Disney: not what you think?

Soo? Recently I with many other Disney enthusiasts stat down and did a marathon effort in watching some of the classic Disney movies!

Lion King
The Little Mermaid
Mulan
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin

And you know the concurrent theme amongst many of the classic Disney movies as well as many others?

Poor Family Structures and moral lessions!

Disney, where dreams happen every day? Maybe not

Let’s look at some of the major princesses within the Disney realm:
Snow White: she seems to have it good, loving parents, good stable family environment? UNTIL! MUMMY DIES! Then what happens? Dad remarries, and step-mum jealous of how pretty her step-daughter is, hires a hitman to kill her!! Now this isn’t Snow white’s fault, but an unstable home environment, plus lack of interest from her father – who has hooked up with a hot, vain, witch women – leads her to do something very silly! She begins to live with 7 men!! Cook, clean, do their every dirty laundry will! Now that’s not right hey? Especially for a 14yrs old! That’s right, snow white is 14!! What happens in the end? Prince charming comes along, they hook up and get married. Now you tell me if you know any 14yr olds living with 7 old men, then getting married not long after. Something not right.

Sleeping beauty: aka Aurora: So at this little girls christening three fairy God mothers bless her. Before the last one can, a evil fairy comes along and curses the poor girl to die when she touches a spinning wheel point (a spinning wheel is a device used to create twine). In tern the third fairy changes the curse so that she will fall asleep instead of die (mind you I would have gone all gangsta fairy on her butt 3 vs 1 but I digress) Daddy goes into crisis mode and burns all the spinning wheels in the kingdom (fair enough), and fairy godmothers whisk her away. Years later he fairy godmothers are fighting over the colour of her dress, the use of magic brings out the bad guys, they lure her to a tower where low and behold there is a spinning wheel. She plays with the one thing meant to kill her, then prick!! You would have thought that her fairy godmothers would have emphasised the strict YOU DIE warning? But no! Prince comes to save her, she’s encased in glass, they get married. All at the ripe old age of 16yrs!!

Cinderella: This lovely girl has a single parent issue again. Mum dies, dad remarries. Evil step mom – go figure! With 2 evil step sisters. Her father then dies, and step-mummy dearest enslaves the poor girl. Fairy godmother comes along with the promise of pretty dresses and winning the prince over. But her magic has a time limit. 12 midnight. What a crappy fairy godmother – you would think her powers would be greater? She meets prince, then runs away. He falls in loves, chases after her, then marries her.

Ariel: a sweet girl, no mother to speak of and like a billion sisters, her father is a straight forward king, with one rule, no humans. Being that her father is king, he is very absent from her life, and in her rebellion she collects little human ornaments that she finds. To substitute for his absence, father figure uses is trusted music conductor – a crab, to tend for and look after his child (2 things I wouldn’t use as a baby sitter, a conductor? And a crab?). So with a culture of fear of humans, who kill you, this little girl starts chasing after one. To get him? She consults the wicket witch Ursula – an octopus fat lady thing, which is also her father’s sworn enemy. Fat Octo witch – makes her human, takes her voice and tells her that she is will become her slave if she doesn’t get a kiss in 3 days. Ariel runs to her man, who is blinded by love for this voice he heard (Which was ariel) but then can’t tell it was her cause she can’t speak. Just as she is about to hook up with him and make her dreams come true, Fat-Octo-Witch makes herself beautiful (I don’t know why she just dosnt do that in the first place – cause shes fat and ugly) and using her voice, trances prince boy. Ariel gets caught, father saves her, Fat-Octo-Witch becomes giant! Prince boy steers a ship into her heart and kills Fat-Octo-Witch. Prince boy marries Ariel – WHO IS 16years old?

Belle: A young girl with no mother, moves to a town where people find her weird. Cause she always reads. Single dad is seen as a bit of a mad scientist, gets kidnapped by angry beast. Daughter finds him, swaps herself for dad, becomes prisoner of beast. Beast has anger issues, he’s a beast, what do you expect? Belle constantly taunts a being who could tear here limb from limb. Belle has authority issues. People attack beast, beast kills bad guy. Belle kisses the animal(beast), he turns into prince. They get married. First one not to have an exact age but she is described as a young woman.

Jasmine: Another single parent family, no mother this time. Jasmine has authority issues, and a pet tiger (whilst quite cool seems a little spoilt). Jasmine runs away from home, steals food and begins a relationship with a known criminal. She is quite rude and aggressive to her suitors (including her criminal friend in disguise). She too goes through a series of trials, which ends with her marrying at the age of...wait for it...16!!
And finally

The only stable girl I think in the Disney realm is Mulan: Chinese born with both parents and grandma around to teach her. Though she is a little rebellious (some would consider it tomboy like) she always does the right thing. When dad is in trouble she protects him by taking his place in war. When China is in trouble, she fights the Mongolians. When the emperor is in trouble, she saves him. When her man interest is in trouble, she even saves him! Goes home triumphantly with the sword of Shan Yu (bad guy) and the emperors seal. Man interest follows her – BUT DOESN'T MARRY HER!! They probably start courting :) good girl

Sooo conclusion? Disney teaches poor lessons to its target audience: Everyone seems to have no mother, or an evil step mother, or a psycho witch after them? When things are tough, run off and make bad decisions in life! Especially your a teenager! If an ugly lady offers you something to good to be true, take it! At least they showed Chinese people to be good!

And ultimately what does Disney teach people? If you're 16 and not married to a prince, what are you doing with your life??!!

any thoughts on what disney has imparted to you!!

yours truly
Wang Chan