Minnie Mouse

I found this on Snapchat this morning... The question was "What is Minnie Mouses's full name?"

Life Lessons from Disney Movies

After having a debate with a friend about how Disney is relatable in most life situations, I went on a search for textual evidence to present to him. I found this gem, 12 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS ALL DISNEY FANS SHOULD HAVE. It basically lays out great lessons/themes from Disney movies (initial quote is from the author). I decided to expand some of the authors resolutions to see if other Disney films applied to these concepts.

Be more connected to the circle of life.
"Make sure to get outside and explore nature. It is the very thing that moves us all."

The author provides the example of The Lion King. Another example of importance of nature is in Pocahontas; She explains to John Smith that destruction of nature is not the way to ‘civilize’ people. The hit song of the film, “Colors of the Wind, is about understanding, preserving and co-existing with our environment. The vibrant and detailed background of the film also brought attention to importance of our environment. Wall-e is another example of Disney’s message to explore and preserve nature. The reason for all problems in the film is human laziness (furthering the point to go outside and enjoy nature). Humans destroyed Earth with pollution and trash to the point of needing to escape. The film emphasizes the dismal planet through showing darkness and piles of garbage everywhere.




Let it go.
“The past is in the past, and no amount of worrying will change what’s already happened.”

The author uses the example of Frozen. Elsa finally stops worrying about the opinions others formed of her and is finally ready to be herself despite what happened in the past. Rafiki, the ‘wise-man’ monkey in The Lion King, offered similar advice to Simba when realizes he has to go to Priderock and face the past he ran from. He says, “The past can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it.” I think that is one of the most important messages that Disney can convey to its viewers. In most of the movies, the heroes are ‘perfect’ and villains make the mistakes, but in real life everyone makes mistakes.





Make a friend like Genie.
“Just remember—to have a good friend, you’ve got to be a good friend.”

Aladdin and Genie become best friends during their journey. Genie grants wishes for Aladdin, but also has a deep-rooted love for him, which is seen when he slightly breaks the rules to save Aladdin from drowning. Aladdin reciprocates his love for Genie when he uses one of his wishes to set him free. Another film the underscores the importance of friendship is Frozen. Olaf is willing to die (melt) for Anna. He famously says, “Some people are worth melting for”. Finding a true friend who genuinely cares and looks out for you is hard to find, but when you the relationship will last a lifetime.


Learn something new.
“You know that thing that’s always interested you, but you’ve never really had the opportunity to get into it? Get into it.”

The author gives the example of The Little Mermaid. Ariel learns new customs of human life(specifically the fork). Another example of this is in Beauty and the Beast. Belle is always motivated to learn something new. Throughout the film, Belle reads books to enhance her knowledge and is able to teach others. Showing a princess interested in reading versus the never-ending ‘search for a prince’ is a good example for girls watching the film.




Look beyond appearances.
“let’s all stop assuming we know people and actually make the effort to get to know them.”

An example of this in Beauty and the Beast. Although Beast is intimidating and not attractive, she gets to know him and realizes that he is actually kind.Another example of this is in Frozen. Hans,although handsome and regal-looking, ends up being the villain in the film. This shows the other spectrum of look beyond appearances: usually it’s ‘ugly characters end up being okay people (Beast, Hunchback), yet in this film the handsome man was actually the villain. Finally, I remember the opening scene of Aladdin, when the merchant says, “Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what’s outside, but what is inside that counts.” Despite the racial issues with the film, this line sums up how we are supposed to get to know other people; It is not all about outward appearance, it is truly about personality and morals.

Hades is very relatable

This happened to me literally 2 minutes before I found this gif on Tumblr.

Halloween Costumes

As Halloween quickly approaches, people are scrambling for a cute, quick costume... These are all really adorable!! Disney costumes are NOT only for kids on halloween! I especially liked the Mary Poppins and Emperor Kuzco costumes!

https://style.disney.com/fashion/2015/10/21/the-best-disney-costumes-from-pinterest/#ariel

Putnam's "Mean Ladies"

Amanda Putnam’s essay, “Mean Ladies: Transgendered Villains in Disney Films”, is a compelling piece on gender portrayal in Disney films. Putnam opens the essay with a personal anecdote about her daughter. Her daughter wanted a Disney movie without a “mean lady” in it, as in most Disney films the villains are scary, evil women. The real life evidence strengthened her claim that children are noticing the characterization of female villains in Disney films. The anecdote was brought full circle when she referred back to her daughter in the final paragraphs of her essay. Putnam explains that when her daughter asks questions about gender norms (boys having long hair, etc...), she knows that this is because of influences like Disney that establish and reestablish ‘correct’ gender standards in many of their films.

I disagree with Putnam’s idea of homosexuality, heterosexuality and feminism throughout the essay. She explains that some heroines/princesses are considered heterosexual because they are beautiful and wear “form-fitting clothes”. I think that those points reaffirm the princesses’ femininity, but I do not see how they relate to their heterosexuality. Homosexual women can be ‘sexy’ and wear revealing clothes, just as much as heterosexual women can. She also wrote about Disney royalty being characterized as hyper-heterosexual and provided the example of Mufasa’s family: his wife, Sarabi and son, Simba. To me, that does not seem hyper-heterosexual; It seems like a regular heterosexual relationship, and therefore I do not see the justification for picking on The Lion King when talking about hyper-heterosexuality.

I liked the way that Putnam put detail into each example that she wrote about. In other essays we have read, some authors write one line about a character and provide little textual/film evidence. Putnam goes into depth and provides several different examples from each character in her essay.

I love the sentence, “This allows my daughter, one of Disney’s intended audience, to recognize more easily who is “good” in these films – and who is not.” She is referring to appearance as an indicator of good and evil in Disney movies. This sentence brings the idea of prejudice back to real life and shows the potential consequences of showing these movies to children. Certain movies have the potential to cause children to believe that homosexual or transgendered people are innately bad or ‘evil’ because of their villain-status in movies, which is completely unfair for people identifying as anything other than heterosexual.  Putnam is able to both bring in textual evidence and personal evidence to make her essay both informative and thought-provoking!