Reflections on Decoding Disney - Addressing Plot Holes

Spring 2017 semester (and my freshmen year) is finally coming to an end! Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of my freshmen year has been my WR101 Decoding Disney class. I love that this class is threefold: first, at a macro level, we explore the Walt Disney Corporation as a whole, and how its values and agendas change over time or vary according to the sociopolitical climate; second, we delve into the micro level and analyze the messages brought across each Disney film as well as how the WDC’s values are reflected in its films; third, in both analyzing Disney films and reading scholarly / popular articles on Disney, we learn - and apply - writing skills, particularly with regards to creating “academic conversations” (yes Prof Andres, this phrase has been deeply ingrained in my mind!)

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?

Good question - Ariel literally can’t think of her (new) feet. According to the Huffington Post, even Disney animators realized what a blunder they committed.

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?!?

Beauty and the Beast was among the series of Disney princess films released during the 1990s amidst the rise of the Third Wave Feminism. The “New Wave” Disney princess heroines, including Belle, assumed the “feisty, ambitious princess” persona. My guess is that Disney wanted to further show that Belle, an inquisitive girl who has always led a mundane life, really wanted to “explore the unknown”, although curiosity killed the cat. I guess she was more shocked at Beast’s furiosity, but I nonetheless agree that she was silly.

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.

Pocahontas and Earth Day!

http://disneymoviesanywhere.tumblr.com/post/159863797831/run-the-hidden-pine-trails-this-earth-day

Tiana and Naveen

http://disneyismyescape.tumblr.com/post/159843561277/disney-princess-meme-33-kisses-tiana-and

The Real Princess Tiana

https://soulsofneworleans.tumblr.com/post/159484203961/leah-chase-is-a-legend-in-new-orleans-from

All Pixar Films are Linked

The signs as Classic Disney Villains

http://fandom-zodiac-signs.tumblr.com/post/123601608619/the-signs-as-classic-disney-villains

Disney Villain Apologist

http://dovewithscales.tumblr.com/post/158235919957/disney-villain-apologist

Capitalism in Wreck it Ralph (2012)

I felt that Wreck it Ralph was incredibly reminiscent of a capitalist economy and revealed many parallels to contemporary society and politics.

Particularly, I felt the film highlighted the inherent and inevitable imbalance of social status and recognition between the working class and the upper-middle class in a capitalist society.

http://entitledrichpeople.tumblr.com/post/158780824928/capitalism-requires-a-group-of-workers-whose

Ralph is representative of a working-class person with great aspirations of moving up the social ladder, but is ultimately neglected and frowned upon by society. He is programmed to act as the bad guy; his only skill is wrecking things, thus he cannot change his status in society, no matter how hard he tries to gain respect or make others recognize how important his role is.

http://disneymoviesanywhere.tumblr.com/post/158930704135/wreck-the-negativity

The imbalance of power and social status is created, or exacerbated, when members of the upper-middle class suppress and stray away from the working class (like how the commoners in the game look down on Ralph), resulting in the marginalization and exploitation of the working class.

On the other hand, Felix the Fixer, is representative of an upper-middle class person who cannot relate to and empathize with the struggles of the working class. Although he seems to be a nice guy, and it’s apparent that he treats Ralph with respect, he otherwise has a certain apathy towards Ralph’s plight.

http://disneybound.co/post/154614127133

Besides Felix and Ralph, the characters of Vanellope and Turbo remind us of the dirty fight for power in the politics of greed, particularly in the corporate world.

Turbo, overcome by jealousy and excessive greed, sabotaged a newer arcade game, which caused both his game, Turbo Time, and the newer game to be unplugged. Eventually, he infiltrated another game, Sugar Rush, by reconfiguring the game code to make himself king. In doing so, he reprogrammed Vanellope, the rightful princess-ruler of Sugar Rush, to be a glitch.

Obviously, Turbo, not Ralph, is the real “bad guy”. But it’s noteworthy that like Turbo, Ralph tries to exercise his own free will by attempting to infiltrate another game and steal a star. Like Turbo, Ralph also ends up endangering other people’s lives. Disney demonstrates that when humans become to preoccupied with gaining social status, they invariably become selfish and unconcerned with how this impacts on others around them.

Meanwhile, Vanellope is deluded into thinking that she was born, and will always remain, a glitch. She is basically rendered powerless. But Disney not only shows how she has the courage to overcome the odds and fight the system, but also does so through her own efforts, unlike Ralph who tries to “steal” social recognition.

http://stars-wisdom.tumblr.com/post/127065584135

Here, Disney highlights a dual message: we should all reach for the skies, but must do so through our own individual efforts and not exploit the success of others.

Feminist Portrayals in Disney's Frozen

When the film was released, Disney’s Frozen (2010) was widely lauded as being refreshingly “feminist”.

Today I'm going to explore whether Elsa and Anna depict feminist portrayals:

Yes: Disney emphasizes the need to embrace one’s individuality
Elsa initially is ashamed of her magical superpower; she sees it as a threat to the safety of those around her, especially Anna. As a result, she isolates herself and suppresses her magical superpower by wearing gloves. However, Disney in some ways portrays Elsa as an empowering feminist role model as she eventually frees herself from her inhibitions and embraces her magical superpower.

Disney portrays Elsa in a somewhat similar manner to Belle from Beauty and the Beast, who embraces her bookish personality despite being judged and labelled as odd by all the villagers.

https://wnda-maximov.tumblr.com/post/157540708225

Yes: Or...is Disney also emphasizing the need to embrace one’s sexuality?
Disney could also suggesting that Elsa, freeing herself from her duties as a queen, may have escaped and created her own ice palace in order to freely express her sexuality.

Many critics have suggested that Elsa’s song, “Let it Go”, is a coming out metaphor. There’s been a social media movement to make Elsa explicitly gay in Frozen 2, the sequel to the first movie, and to #GiveElsaAGirlfriend, as Disney has, for decades, faced increasing pressure to create more diverse characters.

Side note: Josh Gad, who plays Gatson in Beauty and the Beast (2017), recently confirmed that his character is gay in the movie.

Yes: Disney reiterates that true love is more than just romance
Disney seems to be redefining “true love”; from making Maleficent deliver Aurora’s “true love’s kiss” instead of Prince Charming, Disney makes Elsa Anna’s true love as her hug thaws Anna.

Through this transition, Disney shifts away from constructing plots to revolve around romance, and instead depicts familial, specifically sisterly, love.

http://freudianslip-13.tumblr.com/post/159312679281/by-britteny-lee

No: Unlike Maleficent, Elsa is not really a redeemable villain
Objectively speaking, Elsa is actually a villain in the film; she engulfs Arendelle in an eternal winter, freezes Anna’s heart (albeit accidentally).

It could be inferred that like Maleficent in Disney’s Maleficent (2014), Disney portrays Elsa as a redeemable villain by highlighting her remorse (after being led to believe that she killed Anna) as well as her saving Anna. However, it’s noteworthy that unlike Maleficent, Elsa unintentionally saves Anna. Further, while Maleficent actively rescues Aurora from danger, Elsa does not even bother with Anna’s safety.

No: Anna is still the typical, foolish Disney Princess
After falling head-over-heels with Prince Hans, Anna so easily and hastily accepts Prince Hans’ proposal.

I thought it was throwback to Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid and Snow White (who fortunately, in the film, were not shown in their respective films as having been duped by their love interests).

Redefining Villainy in Maleficent (2014)

I felt that Maleficent (2014) was one of Disney’s best attempts at portraying females, what more female villains. Well done, Disney.

In Essay #1; I explored how Disney subverts the traditional female villain narrative in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959) by retelling the original narrative from Maleficent‘s perspective in Maleficent. In doing so, I argued that Disney debunks the traditional “Evil Queen” villain trope and reinvents Maleficent as a redeemable villain protagonist and an empowering feminist model.

Here’s why I think so:

1. Disney grants Maleficent a backstory (strongly suggesting that she is a victim of rape)
Angelina Jolie, who plays Maleficent, confirmed this interpretation in an interview with BBC Radio when she noted that Maleficent having her wings ruthlessly ripped off by King Stefan “was a metaphor for rape”.

Its noteworthy that Maleficent does not have wings in the original Sleeping Beauty. By illustrating the link between Maleficent’s freedom and her wings, Disney shows how without her wings, Maleficent loses her freedom and agency. Consumed with hatred and revenge, she rises from the ashes of defeat and despair to become the menacing dark “Evil Queen”.

https://elena-gia.tumblr.com/post/127502763264

Yet, when Maleficent reevaluates her life, recognizes that her vision has long been shrouded by hatred and revenge and learns to love again, she recovers from her deepest wounds. In the end, she not only reclaims victory over King Stefan, but also reclaims all that she has lost, including her wings and her humanity and emerges as stronger and more resilient woman.

2. Disney shows that Maleficent capable of extraordinary motherly love
Surreptitiously watching over Aurora, Maleficent, rather than the three fairies, proves to play a crucial role in Aurora’s upbringing and survival.

Notably, Maleficent’s dislike for Aurora gradually evolves into maternal feelings. When a fifteen-year-old Aurora finally meets Maleficent, the feelings are mutual and she instantly acknowledges her as her “fairy godmother”. In a twist of events, Maleficent, instead of Prince Philip, delivers Aurora’s “true love kiss” and proves to be Aurora’s true savior.

Here, Disney depicts an emerging surrogate mother-daughter relationship between Maleficent and Aurora. Disney even renders Aurora’s biological parents’ somewhat useless since they don’t play a substantial role in Aurora’s upbringing.

http://cocomingox.tumblr.com/post/128070528052

3. Disney makes Maleficent a redeemable character
The most important change that Disney brings to Maleficent is making Maleficent recognize and admit her own mistake.

After forming a surrogate mother-daughter relationship with Aurora in the woods, Maleficent wholeheartedly, but vainly, attempts to revoke the curse on Aurora, and expresses remorse for casting a curse on her in the first place. In the pivotal kissing scene, Maleficent lets go of her pride and confesses to Aurora, “...what I have done to you is unforgivable. I was so lost in hatred and revenge...I swear, no harm will come to you as long as I live.”

By demonstrating Maleficent’s ability to overcome the character flaws that define her in the first place, Disney deconstructs the notion that villains, including “Evil Queens”, are incapable of change. Consequently, Disney debunks the traditional “Evil Queen” villain trope by portraying Maleficent as the redeemable and relatable villain protagonist, who finally reverts to her original goodness and re-earns her wings when she shows that she can love again.

Possible April Fool's Day Disney Jokes

http://disneyismyescape.tumblr.com/post/159075575577/i-wanted-to-make-a-fake-disney-news-article-for

Beauty and the Beast - Singaporean Style!

Here's a glimpse of Belle and Beast speaking Singlish (Singaporean English). 

Just to clarify: Singlish is not an actual language but is merely colloquial! 

Tokyo Disneyland's Japanese Identity

I mentioned in my first blog post that I’ve always been intrigued by how Disney theme parks and characters seem to present themselves differently in varying cultures.

Today I want to explore the ways in which Tokyo Disneyland is constructed to fit in with aspects of Japan’s culture: Japan’s collectivistic culture and her kawaii culture. 

Japan’s Collectivistic Culture
Japan, like many East Asian countries, highly values collectivism, whereby hard work and harmonious interpersonal relationships, especially familial ties, are highly valued.

Tokyo Disneyland opened on April 15, 1983, a period when Japan’s economy was booming and consumer spending was at its peak. An LA times article dated April 12 1994 shared that “Walt Disney Productions has helped write a new chapter in Japanese social history by popularizing the idea that family outings can be fun,” an idea resonant with Japan’s collectivistic culture.

Further, according to the same article, since the theme park opened, Tokyo Disneyland’s enormous success can be largely attributed to its prime metropolitan location and its highly dense population. Its often reported that Japanese workers are amongst the most hardworking in the world and most willing to work long hours, hence Tokyo Disneyland offers Japanese citizens an escape from reality and an opportunity to disengage from their stressful and hectic lives.

Notably, one of Tokyo’s Disneyland’s main attraction is Cinderella’s castle, which according to a BBC article, is “rumoured to have been chosen because the princess’s qualities of duty and a strong work ethic would resonate more deeply in Japanese culture than Sleeping Beauty, whose castle is featured in the centre of Disneyland California.” 

Japan’s Kawaii Culture
Kawaii refers to the quality of cuteness in the context of Japanese culture. The most popular Disney characters in Japan include Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Chip and Dale and Donald Duck. One characteristic I think these characters all have in common is that they are all perceived as lovable and innocent characters, which undeniably aligns with Japan’s kawaii culture.

When I visited Disneyland in Tokyo six years ago, I remember noticing that classic Disney princesses are typically popularized as being pretty, cute and innocent, rather than the Western image of them being classy and adventurous. I also remember that I thought the waitresses in the restaurants I visited in Tokyo Disneyland were all dressed in a kawaii fashion. Many of them were clad in maiden outfits and had pigtails. 

Additional points
I read that until 2002, Tokyo Disneyland had a unique attraction named “Meet the World”, which was located in Tomorrowland and offered visitors an “18-minute chronicle of Japan's history of diplomacy and trade with other countries.” However, the attraction was shut down in 2002 and demolished and replaced by a Monsters Inc. attraction in 2006.

Although I never got to see “Meet the World”, I imagine it must have been a crucial aspect to Tokyo Disneyland. I’m wondering if this demonstrates Disney’s cultural appropriation; perhaps Disney wanted to do away with making Tokyo Disneyland uniquely Japanese as possible, and instead sought to uphold Disney’s American image and representation.