Basically A Lot of My Ranting Summed Up in One Picture

Disclaimer: I don't agree with all the critiques about the princesses (I.E. The one about Belle, where was sexuality anywhere in that movie? She wasn't sexy, she was just really nice)

But...there's definitely some truth in here....

Orignal Source: http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=34874

Disney Tattoos!

http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=83778

Particularly love the last one. Speaks to how Disney sticks with us way past childhood.

(Pic: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/07/realestate/at-celebration-some-reasons-to-celebrate.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm)

"What If The Princess Didn't Get The Happily Ever After?"

Photographer Dina Goldstein answers this question through her series "Fallen Princesses". Her images show the Disney princess without the fairytale ending, they suffer through real life obstacles instead. Interesting imposition of reality on the fairytale.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/09/fallen-princesses-the-amazing-photos-of-depressed-disney-royalty.html

This piece really struck me as a powerful idea, or rather contradiction of ideas. Disney goes out of its way to create fantasy worlds where nothing really goes wrong. Where no matter what evil sorceress, giant dragon, or nasty stepmother is thrown at you- you persevere and make it to the happily ever after. How average must we look in comparison to these perfect princess who tackle any challenge with every hair still in place, every friendship still in tact, and a smile on their face? Us, who are thrown off track by a mean word, a bad grade, or just simply have a bad day? These princesses are staples in our world and our imagination. As Rebecca Anne Do Rozario says in her article "The Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princess, "the princess is a fairytale staple and even in the world's republics, she continues to be re-drawn". In my mind, this photography piece really connected with this article because Goldstein's portrayal is, I think, a very necessary re-drawing.

I don't think little kids need to see this post or have their Disney fairyland dismantled, but for those pre-teen, teen, and adult consumers of Disney Culture I think it brings a sigh of relief. No one wants their favorite character to suffer, and the scenes depicted here definitely show grimmer situations than a bad hair day, but it's just nice to have this reassurance that "no one" is perfect.

It reminds me of a moment I had on the infamous C1. I was talking to one of my favorite upperclassmen. Besides being nice, welcoming, and fun this girl got excellent grades, had leadership positions in too many clubs, and too many friends to count. I both loved her and was intimidated by her. We chatted about school, home, life, etc and at one point she just said "sorry if I seem un-responsive, I'm listening, but damn, I just want some sleep". I asked her when she planned on getting some and she replied "right now. Skipping the class I have now so I can take a nap. Just can't do it right now".

Now, while I'm not saying everyone should skip class, I am saying Duke is hard. Life is hard. And sometimes you "just can't right now". It was gratifying to see that this girl who seemed very close to perfect still felt like I do sometimes. Still succumbed to those moments of small rule breaking/bending of a situation to make things work.

While I don't want to see anyone suffer, we all do suffer from something at some time. Whether that be a lack of sleep or something more serious. And representations of "perfect" are both unrealistic and full of pressure. So I love this project. It's such a simple, beautiful, and challenge reminder that no one can be perfect in the real world, even a Disney Princess. And that's ok because you make it, maybe not to happily ever after, but to happy. And hell, even Cinderella lost a slipper.

Cover Pic: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/disney-princesses-face-real-life-issues-article-1.1420331

Celebrities As Disney Characters

This was pretty cool. I couldn't help but think how much money Disney must have to be able to afford all of these celebrities....


Anywho, take a look! http://likes.com/disney/celebrities-as-real-life-disney-characters


Update 12/6/13- I just realized these are photoshopped...

Update 12/9/13- Just looked again, not 100% sure about the photoshop. But they have to be right?

Women Heros as Disney Princesses- Interesting or Disturbing?

Artist David Trumble depicts women leaders from Hilary Clinton to Harriet Tubman as a Disney princess in an attempt to satirically comment on the "Disneyfication" of women. Check out the art on the link below! Thoughts?


http://www.takepart.com/photos/disney-princess-made-into-feminist-heroes?cmpid=tp-ptnr-upworthy

My Thoughts 

I think the artist's project is interesting, but inaccurate. Disney never depicts strong women as "cutesy" (with the exception of Merida). If Hilary Clinton was a Disney character, she'd probably be a villain. Not because she's in anyway evil or malicious, but because she's an older, powerful woman and Disney's typical portrayal of powerful, older women is less than favorable. Disney's typical depiction of strong women and older women is much more "hag-ish". If a female Disney character isn't cute, nice, and sweet, she's older, cruel, and snappy.  This reminded me of Roberta Trites' article "Disney's Subversion of the Little Mermaid", specifically her thoughts on the changes made to the sea-with in the Disney version. As Trites says, mature women, such as Urusula, are associated with "images of predation". Disney must always have an "evil older woman" to balance out its "young, innocent" princess. Older women and women of power have very negative representations in Disney.  If a woman is in a higher position than a man in a Disney film than she is a villain and the man (or men) are her oafish hench people. This happens time and time again- Yzma and Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove, Cruella Deville and Jasper and Hoarce in 101 and One Dalmations, the Queen in Snow White and her guard. Disney seems to be improving in this aspect with Brave. The queen is a strong woman yet she is still depicted as kind and caring, BUT all the men around her are oafs. Her husband is silly and the other clan leaders are silly. A real step in progress will be made when Disney has a movie containing a strong, but caring female character on equal footing with, or on a higher level than, a male character who is also intelligent and capable. It should not be that a woman can only be in charge, can only handle a group, when the men around her are pretty much incapable of doing so.

So, while this project is interesting, cute is just not an adjective Disney affords strong women.

Cover Photo: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/disney-princesses-face-real-life-issues-article-1.1420331

I didn't know Life Could Get This Good - Disney Villian SpellBlock Tango

Okay so. Some people are just brilliantly creative and fabulous. One of those people is Toddrick Hall (American Idol Contestant, Dancer, Singer, All-Around Creative Genius).

Here is His rendition of the "Cell Block Tango" from the musical Chicago. His version features Disney Villains and is called the SpellBlock Tango. This video just increased my quality of life tenfold so watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAUZIw95ueM#t=430 - Toddrick Hall "SpellBlock Tango"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrrz54UtkCc - Original CellBlock Tango from the Movie Chicago

How he managed to make a video with almost the same quality as a multi-million dollar film I do not know. Creative. Genius.

"But it's not a real place" It Never Is: Agrabah and Other Very Real Make Believe Places. Response to "Saving Other Women from Other Men: Disney's Aladdin" by Erin Addison

I couldn't help but notice in class how specific we were when discussing the amalgamation of different "Parisian" sites in Hunchback in comparison with out discussion on the amalgamation of Middle Eastern cultures in Aladdin. I don't know if it's because Paris is more familiar or I was more alert, but it seemed as if we were much more attune to/irritated by the mixing of Paris than of the Middle East. I distinctly remember during our "Agrabah" discussion we said "well it's not really a mixing, it's just not a real place. The author's being sensitive".  Not even addressing the fact that it was meant to be a "real" place in the Middle East, that conversation led me to think about whether there are any "real" places in Disney films or media in general. I don't think television can ever depict what is real, especially when it's a different culture. Rather than portraying the culture as it is, they portray it as the viewers believe it to be. It's kind of like "Chinese food" in America. It's not the food you would find in China, it's a representation of "Chinese food" made for Americans. Similarly, Aladdin was depicted to be Western friendly, to fit in with our perceptions of the Middle East, rather than to be accurate. Im not sure how I feel about this media practice, but I feel very strongly that we should recognize this and have a discussion about whether this is acceptable. It's important because little kids don't know that this isn't real. I would bet money that there is some child out there who believes Agrabah is a real place or that there are Taj Mahal like palaces in the Middle East.

But why is this a bad thing? Who cares?

Well, when it's not your culture it seems negligible, sensitive even. But when it's you, it can lead to some uncomfortable misrepresentations and misconceptions of who you are based on where you come from. I can give a personal example coming from Baltimore City. As a black woman from Baltimore City, I can tell that many of the people I speak too are conflated Baltimore and every other urban inner city. People consistently draw a picture of drugs and violence and I see these things when they say "oh like the Wire? Damn, how do you make it?" or when I saw come visit and they respond with "I would but I don't want to get killed..."only half jokingly. While Baltimore does have its issues with violence, it is not the same as every urban center. It has a unique history, culture, food, and unique problems. For example, the Bronx, NY has a serious problem with police community relations due to stop and frisk and this is not too big an issue in Baltimore even though they are both urban centers. You cannot conflate all similar areas into one. And my city is not the only one with this problem, I know before I came to Duke I considered North Carolina "the South" and expected lots of bar-b-que and deer and country drawls. I know now that NC is its own unique place and that bar-b-que is more of a Texas thing (so I've been told). All this is to say that though places may share a similar geography or characteristics we have to recognize the differences. We should not and cannot make any more Agrabahs.

At the most, we should try and get to know other places, and at the very least recognize that this media is just a movie or a show. This is incredibly important because though we recognize that something is a movie, many people still believe on some level that this is what the place portrayed is really like. And these people can and do base their thoughts and actions on these portrayals. When we don't respect the cultures of areas that are not similar to us and simply lump everything together into "the Middle East, "the South", or "an urban center", we doom ourselves to a very deep pit of ignorance. We miss out on "a whole new world".

Cover Photo: Screenshot taken by author of blog