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?

Live Reflection of Wall-E

• This is my mom’s favorite movie because she loves the Hello Dolly references- she made me watch that movie when I was little because of Wall-E. I wonder how much attention that movie got because of this movie.
• for such a high tech future, Wall-E seems like not that advanced a machine- so old and rusty looking shows he’s there for awhile maybe he looked new and tech at one point
• weird Disney would make such a direct social commentary on what the future will be like if we keep going the direction we are- seems a bit deep for a Disney/pPxar movie- almost scifi
•  when he puts the spork in the middle of the spoons and forks because he doesn’t know where it goes I laugh a little
• Disney clearly believes machines can have feelings because Wall-E imitates the movie hello dolly and looks at the screen in a longing way- his eyes are also pointed down naturally so he always looks a little sad and lonely which adds to his cute factor
• acts kinda drunk like when he is low on battery
• his sound of recharging is like a mac turning on
• Disney chose to include the bra scene? in a children’s movie? just why
• weird that when he finds the plant he knows not to take it out of it’s dirt
• chases the red light like a cat
• robot also has the emotion of fear and desire for self-preservation when the ship comes down from the sky
• I wonder why EVE didn’t scan the cockroach- i wonder if he would have come up on her system because he is alive or if it’s just for plants
• if there weren’t any closed captions to say when EVE is saying in the beginning i would have no idea- it sounds like random beeping noises- it reminds me of when people try to talk with their mouth closed
• EVE also seems to express the emotion of anger when she can’t find a plant
• funny how there are twinkles in this life where almost nothing survived because twinkies are said to be able to survive anything
• “BnL”: buy N large is the battery from Toy Story in Buzz Lightyear’s back
• funny how when wall-e breaks the woman out of her screen she is so confused as to where she is and never noticed they had a pool
•  funny when he oversleeps so he just turns the time back to morning so he can do the morning announcements
• how would jogging around the ships track make them get their bones back?
• i’m surprised they were excited to go back home I would have thought they like their lazy life on the ship
• you see babies in the movie but not many kids
• funny when the people start rolling off of their chairs
• I don’t think this would ever happen to society where they would live in chairs and onlyy eat through drinks- people like sports and being active and food too much

Reflection of Tarzan

• I don’t like the opening song in the beginning of the movie. I think it is too upbeat and I was not paying attention because I did not think the movie had even started yet. I was watching with Nicole (my roommate) and asked if I could fast forward through the opening credits when she told me, "It started already!"
• It kinda seems like the name of Tarzan came out of nowhere when the mom gorilla named him. It was also a very quick response with almost no thought to it. 
• I was wondering if the song "You’ll Be in my Heart" by Phil Collins was originally from this movie and thought that it definitely couldn't be. But then I thought that was weird if Disney borrowed another song because it usually makes all of it's own music. I was surprised to learn the song actually is originally from Tarzan. It turned into such a popular song- maybe one of the most popular of all of the Disney movies because it is so popular that can be considered unaffiliated with the movie at all by unknowing people like myself.
• I thought it was funny how Disney had the elephants having the intellectual conversation about where pirañas live because elephants are supposed to be wise
• I felt bad throughout the beginning part of the movie because poor tarzan didn’t ask to grow up in this world and he isn’t accepted. What other option does he have though? There is no man village to go to like in The Jungle Book.  But as we find out later in the movie, there is somewhere he can go to be with other humans.
• I wonder why Tarzan has dreadlocks in the movie. Is that what happens when hair is really dirty and unkept? I also am curious if this can be seen as offensive to anyone.
• Disney loves making the tiger the villain who wants to kill the human- just like Shere Khan in The Jungle Book. The two movies have so many similarities they almost seem like different versions of each other and Disney decided to just release both because they couldn't pick a favorite.
• Why don’t the gorillas help him when he’s getting attacked by the tiger? They just sit there and watch and luckily he wins but I don't understand why they left him to fight alone.
• When he meets Jane he is able to imitate the way he talks. Just because he’s a human doesn’t mean he’d be able to talk like one instantly. I think it would be something like the way a deaf person talks at first.
• It's also confusing because he and the gorillas have a common language which is english for the sake of the audience being able to understand, but in reality its not because he can’t speak english. This is probably confusing for children when he actually does speak real English.
• It was ironic when the gorilla's called humans primitive beasts.
• Tarzan wears a loincloth just like Mowgli.
• Why does Jane call Tarzan him the apeman when she knows he was raised by gorillas. I guess gorilla-man didn't have a good enough ring to it?
• I found it a little weird when she was drawing him and fell in love with the "apeman."
• It was very unrealistic he would be able to learn to read and be man so fast. It is probably relatable to kids though because they are learning to read and talk so he could be a role model to them.
• Tarzan chooses love over the rational decision when he decides to bring the humans to see the gorillas in order to keep Jane from leaving, even though he knows this is a bad idea.
• Tarzan talks in gorilla for the first time in movie when he acts more like a human. The English he has learned with humans now became his base language so when he talks to the gorillas again, it is not in English it is in gorilla sounds.

Reflection on Hidden Details in Disney Movies

Disney (Pixar, specifically) is known to incorporate characters from its movies into its other movies very subtly. I watched a youtube video called 10 Amazing Hidden Details In Disney Films #2. I really like this added touch Disney includes in its movies to create some kind of Disney world and place everything in its context within it. This reminds me of the theory of Disney trying to make the world its own world. I picked my favorites to share with you.

The video first talks about A Bug's Life, a pretty forgotten about Pixar movie. Pixar tried to make it relevant by putting it in the background of Toy Story 2 as a children's picture book Mrs. Potato-head reads.  A Bug's Life's Pizza Planet delivery truck is also featured in Monsters Inc as one of the doors Randall goes through. This movie wasn't working for the public the first time it was released, maybe Pixar should have just given up. To put the movies in context, Monsters Inc and A Bug's Life would be made up stories within the world of Toy Story. Is Disney trying to tell me that toys can actually talk in real life? Or is Toy Story a made up place inside another world?

BUT... this world is then paradoxical because Toy Story shows up in Monsters Inc, as well. Boo has a cowgirl Jessie doll that she hands to Sully in the movie. I don't think Disney really planned out how all of these movies work with one another specifically, but just decided to place random attributes in other movies. Maybe the creators were just bored. Toy Story is also in Finding Nemo. Buzz Lightyear is spotted as a toy in the waiting room in the dentist's office. Toy Story is an easy one to incorporate because toys can be put into almost movie. I wonder if they move around when the human characters are offscreen. A comic book with Mr. Incredible on the cover is also spotter in Finding Nemo. This would imply that The Incredibles are a made up superhero group within the context of the "real" Disney/Pixar world in Finding Nemo. Ratatouille also has an Incredibles logo shown on Linguini's underwear. I guess the world of Ratatouille is on the same "realness" level as Finding Nemo. 

A weird one that is foretelling of the future is in Wall-E. The company that is seen all over the ship is "BnL," or Buy N Large. In Toy Story, Buzz's batteries are from the BnL company. I guess Pixar was trying to show that Wall-E could be the future of Toy Story's world in Pixar universe.

Also the article,

These 43 Disney Secrets Were Hiding Right In Front Of Our Eyes. I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Noticed!

,which has a pretty self explanatory title, has some pretty interesting Disney/Pixar secrets that you've probably never noticed. 

In the closing credits of Frozen, Disney thought they got away with writing about Kristoff's theory that all men eat their own boogers. The writers of Disney must be very bored, or just curious to see who really pays attention. Maybe they are even trying to attract attention to the credits to get people to stick around and see their names come onto the screen and get some recognition.

One of my favorites that I have seen before on Twitter is Sid from Toy Story showing up in Toy Story 3 as the garbage man. Everyone hated Sid- it serves him right. We get to see him get what he deserved. 

The vultures in The Jungle Book were supposed to be voiced by The Beatles but it never happened because of scheduling issues. This is very interesting to me because there is a theory that the vultures represent The Beatles, and not in so much of a positive light. They are seen as opportunistic animals who have the capacity to do good but do not. I'm surprised they ever agreed to the role. They probably hadn't read the script yet.

This is something I have never heard before- There are not many mothers in Disney movies because Walt Disney felt guilty about purchasing the house that killed his mother from carbon monoxide poisoning. It all makes so much sense now. Why is this the first I am hearing of this?

This might be the cutest one of all. The voice of Boo from Monsters Inc was actually a toddler. Disney had to mic her up and follow her around to get all of what they needed for the movie. I will definitely watch the movie differently next time with that in mind. 

Drones in Shape of Christmas Tree at Disney Springs

This looks pretty cool and kinda makes me wish I celebrated Christmas. I never knew that Disney did special stuff for the holidays. I wonder if they are doing anything for Chanukah.

Halloween Costumes

My friend Amanda & I dressed as Sully & Mike for Halloween! We thought we were being original with our homemade costume only to find a multitude of others dressed as Mike & Sully on Franklin Street.

The Muppets Present: Great Moments In American History! Great Idea...

The Muppets are going to tell you their unique take on the Founding Fathers. This sounds like such a good idea because Disney never screws up history! Seriously it would do Disney good to just stick to urban legends and not actual stuff going on in the world. But maybe Disney doesn't care about being criticized, as long as it is making money.

Here's the article

Summary of "Pocahontas: The Disney Imaginary" by Pushpa Naidu Parekh

I really did not enjoy this piece as a whole. It was long, drawn out, and the language used put me right to sleep. Some of the claims were also simply wrong. Parekh's portrayal of Pocahontas was much more savage than the actual movie shows her as. Paekh accuses Disney of depicting Powhatan as "unreasonable and temperamental; fitting therefore in his practice of 'savage' acts of violence, such as preparing to behead John Smith" (167). I do not agree with this statement at all. Powhatan wants to behead John Smith because one of the white men killed Kocoum, a member of their tribe. This death is justified, especially during that time period, and especially due to the tensions between the Native Americans and the British. They were practically at war with one another- it is not uncommon at all to kill a prisoner of war. This does not make Powhatan "savage," but in fact makes him civil for abiding by a similar law code to "an eye for an eye." If he had no law code or morals to live by, then he could be considered savage.

An argument that is not so bad in this article is the depicting Pocahontas as the "other." The argument is that the Pocahontas is only there to teach John Smith about his people's ethnocentrism and why it is wrong. Parekh writes, "Isn't her subjectivity merely an instrument for enlightening the narrow-minded English settlers?" (168). I do not fully agree with the argument in this case because the story isn't entirely centered around the British, the storyline mostly follows Pocahontas. However, this argument is similar to the one about women only being included in Disney movies for the gains of the man, either to be his prize, or to teach him a lesson. Either way, her life is devoted to his.

Parekh makes an assertion that Indian women are only seen as either an "undifferentiated mass of workers" or heroines who are "against their own people." Parekh then provides no evidence for this assertion and goes into the "other" argument. Finally the author comes back to it later in the next paragraph to back up the statement, but the reasoning for this bad organization is a mystery to me.

Parekh includes a list of movies five lines long when stating which ones include the story of Pocahontas saving John Smith. I guess this is to emphasize how common the story is, but it is not necessary. The author could have just used a footnote instead of wasting the reader's time.

The author does include interesting information when Parekh brings up that in other stories, Pocahontas is only a child of eleven or twelve and John Smith is twenty-five. The relationship would then be more father-daughter-like.... I'm hoping. Of course Disney had to change her age though, because what is a Disney movie without a love story?

Parekh makes a point about Disney perpetuating inaccurate ideologies that pervade into modern thinking. Most people do not agree that Disney is responsible for telling accurate stories; however, there is some merit to this argument. Disney movies are not documentaries so they hold no social obligation; however, they are very popular and stick with a kid throughout their life. But, even if they are not accurate, the movies draw attention to events children might otherwise not care about, which could spark real learning.