, 2015 at 11:27am PDT\

Some things that I really love about Frozen are that it breaks Disney norms. As Union College psychologist Erika Wells said "The handsome prince is evil. The person with the magical powers is good. It spins Disney on its head.” The leads are both strong, inspiring, and yet very different females. They talk about things other than men and do all of the rescuing themselves. Who says that true love can only be romantic love? Sister power. It's kind of incredible that the same company that had female characters singing "Leave the sewing to the women" has transformed to have its principle belting beautifully "It's time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through. No right, no wrong, no rules for me. I'm free!"

I'll be real though, not everything in Frozen is perfect. Elsa and Anna's parents die in the first ten minutes. #RIPAllDisneyParents. There's hardly any diversity in Arendelle. Also, the men don't sing nearly as much as the women. I'd love to hear Jonathan Groff sing every song in the world. At least the Internet has this:



Frozen goes beyond in terms of plot line, music, casting, message, and fandom. The merchandise, spin off short films (check out Frozen Fever), and costumes are honestly and empire of their own. This leaves much to be desired in Disney's next princess film, Moana. With composers like Lin-Manuel Miranda and actors like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, hopefully it will bring the same great energy as Frozen did to people all around the globe. 

Sneak peek of Moana!

Disney released some clips from Moana! You can watch them both here. In both, you can see Dwayne Johnson already stand out as the egotistical, entertaining, demi-god Maui. Auli'i Cravalho is a headstrong, intelligent Moana. I simply can't wait for this movie! It already seems to be looking great. Now that my night has been made, back to homework!

The OG Rapunzel

Let's dive right into this one. Rapunzel was a much shorter original fairytale than others such as Cinderella and The Little Mermaid, which surprised me. That being said, I felt the ending came too quickly, and the story didn't make very much sense. What did the witch want Rapunzel for? It doesn't seem like she knew about her magical healing tears. Did she just want a kid to lock away forever? Also, why would Rapunzel consent to marriage with literally the first man she meets? Definitely a problem.

I couldn't quite understand the moral of the story. In Tangled, the message is that you shouldn't be vain. In the original, I can't tell if it's that you shouldn't lie, or maybe it's that you shouldn't steal. It was very unclear, and in my opinion, I think this makes the story weaker than the other fairytales.

There's no sort of Flynn Rider character mentioned in the original. Flynn is a direct Disney product. In a way, he is cookie cutter Disney. He is charming, good-looking, and just dangerous enough to make him a bad boy who is able to be turned good by the princess. His role is much bigger in the movie because he is the narrator. Lester says this is a problem because Rapunzel is restricted from using her own voice to tell her own story. But then again, its not like she does so in the original. The original is mostly about the evil witch doing things with no sensible motivation.

Disney actually produced something decently entertaining from an original fairytale that was pretty lousy. I definitely give them more credit now, even though they could have done something even better. 

Getting Hairy with Tangled

I have written about my sister a few times on this blog. One fun fact about her is that Tangled is her favorite Disney princess movie. As for me, I just don’t get it.

I found myself extraordinarily bored while watching this movie. Perhaps it is because I have seen it so many times (my mom would play it in the car so my sister could be occupied while she drove me to things). I honestly just find the plot so boring and predictable. Again, we have the princess who is isolated from the world with her evil “mother” and who later on falls in love with the first person she sees. This indicates a huge step backwards in terms of quality of Disney films. Coming after Princess and the Frog, which features an assortment of kooky, fun characters in New Orleans, Tangled is a let down in terms of entertainment.

I think one of the reasons my sister likes this film so much is because she was the target audience when it first came out. She was five years old when my mother took us to the theater to go see it. This film was an important part of her childhood in the same way that I grew up with Beauty and The Beast, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King (even though these movies weren’t released in my lifetime, my parents got them on VHS and I would watch them all the time).

There were many parts of Tangled that reminded me of other Disney films. For example, Mother Gothel falls to her death, just like the Evil Queen in Snow White and Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. Also, just like in Beauty and the Beast, the prince comes alive again miraculously after the princess sort of weeps over his limp body. Classic Disney.

I didn’t really understand Mother Gothel’s motivations in this movie. She used Rapunzel’s hair to keep her young for many years. Did she do anything with her youth? It sounded like she rarely left Rapunzel alone in the tower. Why did she need to be young? Did she want to meet men? Did she want to marry for money? I found Mother Gothel’s character to be very shallow. She kidnapped a girl to make her young only to stay inside all the time. She paled in comparison to second wave villains like Ursula, Gaston, and Jafar. Those villains had more depth to them.

One of the scenes I hate the most is when Rapunzel first leaves the tower and is being very wishy-washy about whether or not she should have left. Ugh! Just make a decision and be confident with it, girl! I was honestly cringing at that scene it was so unbearable. I can’t stand people who can’t make up their minds.

There were some positive aspects to Rapunzel. She is smart and resourceful with her hair and frying pan. She finds ways to keep herself busy and educated while locked away in her tower. In fact, before Flynn shows up, she never talks or sings about wanting a man to come and save her, in the way that Snow White and Cinderella do.

The film also had some good music. “I Have a Dream” has been stuck in my head all day and “I See the Light” is on my playlist for destressing. “When Will My Life Begin” is also a great tune.

Overall, I don’t think Tangled is as good as the second wave films. The second wave films have more interesting plots, more diverse characters (I don’t think I saw any people other than Caucasians in Tangled), and less predictability. Tangled is a hairy situation in the midst of some really great third wave films.

I leave you with a chart.