Disney/Pixar: Critiquing Society

Hamlet is only slightly more hairy in this picture. Claudius is also way more awesome when voiced by Jeremy Irons.

Ah Disney... where would I be if it weren't for your teaches and subliminal messaging? I shudder to consider the thought. You have given us, me included, so much. Sure, you butcher fairy tales/stories/plays for adults add make totally happy endings out of gruesome, cruel stories, but that's why we love you. You make your own world for kids to explore from a very young age, but one that many continue to adore as an adult. From the jungles of Africa and suburbia, to the American Wild West and Arabia and so much more, Disney's universe has taken us to many magnificent places.

I love Disney movies. I've long since lost count of how many times I've seen every Disney animated movie. I have pretty much all the Disney songs, and sing them unashamedly. I remember The Lion King was my first movie with I was really little. There was no going back. Then later came Toy Story. By the way, the third one was amazing and I love how Andy grew up with kids my age. It was an extremely nice touch.

The real wonder of Disney is its ability to convey adult messages in kids movies. No, I'm not talking about the not so subtle references to adult content. I'm talking about Disney movies as a critique and satire of life in our society today.

Examples:
Pocahontas: Xenophobia and imperialism are bad.
Cinderella: Slavery being horrible and feminism being important.
Pinocchio: Drugs and lying are bad. Also don't get swallowed by a whale. Not so much fun.
Tarzan: Poaching and deforestation aren't good.
Lady and the Tramp: Wealth does not equal happiness.
Fox and the Hound: Interracial relations being important and possibly gay rights.
Bambi: Deforestation and man being terrible to nature.
Peter Pan: Letting out your imagination and inner child is crucial.

The list goes on and on.

This totally isn't a critique on America today. Nope. Not at all.

Perhaps, the best example of Disney critiquing society in recent movies, at least for me is in Wall-e.

I love this little guy. The first 15-20 minutes of his movie are nearly silent, and yet its possibly the best 15-20 minutes of movie magic ever created, in my opinion which is saying something because I usually don't like silent movies at all.

The message of the movie is clear from the beginning, or at least part of it is. I was actually surprised at how much of a punch in the gut Disney gives the audience with the messages of environmental issues in Wall-e. Not only that, but obesity and being complacent and blindly obedient to the government and corporations that run our society. Disney even makes it a point to push that if the government or the corporations get too powerful and become a fascist society, or is heading in that direction, the people must overthrow their masters and regain control to restore virtue to their society.

Powerful stuff, but that's Disney. Wall-e is easily one of my favorite Disney movies and the message is a big part of that.

Shrek?


Sacrilege, I know. It's not Disney, it's not hand-drawn, and it's not old. But you didn't make any of those things explicit, and it is my favourite animated movie. And I'm going to spend an entire post explaining why.

First of all, I need to get some bias out of the way. Shrek came out in 2001, when I was 8. This means that not only have I watched it countless times (to the point where I can quote pretty much the entire movie line for line) but that it came fairly early on in my movie-watching life and thus has a fair whack of nostalgia associated with it.

Nostalgia aside though, I actually think that Shrek is a good movie, and a lot of that stems from the characters. Individually, all three main characters have actual real character development: Shrek goes from cynic to believer, Donkey goes from sidekick to hero, and Fiona goes from tryhard princess to an actual and literal ogre. But, y'know. Ogre in a good way.

So the arcs of each character are what gives the movie its depth, its actual emotions. That's what makes Shrek and Donkey's journey feel like an epic quest in comparison to the journey in Shrek 2, which feels a lot more mundane despite being to a place actually named Far Far Away. What makes the movie tick minute to minute, though, is the way they bounce off each other. In Shrek and Donkey, for example, you have the typical Lethal Weapon-esque buddy cop action movie vibe, where the two guys who hate each other come to depend on each other, seemingly by way of wisecracks alone, and Shrek and Fiona could be lifted right out of a romantic comedy. They're fairly stock standard relationships, sure, but the reason we keep seeing them over and over is because they're fun, and they work.

What makes all this work is the humour, of which Shrek is kind of a smorgasbord. There's slapstick. There's puns. There's absurdity. There's parody. There are musical numbers (usually accompanied by dumbfounded genre-savvy disbelief from the protagonists). There's thinly veiled sexual innuendo. It has all the things, and they all work, and the movie still works as an epic fantasy romance at the end of it all, which seems like it would be very difficult to pull off.

Then there's the music. Yes, having Smash Mouth in there dates it a bit, but it's also one of the reasons the movie works so well. It gives you something to sing along to (which, as established by every Disney movie ever, is an absolute necessity) while still being a little bit cool. Which is the core of the movie, really. Sure, it's a sarcastic and cynical deconstruction of fairytales, but at its core, it honestly does have a happily ever after. Even if it is in a swamp.

Writing this has actually made me realise two things. The first is that I really really want to go and watch Shrek right now. The second is that given the chance, I'd also really like to sit down and properly pick this movie apart and write it up, because I really think it's well made enough to withstand that kind of treatment and still be fun to watch.

Holidays, holidays! (and animated movies)

Hello everyone!
A week away from school! I'm soo happy, I'm gonna be able to work and catch up with the class, hurray! (or not).

Concerning animated movies...I like a few Disneys (old, new, Disney+Pixar... I don't care ^^), but everybody wrote about them already; I enjoyed watching How to train your dragon, because the dragon is super cute, and Summer Wars, a story about IAs, family, video games and friendship, but I'm gonna focus on...

My favorite animated movies: Miyazaki's (and Studio Ghibli's).
They can be cute, horrifying, there is, almost all the time, an other meaning to the picture, the drawings are wonderful and the stories within a high range of scenarios. Some that I would recommend are:

-Castle in the sky, the first one I saw, which is one of my favourites, even now. I loved the design, the relation between the characters, the eerie atmosphere in some scenes. And, actually, that's exactly the same comment that I want to do about Arrietty, even if both movies are not alike.

-Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle are a bit darker, with less hope (scarier, maybe?), but the designs are fantastic, and I loved the story. It would be hard for me to sum up without spoilers, and people often say that pictures are worth a thousand words each... So... (Actually I've been trying to put images in that article for 2 hours and I'm going to burst if my computer stops one more time so sorry, no pictures, but giyf anyway).

All those stories are stories of loss, love, discovery, travel, and what I really enjoy about them is that 1. they are not predictable, and 2. they are not for children only. (Besides, they are aesthetic, really; and the music is always wonderful). That's the kind of movie I watch when it's raining outside, late in the day, with a blanket, a hot coffee, and chocolate.

Well... DFTBA, and tell me what you think about them, if you watch one or two (or more)!

Animated Movie Magic

I love the older Disney animated movies simply because they have this air and grace about them that's simply breathtaking. The songs were top notch. Everything was beautifully drawn, but with that faded touch to it since HD meant just about nothing.

It's hard to pick a favourite when they all speak volumes about your childhood and each carries a different strength. But the ones that would top my list are: Pocahontas, A Bug's Life, Beauty & the Beast, Snow White, Cinderella, The Lion King, Monster's Inc, Finding Nemo, and Lilo & Stitch.

But I think I would pick Mulan as my favourite Disney princess simply because she was a little bit more bad ass compared to the others. Plus there was Captain Shang. Oh Captain Shang.

As for Disney/Pixar collaborations, my favourite is without a doubt Toy Story. I mean seriously, I bawled my way through Toy Story 3 while I lamented my chil

dhood being over. But outside of that, Wall-E is a top pick all the time. This one is a little bit more of an unpopular choice cause a lot of people never really favoured this one. Somehow or another I was really taken by the simplicity of the storyline and it was just something completely different. Any movie that starts off with 10+ minutes of zero dialogue has to be one of a kind! Together with this comes the unpopular opinion of the day: I don't quite like Up. I know so many people that bawled their eyes out watching it but I never took to it. To me it was simply mediocre!

Rambling:

The reason why so many of us love these animated movies of our childhood is simply cause we watched them during our childhood. We remember them in a simplistic manner without looking into the details of the cinematography, or the storyline etc. We don't spot the holes that exist within them like we do now. We cling to that innocence.

A recurring theme that arises when teenager and young adult revisit these movies is how messed up they actually are. Or how creepy the villains were. Or how fake the storyline is. That's the fact of life. We no longer view it with the childlike innocence that we used to. But we still love them because we can remember the original joy of watching these movies. I love watching them back, but sometimes I view them with a conscious decision to do so light-heartedly for fear of losing that love I have for the movies in view of the fact that they weren't perfect.

Case in point in this, which I found on Tumblr when looking for a picture to post here:

Thanks a lot, Internet.

But nonetheless, these movies are a beauty. The songs were a beauty. The characters were a beauty. Scratch all that. They are a beauty.

My Top Ten Animated Disney Villain List

So I'm writing this list from personal preference. I'll try and explain why I've placed them in the order I have. If a certain villain hasn't made this list it doesn't mean I don't like them. I've just tried to keep the list to movies I have watched recently.

10. Mulan's Shan Yu

There's not much to say about this guy, that's probably because he doesn't say much over the course of the movie. But why did he make my list? Well for one specific scene... errr... well what happens off screen. When he "returns" the little girl's doll. The fact that we don't see exactly what goes on and only see the result makes him that much creepier. Whatever you come up in your mind will always be worse then what any movie will ever be able to show you. You know that he and his men brutally murdered everyone in that town, including the soldiers that tried to save the towns people. This guy is a monster.

Even the way he (and his men for that matter) is animated is completely different from the normal people. He's bigger, he's couloured differently (he's gray, he's dressed in black) and hell, his eyes are inverted! They're black, yellow and black! Seriously Disney! Do you WANT to give me nightmares?

9. The Lion King's Scar
I'm a Shakespearian nut. So I can't help but love The Lion King, which is CLEARLY a retelling of Hamlet (and I love Hamlet) Scar isn't scary like Shan Yu, he's kind of likeable in a weird twisted he's-that-sketchy-uncle-the-family-doesn't-like-to-talk-about kind of way. And he's voiced by Jeremy Irons.

To go along with the idea of The Lion King as a Hamlet adaptation, Scar is clearly Claudius. Yet, unlike Claudius, Scar makes a horrible ruler. He wanted the power and was willing to do everything to get it, including killing his brother. But once he acquires all of the power he could ever dream of, he doesn't know what to do with it and causes Pride Rock to fall into a horrible state, he even causes a drought. I mean seriously dude! How did you STOP THE RAIN! (This of course a nod to the fisher king story... I'll blog about it at a previous date probably). Scar's own incompetence is his downfall, his own minions turn on him in the end.

8. Beauty and the Beast's Gaston
In my blog a few months ago I posted about going to see Disney's Beauty in the Beast in theatres. I'll post a link here. When I watched Beauty and the Beast as a kid, I always had to skip the opening sequence with the Enchantress and the stained glass. Something about it terrified me. Looking back, I think it probably was the music, but I can never really be sure. Beauty and the Beast was never my favourite Disney movie when I was little... but now that I'm older I find I like it more... and man Gaston is a creeper. Like seriously. He freaks me out.

The way Gaston acts around Belle is scary. The only way to describe it is like he's a predator. He's constantly cornering her, pushing her up against walls. Whenever he's in frame with her he takes up more of the screen. Like look at this still: when he's asking her to propose to him. He has her cornered. He's clearly the dominant on. Granted, Belle is able to get rid of him easily by opening the door. But you can't help but worry about what he is willing to do to get what he wants.

As I kid I just saw Gaston as a loser that is standing in the way of the true romance of the movie (yeah, check my blog post about that one). Now, being older and more aware, well I just can't ignore the wrongness of this character.

7. Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent
SHE INVOKES THE POWERS OF HELL! ENOUGH SAID!

Seriously though, this woman is terrifying. She's an evil fairy, who when she doesn't get invited to a party puts a curse on the baby princess saying that she will die on her sixteenth birthday. Kind of cold. Then, when one of theGood Fairy's undermines her, Maleficent goes out of her way to stop the Prince from reaching Aurora BY TURNING HERSELF INTO A GIANT PURPLE AND BLACK DRAGON! SHE CAN CHANGE INTO A DRAGON! A DRAGON!

I think she's more terrifying then the witch in Snow White for that reason exactly. A Dragon is ten times more terrifying then a Poison-Apple-Toting Old Crone. Also, I think the Dragon approach is a lot more effective.  Not much else to say about this one, other than I have most of Sleeping Beauty blocked out of my mind, probably because of her.

6. Aladdin's Jafar
To most family and friends, the fact that Jafar is this high up on the list may come as a shock. Jafar was my FAVOURITE. DISNEY. CHARACTER. EVER. when I was little. I had every single Aladdin movie, I watched the TV Show like any other avid three year old fangirl would (I'm not sure if he ever actually showed up in the TV Show...) I had action figures and well.... there are pictures of me fangirling at Disney World.

Jafar, is similar to Scar in the fact that he wants power, but he doesn't know what to do with it when he finally gets it. It's because of this that Aladdin is able to capture him. I don't know why I was so obsessed with him as a child, or if my love for him was just the very beginning of my love of villains over the good guys which I still suffer from. Jafar makes this list, because he's never really defeated in the first movie. The best that Aladdin and friends can do is capture him in a lamp and hope that it's never found ever again.

5. The Hunchback of Notredame's Frollo

Frollo finds his way on a lot of lists these days. Everywhere I turn Bloggers and Reviewers are talking about how Frollo was probably one of Disney's more ambitious and risky villains to be released. I agree with this completely. Frollo is a rather complicated character. Throughout the film he is in constant battle with his temptation for the gypsy woman Esmeralda. He of course comes to the conclusion that this temptation is her fault and she needs to be destroyed for it. In this scene, where he confronts his instability (in song, as only a Disney character can. Watch it here) what really scared me were the red cloaked figures that were watching him and (possibly) judging him. The entire sequence was amazingly animated and you're able to dive right into the psyche of one of the most screwed up villains. Even his death is epic and symbolic. He falls into (what metaphorically have to be) the fires of hell. This is deep twisted stuff.

4. Fantasia's Chernabog

This is another one that I think goes without saying. HE'S SATAN! HE'S ACTUALLY THE DEVIL! DISNEY ANIMATED THE DEVIL! AND HE'S STICKING OUT OF A VOLCANO! As a kid I never saw Fantasia, and my first introduction to Chernabog was his appearance in Kingdom Hearts. I thought that he was just another monster that Square Enix had thrown into the game to be one of the final-ish bosses. It was in my third year of university when I was taking a mass media course did I come to realize that Chernabog was an actual creation of the animators at Disney. (Also, a fun fact this movie was originally released on my birthday: November 13th) Chernaborg is in the final movement of Fantasia: The Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria.

This is by far my favourite section of the film, just because of how different it is. The audience gets to see evil, total incomprehensible evil in the forms of ghosts, demons and ghouls who perform for their master. You feel fear for the little town nestled so close to the giant demon and just when it looks like all is done for. The sun and goodness arrives and defeats the evil. As a film major, I can't help but notice the clear nods to German Expressionism Film (which I spoke about briefly in my film noir post). It's beautiful in it's dark way and I highly recommend you check it out here.

3. Hercules' Hades
I've always loves Hercules. I know that it is not an accurate representation of the original mythology. It takes the original source material, and dumbs it down and turns it into a sugary fluff. But it's soooo entertaining. People either really love or really hate this movie and a lot of that has to do with Hades. Hades is the more likeable character in the movie.

You have to feel sorry for the guy. He's the God of the dead. he's stuck in the Underworld while his Brother Zeus has the Earth and the Sky and his other brother Poseidon is the Lord of the Sea. Hades clearly got the short end of the stick and is now just out to take what he sees as being his fair share. Of course, he has to be stopped because well... someone has to be the bad guy in this flick. I'm going to reference the Nostalgia Chick and her review of the film (watch it here) where she makes a really good point about this film. Hades always keeps to his word. When he makes the deal with Hercules during the climax he does give Hercules his powers back like he said he would. It is Hercules who shows the more villain-like qualities (lying, attacking Hades in cold-blood, etc). Say what you will, Hades is one of the more fun Disney Villains.

2. The Emperor's New Groove Yzma and Kronk
I love this movie. The Emperor's New Groove is one of those movies that I can watch over and over again and it will never ever get old. This is completely and totally because of Yzma and Kronk. These two are comedy GOLD. Everything about their relationship is perfection. They play off of each other so well and it just works. The Emperor's New Groove is a fun buddy cop kind of film that doesn't take itself too seriously. It has a moral but it doesn't feel like it needs to hit you over the head with it. Instead it does everything it can to make its characters memorable.

The strongest point of these two is by far their play off of one another. But they are able to hold their own by themselves as well. Think of Kronk inventing his own theme music when he tries to dispose of the now llama-afied Kuzco or Yzma's flea rant. These two make the movie, and I think they're one of the only villain duos that are "reformed" at the end of their film.



And My Favourite Disney Villain is:


1. The Princess and the Frog's The Shadow Man (Dr. Faciller)

I didn't get to see The Princess and the Frog until its DVD release. This had nothing to do with the controversy that was surrounding it, I wasn't trying to avoid it, I did want to see it. One of my friends was one of the animators. And I love the original hand drawn style. I just never got around to seeing it. But when I did. Damn... The Shadow Man. The Princess and the Frog was good. It was cute and it had the same feeling that the original princess movies had... even though the message was slightly tweaked. Tiana was likeable, and it was nice to see a Disney Princess have some form of character development OTHER than just finding a Prince to marry.

But that's slightly off topic. The Shadow Man or Dr. Faciller was by far the best part of this film. He's one of the best evil character's that Disney has put out in a long time. And his villain song (watch it here) was fantastic. If I had seen this as a kid, he would have terrified me to no end. And what happens to him at the end of the movie would have also given me nightmares. The Shadow Man is a middle man. He's playing with forces that he can't really control and the fact that he could unleash total evil into the world. All in all he's a lot of fun. I wouldn't say you find yourself rooting for him by the end of the movie, but you feel kind if sad that he's gone.

So there you have it! My Top Ten Favourite Disney Villain List. Thanks for reading guys and DFTBA!