Let's Go To The Movies: Disney Princesses Back In Theaters!

So, I don't have a lot of spare time to go to the movies -- still waiting to see Crazy Rich Asians. And Mission Impossible. And Mamma Mia 2. -- but this is tempting. If only my daughter was a little older, these would be perfect to take her to! While Disney movies can hold her attention like nothing else can -- except maybe Dora the Explorer -- I don't think we're quite at the point where we can sit in a movie theater.

I'm hoping Frozen 2 will be her first theater-movie, but I don't know how she'll do with a movie she's never seen before. Honestly, she's more likely to sit through Moana because she knows the movie by heart.

Our local AMC theater is at Southpoint mall, y'all! Happy Fall!

Wreck-It Ralph 2: The Disney Princesses Unite!

A few days ago, this post popped up on my feed:

A couple of important things to note:

(1) Alan Tudyk is back! Given that his original character, King Candy/Turbo, was the villain and (spoiler!) got his just desserts, and also given that Alan Tudyk has become Disney Animation Studios' good-luck charm -- I was worried that he wouldn't be in this film. Worries no more. 

(2) Taraji P. Henson's character looks awesome.

(3) Perhaps, most importantly, our first look at the Disney Princesses all together is here!

Here's a bigger look at the picture:

📷: Purewow via Disney

Again, there are a couple of things to note here:

(1) This is awesome. And you will never get me to say otherwise. I imagine this to be some sort of super-cool Princess secret society. Or, resort/spa where they can relax and get away from princessy-duties.

(2) Excluding Vanellope, there are 11 princesses present:

• (2a) Interestingly, Anna, Elsa and Moana are all here -- even though they haven't been officially inducted into the princess court.
• (2b) All the First Wave princesses are present -- Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora -- even though their voice actors are no longer with us. (I always assumed they'd have different actors, so it'll be fun/interesting to see who they cast.)
  Also--Aurora is in her pink dress. Don't get me started.
• (2c) 3/5 of the Second Wave princesses are present: Belle, Jasmine, & Pocahontas are there, but Ariel and Mulan aren't. More on this in a second.
• (2d) 2/3 of the Third Wave princesses are present -- Tiana and Rapunzel, but Merida isn't. (I'm not counting Moana yet.)

Given the panorama-type view of the shot, it's possible that the three of them are just off-screen (and maybe we'll see them in the trailer tomorrow). 

Shockingly, (she said sarcastically), the internet is a little upset about Mulan not being included -- thanks, Buzzfeed!

Which, I know they ask about Ariel in the sub-title, but still. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to count the princesses and figure out that not *every* Disney princess is there -- I counted 3.  But there's a lot of ignorance misinformation in this post. 

WHERE’S MY BITCH FA MULAN https://t.co/B2c6JUAtbx

— josh (@bernaldont) May 31, 2018

Like that whole jibber-jabber about how Mulan isn't *technically* a princess. Yes. We talk about this a lot in my class -- i.e., how do we determine a Disney princess? Do you have to be born one? Can you marry into royalty? And what about different cultures? After all, princesses are primarily (not exculsively!) a Western concept, especially in the way Disney portrays them. Is Jasmine a princess, as the daughter of a sultan? Is Pocahontas a princess, as the daughter of a chief? (Maui would clear this up.)  But I digress. -- The point is: when Andy Mooney created the princess franchise in the early 2000s, they had to come up with some criteria. After all, Tinker Bell was included at one point -- but then they went and did the whole Fairies franchise ($$$), so she was out. Any female character who is included in the Royal Court, is an official princess, regardless of birth, marriage, or any other factors. See below:

📷: WDWThemeParks

All 11 princesses are there -- and yes, this is before Frozen and Moana, but there hasn't been another "induction" since.

So then they point to these cast photos that were taken at the 2017 D23 Expo (which I thought I blogged about, but I can't find it. Which makes sense. I was so. very. pregnant. in July of 2017 and also running around after a 1-year-old.)

What these images tell us is that, from left to right in the second picture, Paige O'Hara (Belle), Irene Bedard (Pocahontas), Mandy Moore (Rapunzel), Auli'i Cravalho (Moana), Sarah Silverman (Vanellope), Kristen Bell (Anna), Kelly MacDonald (Merida), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), Linda Larkin (Jasmine) and Jodi Benson (Ariel) are all there. When I first read this story, I assumed Ming-Na Wen (Mulan) wasn't there because of Agents of Shield commitments.

I'm just going to ignore this comment from the Buzzfeed post -- But interestingly the voice actors of Snow White, Cinderella, Elsa, and Aurora were not present, even though they are in the shot from the movie. -- because, you know, LOGIC. (Snow White came out in 1937, guys. It's a safe bet that Adriana Caselotti isn't still alive -- she passed in 1997 -- and even if she were, she'd be pretty old.)

So, yeah. Merida and Ariel will be there -- although no one seemed particularly worried about here in the Buzzfeed post  😢 -- and it's a safe bet that Mulan will be too.

So, let's just enjoy the awesomeness of all the princesses together and hope that we see them all in the trailer tomorrow.

Disney Princesses As: Career Women!

May, 2018: We're still re-imagining Disney Princesses in inventive ways. #somethingsneverchange

The latest one imagines Disney Princesses as modern-day career women:

via ScaryMommy

The collection is by Matt Burt and he's put a lot of thought into the careers for each character.

Chronologically, here they are:

Snow White -- Leading Psychologist

Cinderella -- Animal Rights Activist

Aurora -- CEO of Spinning Wheel Coffee 

Ariel -- Pop Star & Record Producer 

Belle -- University Chancellor

Jasmine -- UN Ambassador

Pocahontas -- Environmental Activist (I mean, duh)

Mulan -- Title IX Lawyer

Tiana -- Award Winning Chef (I mean, duh)

Rapunzel -- Neurologist

Merida -- Two Time Olympian (Archery & Equestrian)

Elsa & Anna* -- Climate Change Scientists

Moana -- Officer in the Navy

*Not official princesses, but, a common mistake.

Okay, one, it's clear that Burt put a lot of thought and rationale into each of these career choices.
Two--I love that each of them is an empowering career for the character -- you've got chancellors and ambassadors and scientists. (Yay for Women in STEM!)

But.

I wouldn't be me if I didn't have nit-picky thoughts.

1. Most obvious -- Tiana & Pocahontas: really, any other career options for these two wouldn't work.

2. My favorite "new career" -- Aurora: I love that she's the CEO of a coffee company. Tongue-in-cheek, but oddly appropriate.

3. No...just no -- Snow White as a "Leading Psychologist" and Rapunzel as a "Neurologist": Nope. Not buying it. While I appreciate that Burt made Snow a "leading" psychologist who cares for her clients but also presents at conferences, I...would not put my faith in her as a psychologist. If anything, I think she'd made a great preschool/kindergarten/elementary school teacher. Her cheerful disposition plus her ability to make people actually wash their hands? Textbook.

And Rapunzel? Yeah, cool. Neurologist, doctor, med school, blah blah blah. But the thing I love about the end of Tangled is that Flynn tells us that she learned to rule and govern her people and was a great princess/queen. So, yeah. I would have liked to see her be a senator or even a female president. 

    

4. Miscellaneous thoughts, from someone who has clearly spent too much time thinking about this:

• I guess I see Cinderella as an Animal Rights Activist -- but maybe she and Ariel join forces together. I don't love Ariel as a Pop Star -- because she's my favorite, and it seems a shallow career -- but...I suppose Ariel is kind of shallow, so it fits. :/ 
• Again, I love that Belle is the chancellor of a university, but again, it kinda doesn't fit her personality. I don't see her as an authoritative decision-maker -- something I think Once Upon A Time captures nicely with Belle as a librarian -- maybe an English professor at best. 
• Mulan & Moana -- For some reason, I'm just "meh" about these. I think it's because they seem too rebellious for such straight-laced careers. I'm pretty sure Mulan would do something -- with the best of intentions, of course -- that would end up getting her disbarred. And Moana? She relies too much on emotion and instinct to be a good naval officer -- I can't see her taking orders well. 

Like I said, I've clearly spent too much time thinking about this! 

A Real Life Fairy Tale

As an unabashed Anglophile, I've always been "meh" about the modern Royal Family. (I prefer the underrated soap-opera-y goodness of E!'s The Royals. Like, I know it's trashy and ridiculous, but there's something comforting about it -- and it's kind of fun to imagine what goes on behind the closed doors of royal palaces. Us Weekly -- or one of them -- shows that celebrities are just like us, but are royals? I'd like to think so, but sometimes it's hard to imagine. Although articles like this make it a little easier -- Huffpost's "Experts Dissect Meghan Markle’s Mother’s Body Language With The Royal Family." Although it's weird to think of Charles -- arguably the villain in Diana's narrative -- as "the nice guy.")

But I digress.

The point is, I didn't wake up early to watch The Royal Wedding. I didn't have any plans to, despite thinking that Harry & Meghan make a more relatable couple than William and Kate ever did. But that's a can of worms for another day. But then my husband had the coverage on, and I was curious what kind of dress Meghan Markle was wearing as well as what celebrities were invited/attending. (Sidebar: I love that the cast of Suits were invited...to the ceremony at least. I don't know why, but it makes me happy. I see it as genuine affection.)

But I digress again. The point is, I got sucked into the coverage and as I was watching the highlights, two things struck me. One, how modern, American, and black the ceremony was (for a royal wedding) and two, how Meghan Markle was basically Cinderella -- in appearance, not necessarily her life story, proud feminist that she is. When I saw her walking down the stairs, Disney fan that I am, this is what I thought of:

via Cosmo

And, thankfully, I'm not alone. Check out this article from Cosmo, and this tweet: 

A Disney fairy tale turned reality. Meghan Markle is the real life Cinderella #royalwedding pic.twitter.com/DpLoYZZXiT

— Umeh and 99 others (@UmehOMA) May 19, 2018

Aaaand now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Disney Princess Toms

Today, my first pairs of Toms arrived in the mail. I know they've been popular for awhile, and people swear they're super comfy, but...I'm always a little reluctant to join the bandwagon. But these had strawberries and oranges and carrots on them -- and they just seemed so summery.

Plus, I wanted to see if their sizing was accurate (it is) since I came across this news the other day:

I blogged about them a while ago -- and the big news was that they'd be featuring rarely seen concept art from the Disney Archives. 

Now we've got some close ups of the art -- and I have to say, the Snow White ones are my favorite, which is a surprise to me.

The Cinderella ones are actually pretty cool -- I have a friend who is probably eyeing the ones with the mice, since Gus is her favorite character -- and I really like the concept art of Cinderella's mom's dress that the mice fix for her. There's also a nice simplicity to the Glass Slipper ones, but I'm not sure they'll warrant the (inflated) price tag.

The Sleeping Beauty ones were the ones I was actually most excited for. Not because of Aurora (because let's face it -- the movie's named after her, but she's not the protagonist) but because of the Good Fairies, particularly Merrywether, who's always been a favorite of mine. But...meh.

On the plus side, at least Aurora's wearing the blue dress. The prevalence of her in the pink dress in the merchandise seriously annoys me. (I get that when Disney made Cinderella's dress blue instead of silver, they decided they couldn't have two princesses in blue dresses, but still.)

But the Snow White ones? I really like them! 

Maybe because she's the OG princess, or maybe because they're blue, but these are my favorite. Aaaand I'll probably be ordering a pair when they start selling them. 

And a Little Mermaid pair? I'll take those next please, Disney. 

Disney + Toms: Break Glass Ceilings, Not Glass Slippers

Confession: I'm not a "shoe girl."

As a swimmer, I basically spent my entire adolescence barefoot, and I was the girl who wore flip-flops unless there was snow on the ground. I've worn the same pairs of work shoes/heels for years because they're comfy and I dread the thought of breaking in a new pair of shoes and/or finding a new pair that fits. (Shout out to Man Mur Shoe Shop for saving my shoes and giving them new heels and soles.)

So I've never owned or even tried on a pair of Toms, even though I have several friends who swear by them.

Welp. That might change. Good little Disney consumer that I am, nothing tempts me to buy a new product more than a collaboration with Disney.

Apparently, the collection will feature the OG princesses -- Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora -- and will feature "rarely seen original artwork from the Disney archives." 

WHAT?!? I am all in. If the artwork above is any indication, these will be beautiful. And while the OG Princesses aren't my favorite, I'm more on board with Cinderella these days and the three fairies (especially Merrywether) have always been my favorites. 

*sigh*

Take all my moneys, Disney. 

Disney + Winter Olympics

Confession: I love the Olympics. Like, a lot.

Obviously, I love the Summer Olympics more, since it's the only time my sport gets coverage, in large part due to Michael Phelps, but still. This is basically me:

via Buzzfeed

But when it comes to the Winter Olympics, I am a Figure Skating Junkie. When I was little, and unaware of my own clumsiness, I wanted to be a figure skater -- I idolized Kristi Yamaguchi; I remember the media coverage of the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal (even though I didn't fully understand it); and I checked out all the biographies of figure skaters that the Cary library had when we first moved to North Carolina. (I guess I thought moving to the South would be good for a figure skating career? IDK.)

And...yes. I am totally invested in 2018 Figure Skating. I was Team USA for the team competition; Team Adam Rippon for Men's (he is fabulous and I want to be friends with him); Team Shib Sibs for Ice Dancing; and Team Mirai Nagasu for Ladies. (Which is what I'm currently watching...and probably staying up way too late for.)

Regardless. I just enjoyed watching Bradie Tennell skate because her music was selections from Patrick Doyle's score of the 2015 live-action Cinderella. The US ladies are not having a great night, but damn is Doyle's music not beautiful. The video below isn't from the Olympics, but it's the same program:

And, then of course, Twitter didn't disappoint with the commentary:

Johnny Weir just called Bradie Tennell’s skating to A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes “provincial”, as though he doesn’t know the difference between Belle and Cinderella. 🙄 #Olympics2018

— Laura Birek (@iwriteplays) February 23, 2018

^^^Same girl. I thought the exact same thing. Who uses "provincial" and doesn't mean to allude to Beauty and the Beast?!

OK, Bradie Tennell. I see you took your visualization exercises very seriously. This "Cinderella Story" theme complete with "A Dream is a Wish the Heart Makes," the blue dress, and tiara is very on the nose. (I don't hate it. Long live Cinderella.) #olympics

— trish hi & bai 👋🏽 (@trishsayshi) February 23, 2018

FWIW, I didn't hate it either.

About Fergie & That National Anthem...

So, Fergie did a thing. You probably heard about it. It made headlines.

Not being an NBA fan, I didn't watch it live. Or even the first few times the story popped up in my social media feeds. But then I caved and watched it. And...TBH, I was expecting worse. Now, maybe it was truly terrible and I'm just so tone-deaf I can't tell. (I don't think so, because I am REAL picky about my Ariels and Elphabas -- I've seen Wicked like 20 times, and god forbid an Elphaba doesn't nail that mix of power and vulnerability or hit the notes in "The Wizard and I" -- she loses me.)

Anyway. Long story short: I was expecting worse. It was...different, for sure, but not cringe-worthy.

But when I saw this? I LOLed. Maybe it's because I watched this scene three different times in class this week, but I appreciated the humor.

A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Make

For the longest time, Cinderella was a film I hated to teach. I didn't remember much about the film, but I remembered that I didn't like it. And, after all, Cinderella is the most popular princess, so anything that's popular can't possibly live up to the hype. (It's this mindset that caused me to refuse to read Harry Potter for years. Whoops.)

But then I watched it a few years ago when a student wanted to write a really fascinating paper on gender transgression in the 1950 film. But when I read her proposal, I was skeptical: The King has a stereotypically feminine obsession with grand babies? And acts uber-masculine to make up for this transgression? I don't remember ANY of this.... So, I rewatched it. And promptly gave the student the go-ahead to write a really fascinating and unique argument. (To this day, it's still one of my favorites.)

The point is -- Cinderella is not what I remember -- and Cinderella (the character) isn't quite as passive and spineless as academic critics sometimes want us to believe. So I added it to my syllabus.

And re-watching pieces of it yesterday (three times) just made me think of something:

#1 -- Cinderella is actually pretty relatable. I mean...this is me basically every morning (just sub a dog and two tiny humans for the birds):

via GIPHY

#2 -- This may be the most unrealistic part of the whole movie. She sleeps on two braids all night and has magically beautiful wavy hair when she takes them out? Nope. Her hair would be kinked and frizzed all over the place. Now that's Disney magic.

via GIPHY

But then...

Once Upon A Time -- Hyperion Heights

Confession: I've been a fan of ABC's Once Upon A Time before it even aired. A show about Disney-versions-of fairy-tale-characters who were living in a modern setting? SOLD.  I loved everything about it -- especially Lana Parilla's Evil Queen/Regina. Seriously. IMHO, she was the best part of the show. (Folks at The Nerdist agree too.)

I even stuck with the show when it got a bit ridiculous. I mean, I know shows "jump the shark" after a certain point, and when you're dealing with fairy-tales and fantasy, that's almost inevitable but...still. I could have done without the whole foray into the Land Of Untold Stories, and I'm pretty sure the addition of Jasmine, Aladdin and Jafar in season 6 was kinda pointless.

So when I read that the show was basically rebooting for this season -- with most of the major cast members leaving -- I was skeptical. Wouldn't that normally be the kiss of death for a show?

But I just watched the season premiere tonight and I gotta say: this might actually be a good thing for the show:

1. Both Lana Parrilla (Regina) and Robert Carlyle (Rumple) are still around, which phew. (So is Hook, but IDK why he's there so the show's got some explaining to do on that front.)
2. Henry Mills is all grown up -- and literally a different actor. Nothing against Jared Gilmore -- he was a great child actor -- but I felt like the show didn't really know what to do with him after a point. (See: The Author storyline.) Now that he's the focus, and portrayed by someone else, the character can grow.
3. I'm intrigued by the shift in the central story from "Snow White" to "Cinderella" -- if not a little skeptical. Yes, Snow White was Disney's first film but Cinderella is by far the more popular story. I'm curious to see their take on it.
4. I really like the new supporting characters -- including Reign's Adelaide Kane as Drizella. Although--where is Anastasia? Why is there only one wicked stepsister (who may or may not be actually wicked)? And her American accent game is on point. 

But the thing that I appreciated the most -- as a children's literature scholar and all-around fairy tale nerd -- came fairly early in the episode. Original Henry is talking to Regina about why he's not going to college and instead taking a gap year to go explore other fairy tale realms. I don't remember the exact line, but he basically acknowledges that there are so many other versions of the stories that he didn't know about -- like a French Snow White, an Italian Snow White, etc. Yeah, he makes it about him -- he's not in any of the other stories and wants to know why -- but I think this acknowledgement of other versions of the fairy tales is a big deal: critics love to lambast Disney for overshadowing those other versions and, in their minds, erasing them. 

There's also another moment, when New-Henry meets New-Cinderella, and he tells her he has to help get her story back on track. She asks if her story has a happy ending -- do these people know they're characters from stories? I'm not really clear where the show landed on that -- and he tells her that yes, it does: in most versions, the prince has to find her first, so she leaves him a sign, in this case the glass slipper. It's subtle, yes, but again, it's an acknowledgement that there are other versions of these stories than the one that comes to mind when you say "Cinderella" or "Snow White." 

Kudos, Disney. Or, well, Kudos, writers. 

Disney Princesses As...Living in 2017

I haven't done a "Disney Princesses As" post in a while, so it was nice to stumble across these images: according to BoredPanda, the artist is Chilean digital artist Fernanda Suarez, and his current project is to imagine what Disney Princesses would look like if they were living in 2017. Check out his Instagram here.

Setting aside the fact that he is ridiculously talented in a way that I could never even dream of aspiring to, his vision is interesting...most of them look edgier to me, maybe even a little sinister?

For one thing, Jasmine and Pocahontas don't actually look that different, IMHO:

Is there a commentary on exorcized beauty here? Several critics have pointed out that the non-white princesses are more sexualized than their white counterparts, so maybe it's not surprising? (Although, I don't know what it says about 2017 that being "modern" is "sultry"...although maybe it's just the discrepancy from the softer, more innocent animated versions?)

Snow White and Cinderella kinda have this whole zombie/supernatural/paranormal vibe going on...I think it's the eyes. They both have this sultry, come hither vibe, but the coloring gives them that supernatural edge. Plus, nothing says temptation like an apple.

I think Mulan is my favorite though. Maybe it's because she looks so different from the traditional animated version, and maybe because Suarez didn't seem to make her hyper-feminine and fit her into a "delicate" princess mold.

Happy First Day of Fall!

Fall is, without a doubt, my favorite season. I was raised in the Hudson Valley in New York, so I grew up with beautiful fall foliage, chilly nights and mornings, and some of my best memories involve going apple picking with my family. Falls aren't quite the same in the South, but the minute that first hint of crispness enters the air...I love it. 

Dania Ramirez as Cinderella on Once Upon A Time

I'll admit that I'm a bit behind on Once Upon A Time -- mainly because my husband felt it jumped the shark a few seasons ago and lost interest, so it's not one of the shows we watch together at night. And, with a 15-month-old toddler running around and my perhaps-naive goal to limit her screen-time/exposure, I don't have a lot of free time to just bingewatch shows these days.

I have kept up with the "big" news though -- like the fact that the main characters aren't returning for this coming season and that there's another time jump, where Henry will apparently be older (grown-up?). They also hired 5 new female actors -- #girlpower -- to join the show, and we learned this weekend that Dania Ramirez (who I know as Maya from Heroes) will, apparently, be Cinderella on the show:

PC: ABC/Disney 2017

I'll admit that I find this a bit confusing since, within the realm of Once Upon A Time, we've already "met" Cinderella: she had a relatively minor role (given her comparative popularity as a fairy tale princess) in the show, but definitely "looked" familiar:

Blonde hair, blue eyes, white. (Even though I firmly maintain that the original 1950 animated Cinderella was not as blonde as she's animated today: she's definitely more of a strawberry blonde/auburn girl.)

So, IDK how that's going to work, because Ramirez is definitely sporting a Cinderella-style dress in the picture above.
But, as a recent Huffpost article points out, Ramirez's casting is a bigger deal than just "we've-already-had-the-Cinderella-storyline":

The article mentions that we'll meet "different versions" of familiar characters -- which, again, IDK how that will play out and doesn't make me feel invested in the show but the fact that Disney is taking it's most iconic Disney princess (and traditionally "most white") and casting an adult Dominican-American actress in the role is a huge deal. After all, both of their previous Latina princesses haven't really made strides in the diversity department: see, for instance, "Princess Sofia Is Not Latina" and "Disney's New Princess Elena Probably Doesn't Count as Latina."

Fingers crossed Ramirez's version of Cinderella will change that. 

Disney Fashion -- Golden Globes Edition

I'm not normally one to obsess over fashion trends and who-was-wearing-what at the latest awards shows -- but when you invoke Disney Princesses....I'm going to at least take a look.

And people love to invoke Disney when it comes to awards show dresses -- some are a bit silly and there's more to "princess fashion" than Disney.

But Maisie Williams (a.k.a. Arya Stark from Game of Thrones) won the Disney Princess Award of the Night, IMHO:

PC: Maisie Williams' Instagram

The caption reads: "channeling belle with a side order of tiana."

That top knot! That yellow dress! That posture!

Slay, girl. Slay.

Runner-Up goes to Zoe Saldana in her Cinderella-esque gown -- although that might just be a coincidence.

Disney Princesses As....Hogwarts Students

This week in "Disney Princesses As...": they're Hogwarts students! Or, at the very least, they've been sorted into Hogwarts Houses.

While this warms my nerdy heart, it isn't exactly something new....Disney Princess Reimaginer Extraordinaire Isaiah Stevens has done it, and so has a Deviant Artist named Annabella (hers might be my favorite).

My point is: it's been done before, so why do it again unless you disagree with the Sorting Results? And there are definitely some different results here.

Some of them make total sense (a.k.a. I totally agree with them). Like, for instance:

PC: Disney via HelloGiggles

This makes total sense: Snow White and Cinderella with their unrelenting optimism and kindness? Total Hufflepuff. And they are clearly unafraid of toil (as all good Hufflepuffs are) because they not only clean for the baddies in their lives, but they do it with a smile and a song.

Also making total sense?

PC: Disney via HelloGiggles

Yah. Mulan and Merida are both clearly Gryffindors. I mean...the name of Merida's movie is Brave, so I totally get that one.

Also one I like, but hadn't really thought of before:

PC: Disney via HelloGiggles

Ariel is totally the Luna Lovegood of Disney Princesses. And, she's my favorite princess, so it makes sense I'd love that she's sorted into my house.

Speaking of my favorites....

PC: Disney via HelloGiggles

I'm sorry. Elsa is NOT a Slytherin. No. Just no. She is 100% a Ravenclaw. I'm not sure how being "grounded in reality" disqualifies you from being a Ravenclaw -- not all Ravenclaws are like Luna. (Cho Chang was a Ravenclaw, after all. Not that that really helps my case.) The thing that bugs me here is that Elsa is NOT ambitious -- a very Slytherin quality, and not necessarily in a negative way. But "an ambitious leader" wouldn't retreat from a position to power to a place of solitude as Elsa does: a Slytherin would not go build and rule an ice power in isolation. A Slytherin would most definitely stay and rule, regardless of how people thought of him/her. 

Hans, for example, is absolutely a Slytherin -- but he's not a princess. Which I think is the flaw here: Disney princesses are all inherently good; not too many of them are going to belong in Slytherin, even if you read the Slytherin qualities positively. There's going to be a lot of Hufflepuff (First Wave) and a lot of Gryffindor. 

But, if you just look at the princesses, somebody's got to be in Slytherin. Which is why this happens:

PC: Disney via HelloGiggles

Again, I say: NO. JUST NO. I get the ambition part -- which is why I see Slytherin, but Tiana ultimately gives up her dream of a restaurant when Facilier offers it to her: she chooses love/Naveen over the restaurant, which again, I'm not sure a Slytherin would do. (Hence why she's a Disney princess.) But more than that -- Tiana's defined by her work ethic -- she is as unafraid of toil as Snow White and Cinderella are, probably even more so. (I've argued that Tiana is basically an updated version of Cinderella; very similar rags-to-riches story, just with more modern complexity.) The Sorting Hat tells us that "Those patient Hufflepuffs are true / And unafraid of toil." Yeah. Tiana saved for her restaurant penny by penny for years: that is textbook Hufflepuff, right there.

I know I take this all way too seriously, but Disney and Harry Potter are two of my favorite things so I love when they collide. 

#falliscoming

The world of Game of Thrones may be harping on about how "winter is coming," but me? I'm excited for Fall.

Beyond excited.

It is, without a doubt, my favorite season: I was born in the Fall (#scorpio) as were my mom and brother; I got married in the Fall; there's Halloween and Thanksgiving, and the return of so many of my favorite things: cooler weather, coats, boots, chunky sweaters, scarves, apples, pumpkins, crisp leaves, a general feeling of "coziness" and I'll even lump football in there as well, because I absolutely love falling asleep on the couch on a Sunday afternoon while my husband watches football.

So when one of my friends sent me this, I laughed out loud and loved it:

Especially since I got my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season this morning. Not entirely sure why I was able to get it on August 31st -- as September 1st definitely would have made more sense -- but maybe my fairy godmother sprinkled a little extra pixie dust over my day. 

It's baaaaack! #psl #pumpkinseason #starbucks #daymade #pumpkinmakeseverythingbetter #basicwhitegirl #dontcare #falliscoming

A photo posted by serrendipity (@serrendipity) on Aug 31, 2016 at 4:52am PDT

Update Your Christmas List: Lego is Releasing a Cinderella Castle Set

...and no, I don't mean the one that already exists:

 PC: Target

That is Cinderella's "Romantic Castle," and is only 646 pieces -- plus, it's meant for ages 6-12. Key word: meant. 

(Okay. I don't actually own this one. But I do own the Frozen ones. Don't judge. Much like Disney, Lego is for kids of all ages.)

The thing about the Disney Legos is that they're unequivocally for girls: they're in the pink boxes (much like the Lego fairies in the purple boxes) and are often found in the "girl toy" aisle. Even at Target, which notoriously took a stand against gender labeling, the Disney Legos aren't with the other (re: boy) Legos, they're with the girl toys. Only one aisle over, to be sure--and you could probably make the argument that there's just no room, but why aren't the Star Wars Legos in their own aisle?

I digress.

Starting September 1st, you can buy a legit, grown-up, beautiful Cinderella castle set from Lego:

PC: GeekDad

 Look at this thing--it's absolutely beautiful.

And Definitely not for kids -- the ages on the box say "16+" and at 4,080 pieces, it's got over 6x the number of pieces of the "Princess castle." (Of course, it's Disney, so the price tag has gone up as well: at $350.00, it's about 6x the cost as well. At least they're consistent?)

But look at the detail!

PC: GeekDad

It's not just a hollow facade--there's an open back with fun details like a glass slipper, a magic mirror, Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel, and Aladdin's lamp!

PC: GeekDad

I know what my husband and I will be getting each other for Christmas this year...

...to see more of the high-res pics, visit this post by the GeekDad website.

Confession Time: I adore Blake Lively.

She was the perfect Bridget in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Confession #2: I've seen the movie AND its sequel; I've read all the books. And I love them. The perks of studying Children's Literature?). She slayed as Serena van der Woodson on Gossip Girl. And--lucky girl--she's married to Ryan Reynolds.

Now, our girl Blake has been in the news quite a bit lately. Sure, there was that whole "LA face with an Oakland booty" Instagram "scandal" (I use the term "scandal" loosely, because social media gets outraged over anything and everything) and while I love Sir Mix-a-lot's defense of her, that's not the news I mean.

No, Blake Lively is dressing like a real-life Disney princess. First, there was her Cinderella-inspired look in Cannes:

(c) Vanity Fair

And then there was this dress (also at Cannes) that cannot have been inspired by anything other than Elsa's "Let It Go" dress -- I mean, that thigh-high slit!  that cape and train! those sparkles! (She also captioned the photo "Let It Glo" so...there's that.)

(c) elle

And, in case you're not entirely convinced, consider Exhibits A & B: Blake Lively likes to instagram her jewelry and accessories (and honestly, given the bling she's wearing, can you blame her?) and one photo is captioned "Bibbidi Bobbidi bling" and the other "Not a footprint to be seen." 

Girl clearly knows her Disney princesses. 

But--and this might be why I adore her--she's also got a sense of humor:

And you know my undying love for The Little Mermaid so...

Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme...

...Beauty and the Beast. 

The teaser trailer.

It's finally here.

I may or may not be having a fangirl freak-out moment over here.

I have been super excited about this adaptation -- and particularly the casting choices -- for awhile. I know that there was talk about Emma Watson playing Beauty in a Guillermo del Toro version (which would have been much darker, for sure), but when Stephen Chbosky (author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and who worked with Emma Watson on the film adaptation of that book) signed on to write the screenplay, I got even more excited. 

Like most Disney projects, details of this one were kept tightly under wraps. While Luke Evans and Josh Gad were pretty active on social media (relatively speaking), the one thing that the Internet really wanted to see -- Emma Watson as Belle -- was the one thing we didn't get. 

Until now:

It's small, but it's something. (It's also the only shot we get of an actual character in the film.) My husband complained that the trailer didn't reveal much -- that he wanted "more" than just scenic shots and voice-overs. 

My response? "It's called a teaser trailer for a reason." At which he astutely compared it to the teaser trailer for Cinderella, which was basically just a shoe and a butterfly, so at least we got a little more. But not nearly enough. :) 

Disney Artwork -- Isaiah Stephens

Blogger tells me that my last post was March 8th. Oof.

To be fair, I'd like to think I had a pretty good reason:
Another Disney princess (and future Disney consumer?) has entered the world. :) Our little Cricket Bug was born on April 21, three weeks early, and I've been playing catch-up ever since.

Cricket Bug has -- surprise surprise! -- yet to wear a Disney outfit -- but when she does, I'll be sure to document and share it.

For now, I thought it was fitting that my first post back be this "Disney Princesses As" piece by Isaiah Stevens for Cosmo: Disney Princesses As Mothers. (Follow Isaiah Stephens on Instagram here! He does a lot of Disney work that's super cool and inventive.)

[Sidebar: I just finished reading "Nearly Everybody Gets Twitterpated: The Disney Version of Mothering" by (Hollins professor!) Lisa Rowe Fraustino--which...well, let me just quote a line from the abstract:
"The animated films [reproduce traditional mothering ideology] not by animating the realities of marriage, childbirth, and mothering work for girls to model after but instead by idealizing the dream of romance that leads to the making of the traditional patriarchal family."
Basically, Disney movies end with the fairy-tale happily-ever-after of a wedding, and basically ignore everything that comes after -- including motherhood (although that's not necessarily a requirement).
So it's interesting to see Stephens kind of take up that mantle and portray the princesses (albeit in a romanticized, stylized way) as mothers. I dig it.]

Quite possibly my favorite:

This one just makes me smile -- even more so because I think the photo in the background is women of all different body types spelling out "B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L." I don't know if this is a subversive dig at Cosmo or something that was sanctioned by the magazine, but either way, I love it.

Okay, so this one's not as romanticized...but I love that Flynn is wearing a gas mask. (Although...shouldn't Rapunzel's hair be short and brown?) 

#ParentingTruth. I know Cricket Bug is only 4.5 weeks old, but I have nieces and nephews. This is pretty much how it goes. 

Also--it's called "karma," Merida. :)