The Little Mermaid

Firstly, the songs in this film were even better than I remember! My favorite was “Kiss the Girl”. Sebastian is my favorite character from the film. His songs are so great and his worrisome personality is really cute.  Also, I loved the part where Ariel was talking about the spoon in such awe-inspired terms, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Have you ever seen anything so wonderful in your entire life?”. When she started brushing her hair with the fork in front of Eric and then realized it was not right, I laughed so hard.

Villainy throughout the Disney movies seems to have pattern. The Disney villains tend to live in dark, purplish rooms. They are always emerging from darkness. Also, Ursula’s eel henchmen were also darkly colors. When Ursula took Ariel’s voice, the rooms turned green which indicates evil (also seen in Scar’s “Be Prepared” and in Cinderella’s step mothers eyes). Also, her maniacal laugh was actually really scary, like I’m surprised I was able to watch this when I was a little kid. Ursula is a great villain. Partially because her songs are fantastic and partially because her character radiated evil. The way Ursula moves on land is terrifying. Also, When Ursula let her ink blot go, it was the epitome of the evil villain emerging from darkness because she literarily swam out of a large cloud of black smoke. When she tried to steal Eric, it reminded me of girls now. For example, sometimes when one girl likes a guy and then another girl hears about it, she will try to get him just because the other girl likes him. To top it off she kicks the dog… she is truly the ultimate villain. The setting at the end of the movie really gives away the villainy happening; The setting is composed of dark purples and blues. There was no sun and the water was extremely choppy.

It was notable that when King Triton was destroying Ariel’s human possessions he was under shadows, his body was completely dark besides his staff and his eyes.

Ariel’s father, although protective, is so good to his daughter. He saves her from becoming one of Ursula’s captured souls by sacrificing himself. I did not remember that from the film but it was quite touching.  Family values in the film came full circle at the end of the film when Ariel said “I love you, Dad” as she was getting married.

Overall, I loved the film. I was waiting for a much more sexist film, but I really only saw one overtly sexist part. The only part of the film I did not like was when Ursula told Ariel that she did not need her voice to get Eric to love her because men do not like it when women talk and that her beauty was enough. It is a little disturbing knowing children will see this stereotype. I think their love for each other is somewhat valid (more so than Cinderella) considering they went through such a dramatic even together. I really enjoyed all of the musical numbers and I thought the storyline as a whole was much fuller than the other Disney films I have seen.

Disney Wedding

My friend just posted this on Facebook with the comment, "Wedding goals!!!"

https://www.popsugar.com/love/Disney-Themed-Wedding-42481245#photo-42481245

How cute?!?!?!? Each table was a different Disney movie theme and their cake even had the chairs from Up on it! 

The "NEW" Lion King

I just came across the article, "Disney and Jon Favreau Joining Forces on “The Lion King”!" I am so excited! Since I am writing my paper on racism in The Lion King, I am very curious as to what his spin on the characters is going to be. 

Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen’s Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World felt more like a story than an article. Hiaasen’s word choice throughout the book illustrated that he is a fiction writer. It made for a much more entertaining and easier read than the pieces we read by Giroux.  He used phrases like, “Snag the children…” and “…saucer-eared idol stood there, jauntily swinging his overstuffed arms…”, which are very descriptive but not very scholarly. He also incorporated aggressive diction in the piece which revealed his true feelings about Disney. He explains Disney inhabiting of Orlando as “The rape of Orlando”.  Although the quote is very definitive, readers understand his stance and can either agree or disagree. I felt his valid points and stories were diminished by his fictional writing-based word choices and his use of curse words. I did not take him as seriously as I did Giroux.

 I thought it was very important to note that he is a native of Orlando and his motivation behind his hatred for Disney is personal. He adds one line zingers throughout the book to remind us that he is from the place that Disney, to him, ruined. He says, “Enough Orlando’s, already.” and “…maybe you can appreciate my concern.”, furthering the idea that Disney has directly impacted Haaisen’s life negatively. I was surprised when he said he took his son to Disney a couple of times considering he wrote a book about Disney corporate moguls being rats.  

I really liked the idea that Hiaasen discussed about Disney’s incessant need for control. His explanation in the last chapter, “Control has been a signature ingredient of all the company’s phenomenally successful theme parks…”, transcends just theme parks. All aspects of Disney are so controlled and artificial. That is the part of Disney that I feel is the biggest problem. Disney only introduces something that “Middle America” is ‘ready’ for; It make no innovative or out-of-the-box ideas for fear of losing money or their audience. It exercises complete control of its state of Reedy Creek. Reedy Creek has its own government with an independent ‘police’ force, power plant and even airport. This is the ultimate form of control for Disney.  

Something I did not expect from Haaisen was his shift of blame (for a little while), from Disney to parents of children watching Disney. He explains that Disney, although responsible for what it shows to children, is not necessarily responsible for what it makes them or their parents do. He uses the example of 101 Dalmatians, where many families bought Dalmatians thinking they would be a great pets. Many of those animals ended up in shelters because families were not prepared for the responsibility of having an animal. Hiaasen fully blames the parents for making a decision based on a movie, as do I. Disney does not for people to do things; Subconsciously, Disney may have an impact on our children but parents ultimately have the final say on what their kids consume. Disney’s unjust practices are what Hiaasen really is vehement on expressing. From concealing the princesses getting spied on to the death of the 18 year old boy at the hands of Disney’s fake police, Hiassen expresses that Disney gets away with so much because of its false image of innocence and never-ending supply of money.