Concluding Post: Evil in Disney

This course has completely changed the way I think of Disney, and villains as a whole. I could have gone my whole life not realizing the racism and stereotyping present in Disney films, or in other movies if it is not obvious. In this way, most people who are ignorant to this watch the movies similarly to children because it goes right over their heads. While I am somewhat sad that opening my eyes to the criticisms of some of my favorite movies ruins them for me, I feel even more uneasy that other people do not know about them. Giroux was the first person to introduce me to the world of Disney criticism. I was too skeptical of Disney criticism at the time to really give him a chance, so I am interested to find out my opinions on his article after completing this course. I wonder if I would agree more with his ideas.

Through our analysis of The Little Mermaid and Cinderella, I learned about how the villains are shown as gender divergent. Both woman villains are masculine in some ways, like Ursula's deep voice and seemingly transgender character, while Lady Tremaine has sharp, man-like features. After watching Pocahontas and Aladdin, the racial problems with the Disney movies becomes quite clear. Disney's white washing also is apparent after learning that the character Aladdin is based on Tom Cruise. Tarzan and Wall-E which present humans as villains are less problematic than the older films Disney created. In the beginning of the course, I did not see any similarities between the films that were paired together for watching. Now it is clear how they connect with one another, and I am interested to see what kind of villain we will discuss for Wreck-It Ralph. I believe the villain in that movie is society and I am better able to identify and think about types of villains after having taken the majority of this course.

I really enjoyed reading Carl Hiaasen's Team Rodent. I think after reading that I book was the first time I really started to believe that Disney is in fact corrupt. I will always still love Disney and Pixar movies, but Disney as a company is slightly tainted to me. I do not worry as much about the content of the movies and controversy with that because watching movies in chronological order shows how Disney is only improving and becoming more progressive. The closer the movies were released to today, the harder they are to critique; however, there will always be critics out there, like the ones who are pressing for a gay Disney princess. As society evolves, the newer movies may become less progressive and possibly offensive in ways we had not anticipated. When Cinderella was released, the ideas about woman's role were very different than they are today so no one blinked an eye at the line that said sewing is for the women. The future may evolve to have different gender roles once again, but movie writers cannot account for these unknowns. At any rate, I will continue to use my skills from this class, which have made me more observant, to look out for the stereotyping present in villains in other movies I watch.

The Origin Stories of Disney Movies

I read an article on Buzzfeed called 12 Disney Movies That Have Horrifying Origin Stories. I knew two already from class (Cinderella and The Little Mermaid) so the rest were fun to check out too. Sleeping Beauty was certainly the most horrifying to read about. She was basically raped and impregnated in her sleep- disgusting.

Celebration has Mold

Surprisingly Disney's theme town Celebration has more problems (not really surprising.) As we learned in Carl Hiaasen's book Team Rodent, Celebration wasn't exactly built with the best foundations. As someone quoted in the article says, "We bought cabins on the titanic." Couldn't have said it better myself. Celebration is being attacked by mold and leaks, which are even separating balconies from their houses. The article I read on Celebration's problems also reminded me of my dorm, Bell Tower, because the houses in Celebration have to put their garbages behind their houses because there is no place for garbage in a Disney world. My dorm only has one garbage room on the first floor to uphold the nickname "Hotel Bell." It is seriously inconvenient for me because I live on the third floor.

Wreck It Ralph Live Reflection

• I have never seen this movie but my friend loves this movie so I'm excited
• The movie comments on class structure because Felix was born into his role and Ralph was born into the bad guy role and it is difficult for class mobility.
• The bad guy meeting is like alcoholics anonymous, which is strange for a kids movie. This is an example of how Disney, specifically pixar, has started to make movies that cater to older audiences as well- probably to make more money.
• I think it is really cute and creative how they go to other games through the wires.
• The random security check where Ralph gets chosen parallels with how Muslims are always chosen for "random" security checks in airports. 
• It's so funny how the guy from Step Brothers plays Ralph and Kenneth from 30 Rock plays Felix. Kenneth is the perfect guy to play Felix and his character is very similar to his character on the TV show.
• It is progressive how a woman is in charge of all of the men in the game Hero's Duty, but she calls them ladies in a demeaning way, insulting herself and her gender.
• Ralph actually does turn out to be somewhat of a villain because he is messing up the arcade and other games, but unintentionally. Does this still make him a villain? If he is not the villain who is? Gene?
• Sue from Glee  plays Sergeant Calhoun- another perfect casting. The character even looks like Jane Lynch.
• There is even a comment on police brutality because he is portrayed as the "bad guy" which is like how police are said to be biased prejudice against minority races. 
• It is so cute how Vanellope's disease is called "Pixlexia."
• They totally missed a candy pun when Vanellope says, "You son of a gun." She should have said "son of a gum."
• The Nesquick sand as quick sand and the Laffy Taffies that follow laughter are so creative.
• Vanellope sees Ralph's cart as good even though he thinks it is bad. This is symbolic of how she sees the good in him and he sees the best in her when no one else does.
• Kids probably wont even understand what the clutch pedal is and will either be confused or it will go right over their heads. 
• The cops in the Candy game are donuts, oh my God. This movie is so creative the creators thought of everything.
• The angrier Vanellope gets the more she glitches.
• When Vanellope calls Ralph a bad guy it shows how sometimes you have to be the bad guy for someone else's good, even if it is not appreciated. It is similar to a strict parent who is protective over their child.
• The candy game is a total rip off of Mario Cart.
• Even though the code has Vanellope as a princess, she still decided who she wanted to be. This teaches the lesson to not listen to what people tell you you are, just like Ralph. He didn't accept his role as the bad guy.

Disney Wants to Buy Netflix

First Disney wanted to buy Twitter, now it wants to buy Netflix. Isn't Disney rich enough? Can it just be happy with what it has and stop trying to take over the world. This article talks about how Disney buying Netflix is bad for the movie industry because Disney is going to monopolize the movie industry. The author even writes, "Netflix is a powerhouse in their own right, but should Disney take control, they'd be one step closer to world dominance."

Reflection of Amy Davis's Tarzan Chapters

Amy Davis's first chapter of her book Handsome Heroes and Vile Villains: Men in Disney's Feature Animation, "On Wooden Boys and Assistant Pig Keepers," talks about boys in Disney movies and their transition into men. The intro to this chapter is two and half pages long and I felt it was very drawn out and could have easily been condensed; however, it is somewhat understandable considering this is a book and not an essay on its own. I also felt the intro did not really relate to the rest of the chapter, or to the Tarzan section at least, which talks more about his relationship with Jane than his masculinity and how it affects young boys. I feel that this chapter relies heavily on plot synopsis, which takes up about four pages of it. After I realized little of importance is written on these pages, I started to skim until I got to content again.

Chapter four had a bit more analysis, but also had some major issues. For one, the main thesis was very hard to find, as well as the "so what" that goes along with it. I am assuming that maybe the end of the chapter would perhaps have the so what in there. I am also assuming that the thesis is something along the lines of villains fitting into the categories that Davis created for them. I like this idea and like how she also clearly lays out the different types of male, human villains, but she doesn't go into much detail explaining what each is and kind of assumes you understand what she means by the labels. Some are self-explanatory, such as "Magically-Dangerous Villains," but others are more confusing like the "Comic Villains."

David distinguishes between the "Enemies of the Earth" villains and the "Comic" villains by saying that the former are evil because of selfishness (not personal) and the latter because of a vendetta against the hero (personal). I understand how this makes sense for the "Enemies of the Earth" because the villain is evil towards an entire group or nature; however, Davis does not explain why a "Comic" villain is evil on a personal level. What about that is comical or "amusing" as David explains "Comic" and "Idiot" villains are for the audience.

I appreciate the back and forth contrasts of Tarzan and Clayton and think this is effective; however, I do not really see where he was going with this point, as in the next paragraph David moves completely away from this idea to talk about how Clayton could be considered the good guy in Hollywood movie (also not naming any specific examples of this). Then at the end of that next paragraph Davis gets back into how Clayton is a foil for Tarzan. This should be at the end of the previous paragraph about the contrasting traits of the characters. Davis also never identifies Clayton as an example of the "Enemies of the Earth" villain, which I can only assume she believes based on the evidence she uses. This is another example of how she strays too far away from her thesis without connecting her body paragraphs back to her main idea.

Despite all of my criticisms of Davis's organization, I do like two of the points she makes. I like that she points out that Tarzan has an American accent even though he was taught English by three British people and gives a reason for why Disney might choose to do this. She suggests that Disney compares Tarzan to the colonized Americans, another place colonized by Britain. Another point I like is how Davis brings up that Tarzan thinks Clayton's name is the gunshot, which symbolizes Tarzan's association of Clayton with violence.

Disney Quiz

I only got 4/9 I guess I'm not as skilled in Disney movies as I should be for someone taking this class.

QUIZ: CAN YOU GUESS THE DISNEY MOVIE FROM THESE TWO WORDS?