Original blog: 'More Disturbing Life Lessons Learned From Disney Movies'
Now, being a Disney fan myself I did try to read the above post objectively, however some of the points put across in this article were too ridiculous not write an Objection post to. So here goes, I’ve got your back, Walt.
“#1 Change Everything
One of the biggest recurring themes in Disney movies, especially the princess movies is that if you want to get a guy all you have to do first is change everything about yourself. This is especially evident in the movies Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. In fact, in Cinderella, Prince Charming didn’t even recognize her unless she was all dolled up!”
Firstly, one of the main recurring themes throughout Disney films is to be yourself and this is evident throughout all of them. Although characters may lose their way as the film progresses, in the end they return to their true selves and realise they were loved for being ‘themselves’ all along (E.g - Beast). In regards to the examples brought up in this post; Eric actually fell for Ariel when he opened his eyes and saw her hovering over him, after she had just saved his life; when he saw once she had changed he recognised her because of that moment. In regards to Cinderella, the first time the prince met was when she was already 'dolled up' and when travelling the land in search for the owner of the glass slipper, even though he didn't recognise her initially, once he realised who she was he accepted her just the way she was - rags and all.
Actual life lesson: Make lastings impressions.
“#2 Looks Matter
Disney movies are full of beautiful people and there is always a running theme of the prettier you are the better things work out for you, but there is nowhere this disturbing lesson is laid down more harshly than in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. In this movie, despite the fact that Quasimodo and Esmeralda have a lot in common and really like each other and he saves her, she still ends up marrying another, more handsome, guy. What kind of lesson is that, Disney?”
Unfortunately this is something that happens in films life. The handsome guy (given that he’s not the douche-bag of the film) always gets the pretty girl and vice versa, and the quirky looking best friend is just that. Unfortunately Quasimodo was the quirky friend that got friend-zoned and Esmerelda ended up with her prince charming. Harsh? Maybe. But you tell me a film that’s ended up any differently.
Actual life lesson: Life’s a bitch.
“#3 Brains Don’t Matter
Even though Belle was arguably one of the smartest of the Disney princesses, or at least the most well read, no one really seemed to care about that. In fact, it was more of an annoyance, like is Belle reading again? All the guys in town only liked her because of her looks and even the Beast only really started to look at her in that way when she put on the stunning yellow dress.”
Quite protective over this one as Beauty and the Beast is assuredly my favourite. Yes, Belle is criticised for constantly having her head in a book, but the ‘geek’ of, be it a film or TV show is consistently picked on. But they always win. With Belle being the protagonist she is the most likeable character of the film and with Disney choosing the townspeople to criticise her for it, they are portrayed throughout as the idiots, which would make children watching the film want to be more like Belle anyway. In regards to Beast only liking her after seeing her in the yellow dress is also wrong as the only reason he invited her to dinner in the first place was because he had already started to develop feelings for her after she read him Romeo and Juliet.
Finally, referring back to my first point, Disney makes a point of showing that Belle is not deterred from reading, even though she is made fun of for it, it simply makes her long for adventure more - staying true to herself.
Actual life lesson: Be yourself. Regardless of others.
“#4 People Die
Sure, people die and maybe that is a lesson that kids should be taught, but in some Disney movies, such as The Lion King, that lesson is conveyed in a pretty harsh way. I mean, first of all, did the kid need to see his father get trampled by a herd of wildebeasts? A secondary lesson about death taught by The Lion King is that sometimes people have to die (Scar) in order to get out of your way so that you can prosper, i.e. become king in this case. Life is harsh sometimes sure, but do we really want kids thinking it’s as cutthroat as this?”
Just as this writer states, kids do need to be taught this lesson. Disney is known for it’s cheeriness and we expect nothing less than that from them. Undoubtedly there was nothing that upset us more as a child than Mufasa’s death and to this day it is still one of the greatest tragedies of the 1990s. But The Lion King would not have been the same without it. As for ‘sometimes people have to die (Scar) in order to get out of your way so that you can prosper’ as I recall, the bad guy always dies (or becomes stripped of their powers) in every Disney film. All of them. Because that’s what Disney is; good trumps evil. And the prosperity that comes to the good thereafter is because they deserve it.
But then again, I’m sure this routinely happens in the majority of films - good always wins right?
Actual life lesson: Death is inevitable. (even the good guy dies eventually)
“#5 Sell Your Soul
Another horrible lesson taught by The Little Mermaid is that it is okay to sell your soul to the devil because everything will work out in the end! Okay, so that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s basically what happened. Ariel sold her voice (which you could call her soul because she loved singing so much) to Ursula, who was clearly evil to get legs so she could get her man. Though things almost went badly, in the end things did work out, so did she really learn not to make these kinds of shady deals?”
All I got when watching this as a young child was that Ariel would do anything for love. Sure, I see the point they’re trying to make with this, however all I think Disney were trying to show was Ariel’s determination and that she would do most anything to be with her one true love. Disney is, after all, all about love and happy endings. Along with this, Ariel (much like Belle) longed for a life of adventure and this was her chance to get it. The fish folk of the kingdom would constantly criticise the humans and she wanted to prove that they weren’t all bad, bringing both land and sea together. Classic Disney.
Actual life lesson: You have to sacrifice things to get to where you want to be in life.
“#6 You Can Change Him
Another thing Beauty and the Beast taught us is that if your Prince isn’t exactly a good guy, don’t worry because you can change him into the perfect man! I mean, sure the guy was cursed, but that doesn’t exactly excuse the fact that he locked her up, was abusive to her and nearly beat the crap out of her a few times. Why did she like him again?
Ooh Beauty and the Beast again. The whole point in this film is that Belle sees past the curse that has been put on Beast and sees him for who he truly is inside. That was the only way to break the spell. She did have her chance to leave, twice, but she kept coming back because she knew she had seen the real him. She didn’t change him, she saw him for who really was, and came back because she believed in, and fell in love with him.
Actual life lesson: Don’t trust first impressions, they’re usually wrong.
"#7 Woman Are Maids
Though they are doing a better job in recent years, most Disney movies seem to stick to the clearly defined gender roles and like to show women cleaning and cooking. Even if they are princesses, they still seem to get stuck with these chores!”
Okay, history lesson Mr Anonymous Blogger, the Disney princesses who portrayed cleaning and cooking were Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. All of these films were released pre-1960; Snow White (1937), Cinderella (1950) and Sleeping Beauty (1959); a period of time when gender roles were not stereotypically defined they just were. Women cooking and cleaning at that time was still the norm, I’m not saying it’s right and I’m wholeheartedly all for the feminist movement, but we simply just can not compare the gender roles of films during the 1950s to their gender roles now, it’s just unfair and uncanny.
Actual life lesson: Learn your history. It’ll avoid you from making silly mistakes.
"#8 Men Are Princes
According to Disney, it seems like the only men worth marrying are Princes. And anyone not a prince is a servant or a brute. Are there no regular men? You could say that it is giving young boys good role models, but ultimately it’s something they can never live up to. The same goes for women. Practically any woman worth being in a Disney movie is a Princess and that makes little girls think they have to be a princess too.”
THERE WOULDN’T BE DISNEY PRINCESSES WITHOUT THE PRINCES. Erugh, this post is just annoyingly there for no reason. Disney is not saying that the only people worthwhile marrying are princes, but these stories are about Disney PRINCESSES so obviously the men have to be PRINCES. One of the main morals that comes from the princess films is that you don’t have to be a prince/ princess for the other to fall in love with you. You simply have to be yourself - Aladdin with Jasmine (once she discovers the truth), and every princess with every prince. Aside from these films, all other protagonist characters is other Disney films are equally as good role models. I’m sorry but young boys do not purely look up to these Disney princes as ‘role models’ when we have characters such as Hercules, which young boys were probably a lot more interested in watching at the time. We really have to give little kids more credit nowadays.
Actual life lesson: Dream big. And never give up in the face of adversity.
“#9 Evil Is Obvious
The villains in Disney movies are always so obvious, at least to the viewer, that kids who grow up watching these movies might not realize that evil in real life is not always so easy to spot. Disney movies also teach us that the bad guys never win and good always triumphs but the sad reality is that this is not always the case in the real world.”
Oh for goodness sake, this is a Disney film, created primarily for children - good always wins. As it does in most films! It teaches them that acting the way the villains do is not right and they get taught a lesson at the end of the film, it has to be blindingly obvious as they are children. This may not be the case in the real world, of course not, but that’s why they are fictional fairytales, and in no children’s film, along with the majority of adult films, will you ever find evil triumph over good. Everyone loves a happy ending.
Actual life lesson: Always be the good guy.
“#10 Happily Ever After
Perhaps one of the most disturbing life lessons that is taught in almost all Disney movies is that once you find your man you get to life “Happily Ever After” with no effort at all. Unfortunately this may lead to many children growing up and being completely unprepared for the reality that this is when the real work actually starts!”
Disney would not be loved and adored on a global scale without its Happily Ever Afters. As I’ve previously stated, the majority of films created and released in general come with a happily every after, otherwise we would all leave cinemas dejected and unhappy. Psychologically, we go and watch films like these with the certainty we will leave feeling uplifted and happy. I don’t think it would have been appropriate for Disney to start teaching life lessons about love and relationships because their audience is simply too young, and probably wouldn’t have understood half of it at that age anyway.
Actual life lesson: Everyone has their own version of ‘happily ever after’. Find yours.
I think my main problem overall with this article is, sure some of the points they put across may be valid, but they simply don’t take into account that it’s not just Disney creating their film plots this way, it’s the cinematic industry in general. And this writer seems to also forget the audience Disney films are aimed at - young children. Therefore this greatly affects what they can put in the films and what they can’t. At the end of the day, I obviously watched Disney films growing up, but I never was greatly I affected by these ‘disturbing life lessons’ and I don’t think anyone else was. Come on, give the kids some credit - I can guarantee they don’t live their lives in a play by play of Disney films.
xoxo
"I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained."
Walt Disney
