New Moana Doll At Target

Was at Target the other day (although, to be honest, when am I not?), and I took a stroll down the toy aisle just for kicks.

And guess what? The new Moana merchandise is out! (Yes, even before the film is released.) So if you know someone who's going to want Moana merchandise, get it now before the actual release of the film. 

Not the point. The point is that the Moana doll, much like her character looks so much different than a "traditional" kid's doll. 

Here she is next to Barbie:

Look at the differences in height (Barbie is considerably taller), face shape, neck length, bust and leg size. Sure, Moana's eyes are unrealistically large, but hey. That's animation these days. Overall, she's more built more "realistically" and her legs don't look as if you could snap them like matchsticks.

For comparison, here she is next to Pocahontas (who is actually the only other Disney princess whose legs you can see in the box):

To be fair, Pocahontas has some fairly well-defined legs (for a doll), but she does run around the woods barefoot a lot so....

Is this progress for Disney & Hasbro? Have we finally moved past the princesses whose waists were as thin as their necks? 

Good-bye, Main Street Electrical Parade

Tonight is the end of an era: it's the last night of the Main Street Electrical Parade in the Magic Kingdom. I remember watching some version of the night-time parade when I was little (it used to be SpectroMagic and then they brought back the Electrical Parade) and it was always my favorite--partly because of nostalgia, partly because it means fireworks are coming. :) 

PC: Me @ May 2014

I mean, look at the beautiful scene: parade + castle.

In honor of it's last night, here are a few photos from my first trip to Disney World with my husband in 2011. *sniff*
(They're not the best photos...the 2011 iPhone was so inferior to the current model. :P )

One of my goals is to be the Fairy Godmother at Disney when I retire. And one of the reasons for that goal was that I wanted to be in the parade, on the back of this pumpkin coach. #adulting

We Need To Talk About That Black-ish Trip To Disney World

So...in the grand tradition of ABC sitcoms, the Johnsons from ABC's Black-ish went to Disney World in last week's season premiere. (I grew up on the TGIF tradition and always loved the episodes of Family Matters, Full House and Boy Meets World where they went to Disney World.)

Now, I love the show. I love Disney. I even love the way the season premiere started:

"I love feeling special. Getting the first-class treatment. It says "American as Apple Pie and Baseball." [...] But look -- it's not just me. Everybody loves special treatment. It's the thing that says: 'you're different, you're the best, you deserve shrimp.' So that's why when it came time to plan a family vacation, I knew I wanted to ball out."
"Disney World, huh? Nice."
"Not just Disney World--Disney World VIP."

This is the hallmark of Disney customer service -- make sure everyone has a magical vacation.

Now, of course, how magical that vacation is depends (a lot, actually) on how much money you spend. The more you spend, the "more magical" (re: better) your vacation. You get seated faster for dining reservations, you get more frequent bus service, you have better concierge service at your hotel.

It's also the pinnacle of middle-class vacation destinations -- hence the importance of the Johnsons going there and "buying" Cody the tour guide.

The main plot of the episode is how Dre hires a Disney VIP Tour Guide to give the kids the VIP treatment (behind the scenes tours + Fastpass+++ for all the rides) and how that isn't necessary to enjoy Disney as a family -- but what bugged me was the subplot with Bow and Dre's parents. Since Bow is pregnant, she can't ride any of the rides (been there!), so she goes off with Ruby and Pops, who've gone to EPCOT (presumably to drink, since Magic Kingdom is (largely) a dry park).

This is where I started to get irked -- because it's almost as if the producers were like, "Yeah...let's forget that a lot of our viewing audience may have actually been to Disney World. Who needs to worry about continuity?"

Because here's the thing: Bow goes to join Ruby and Pops at EPCOT -- only when she joins up with them, they're sitting at a bar in Animal Kingdom -- specifically, the Dawa bar in Harambe village near Tusker House restaurant. Is it bad that I know this? That I am THAT familiar with park geography? (I'm going to say 'no.') You can tell it's Dawa bar from the distinctive bar design (see a pic here from the Disney Food Blog):

They're supposed to be in EPCOT. (Never mind that Dre and the kids were riding Splash Mountain one minute, then they're in line for Test Track, then they're back in MK for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. NO.)

[Read more below -- pic-heavy post.]

You Can Be Feminine AND Feminist

I'm in the middle of Googling Mulan images for a post about the up-coming live-action adaptation, and I came across this image:

PC: Rebloggy

YAAAAAS.

This. All this.

One of the major criticisms thrown at Disney is that there are a lot of pretty, delicate, feminine heroines. This is true. Nobody is denying this.

But the implication -- or, sometimes, the overt, explicit, statement -- is that this BAD. That being feminine is somehow bad. Or weak. Or "less."

And I do see some of the counter-arguments: that Disney princesses are always feminine and that can lead to the assumption that only feminine girls can be princesses/heroines. That strong females are often the villains and that can imply that strong, powerful women are threatening and evil.

But the thing is...I'm not sure where "feminine" and "weak" became synonymous. Cinderella was basically living in a household where everyone hated her and heaped at least emotional abuse on her, and girl still got up every morning with a smile and a song. That is not weakness.

You can be kind and "girly" and wear pink poofy dresses (or more form-fitting blue dresses with a thigh-high slit) and like glitter and make-up and romantic-comedies and it doesn't make you weak. You can do/like all of those things and still be strong.

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. 

Emma Watson as Belle -- New Images Leaked Online?

Okay. By now, you know how much I'm looking forward to Disney's live-action version of Beauty and the Beast starring Hermione Granger Emma Watson as Belle.

This weekend, new images from the film were allegedly leaked online -- specifically, images of Emma Watson as Belle which aside from that one shot in the trailer, have been unsurprisingly scarce.

[I say "allegedly" because I'm not entirely sure that they aren't Photoshopped/fan-creations. My first few hits on Google (e.g. ComicBookMovie and Harpers Bazaar led me to broken links....maybe because they're not as legit as fans want them to be?

This is the "still" that makes me the happiest -- if I had to guess, I'd say it's from the opening sequence where Belle is wandering through the town and ends up in the bookstore, only to pick out about "far-off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!" I suppose it could be the Beast's library (although she wears the green dress for that scene in the animated movie), but it's almost identical to the town bookstore (the ladder helps).

Emma Watson is so perfect to make "The beauty and The beast" 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/wIYwV05KKv

— Lorena Alves (@lorena_alves04_) September 30, 2016

This one...I am less excited about. Not sure why. It looks very stiff and posed, and an odd image to "leak." The one above could almost be a trailer shot or movie still, but this one...looks like it should be a promotional image. This is the one that concerns me about doctored photos -- we've been fooled before!

Emma Watson’s Belle Dances With Beast in New Beauty and the Beast Images pic.twitter.com/xlgqtnm0Od

— Great-Stuff (@Splurgehub) September 30, 2016

At the very least -- her hair is styled consistently in both photos (center part), so that's something.