The Princess and The Frog

I first watched this film at the beginning of Spring Break. I hadn't previously seen it, or heard any of the songs or picked up any of the plot-line, so I honestly had no idea what to expect.

Overall I enjoyed "The Princess and The Frog" and found it an interesting notion that we had an obnoxious Prince who could be made an arguably better person by getting to know, and falling in love with, the Princess, Tiana.

I particularly like the song "Almost There" and the notion of hard-work leading to success that this displays. Importantly, the film shows that Tiana works too hard, and is unable to enjoy life because she's too busy working towards the future. This is where Mamma Ottis, and finally the Prince, help Tiana find a better work/life balance...eventually!

Prince Naveen transforms from being a shallow, materialistic bachelor, simply out for a good time, to seeing the value in real relationships, the reward hard work and perseverance can bring and the fulfillment of such a new lifestyle.

Tiana and Naveen are such opposites, who come together and ultimately compliment one another. Before they met, neither of one of them were living a sustainable of fulfilling lifestyle. Naveen was depleting his funds, and Tiana her energy. Naveen worked far too little and Tiana way too much. But together, they work to open Tiana's Place and become successful and happy, fulfilling both of their aspirations.

Again, there's a key Disney message imbedded in this film. Mamma Ottis tried to teach Tiana this in the swamp, but she only truly realizes the lesson as she fights the sorcerer and avoids his illusions by realizing she didn't need her perfect restaurant to fulfill her life, she needed meaningful relationships: "My daddy never did get what he wanted. But he had what he needed. He had love"

A second Disney lesson is that greed is a bad trait, as this lead's to Naveen's man servant succumbing to the Shadow Man, which ultimately leads to his downfall.

A character of particular note to me is Charlotte - or Lottie - who is someone I can only describe as a Southern Belle, complete with large, frilly frocks, the deep Southern accent, and a nice trust-fund to match. Lottie is enthralled with "Princess". She reads fairytales as a young girl, while envisioning her future Prince. She dresses like a Princess. She arguable acts, and is treated by her father, like a Princess. Lottie, however, is not content to WAIT for her Prince. She eagerly drives along this process, having her father host Prince Naveen and throwing an extravagant party for him. She's a girl who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to make it happen.
Her relationship with Tiana is very special. When Lottie is with Tiana, she is not selfish, but kind and considerate. She seeks to help Tiana and make her happy. She helps her get ready to enjoy the party. She shares her desires. Yet, most beautiful of all, is when she gives up her Prince because she values Tiana's happiness over her childhood dream. She would not marry Naveen just because he's a Prince, as this meant breaking apart Tiana and Naveen's love. There are so many sacrifices people are prepared to make for those they love - Naveen marrying Lottie to be able to fund Tiana's dream, Tiana giving up Naveen because she thinks he and Lottie belong together as the fairytale couple, followed by Lottie giving up her Prince. This shows kindness and consideration in their willingness to sacrifice. But ultimately shows that by being open with one-another, they can achieve harmony. Tiana and Naveen would rather remain frogs, if it mean they could remain together. The magical Disney twist, is that when the frog swamp wedding occurs, Tiana becomes a Princess, by marrying a Prince, and thus, as the two frogs kiss, they are transformed back into humans.

The Shadow Man is a character I haven't quite wrapped my head round yet. He moves the plot forward, but the strange voodoo / demonic twist is a new angle for a Disney Princes movie. I mean yes, in Snow White the evil Queen performed magic, and Malefiscent, Ursula, and other such magical villains have existed. But I can't help but feel that this is a new level and interestingly now a male villain using dark magic.

This film certainly wasn't what I would have imagined it to be. The twist on the Princess and The Frog tale is rather interesting and certainly a modern creation.

Adorable!

https://www.facebook.com/mydisneydorks/videos/1729242623957929/

Man sings "Once Upon a Dream" while dancing with Aurora.

Disney Proposal

https://www.facebook.com/DisneyNerds/videos/1662533027341720/

Yet another adorable Disney proposal moment

"A Special Place"

This is a beautiful video of Minnie communicating in ASL with a delighted young girl: https://www.facebook.com/omeletocom/videos/10154013301939494/

Disney's "Feminist" Princess Stories

There are my takes on Chapter Four of Sarah Rothschild's The Princess Story. I focus particularly on introductory statements and interpretations of Mulan (1998).

Rothschild begins by arguing that Disney's second-wave, progressive princesses are only superficially feminist. She claims that, despite their spunky personalities, these princesses can't escape the patriarchal oppression they were born from.

Despite my love of Disney, I can concede that Rothschild has a point here. The fairytales the movies are based on have been adapted to fit Disney's signature mould: the magic of romance. Perhaps, as Rothschild suggests, this makes the films "anti-feminist in some disturbing ways", but it also can't be denied that Disney is a company, and their trademark is selling romance. So while, on the one hand they have a responsibility for what they show to children, on the other hand, they are producing romance bundled in a catchy tune to make profit, perhaps much like many rom-coms.

As I find with much of Rothschild's book, she goes on to make wild and contentious statements that she doesn't really back up with evidence. For instance, Rothschild speculates that "Belle, who vaguely says she wants "more", clearly wants the Prince Charming she reads about in books". I believe this statement to be unfounded and it is not at all backed up. Although Belle does enjoy reading romance novels, this does not translate to her "clearly" yearning for a Prince Charming. Quite to the contrary, I believe the "more" that she seeks is that of adventure, to be able to see the world and leave her provincial town with old-fashioned notions. It is Belle seeking opportunity and the chance to live her own life. This is shown as she sings of wanting "adventure in the great wide somewhere" after she outwits Gaston's attempted marriage ceremony. Gaston, though portrayed as a pig of a man, is the supposed Prince Charming of the town; he is the man the women swoon for and the men seek to be like. Evident in the song "Gaston" as "Every guy here'd love to be you, Gaston" and "No one...makes those beuts like Gaston". Yet Belle wants none of this. He represents the old patriarchal, oppression of women, and Belle transcends this "medieval" way of life by not marrying him.

I also fervently disagree with Rothschild's opinion that Belle's inkling for "more romance than she has been offered" is what drives her to offer herself to the Beast in place of her father. Belle felt no romantic notions towards the Beast at first, nor did she perceive her situation as the key to finding love. She simply loved her father and sacrificed herself in order to save him as he was elderly and sick and would surely have died in the Beasts dungeon.

Rothschild argues that "two men are responsible for Mulan's story" as the Huns attack China and the Emperor sends for conscription which initiates Mulan's action. However, I feel a more optimistic way to view this, is that Mulan steps up and takes action in an otherwise man ruled society. It is Mulan who decides to take her father's place, Mulan who comes up with the plans to save China. The fact that she takes this action to protect her father in the first place should in no way undermine what she does, it simply shows her as a loving and brave daughter. The fact she is a woman makes her all the more couragous as she fights stereotypes and risks death to do what she feels is right, where as for any man it would just be duty. In the film, the Emperor says that "one man may be the difference between victory and defeat" and then the shot immediately changes to Mulan. So Disney are already precluding that it is Mulan, a woman, who is this difference.

As Rothschild mention, interestingly, Mulan is the only Princess film with no kiss between the Princess and her love interest. Furthermore, Mulan is not actually a Princess; She is neither born royalty nor does she marry into it (Shang is an esteemed General, not royalty).

I agree with Rothschild that Mulan and her father share a strong and important relationship, and that Mulan goes to war to save her father and is ever conscious of bringing honour to their family.

Rothschild writes that "the girls do not ultimately get to save themselves. It is always the love interest who wins the final battle". Again, I simply do not agree with the conclusions she draws about Mulan, claiming that it is Shang who successfully implements Mulan's plan or that it is Mushu who releases the rocket, and so the males are the heroes. Umm.....has Rothschild forgotten Mulan's incredibly impressive rooftop fight scene with the Hun's leader!? Mulan is elegant, graceful, quick-thinking, agile, strong, brave, and heroic. She successfully defeats the Huns and saves all of China as well as the Emperor's life. Mulan was right all along, even when no one listened to her. Mulan came up with all the plans. Mulan even saves Shang, who would have been killed had she fled to safety with the others. It is Mulan who is presented with the Emperor's medallion, and the villain's sword. It is Mulan who all of China bows down to. I'm not quite sure how Rothschild missed all of that? I certainly feel that her biased dislike of Disney undermines her genuine arguments when she throws out such low jabbs at Disney such as this. Just as I'll admit my biased love of Disney swings me to their defense.

I further disagree with Rothschild's interpretations of the men rescuing Mulan. Rothschild interprets it negatively that Shang and the Emperor come to Mulan's defense against the counselor Chi Fu, arguing that is shows women need rescuing. However, I find this a positive image. Mulan has already proven she can fight for herself by saving all of China twice! So you can't say that she's weak or timid. She's already defied men's rules by taking her father's place in the army, so nor is she afraid to question authority. But, the importance of Shang and the Emperor coming to Mulan's defense against Chi Fu is that it shows she has changed people's attitudes and societal expectations. Now other men are showing they think it is despicable to call a woman a "treacherous snake" or say she's a "creature not worth protecting". In their defense of Mulan, they are defending all of women's rights.
 The Emperor himself bows down to a woman, showing he has no prejudice against doing so.

Rothschild also takes the film out of context as she berates Mulan's father, Fa Zhou, for accepting her unconditionally in a reassuring conversation with her and then in private praying that she impresses the match-maker. However it is at the beginning of the film that he prays for her to do well at the match-makers and at the end, after Mulan has been away at war, that he sets aside the sword and medallion and says "The greatest gift and honour...is having you for a daughter". This shows Fa Zhou's progression, as after missing his daughter, he realises that she is perfect just the way she is and doesn't need to fit to conventions like other daughters.

Guns and (Briar) Roses

Chapter 6 of Peggy Orenstein's 'Cinderella Ate my Daughter'

Orenstein begins the chapter by discussing the effect of violent play on girls and the lack of research into this. It is seen that females just aren't as violent as males - which I believe to be true - but Orenstein also gives notion to the idea that we merely see what we want to see. That we would dismiss girls violence because it doesn't fit with out idea of what a girl should be. But if we truly looked, it's still there. I also found particularly interesting the concept that violent play is only beneficial to a child's development if it really is play, where they control the narratives. However, many modern violent games do not involve the child's imagination, rather simply the children copy the violent tv shows or video games and lack their own dramatic license.

Grimm's Fairytales vs. Gentler Alternatives
Now, many parents may be horrified to read the gruesome Grimm originals to their children, complete with dancing 'til death (Snow White), dismembered feet and pecked out eyes (Cinderella) or suicide (The Little Mermaid). But that may be just what children need. A platform to learn about and cope with their emotions. To recognise the evils in the world, but that those who stand fast will survive. These are, according to 'experts' such as Bettelheim, far more useful than modern stories, such as 'The Paper Bag Princess', which in Oreinstein's words "equate 'pro-girl' with 'anti-boy'". Not to mention that Grimm's version of Cinderella (Aschenputtel) is a story about the woman's strength, about her transition from girl to womanhood and that she  evades both her father and the Prince each night, until she reveals herself in rags to her Prince, as he must accept her past before he may have a future with her. Orenstein read these Grimm versions to her daughter, and found that they did not make Daisy flinch. Daisy accepted the gore, and often paused her mother to ask questions about meanings of words from this tale - e.g. 'asunder'.

Finally, Orenstein explores Twilight, Stephanie Meyer's hit sensation Vampire trilogy. While Orenstein despises the heroin, Bella, who she sees as bland, talentless, uninteresting and as a terrible role model who lives only for her man and constantly reminds him how much better he is than her. She does admit that Bella could also be exactly what girls need. An example that you don't have to be gorgeous, sexual, talented to 'get the man'. You can simply be you. If plan old Bella can do it, so can any girl. There is no pressure to sexualise yourself - Bella simply dresses in jeans and a sweatshirt, so why can't we?



Note: I often refer to the Grimm Fairytales as the originals, though I know these stories did not start here. The Grimm brothers were librarians who were able to write down old tales that had been passed on by mouth for a long time. The Grimm brothers did censor these inappropriate tales so they could be told to children, however they did not remove the violence.....merely things like incest and other sexual content.

Cinderella: Live Action Movie

This live action version of Cinderella remains truer to Grimm's version than the previous Disney animation, yet still keeps the same Disney sparkle and child-friendly appeal. Overall, I really enjoyed this film.

The all star cast only goes to show that everyone's ready to jump in when Disney's involved!

Like Grimm's story, the first branch to brush against her father's shoulder is brought to Cinderella as a present. Though in this version, her father dies, and never treats her cruelly. Truer to the old tales, she also now sleeps by the hearth for warmth at night, which is how she is given her name, 'Cinderella'. Though, keeping Disney's innocent magic alive, there are no dismembered feet or pecked out eyes in this rendition.... though surely this doesn't look comfortable! 

Ella: Us girls must look out for one another 

kindness is free, love is free

have courage and be kind

These quotes from (Cinder)Ella in the movie promote kindness and a collaborative nature, particularly between women. And when she says "the greatest risk we can take, to be seen as we truly are" this shows that, though it can be difficult to truly expose ourselves for who we are, it pays off in the end, as the Prince loves who she truly is. 

While some may argue that Ella's response to abuse - 'have courage and be kind' - is not a good lesson to teach, I, personally, like to view this phrase with a lighter outlook. Simply that it is good to be kind and that we should be courageous in our lives. 

Disney is starting to be kinder to older people too. At first, the Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) is a weary, old woman who seeks Cinderella's help. The kind-hearted Cinderella, of course, helps this poor woman, who then, granted, does transform into a far more beautiful, younger Fairy Godmother, complete with her own ballgown. But still, a Disney movie containing a non-evil old woman is surely a step in the right direction! 

This live action version also portrays males in a whole new light. The Prince, Kit, is able to show emotion and vulnerability, breaking normative male gender stereotypes. This is particularly shown as Kit cries at his dying father's bedside and curls up in the fetal position beside him after saying 'I love you father'.  A perfectly normal reaction to your father's death, though hardly the sort of move Disney's older Prince's would have made. Yet no one can say that Kit (Richard Madden) is not a 'man'. This modern Prince is portrayed with strength, humility, kindness and vulnerability. Who doesn't want to be swept off their feet by that...or quite frankly just Richard Madden!?

In this film, Cinderella and the Prince converse more - yes, they still fall in love and marry pretty quickly, but there's only so much you can change about the story and still keep it as Cinderella. Besides, this story is from a time when people didn't know each other very well before marrying. In the olden days it was common for a man to court a woman before marrying, but they still spent hardly any time together, and most of this precious time was most likely spent with a chaperone. Cinderella is, quite frankly, a time old tale, and if we want more progressive Princesses, we simply have to make new ones. Like Pixar did with Brave. 

And of course, we all love a good happy ending. Cinderella marries er Prince, and they are the fairest and kindest rulers of the Kingdom that ever there were. And the Duke, the step-mother and step-sisters were banished from the Kingdom (with all their eyes in tact!).

Cinderella

Cinderella. A Disney classic. A well-known and adored Princess. Most commonly attributed with THE Prince Charming.

I just re-watched this film, and still LOVE it at my age (24 hours off turning 19!). But I don't believe there's such a thing as 'too old for Disney'. And I do think there are good moral teachings for us all to learn from this Disney classic. Foremost, that it is important to stay sweet, kind and humble despite the awful people you may be around - whether this be in the work-place, friendship circles, in passing in your to day-to-day lives. You shouldn't stoop to their level, but rise above it. Don't let them crush your dreams. If I could sing like 'Cinderella' I'd keep on singing, but in stead I link this to Vivian Green's saying, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain". So I strongly believe it is a good message to encourage people to make the best of their situation, and in Cinderella's case, it all works out in the end.

However, contrary to this, we don't all have Fairy Godmothers or singing animals to save us from wicked people. So to another extent, people still need to learn to stick up for themselves and not get walked all over....otherwise they could end up locked in the attic in rags forever!

Disney does send a contradictory message when at first Cinderella prides herself in the fact that they can never take her dreams away, then moments later she tries to change Bruno's (the dog's) dreams! So while the original premise is, in my opinion, a beautiful and poignant point, Disney immediately undermine and discard this point. You could argue that Bruno is a dog and Cinderella a person, but when the animals are treated so human-like and are, in truth, Cinderella's only friends, I hardly see it as fair to disregard Bruno's dreams.

Cinderella fell in love without realising it was the Prince. This shows she's not after a title, just someone to love and to love her back, which is only natural when considering she's in such an unloving environment at home, and contextually, at this time, the way for a woman to leave her family was to marry a man. Yes, in a modern day story she could get a job and move out to her own apartment, but Cinderella was released on 15th February 1950, a time with different expectations for women.

Here you can find a version of the Grimm Brother's original story.
This is a more gruesome tale, involving bleeding feet and pecked out eyes. The sorts of things you won't find in any of Disney's films. But another notable difference is that in the Grimm version, a hazel tree and a white bird play the role Disney allocates to a Fairy Godmother. This tree grows from a twig Cinderella's father gave her, is nourished with her tears and located above her mother's grave. From here, her wishes are granted. This tree is a connection between Cinderella and her mother. A connection that Disney never acknowledges. In the original, the father also still lives, and he too treats Cinderella badly. While in the original tale, the step-sisters were beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside, Disney are know for making the 'evil' characters ugly. This gives child viewers the simplistic and false sense that pretty people are good, and ugly people are bad, which may not be the best message!

An interesting point about this film, in relation to an article I recently read, is that 60% of the dialogue is from women, beaten only by Sleeping Beauty and Brave, compared to more modern films, such as The Princess and the Frog with less than 25% or Frozen with only 41%.  My dad actually sent me this article, shortly before a similar one was assigned for my class. Researchers feel that this occurs because male is considered the norm. So , considered generally, if Disney seeks a shopkeeper or village people, it will be men who play these roles and hold the speaking roles. So while you may see female characters on screen in the background, it could be the case of 'seen but not heard'. Researchers are still looking into the effects this may have on young children and speech development. So, while modern era Disney portrays women in more empowered roles, they're not quite giving them enough to say, and the gender equality divide still needs some more work.

There are many more modern Cinderella spin offs. My personal favourite of which is the 1998 Ever After: A Cinderella Story, which if you have not yet seen, I highly and wholly biasedly recommend. I have not yet re-watched these, though I have already seen all but the latest live action version with Lily Collins, and I do intend to view these again shortly.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is the first Disney film every created and was released in 1937.
I personally find it very interesting to see how Disney has evolved over the years, from Snow White all the way up to Frozen - the first animated Disney film to be directed by a female. So from Cinderella and her glass slipper to Jennifer Lee 'melting the glass ceiling', hopefully we're entering an exciting new era for Disney.
Check out these articles outlining Jennifer Lee's success in an otherwise seemingly all boys club:
http://variety.com/2014/film/awards/frozens-jennifer-lee-melts-ceilings-1201216961/ 
http://www.themarysue.com/frozen-billion-dollar-jennifer-lee/ 

While the animations surely have come a long way since their beginnings, so have the messages these films contain and although Disney's successes are mixed with controversial views, I'm excited to explore these changes as I work my way through some Disney classics, focusing particularly on the Princess Culture, and even comparing with modern versions - e.g. A Cinderella Story, Ever After: A Cinderella Story, and Enchanted. Take a look at all the Cinderella film versions here: http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/402597-list-of-cinderella-movies

A modern rendition of Snow White is the 2007 film "Sydney White", which tells the story of a freshman girl's experience with the Greek system at college. Watching this film was among one of my first exposures to 'sorority life' in the USA. And now I'm going through rush myself, although at Duke, it's nothing like in this film!

Now while Disney Princess waistlines probably deserve a whole post of their own, I'll touch on them here. Disney is infamous for displaying unrealistic body images for their Princesses, and this most likely stems from the male controlled animation studies designing figures they seem more attractive, with tiny waists, slender frames and larger breasts. I believe this trend started in the 60's and hasn't improved much from then onwards, with Ariel (The Little Mermaid, 1989) and Jasmine (Aladdin, 1992) possible being the most notorious. Comparatively, Snow White does not have an unreasonable body figure, though her looks are her most defining feature in the story, and the sole reason her (step)mother has for wanting to kill her - "Lips red as the rose. Hair black as ebony. Skin white as snow."

Here we can see that Snow White's waist is not stick thin, she has round cheeks and a more normal figure overall. This is more reflective of women at the time, and when curves were generally seen as being healthy and attractive. Yet more modern depictions alter this, by thinning the waist line, lengthening her lashes, accentuating her cheek bones and enhancing her bust, making innocent Snow White seem more alluring.

The internet is full of comparisons between actual Disney waistlines and more humanly possible shapes, but here are a few I found particularly interesting:

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/disney-princess-real-waistline_n_6076634.html
• http://www.buzzfeed.com/caitlincowie/women-react-to-realistic-disney-princess-waistlines#.ftBABbMnX
• http://www.eonline.com/news/670125/disney-princesses-have-eyes-literally-bigger-than-their-stomachs-and-here-are-the-photos-to-prove-it

Now onto Snow White's actual storyline. I mean I personally LOVE Disney, I grew up with it, and at surface level I still think it's all great now! But....you can't help but notice the inequalities. Outright, Disney's Snow White was published at a time when women were not seen as equal to men, when their role was to cook and clean and care for their families, in essence, 'to keep house'. And this is just what Snow White does.

"I'm so ashamed of the fuss I've made" - Snow White apologizes to the animals in the forest, when she's scared and upset after almost being murdered and banished from her home because her crazy step mother is jealous of her looks! She should have every right to make a fuss after such traumatic events - but oh no, she's just an emotional girl and she shouldn't let her emotions get the better of her like that! So instead she must feel 'ashamed' for making such a 'fuss'....pffft, it's not like it's a matter of life and death...oh wait, it was!
The message that follows this is at least a positive one, that she does pick herself back up, makes the best of the situation and carries on despite hard times. This trait can be admired and shows strength of character.

Throughout the film there is a strong connection between Snow White and the animals - in Disney films animals often help the princess - in Cinderella mice help make her first gown and unlock her from her room, they even form the horses to take her to her ball. In snow white the animals sing with her, help her clean, comfort her and take her to the Dwarves in the woods. They also fetch the Dwarves to try to rescue Snow White from her fate.
The animals provide light-hearted and friendly support to the princesses and often have a comical factor. For instance, I love how the deer starts licking the plates clean until Snow White tells the deer to put them in the sink! And the squirrels try to sweep dirt under the rug.

When the Dwarves meet Snow White, most are amazed by her beauty, but grumpy says "she's a female, and females are trouble, they're full of wicked wiles", "let her wake up, she don't belong here no how" - This sort of misogynistic hierarchy/supremacy only shows that Snow White does not have a real place in a man's world.

Grumpy: Angel, ha! She's a female! And all females is poison! They're full of wicked wiles!

Bashful: What are wicked wiles?

Grumpy: I don't know, but I'm agin' 'em.

So here Grump doesn't even rationally understand why he hates females, he just does.

Snow goes on to promise to keep house if they let her stay: "I'll wash, sew, sweep, cook"
And she's allowed to stay because she can cook - "gooseberry pies, Hurray, she stays!"
But still, a woman isn't so readily accepted in this male environment as Grumpy incessantly makes clear: "Huh Women!" he remarks as Snow White makes him wash before dinner, and then later goes on to say, "Her wiles are about getting to work, but I'm warning you, you give them an inch and they'll walk all over you."
Although Doc does tell the other Dwarves not to listen to Grumpy, the fact remains that Grumpy still voices these opinions, forming negative generalizations about the female sex as a whole.
"Next thing you know, she'll be tyin' your beards up in pink ribbons and smellin' ya up with that stuff called, uh perfume." ...not to mention stereotyping like this.
As Snow sings about true love Grumpy mutters "mush"
and at bed time "huh women, a fine kettle of fish"

As a young child I would say I didn't really notice these slants against women. I always understood that Grumpy was, well...grumpy! But the whole unjustified persecution of a gender was quite subliminal to a young girl.
Although this is often the case with many Disney films. I remember when Toy Story 3 came out in the cinemas, and my older brother went to see it with his friends. He was the generation this film was made for, and he would be heading off to college just as Andy was in the third film. But when he came back, he told mum that my younger brother shouldn't be able to watch this one as it has far more grown up content than the others. And my mum explained that he should re-watch the other Toy Stories and now he'd see the 'grown up' content that was always there, but simply passes over a child's head.

Now, the fact that the Queen transforms herself into an uglier, old woman to commit her evil deeds hardly seems a coincidence either. Disney often victimizes the old and ugly, whereas the younger, prettier characters remain the damsels and heroes of the story.

Disney even uses some good old pathetic fallacy as a storm occurs when Snow White is put to sleep and her stepmother is killed.

I love the old music in this film! I think Disney have always had great film scores.

Snow White introduces Disney's usual, magical formula involving love at first sight and the princess being saved by her one true love's kiss - naturally the Prince rides in on a white horse to save the day and sweep the damsel in distress off her feet as they ride off into their happily every after.

...so beautiful even in death, that the dwarves could not find it in their hearts to bury her...

The Prince riding in on his white horse reminds me of Taylor Swift's song - 'White Horse'
"I'm not a princess,
this ain't a fairytale,
I'm not the one you sweep of her feet,
leader of the stairwell...
...now it's too late for you and your whitehorse,
to come around"

This song is still about a young girl who fell madly in love with her 'prince', only she realizes now she was naive and understands she isn't a princess caught in a fairytale as she doesn't let him just ride in again and sweep her away and the song ends with "it's too late to catch me now".



Now if we compare Disney's rendition of Snow White to Grimms' Fairytale, we see that, despite Disney allowing the wicked stepmother to be chased off a cliff by the Dwarves, Disney really toned back the sinister essence to this tale. For instance, in Grimm's version, it was not a stepmother, but actual Snow White's mother who plotted to kill her. And when the Huntsman failed, the Queen attempted to use an overly tight corset, a poisoned comb and finally a poisoned apple to kill her daughter, who incidentally was not awoken by true love's kiss, rather shaken awake as the Prince made off with her coffin! Possibly worst of all is that the wicked Queen was forced to dance herself to death in red hot iron shoes. More such examples of the more gruesome Grimms' Fairytales can be found here. Now while some may say such stories are inappropriate for young children, Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, may beg to differ. In her book, she describes research that suggests exposing children to these original fairytales can have great value in their development, for instance how they process death and engage with morals with the pink and princess distractions removed from the equation. Orenstein read some of these stories to her own daughter, Daisy, without inflection in her voice, so as to allow Daisy to process and interpret the stories herself. Often, Daisy would stop her mother to ask questions and clarify the meanings of words and scenarios. Orenstein describes her personal experiment as having a positive effect, and although her young daughter did not want to hear some of the stories again, she learnt from many of them. As I blog about later chapters in the book, I will write in more depth about this.

Songs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves:
I'm Wishing 
Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum (The Washing Song) 
Heigh-Ho 
One Song 
The Silly Song 
With a Smile and a Song 
Some Day my Prince will Come 
Whistle While You Work


http://www.cornel1801.com/disney/Snow-White-Seven-Dwarfs-1937/movie-film.html

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time in a land far far away...all the way across the Atlantic...there was an eighteen month child who, for the first time, visited a magical land. This child grew up away from this magical place and for her 5th birthday returned...

Disneyland Paris, Collage: Parkerlebnis

7. November 2013 von Thomas 

I still remember my birthday at Disneyland, how despite all the theme park rides, entertaining shows and disney characters, my favourite ride was always 'mad pram'. Mad pram was a game my dad invented to keep my brother and I entertained while we waited in the long ride queues. We'd stand on the step at the back of the pram or sit in the seat and he'd race all round, tip the pram up, make crazy noises and keep us thoroughly entertained.
I love hearing the stories mum tells about this holiday. How, despite being pregnant with my little brother, she was dragged out of the audience into a Wild West show, thrown in a carriage and tipped out! I remember Minnie and Mickie Mouse bringing me a chocolate cake at dinner, and the whole restaurant singing 'Happy Birthday' to me. Apparently the cake was so big and chocolatey my parents were passing pieces out to all the tables around us!

Like most children, I've grown up with Disney in my life. And as Peggy Orenstein explains, it's not like you could avoid it, even if you wanted to! But I loved the films, books, games and princess dresses. I went to the Disney on Ice show. When my cousin and I were both quite young she helped dress me up in my Cinderella gown, with white gloves, a pearl necklace, little slippers and my hair in a sophisticated bun. I was a classy princess ready for a ball and we went down to show our parents, who were amazed at the skill of my cousin in getting me ready! But I was never an extreme pink fanatic. I loved embracing the princess side, but I also have two brothers and am always more than happy to climb a tree, play rough sports, play with a train set or build a K'Nex rollercoaster. I'm fortunate to have grown up in a balanced environment, where I could enjoy whatever I wanted and was freely able to embrace both my truly girly side and the more 'boy-ish' activities. And my brothers were by no means afraid of pink or princess! My older brother borrowed one of my dresses as he played the ugly step sister in a school play! (How I wish I had access to pictures of all these things to show you!).

My Disney experience has not ended as I've grown up. I'm on the current Frozen bandwagon almost as much as any 5 year old! Just this Christmas I visited my 3 year old niece, Penny, and took her a box of Frozen Christmas crackers as a present. Inside were great presents, with games and trivia...of course all Frozen themed. Then we watched the film together and naturally had to sing every song! And just watching Penny enthralled in the film shows me the real magic of Disney. I can see it does her good too! She remembers the plot line and the script. She loves telling me about what will happen next, or saying the Characters lines with them, or even just before them! She shows empathy when Anna is hit by the ice-blast the first time. All these developmental skills she's expressing through Frozen. And Penny is just as happy to dress up in her beautiful Elsa dress as she is her spider man costume. She adores her toy kitchen and her builder's set equally.

Last year I also saw Disney's The Lion King on the West End at the Lycium Theatre in London. It was the best West End show I've seen by far!

I signed up for Decoding Disney for a number of reasons....firstly, duh....it's Disney! I mean who doesn't want to re-live the childhood dream and embrace their inner Hakunna Matata. But it's not all just sining and dancing, I'm also very interested in delving behind the scenes and exploring the underlying messages Disney portrays, the effects on children and how Disney really shapes our lives for the future.

I took the opportunity of reading Orenstein's 'Cinderella Ate My Daughter' over winter break (don't worry, I'll re-read the chapters for in-depth blog posts) and while I suppose the book is supposed to provoke a reaction, it really got to me and put me on the defensive for Disney! I don't see the pink and princess fad as harmful or evil and I felt desperately sorry for Orenstein's daughter, who was being denied these princess experiences. I believe a girl can be a princess and still grow up to be a strong, successful woman. I think the key is in balance and choice. Yes, Orenstein claims that Princess is rammed down girls' throats from such a young age that it can hardly be considered a choice. And undeniably so, commercialism is becoming ever more prominent in our lives - yes, now even taxis have tv adverts in them! But I think it's unfair to try to ban Disney, rather a balance is needed. Maybe some girls will want nothing but Princess...for a time...but I'm sure many would be happy to branch out. To build impressive lego constructions, ride bikes, play football, or hot wheels.