Walt Disney Confessions -- Villains

This morning in class, we had some fantastic discussions about gender transgression & deviance in Disney villains -- my morning classes are slaying these discussions. (My afternoon class is too -- we're just talking about different things.) The discussions didn't go exactly as I'd planned -- but I'm okay with that. (Or, more accurately, I've learned to be okay with that. Six years ago, New-Teacher-Me would have panicked about deviating my lesson plan.) But I've found that when we do deviate, it's usually for good reasons -- that we're talking about things that we have strong opinions about and the conversation goes in odd, unpredictable turns and that's a good thing.

Today? We talked about Ruby Rose and gender fluidity and HB2*.

All of this is to say that, after class, during my lunch break, I was trolling around on Walt Disney Confessions, easily the quickest way for me to fall down an Internet Black Hole/Timesuck.

It started with this one -- because, honestly, "OMG DISNEY VILLAINS ARE SO COOL" was basically the inspiration for the villains theme this Fall. Also--yes. They do get the best songs. I rock out to "Be Prepared" and "Poor Unfortunate Souls" every semester on the First Day because who isn't empowered by a good, evil-villain laugh?

Which led me to this one on Hans:

Because "Disney (Princess) Villain = Ugly" is basically the theme for this "unit." 

And, I love that this person offers up "proof" that children/people look for reflections of themselves in Disney and #thisiswhyweneeddiversity. 

Which led me, finally, to this one (among others; so. many. others):

SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE.

First of all--I'm glad I don't know (at least, I don't think I know) any of the Disney fans who say that if you like Hans it means you support manipulative sociopaths. That's quite a leap in logic, IMHO. (That'd be like saying, "You like Dolores Umbridge as a Harry Potter villain? Clearly, you support the corporal punishment of schoolchildren." No. Just no. You can like a character as a villain and NOT support the (fictional) actions they take.)

Second--Interesting that Maleficent is everyone's favorite -- or, that people are okay if Maleficent is your favorite. What? You don't condemn people for unfair and trivial persecution of innocent children? 

Maleficent isn't my favorite villain -- but it's interesting to think about why she is to a lot of people. I may have mentioned this when the live-action film came out (and my subsequent disappointment with it) but in the 1959 animated Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent is just. so. evil. Like, unequivocally. 

Didn't get invited to a royal christening? No problem -- be fake okay with it and then BAM. Condemn the child to death.

Upset that your minions are, well, minions and didn't know that babies grow up? No problem -- take matters into your own hands and solve your own problems.

Catch Prince Philip instead of Aurora? No problem -- chain him up and (magically?) keep him alive for the next 100 years until he's too old for Aurora to ever love him. (That's cold.)

Facing imminent defeat at the hands of Philip and the Good Fairies? No problem -- TURN INTO A DRAGON.

Unapologetically bad-ass. 

*I didn't write this Huffpost article (clearly) but it does articulate my equally clearly bias on the subject. I don't support HB2 but that's not the goal of this blog.