"If you can dream it, you can do it."
So this article has made me get my rant on: Her Prince Has Come. Critics, too.
Dude, people need to back off Disney's case. I have never believed in this whole Disney/race debate thing... if there's anything Disney has done wrong recently, it's known as Hannah Montana. Why get on their case for getting back to what made them a household name in the first place (okay, maybe Disney himself made it a household name, but that's neither here nor there)?
As someone who grew up watching the CLASSIC Disney movies, I can tell you we knew what was going on. The line in Aladdin's opening song didn't make me think all Arabs are crazy bad and will cut someone to pieces if they don't like your face. I knew the song 'Savages' in Pocahontas was portraying a BAD example of how to behave to those different than you.
I was once watching a documentary on this Disney/race issue, and they made note of how all the hyenas in the Lion King were voiced by black/hispanic people so that made The Lion King racist also. Ummm, newflash - Mufasa was voiced by James Earl Jones. Kinda puts a damper on such claims of racism, doesn't it?
I commend Disney for doing what they do - they take classic stories and make them so kids can watch/enjoy them. Sure, a lot of the stories are changed for content b/c the originals are very dark/twisted (case in point: The Brothers Grimm's 'Cinderella' versus Disney's), but it makes them timeless and watchable for all ages. Then there's at least some kind of interest invested in them by the kids, and when they get older and get to high school/college they LEARN the differences and yet can still appreciate what they grew up watching.
I'm looking FORWARD to the Princess and the Frog. They are getting back to the hand drawn awesomeness, and it being placed in New Orleans means it has potential to have some AWESOME songs that can fit in with the likes of The Little Mermaid and Mulan. It's been missed, at least by me, for a LOOOONG time.
Oh, and people bitch about Disney not portraying things accurately, and then when they try and do something that's histortically accurate to the time this new movie is based in, they're called racists? Wowsers, people...
And now I'm done...if you have any thoughts on this matter, I'd definitely like to hear them. Whether you condemn disney for this new movie or congradulate them for it, doesn't matter. Nothing like a good healthy debate on the matter, right?
~Pip