In all, I’m so grateful to (i) Duke, for giving me the first registration window that I needed to even get a shot at securing a place in this class, and (ii) Prof Andres for being such a wonderful, fun, passionate instructor. In light of my usually computer science and math intense curriculum, it’s always refreshing to learn about the Disney world. But to quote Walt Disney:
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. - Walt Disney
Who knows when I will take another humanities class, but I certainly look forward to fully making use of Duke’s liberal arts curriculum.
As this is my last blog post, I thought it would be fitting to share my responses to a list of Disney “plot holes” on a Buzzfeed article. (*Note: I didn’t respond to all points)
1. Maybe the biggest one of all — we know that Ariel can read and write, since she signs Ursula's contract. Why doesn't she search for a quill and parchment, or even WRITE IN THE SAND, when she meets Prince Eric?
2. Despite being told NUMEROUS times not to go to the West Wing in the castle, WHY does Belle go anyway — and then acts surprised when the Beast is mad at her for doing so?!?
4. Everything that the Fairy Godmother transformed reverted back to its original state at the stroke of midnight — except Cinderella's glass slippers. Why didn't they turn back?
Perhaps the Fairy Godmother wanted to leave Cinderella something to remember the night by. Also, Cinderella needed her glass slipper (singular) to match her other one she left behind!
8. Why didn't Cinderella keep her chill when she heard Prince Charming was looking for her? If she had kept her cool, her Stepmother wouldn't have locked her up!
Cinderella is a desperate damsel-in-distress; we probably should be less critical and recognize that she has been confined to domestic roles the majority of her life.
9. On that note, why did Prince Charming have to search far and wide for Cinderella and check EVERY single woman's foot in the kingdom? If he was searching for the love of his life, wouldn't he at least have remembered her facial features and that she was blonde?
Well, Cinderella had a completely different hairdo that night, and perhaps Disney wanted to highlight the glass slipper as a symbol - Quora user Jose Geraldo Gouvea believes that it symbolizes “graciousness (because she could walk with them without shattering them), purity (because they were not made of the leather of dead animals) and sincerity (because glass is transparent).”
12. A smaller one, but troubling nonetheless — how was Mulan able to wipe her makeup off with her sleeve in one smooth motion?
Come on, this is pretty trivial. Why can’t Mulan be dexterous?
13. The timeline in Beauty and the Beast seems to be totally messed up. For starters, the Beast is cursed when he is a young boy (probably about 11 years old) — yet there's a human portrait of him in the castle as a young man! We need answers.
Hmm...Beast could have just been a very mature-looking 11-year-old.
15. OK, this is just a matter of practicality — if Elsa built an all-ice castle, wouldn't that mean her bed was just a block of ice? WHAT ABOUT HER TOILET? It just doesn't seem comfortable!
Stay out of her privacy! Let her love her ice.
16. Swinging back to Ariel. King Triton is LEGIT scary when he discovers her grotto. Why is he SO angry when he destroys her prized possessions?
King Triton is obviously a very overprotective father; he probably sees Ariel as his “little girl” and isn’t ready to let her go. Also, he’s probably fearful of the world on land, and fears for Ariel’s safety.
19. And finally, this was suggested by more than one Community user: How the HELL do some Disney characters fall in love and marry each other after barely knowing one another?
I ask myself the same question all the time…
But on a more serious note, this was mainly prevalent in the earlier Disney movies, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950) and Sleeping Beauty (1959), that showcased the idea of “Love At First Sight”.
Although The Little Mermaid (1989) still held onto the notion of LAFS, we see an improvement with the “New Wave” Disney heroines. With Belle, Pocahontas, Tiana, Mulan and Jasmine, Disney started to focus more on the development of romance between the princesses and their loved interests, showing that it takes time to get to know one another.
