I am a Disney fan to the end ...

[amelialourdes]

... but the latest trends of High School Musical, Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers is absolutely driving me insane. I cannot wait until these fads are over so we never have to hear about them again except from the former teenyboppers who used to idolize them.

Sorry kids. Believe it or not it is a fad.

That said, this was an interesting

Comments

[mozartfan1313]

I think the reason why earlier Disney films lacked plots that included two parents is because of what you already mentioned, they are old folk tales and they were usually more than a little misogynistic. I mean, the guys were never (or, at least, very rarely, the villains). They were all dead mothers, or evil step-mothers with equally malicious daughters. OR, they were vain queens who wanted the young, beautiful woman to die simply because she prevented her from becoming the "fairest in the land." Women were either evil or needed to be rescued by Prince Charming. I think someone could write a whole book on the meaning behind female Disney characters

[amelialourdes]

No, I definitely agree with you. I just wanted to ask for different perspectives and facts about what I could be missing. You're right in that they make the women into these submissive, subserviant, "happily ever after" women that is entirely appropriate for the century in which it was written.

I think Little Mermaid was another folk tale about the mermaid in some ... I want to say Norweigan or Sweden or something. But regardless, you're right. I think that there's a lot of psychology in Disney films. You don't see these things when you're a kid but when you're an adult there are particular characters that stand out as being inappropriate or racist or sexist. It doesn't surprise me because the men that created Disney, Walt Disney in particular, had a lot of his own qualities and traits that would be completely inappropriate for today's politically correct society.

And fuck Hannah Montana, HSM and the JB.
And this is why you're my favorite. :)

[amelialourdes]

I know, right? I thought that it was going to get better through Pixar and any new Disney animation film that's coming out. Toy Story gave me a little hope. There were parents. And then Nemo's mom and brothers and sisters got eaten and then hope was lost.

[toiffag]

Hm, didn't read the other comments, but I read a book back when I was smart, roughly the title was "Philosophy in fairy tales", and there was a part on how yes, part of it was for the moral, but the biggest part was just the fact that people died more often back then, and that it was much more common for children to only have one parent - Or, heh, a wicked stepmother who would try to get rid of them.

Also, small tidbit: there is a story in French folklore (historically accounted for, though) from when the Gevaudan Beast was out there (I don't know if you've heard of it, it was a huge wolf that killed over 100 people over 3 or 4 years in central France): there was a stepmom who, knowing that the beast had been prowling around the village for a few days, sent her step-son to fetch some water, hoping he would get killed and her own son would get the heritage. But her son went along with the other boy for fun without her knowing it, and when the wolf attacked it killed him instead

[amelialourdes]

lol! Back when you were smart. You are, you are.

that people died more often back then, and that it was much more common for children to only have one parent

This makes sense.

I haven't heard about that so there are some actual stories that stem and turn into fairy tales, I'm sure. That's interesting too. It'll be interesting to explore the whole evil step-mother idea too. I don't really know where that comes from either.

PS. I know how you feel. :|

[cloverdilly]

Have you ever seen Into the Woods? I love that one, but I do silently hate that the mother dies in just about every story line, except when the witch as surrogate mother was the realist who ran away after watching her daughter killed. (It's almost always the women who die, too, have you noticed? And if the women haven't died, they're always the type of people you wish did die instead.) ) It's definitely a tradition in the fairy tales in which they stem from, but I wonder why it still carries strong. A loss of a loved one is certainly a nice and easy catalyst for plots. I suppose that perhaps, over time, these stories became more to show kids the harsh realities of the real world, and adulthood is essentially excising the role of the parent figures as the dominant force in their lives, allowing (or perhaps forcing) the kid to take the lead.

But that's just a theory I quite pulled out my ass, literally JUST NOW. It's an interesting thought.

[amelialourdes]

I have! And I agree! I mean in Snow White at least there's an explanation. She dies in child birth which I imagine wouldn't be unlikely during that time period. So that could probably be why the mothers leave. I don't know why every step-mother has to be an evil monster bent on destorying step-children though. I think that I have to start reading a lot more books on this subject.

I like your theory though! I can see the moral lesson that you point out. I was also thinking about how children were just meant for manual labor and born to help the family and really they didn't stop using children for labor until the turn of the century. I don't know where that's going but it first into your forcing the kid to the lead kind of idea.

[cloverdilly]

I remember talking about fairy tales in this Children's Literature class forever ago. One of the stories we went over was the Snow White story, and it went into this whole thing about how figuratively the mother is actually the stepmother. When Snow White turns from innocent, needing child to a blossoming woman in her own right, the mother as a nurturer and caretaker dies, and in her place is this embittered, older woman/stepmother who must now compete for the affections of the patriarch (male-driven society), and one day, Snow White may have her own daughter, whom she'll raise only to become enemies with.

It... made me very sad going over that story. That class kind of sort of (but in a way not really) ruined Beauty and the Beast for me, too. Le sigh.

We should totally talk about this in our blog.

[amelialourdes]

Wow. Happily ever after, indeed. That really is depressing but it does completely make sense if fairy tales were to continue on and not just end where they end.

We should talk about this. Let's get that all set up. I'll dig up our log to figure out what we said we needed to put in there and get that cracking.