Zootopia (2016)

I suppose my concluding blog probably was supposed to be the last one, but I just watched Zootopia and couldn't resist (also just one more for all those readers I have, shoutout Professor Andres and shoutout my mom). What a fantastic movie. I had high expectations since I saw it got 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was really a departure from the classic Disney film though, I guess this is part of the new Disney Animation Studio's different direction. There was not too much of a love interest, there were good values like persistence and acceptance taught. It still held to stereotypes, like how people from rural places are less open-minded. That being said though, I thought the movie was fantastic and very much a deep social commentary. It was sweet and heartfelt too. 10/10 would recommend this film to anyone and everyone.

Conclusion Blog Post

Throughout this class, my perception of evil has developed and deepened greatly, both from the readings and my independent research. 

One aspect of evil I never considered was the concept of appearance especially including race, gender, and sexuality as it pertains to evil. The idea of the portrayal of "other" is very important when considering villains and how that subconsciously can change our perceptions of people in our lives. The idea that most villains in Disney have darker skin, are either unhealthy skinny or overweight, break typical gender and sexuality stereotypes is concerning. It shows that Disney believes those traits to be more negative. It scares me that these ideas could be indoctrinating children. I am very excited to continue exploring this idea as it pertains to mental health for my final essay. I also never did consider the villains as being mentally ill which adds an extra layer to the issue.

Additionally, I never so deeply considered the appeal of the evil characters. I personally never really felt that growing up watching the films, but apparently many people find the evil characters more interesting. Because they drive forward the plot, it makes sense. But also, people find them more relatable because they are not perfect. I found this idea fascinating. Also, the idea that villains do not learn from their mistakes was one of my favorite things to consider this semester. They rarely get punished and they just refresh each installment (this applies mostly to TV). These ideas are not as appealing in the villain.

I loved the unit in class about Disney as the villain. I never knew about this idea. The book Team Rodent was eye-opening and hilarious. Some of the stuff Disney has done, like covering up scandals, is crazy and I'm glad we looked at that in class. It makes sense that they would depict villains as non-white, non-cisgender, etc. if they also wouldn't take good care of their employees and sometimes their guests.

I also loved the unit about man as the villain, especially when it was related to Wall-E. I never saw that movie so deeply as I did when we examined it in class and I loved considering the idea that, aside from autopilot (a human-created invention), the entire mess they were in was because of themselves. The deep commentary in that movie about trash, technology, and consumerism is incredible.

The new information I've learned from this class has and will continue to change the way I see villains in films, TV, and books.

A meme that isn't funny 

I'm a big fan of memes and I love this one but also hate that I love it.

Pandora at Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom is opening up a whole Avatar (2009) themed section. I haven't seen the whole film but it seems really cool. This site gives details about all the sections, but the sketches for it look amazing. It is going to include a restaurant, a plaza, a gift shop, a boat ride and a more classic ride. Here are some of the pictures:

Happy Birthday to Mickey

Just want to wish our good friend Mickey Mouse a great birthday!! 🎉🎁🎊🎈🎂

Snapchat even had a filter for a rodent friend

Is Disney going to buy Netflix????

According to this article, there are rumblings of a deal between Disney and Netflix. At first, this seems great because it would bring Disney films to Netflix faster, but apparently it isn't great. It would give Disney a lot more power, which they certainly don't need and they might do bad things with. It might hurt Disney's competitors. Apparently 90% of the media consumed in the US is owned by 6 companies, according to the same source.

Wreck-It Ralph (2012) Response

I liked this film. Not much more or less, I thought it was pretty average. It certainly is no Wall-E or Toy Story, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. 

The most compelling aspect of the film was its commentary on social mobility and stratification. Ralph's segregation on the basis of his character trait reflected aspects of society. Additionally, people would not recognize that he may have more than one side to him, they just wrote him off as the villain and separated themselves from him, throwing him into literal garbage. There is clearly social stratification in Wreck-It Ralph and it is definitely meant to represent our culture. Another example of this idea was Vanellope Von Schweetz. She was a glitch throughout most of the film, and as it was explained, glitches cannot leave their game. This shows that glitches - characters of a lower social standing - are limited in their mobility and opportunity. This is very often true in real life too, that people of lower socio-economic levels have fewer opportunities and it is harder for them to better their circumstances, contributing to a cycle.

Vanellope said in the film, "racing is in my code." She never learned to race before, though, because she was a glitch. This is an example of her limited opportunity due to her social standing, causing her to not be able to advance. Eventually, when Ralph helped her learn, she was able to come back to her given position of princess within the game.

This film seems to appeal more to children than adults, especially when compared to, say, Wall-E. The appeal of it appears more in the bright colors and fast motion than the message. Additionally, the concept of an arcade is more exciting to a little kid (although I don't know how common they are for kids now, especially as compared to when their parents were kids). It's appeal to boys and girls though seems equal, unlike many princess films. The retro video games may appeal more to the nostalgia of the parent viewers.

At first while watching, I was thinking the film would be a knock-off of Toy Story with the whole 'when the people go away, the toys come out to play' idea. However, when the film revealed that the characters move through the plugs of the game, and with the area that looked like a train station, I was thoroughly amused.

I can't claim to know much about voice acting, however I loved it in this film. Between John C Reilly, Jane Lynch, and Jack McBrayer, many of the actors already have voices that are somewhat "caricature." This brought extra personality to the characters. Each character was identifiable just on their voice and it deeply enhanced the visuals in a way that I don't think many animated films do (maybe Finding Nemo and Finding Dory). Also, as I look back on the film, I am stuck on the scream from Sarah Silverman (playing Vanellope) and responses from Ralph as he was breaking the car they made together. The emotions that came out in that scene were very strong. 

I did enjoy the film but I absolutely will not go out of my way to see it again.

Reading Response to Wall-E (2008)

I loved this text. I think it reflected very well on one of the greatest movies ever made.

The only part I partially disagreed with was the definition of nostalgia. His definition of "a longing for the past and a concomitant dissatisfaction with the present" did not feel to apply to my experiences of nostalgia. Of course a longing for the past is included, but I have been equally or more happy than the time I am thinking about. For example, at the beginning of my time at Duke I definitely felt nostalgic for the days of the summer with all of my friends from home and the fun memories, but I was no less happy here than I was then. 

Otherwise, I think this article did an amazing job tackling the paradox between the nostalgia presented in the film but also the critique of the consumerist culture. One of my favorite points in the article that I did not pick up on by myself was that the trash that recalls nostalgia is, for the most part, pretty current. The film does a good enough job of putting us into the future that we look at the current objects as being from the past. 

Along with that, I loved the section that pointed out that some of the pieces of trash are Pixar products. I suppose I was a "casual theater-goer" that missed this aspect, but the statement it makes is impressive. It shows that Pixar knows that their products, too, will wind up being trash, but also, Anderson points out that it may "hint at a fear of being forgotten." Either or both of these ideas hold weight. Had I noticed this in the film, I probably would have just taken it as a funny little easter egg, but it really does show a deeper, self-realizing level of commentary from Pixar. I have already contributed to the Pixar trash, I am sure, with many toys of my childhood. In fact, I had a Wall-E toy that was also a dancing speaker compatible with the old iPods. Nothing becomes obsolete faster than old generations and products from Apple, and so did this Wall-E toy (which also broke super fast). 

It really bums me out that garbage is considered an "emblem for contemporary culture" or "an iconic emblem of the United States." What a trashy reflection on our culture that a lot of literature uses landfills to represent America. 

I find it interesting that the article claimed twice that the main demographic target for the film is young children. While this is often the presumed case for animated films, I would argue that Wall-E can be appreciated on a much deeper level for older people. Personally, every time I watch the film I get something new out of it, especially comparing my most recent viewing and when I was 10 or 11 watching it for the first time. The deeper narratives and criticisms on consumer culture and environmental destruction cannot be understood by young children. Wall-E holds a lot of real literary value.

Disney Conspiracy Theories

There have been fan theories floating around for a while, things like Boo being the witch from Brave and that all of Up is really a post-death dream. But I wanted to find something deeper and maybe darker than that. Some ridiculous theory about Walt or the company or the movies that is more intense than these more likely plot strings. I found this site where the first sentence - "The Walt Disney Corporation is a world renowned company founded by alleged Illuminati member Walt Disney" - is already solid gold. With that, the company is apparently also partnering with the NSA to spy on their customers. The site continues with ridiculous "examples" of "sexual subliminal imagery" that definitely did not exist. Apparently there is "occult symbology" in the corporate logo with 666 hidden in a few places. Good. Glad people figured these things out and put them online so that I don't have to figure it out for myself.

How Disney Runs Their Disney World

I am fascinated by the spectacle that is Disney World. I have also been to Disneyland but I cannot remember it, and I have not been to the other parks, but I can imagine they are all quite similar. They put on such a clean presentation, but there must be a lot we do not know about. Here are some of those things that interested me the most:

1) According to this source, Disney World has a network of underground tunnels. Well, not really underground. Because Disney World is build at sea level, the park is actually built above the normal elevation of the area and the tunnels are at sea level. Regardless, it reminds me a little bit of East Campus here at Duke, but I'd guess Disney World has fewer unauthorized visitors in their tunnels.

A photo of the tunnels underneath Magic Kingdom

2) The same source as above told me that people spread ashes of their loved ones around the park so much that they have a specific vacuum for when it happens. Skeptical, and frankly a little grossed out, I wanted to look further into this. I found a message board asking about this issue. One response that brought out a chuckle from me was that "she must be very special to have wanted part of her ashes to be left at WDW." Apparently there are all sorts of legal ramifications to spreading ashes on private property and one response claimed it was "not allowed under any circumstances." A few other sources agreed with this, but it appears to happen frequently anyway.

3)  You can stay in the Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom! It is used for promotional giveaways rather than normal bookings. The building is pretty empty, with only 1 hotel room (incredibly hard to get to stay in), a restaurant and gift shop. 

The inside of the hotel room in the Cinderella Castle

4) Disney World hires a lot of people. Supposedly, Disney World is has the most employees - or cast members - of any single-site location. As much as people hate on Disney, they employ a lot of people and that is a good thing.

5) Disney has an abandoned water park. In 2001, Disney closed their River Country park for a few reasons. One of those reasons was that they could not use natural water bodies for their park. The area, in fact, is carrying some rare, water-borne amoeba that has killed a few people. On top of this, some crazy people have actually snuck into the abandoned place!

A photo of the abandoned River Country park.

6) Each year, almost 2 million pounds of turkey drumsticks are bought at Disney World. That is just so. much. meat. This does not seem like quite so much when you compare it to the approximately 736 million pounds of turkey consumed in the US during last year's Thanksgiving, but it sure is a lot of turkey considering it is one of very, very few dining options at Disney World.

Just a man and goofy and their turkey legs (or a man with 2 turkey legs trying to pass off that one is for Goofy)

7) Over 200 pairs of sunglasses are brought to the lost and found every single day. This hits pretty close to home since I lost my sunglasses at Disney World. Think about how many pairs are not even brought to lost and found too!

8) Disney plants a lot of its own fruits and veggies! EPCOT's Land Pavilion produces over 30 tons of fruits and vegetables per year that are used throughout the parks. Considering that the average American eats almost a ton each year, this really sounds like a whole lot of fruits and vegetables. 

9) Adding to their sustainability efforts are the funds they donate to efforts of wildlife preservation and restoration. They own a wilderness preserve mitigation project.

10) Disney is probably one of the cleanest places anywhere. One reason for this is that they do not sell any gum. Another reason is that you are never more than 30 steps from a trash can. It is practically easier to throw away trash properly than it is to litter!

Trash cans at Disney World

11) Disney has these things called Smellitizers. They are put all over the parks. They send out scents to areas to match the surroundings. Example of this are the salty smell in the line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the honey smell at the Pooh ride.

12) There is a wedding ring in the concrete in the line for "The Haunted Mansion" that is there to expand the story of the hanging bride in the ride. When I was last at Disney World, my friends and I looked for the ring but we couldn't find it.

How Disney Runs Their Disney World

I am fascinated by the spectacle that is Disney World. I have also been to Disneyland but I cannot remember it, and I have not been to the other parks, but I can imagine they are all quite similar. They put on such a clean presentation, but there must be a lot we do not know about. Here are some of those things that interested me the most:

1) According to this source, Disney World has a network of underground tunnels. Well, not really underground. Because Disney World is build at sea level, the park is actually built above the normal elevation of the area and the tunnels are at sea level. Regardless, it reminds me a little bit of East Campus here at Duke, but I'd guess Disney World has fewer unauthorized visitors in their tunnels.

A photo of the tunnels underneath Magic Kingdom

2) The same source as above told me that people spread ashes of their loved ones around the park so much that they have a specific vacuum for when it happens. Skeptical, and frankly a little grossed out, I wanted to look further into this. I found a message board asking about this issue. One response that brought out a chuckle from me was that "she must be very special to have wanted part of her ashes to be left at WDW." Apparently there are all sorts of legal ramifications to spreading ashes on private property and one response claimed it was "not allowed under any circumstances." A few other sources agreed with this, but it appears to happen frequently anyway.

3)  You can stay in the Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom! It is used for promotional giveaways rather than normal bookings. The building is pretty empty, with only 1 hotel room (incredibly hard to get to stay in), a restaurant and gift shop. 

The inside of the hotel room in the Cinderella Castle

4) Disney World hires a lot of people. Supposedly, Disney World is has the most employees - or cast members - of any single-site location. As much as people hate on Disney, they employ a lot of people and that is a good thing.

5) Disney has an abandoned water park. In 2001, Disney closed their River Country park for a few reasons. One of those reasons was that they could not use natural water bodies for their park. The area, in fact, is carrying some rare, water-borne amoeba that has killed a few people. On top of this, some crazy people have actually snuck into the abandoned place!

A photo of the abandoned River Country park.

6) Each year, almost 2 million pounds of turkey drumsticks are bought at Disney World. That is just so. much. meat. This does not seem like quite so much when you compare it to the approximately 736 million pounds of turkey consumed in the US during last year's Thanksgiving, but it sure is a lot of turkey considering it is one of very, very few dining options at Disney World.

Just a man and goofy and their turkey legs (or a man with 2 turkey legs trying to pass off that one is for Goofy)

7) Over 200 pairs of sunglasses are brought to the lost and found every single day. This hits pretty close to home since I lost my sunglasses at Disney World. Think about how many pairs are not even brought to lost and found too!

8) Disney plants a lot of its own fruits and veggies! EPCOT's Land Pavilion produces over 30 tons of fruits and vegetables per year that are used throughout the parks. Considering that the average American eats almost a ton each year, this really sounds like a whole lot of fruits and vegetables. 

9) Adding to their sustainability efforts are the funds they donate to efforts of wildlife preservation and restoration. They own a wilderness preserve mitigation project.

10) Disney is probably one of the cleanest places anywhere. One reason for this is that they do not sell any gum. Another reason is that you are never more than 30 steps from a trash can. It is practically easier to throw away trash properly than it is to litter!

Trash cans at Disney World

11) Disney has these things called Smellitizers. They are put all over the parks. They send out scents to areas to match the surroundings. Example of this are the salty smell in the line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the honey smell at the Pooh ride.

12) There is a wedding ring in the concrete in the line for "The Haunted Mansion" that is there to expand the story of the hanging bride in the ride. When I was last at Disney World, my friends and I looked for the ring but we couldn't find it.

Reflection on Tarzan (1999)

Tarzan has got to be one of my favorite non-Pixar Disney films. Phil Collins' and Mark Mancina's music really seals its position high up. It is hard not to enjoy such fun music that works so well with the film. Even with the music aside, the film is very fun. Watching Tarzan glide down the trees or swing from the branches just makes me smile. 

One aspect I did not like of the film was the lack of backstory of Jane, Professor Porter, and Clayton. I do not understand why that group travelled together. Jane's and Professor Porter's research seemed innocent. They appeared to want to leave little trace there and not disturb the gorillas. In fact, their research could have had a net positive. Clayton, however, seemed to only want to kill the gorillas. He is described by wikipedia as their hunter-guide. Why would Jane and Professor Porter want to take a hunter-guide with them. If they wanted to protect the animals, shouldn't they have chosen just a guide? I suppose this is done for the story of it all, but it feels silly.

I thought it was very funny when Tarzan found the bullet shell and proceeded to instinctually smell and lick it. Of course he would not know what that is. He has no experience with anything similar to it, and I suppose that is what many people (maybe just the smelling) and animals would do in that situation. That scene really solidified his upbringing that is foreign to the viewers.

The scene where Tarzan asked Kerchak why he is scared of anyone who is different from him was interesting. Generally when people consider close-mindedness in this film, it is targeting Clayton. However, this line targeted Kerchak as the close-minded one. His close-mindedness is not unreasonable. Hunters like Clayton pose a direct threat to his tribe of monkeys, but he would not know that immediately. I would even expect him to be more open-minded as his son is a human.

The ends of Disney films are often the most objectionable for me. For example, in The Little Mermaid, I find Ariel's departure from her family and life into the human world to be ridiculous. I am conflicted over Tarzan's initial decision to go back to England with Jane. While I understand his desire to experience his and others' humanity, he would be leaving behind his life and family. Then, I was puzzled by Jane's decision to stay in the jungle. While she would get to learn more about the gorillas that she was studying, she was leaving her life behind solely for the sake of Tarzan. This, like Ariel, seems quite rash. Her father's encouragement and consequent following made it happier and less objectionable.

The villain, Clayton, does not seem as pure evil as many of the other Disney villains. He is a hunter. Hunters kill animals. While I haven't heard of monkey hunting (maybe because I don't live near monkeys), hunting is a somewhat decent thing. However, his treatment of Tarzan is very wrong. Tarzan (along with the gorillas) does not deserve the inhumane treatment.

Overall Tarzan is a great film, with very few aspects that I do not like.

Wall-E Live Blog and Reflection

The idea of such autonomous, intelligent robots is is scary enough, let alone having them outlive us.

Such ominous music.

This movie is not nearly as cute as I remembered. Only 2 minutes in and it is making me severely reflective on the state of the environment and human race.

Such good juxtaposition in place between the space cruises and the earth.

The sounds Wall-E makes are so cute.

A robot with the capacity for love... what a sad concept.

The apple computer restart noise is in this! Whoa!

Cool how Wall-E can recognize the plant as being important.

What is that dancing laser from??

A ship landing!!

It's Eve! I thought she (it?) came in later.

I find it interesting how people just assume Eve is a girl and Wall-E is a boy.

Eve makes me think of those super badass women in spy movies who are tall and gorgeous and devious.

The music in this movie is so good! Love the old-timey stuff.

Wall-E reminds me of a little kid or dog showing a person their toys when he shows his toys to Eve.

How did Pixar give these robots so much emotion?!

Whoa Eve was sent to look for plants!

His life that is the same as it was before Eve now seems so sad.

What a poor representation of space this film presents. Luckily I doubt many people take it as fact.

First encounter with people already so sad. Is it a statement on cell phone use?

Consumerist culture - a company owns and runs everything

When the screen leaves their face, they reach a level of self-realization

Visual of old captains: getting fatter and fatter, so sad

They have the ability to just change time.

Can they not read?!?!

Everything in this looks like if Apple made it

“Caution: Rogue Robots” they make these autonomous robots but then warn people against them

This scene is space with the fire extinguisher is the cutest thing in the world

Their life without the screens becomes so much better!

Is it in human nature to value dancing and nature like the captain of the ship would indicate?

The robot who just cleans Wall-E’s tracks the whole time is hilarious.

How does this autopilot have the will to sabotage going back to earth

Was this film one of the first mass-introductions to the idea of sustainability?

No return to earth :(

The year 2110 is pretty soon…

“I don’t want to survive. I want to live.” How deep.

Wall-E saves the day!!!!

Did Wall-E die??

They have huge Wall-E’s for their absurd amounts of waste.

Foreign Contaminant dude saves them!

Real sunlight!

Nooooo, Wall-E doesn’t remember anything!!!! Honestly I am going to cry.

Now he does!! Woooohooooo omg so cute

They replanted the earth!

Post-movie reflection:

People before these people destroyed earth. They trashed the planet with no regard for the environment. This caused all these people to live incredibly unfulfilling lifestyles. This is absolutely Pixar’s warning that we take our environment more seriously. Additionally, the fact that it is all run by one corporation is a statement on the expansion of a few big businesses. Now that the people are getting earth back, they will take better care of it. The music too was very reflective the whole way through.

Disney is Great at Killing the Box Office

An article from deadline.com, explained that Disney has passed the $6 billion mark for its first time ever. It is not the first time this has happened though. Universal reached $6.89 billion by the end of last year, surpassing the 6 billion mark in September. Disney could beat this though. With the 2 huge releases Moana and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Disney has $.82 billion more to go in the box office, and I think it will happen.

Buzzfeed Quiz "We Know Your Major Based On Your Favorite Disney Princess"

I found this Buzzfeed quiz today. While I don't know my major, I am thinking about environmental. I don't really have a firm favorite princess, but I picked Pocahontas, yielding engineering. Curious, I clicked around at the other ones. My least favorite princess, Ariel, gave me biology, my least favorite field. My major wasn't anywhere to be found. I really thought it might have been Pocahontas as she is 'one-with-nature' in the film. I guess maybe environmental isn't a common major.

Reading Response to "Redesigning Pocahontas"

Edgerton and Jackson's text "Redesigning Pocahontas" was not at all what I expected. I expected a very argumentative piece about racism in Pocahontas but instead was delivered a text displaying the various view points surrounding the issue. Instead of a conclusion saying something like "the film is very racist" or "the film addressed race issues in a progressive way," the conclusion was, "Whether "subversive" or sexist, "daring" or reactionary, Pocahontas is a deeply conflicted text." This indicates that the deepest the analysis got was that there are many view points. I feel like I could have reached this conclusion with little research.

That being said, I did learn a lot from the text. Its lack of analysis gave it more of an expository than argumentative feel. The history of the film was new to me and quite fascinating. Clearly money was a main motivator behind the film, in an attempt to follow up in the success of The Lion King. However, Disney executives did also want to smooth over some of the "public criticism from various ethnic groups over racial stereotyping in their most recent productions" (Edgerton and Jackson 90). Additionally, they wanted the "spunky heroine" that had been seen in some of their recent movies. They wanted Pocahontas to be beyond beautiful, so they modeled her after 4 women, taking the best features from each (only 2 of which are Native American). I was impressed that Disney consulted Native Americans and had Native American actors, as opposed to just guessing and using white actors That being said, though, they made some very obvious mistakes. Disney must have known about these inaccuracies, stereotypes, and generalizations but I suppose they just chose to not do anything about it. That fact feels almost worse than if they did not put in an effort to begin with.

I was amazed by the vastly different viewpoints presented specifically within the Native American community. The very first testimony is from Russell Means, a former Native American activist who played Chief Powhatan, who felt that the beginning of the film was so accurate in its portrayal of the European motives for coming to America. I value Means' opinion a lot, as he was extremely tied to the issue. Because of that, I was thoroughly on board with this view point. That is, until Shirley "Little Dove" Custalow McGowan's testimony. Custalow McGowan was the main Native American consultant for the movie and she thoroughly objected to a lot of it. She claimed it is historically inaccurate and she wishes neither her nor Pocahontas had their names attached to the film. 

One point I found interesting and had never considered before was that the first white man Pocahontas saw was the first one she fell in love with. I can't decide if there really is anything to that, but it certainly is not something that had even jumped out at me while watching.

Finally, the duration of the story felt so distorted in the film, as pointed out to me in this article. The film feels like a 3 week adventure but really it spans over 2 full years. While of course a lot had to be left out in such a short children's film, it just felt off.

A Loose Connection Between Watergate and Disney World

I came across an article today with the headline, "Nixon, Watergate and Walt Disney World? There is a connection." This intrigued me. I really didn't think it could be the case. So I read on. I was really hoping for some huge new scandal, opening a story about how some Disney executive was helping cover up the story. Unfortunately (well maybe it's a good thing), the connection is that Nixon's infamous "I am not a crook" line was said at a Q&A at Disney. I guess that is something, but I doubt anyone really cares and it won't circulate back around on national news.

Is Disney all we know about the world?

I love this song called Baba Yetu. It is an extremely interesting Swahili composition for orchestra and choir by Christopher Tin. The lyrics are the Lords Prayer in Swahili. I showed it to my roommates and one of them goes, "This reminds me of The Lion King" and then the other one agreed. And my response was, "yeah cause it's African and that is all we know about Africa often." While yes, the landscape for The Lion King is East African, and so is the Swahili language, it really made me think about the impact of Disney and how much we take it as a truth.

EPCOT

At my last visit to Disney World, which was my junior year of high school, I found EPCOT to be the most enjoyable of the parks. My favorite ride is an Animal Kingdom, but the "World Showcase" I found so fun. Now, a lot of people can get on board with the racism in some Disney films like Aladdin or even The Lion King (based primarily on the appearance of the villains compared with that of the heroes). I figured there must be more to the Disney racism though, so I thought maybe EPCOT. Maybe there is nothing to this, maybe it is just a cool cultural exhibit that allows people to briefly explore different parts of the world.

The iconic Spaceship Earth sphere at EPCOT

I never knew the original concept for EPCOT though. The concept was that, rather than amusement park, EPCOT would be a real city that pushed forward urban living. It would have real laboratory facilities filled by American corporations called "Industrial Park." According to Wikipedia, "this would stimulate people to return to their own communities and encourage technological growth where they live." This concept clearly never came to be, as after Walt's death they instead made it into a theme park with the two components of "World Showcase" and "Future World." Had it existed though, considering Walt's supremacist tendencies, I feel that it would have turned into a Walt trying to idealize a very specific style of living, probably typical of upper-middle class WASPs. By doing this, it would inherently indicate that other living styles are not as positive. After Walt's death though, despite his brother's best efforts, the EPCOT city did not come to exist.

The overhead original plan for EPCOT

Instead, EPCOT opened as a Disney World theme park with two main sections: Future World and World Showcase. Future World is an attraction featuring technological innovations that imagine the future.  World Showcase is sometimes called a "permanent world's fair" with 11 different areas themed to countries (Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada).

Future World

World Showcase from across the lake

At EPCOT, often they have employees actually from the country, with the accent and knowing the language and culture. The French area's restaurants are actually run but a French restaurant group! The water for the dough in the Italy area is imported (some say from Italy, some say from Philadelphia, though). The Canadian stop seems very cool, considering people in America do not generally think about Canadian culture and food (aside from poutine maybe). The head of the Mexican restaurant San Angel Inn is actually one of the owners from the real San Angel Inn in Mexico.

The France Exhibit

Conversely, the Canadian kitchen is run by an American, a lot of the alcoholic beverages offered at the British stop was not from Britain (and apparently it isn't even very good), and the Chinese food is extremely bland and Americanized. Additionally, causing some uproar, the Norway spot is being largely repurposed as a Frozen spectacle. Thus, Disney is commercializing the culture and changing its features just for the purpose of furthering their attractions (I can't blame them for this...). And finally apparently the American station offers terrible food that isn't representative of American food. (All of these reviews are from here.) In Future World, in Spaceship Earth, some of the facts presented just aren't true about human development, but that side of the park isn't worth getting into for now.

The China Exhibit

EPCOT may use stereotypes to create the atmospheres. However, after looking at sources (including this one that compares architecture at EPCOT to the things they are based on), there is a fair deal of accuracy in the architecture, clothing, and food in each stop that it comes off more as an overview of a cultural experience. To me, though, EPCOT seems to be rooted more in the history of the countries, showing colonial American architecture, ancient Mexican civilization's buildings, and in general more traditional, castle-like buildings. Nowadays, a lot of architecture around the world is standardized, especially in the populous urban areas. Some people may not like that EPCOT pulls mostly from the most popular, tourist-y aspects of countries (i.e. the Eiffel Tower or the Leaning Tower of Pisa) rather than the typical, actual culture. I take some issue with this, but it does make for the best attraction and provides a fair amount of education.

The Mexico Exhibit

All of this said, taking into account the positives and negatives, I would say EPCOT is generally a good thing. It provides a generally well-rounded experience all in one place. I think it's pretty funny though that some countries (like Norway) have paid for their country to be displayed at EPCOT. Although it is overall a positive experience, it is wise for people to take into account the negative aspects when visiting.

The America Exhibit

Another Touching Disney Story

According to an article from ABC, a family from Sao Paulo, Brazil recently travelled to Disney. Their 21 year old son is blind and has been since age 9. When the tourist group he was a part of went to meet Mickey, Mickey guided his hands and spoke to him in Portuguese! They hugged afterward and then the man's mother joined in, hugging Mickey as well. This moment brought much of the rest of the tour group to tears. 

The Flawless Disney Image

Disney will do anything to make itself appear flawless to the guests. Its employees (named Cast members at Disney) are a whole other world though. The Orlando Sentinel published an article today about how one of the employee dining halls had a roach problem. There is no way this sort of issue would ever exist in a public space at Disney. Walt would probably turn over in his grave if a guest saw a roach in a Disney eatery.

Reading Response to Putnam's "Mean Ladies"

Amanda Putnam, in her essay "Mean Ladies: Transgendered Villains in Disney Films," offers great insight about gender and sexuality portrayals in Disney films and how those tie to villainy. Putnam's opening anecdote about her daughter's observations of this topic immediately show the huge effect that Disney has on children. Her daughter calls the more masculine women villains the "mean ladies," but it's not just them! She also calls the effeminate men the "mean ladies!" Many people question the deep effect of Disney on children. They believe that children won't see the overt and offensive negative portrayals of race, gender, and sexuality in Disney. They believe that children just enjoy the songs and the colors, but her opening anecdote shows that this is not true and that children are influenced, strengthening and validating her argument that she makes later.

Putnam observed that, "many of the villains display transgendered attributes - depicted as women with either strong masculine qualities or as strangely de-feminized, while the male bad guys are portrayed as effeminate" (147,148). Putnam points out that inclusion of seemingly transgendered characters would be a good inclusion in Disney films, except that they are always the villain. Conversely, Putnam details the heteronormativity of the protagonists, particularly the princesses. While I'd like to believe that clothes are an arbitrary form of self-expression, not indicative of any gender or sexuality markers, Putnam explains that their form-fitting, cleavage-revealing clothes that most of the princesses sport indicates strong, heterosexuality.

Putnam brings up the argument that the skills and interests of villains vs. protagonists is also indicative of gender roles. I never considered how the princesses like to (or have to) dance, work with food, do house work, and be around animals and the masculine princesses sail, use swords, and hunt. Because of societal heteronormativity, these traits just seemed so normal that I never brought any skepticism to their indications. Her example of this for villains that break typical gender roles is simply that the villains seem less interested in marriage and having children. This feels like a weak counterexample, but I do still believe in this argument.

One aspect about this essay that I did not like so much was that Putnam often seemed to use gender and sexuality as near interchangeable. While the terms often have related connotations, they are separate and should not be mistaken for each other.

Another aspect about the essay that I disagreed with was when she claimed that the scene in Cinderella (1950) where Lady Tremaine and her daughters take many items from/off Cinderella is a "pseudo-rape scene." First, this seems like a stretch. Additionally, she uses this to claim that Lady Tremaine and the step-sisters are more masculine. While she concedes it is not a masculine activity in the footnote, this claim seems out of place.

Additionally, when Putnam uses the line from The Lion King (1994) where Scar says, "I'll practice my curtsy" to show that he is more feminine seems like a stretch. Every time I have watched the film (which is an absurd amount by now), that line just seems sarcastic. I never saw any gender connotations from it, and I still don't buy into that.

A Major Disney World Success

Succumbing to click-bait yet again, I clicked on an article called, "These 2 Sisters Posed For a Photo at Disney World, Now Look Closely at Minnie Mouse's Hands!" No clue what to expect, I read it and was thoroughly touched. One of the sisters in the photo is deaf. In the photo we can see her signing to Minnie. The woman in the Minnie suit decided to start learning ASL (American Sign Language) so that she could communicate with deaf people at Disney World. I can imagine this was extremely exciting for this little girl. I'm sure she did not expect to be able to communicate with the characters, so this must have been such a joyous surprise.

Pocahontas (1995) Live Blog

John Smith looks like a strong hero.

The presumed villain looks like a woman.

John Smith saved the guy! What a hero! This rescue scene is just beyond unrealistic though. 

John Smith looks so much more clean and "pretty" than the other crew members.

The only masculine thing about Governor Ratcliffe is his voice.

"If any Indian tries to stop me, I'll blast him." -A crew member. What a great attitude.

The Native American land is so beautiful.

How elegant of a dive off the cliff.

The animals in Disney films are so ridiculous. Makes it feel more childish, might make it easier to brush the movie off as a children's film that couldn't carry much social commentary.

Impressive how the guy went to put the bear claw on the other guy's chest and it just went on with the motion of a normal hand print.

Why are Pocahontas' eyebrows red?

Tries to display that this group of people (This group of Native Americans) have very different values by explaining why Kocoum would make a good husband.

The way she glides through that rainbow on the river. Great and accurate animation right there.

The way she climbed up the tree on the river is incredible. 

Smith called the Native Americans "Savages"

Governor Ratcliffe talks so fast.

How nice of John Smith to give food to the Raccoon. I like how the assumption is that animals can understand words.

Wow those images in the smoke are quite unrealistic. 

This whole film seems to almost satirize and caricature Native American culture. 

"Ravaging the new world" of resources. Does this show that they knew they were taking the resources from people?

Women swoon over Governor Ratcliffe in his song even when his character is portrayed very feminine and also uninterested in women.

Why would John Smith kill Pocahontas right away. Tactically, wouldn't it be smart to communicate first?

So Pocahontas' English and John Smith's Englishes are different? (edit: jk its the same, but why would Pocahontas speak English? Unless I suppose prior colonization.) Also where did John Smith's accent go?

"A man's not a man unless he knows how to shoot." -Governor Ratcliffe. I like how the most feminine man is securing an image of masculinity.

"How to use this land properly." -What white elitism. "We've improved the lives of savages all over the world." -John Smith

"Colors of the Wind" is a pretty song.

Why do they get so much joy killing Native Americans?!

While Ratcliffe definitely appears to be the main villain, it seems like his henchmen are just about as bad. He also doesn't treat his henchmen well so I guess that contributes to his evil image.

I feel like Native Americans probably would industrial-style plant corn...

Why is Pocahontas telling this man he can fit in when he came to kill the people and take the land resources?

The music in this film doesn't seem as contiguous as many other prior Disney films.

"They've got our gold." -Ratcliffe. Why do they believe it is their land?!

The exposition and rising action in Disney movies seems to take so so long.

Wow the sky just turned red during the scene with Kocoum trying to kill John Smith and went back to blue/green once he died.

How are we supposed to feel about Kocoum's death? Certainly bums me out but seems like we should feel mixed.

John Smith's proclamation of his love seems sweet but also they met like 3 times.

John Smith's song rhymes "eyes" with "eyes." Good.

Their love is so unprecedented!

He'll die if he stays?!

Awww even the animals became friends!

Good choice for Pocahontas to stay!

Long-distance seems tough at this time.

Wow this end is kind of sad. Not the typical happy-ever-after. But also sort of happy because they both benefited from each other.

Aladdin (1992) Film Response

This film was ripe with stereotypes and racial-typing. First off, it makes zero sense that Aladdin sounded like an American (particularly midwestern white America). He also looked a little whiter in his features and complexion. Aside from Aladdin, the Genie and Jasmine both had smaller non-American accents. Clearly, these are supposed to be three of the audience's favorite characters. We are supposed to see them as "Us" not "Them" and relate to them, so I suppose Disney does that by making them as much like the stereotypical American as possible for somewhere in the Arabic-speaking part of the world. The characters who exhibited more typical race characteristics for the setting of the film had darker skin, thicker accents, and exhibited more stereotypes. Unfortunately, this feels as though it would isolate and ostracize non-white Americans or even just non-Americans. Jafar, the main villain of this film exhibits heightened racial- and gender-typing. He has darker, pointier features. His skin is almost purple, appearing as if he wears make-up, his speech cadence is more feminine. He is extremely lean (except when he is a genie) with a more feminine figure. This also paints femininity in males as a negative trait associated with villainy or deviance. Additionally, Aladdin seemed so much more fit than the rest of the characters. He also is made the underdog early on. Everyone loves the underdog. He is easy to root for when his situation feels more relatable, than, say, the Sultan's.

Aladdin seemed a little less superficial than some of the other Disney princess films. Jasmine's emphasis on wanting independence from the palace and "fighting" for love that is not typical for her social standing shows more free will and genuine-ness than lots of the other films. She was also generally likable, whereas many of the other Disney princesses frustrated me a ton.

On a very unrelated note, Jafar is so mean to Iago! If he is just going to be rude to Iago, I don't understand why he keeps Iago around. I suppose Jafar just likes harming other people/creatures, a characteristic of lowered empathy and associated evil.

The movie was also low-key pretty dark. When Jasmine almost gets her hand cut off in the beginning of the film, I got pretty uncomfortable. First of all, it seemed a bit like a heightened stereotype but mostly, it was just really intense. I didn't recall this detail as a kid (that being said, I don't think I recalled any details of the movie aside from the magic carpet song that I thought was just the whole movie). Later, when Aladdin is shackled to a metal ball and otherwise restricted and dropped into water, that is just so intense. This is a children's film! That is so dark! I was thoroughly freaked out and uncomfortable, how does this not scar children?! 

Also, the protagonists seem to take blame for their actions way more often (I suppose this comes before learning from mistakes). For example, Jasmine took blame for when Aladdin was supposed to be killed for kidnapping the princess and Aladdin took blame for Jafar's rise to power.

Finally, I thought the pet tiger was hilarious. It seemed like just an excuse to make the film more exotic, but I really hope it didn't make any children believe that they could own a tiger.

Rumors of Mulan White-Washing

First and foremost, I cannot wait for the release of the Mulan live-action remake in 2018! I am even happier because Disney squelched the rumors that Mulan could have a white male lead. First of all, without changing the basis for the entire story, how could Mulan possibly have a male lead?! I guess they would have the male play a woman, which could in theory work, but feels like it would undermine the entire premise of the original film's story. Then on top of that, white-washing has "hideously xenophobic implications" showing "Hollywood's insistence on erasing Asian people from their own narratives" (see here). Also, Disney said they would host a "global casting call" for an Asian woman actor. It seems bizarre that they would need to take that broad of a measure to fill the role, showing that maybe Asian women are underrepresented in Hollywood. 

Elsa and Anna Hair Hats

On my first day home from fall break, my friends and I were walking around the area and wandered into Bed, Bath, and Beyond (a surprisingly common occurrence for us). At the end of our lap around the floor, we stumbled across some Elsa and Anna (from Frozen) hats. They had braided hair on them. For whatever reason, this prompted my home friend to put 3 on and swing the hair, asking, "how do girls do long hair?"

High School Musical Reflective Post

I am extremely obsessed with High School Musical. Objectively, it is not a great movie. The antics of the antagonist are ridiculous, the chance meeting of Troy and Gabriella and then that they go to school together is so unlikely, the stereotypes are regressive.  Just the chance that the star basketball player on a championship winning team would also have time to star in a pretty impressive high school production is near impossible. That being said, I could watch High School Musical everyday and still love it. I get mildly fed up every time I watch it for the reasons above as well as so many more, but it is such an enjoyable movie.

(https://www.buzzfeed.com/krystieyandoli/confessions-from-obsessed-high-school-musical-fans?utm_term=.ueZpz9y8J2#.rtJn8z2gpO)

Maybe part of my love for it is from the memories with it. Traditionally, my closest camp friends and I watch it together whenever we meet up, which does not get to be that often, so those moments are cherished. This summer, one of the last times I got to spend with all of my close-knit friend group, we watched High School Musical, singing and dancing along, mocking it the whole way through. During my senior year, I danced with 19 other people to a High School Musical song in front of a lot of the school. Maybe, though, it is just the irony of loving a movie this awful.

In the initial back to school scene, no one is that popular that they get a huge crowd around them, cheering, as they get off the bus. Except maybe Troy Bolton. No one is worried about being "The School's Freaky Genius Girl." Except maybe Gabriella Montez. No teacher at a basketball school would confuse a basketball for a piece of hockey equipment. Except for maybe Ms. Darbus. But this movie is just so ridiculous that it is hysterical. It comes off almost as satire on every high school stereotype that has ever existed. Sharpay Evans is a caricature of the stuck-up, spoiled, entitled, drama queen. If a person like her actually exists, I would pay real money to meet her, but only for around 30 seconds, because she'd make me lose faith in humanity.

The musical aspect of High School Musical strengthens its satirical qualities. In the song "Get Your Head In The Game," the same characters who would mock Troy for joining the musical and singing and dancing, sing and dance on the basketball court. Most of the songs seem to accentuate an aspect of the school. And most of those aspects are themselves stereotypical, fake, or exaggerated. Additionally, the singing voices for the characters are often so different from the actor's voice that I have audibly laughed on many occasions for that sole reason. That being said, as ridiculous as the songs are, they are a huge reason of why I love the movie. Sitting in the library, watching it as I write this, I can't keep my foot from tapping or my head from bouncing. I've almost broken out into singing a few times already. Within the first 35-ish minutes, the realest part, to me, feels like when Kelsi, the composer at the piano, stands up and falls, throwing her papers everywhere. As someone who falls down all the time, that is extremely relatable.

High School Musical may even reinforce negative values. The song "Status Quo" tells people not to branch out and have diverse interests. Some characters act as though it is cool to not do homework. A lot of dialogue and scenes indicate that valuing knowledge should make you an outcast and a nerd. Social strata are reinforced throughout the whole film. (As the come together as the movie progresses, this negative aspect starts to disappear, but it is still reinforced.)

Just like Amanda Putnam discussed in "Mean Ladies: Transgendered Villains in Disney Films," seemingly all of the protagonists are heterosexual and adhere to typical gender stereotypes - the men are masculine and the women are feminine. While the main antagonist, Sharpay, is heterosexual and feminine (is it possible Disney attempted to make her hyper-feminine (is that a thing?)?), her brother side-kick, Ryan is coded as homosexual. Between his style choices, interest in the arts, pale skin, lean figure, soft features, and higher voice, he is portrayed with extra femininity. In a movie where hyper-masculinity is desired, it is easy to label Ryan as the "other" for these traits.

(http://www.giantbomb.com/ryan-evans/3005-8587/)

Additionally, the way Troy hides his theatre career - the most feminine of his activities - has been paralleled to someone "in the closet" waiting to come out.

The social phenomenon that is High School Musical is astounding. How a Disney Channel Original Movie rose to such popularity amazes me. This objectively, extremely mediocre movie hold such a special place in the hearts of so many people. The film is strangely popular among people around ages 15-20. I suppose it is the nostalgia and irony of it all.  But what an amazing film.

(https://www.buzzfeed.com/krystieyandoli/confessions-from-obsessed-high-school-musical-fans?utm_term=.ueZpz9y8J2#.rtJn8z2gpO)

Buzzfeed quiz #2

In another effort to shirk my responsibilities (seems to be a common theme), I browsed Buzzfeed for a fun Disney-related quiz. I found one called, "Which Disney World Treat Are You Based On Your Disney Preferences?" Some choices were really tough, like whether I'm more excited for Toy Story 4 or Incredibles 2, but I must have chose right, because Buzzfeed told me that I am (wondering how I can be it) a Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwich. Buzzfeed could not be more correct. At my week long most recent visit to Disney, I probably had 3 of these... Maybe not the best decision but boy are those things delicious.