To Buy: New Disney Shirts from TeeTurtle

A short post, to ease back into blogging. There is, apparently, some plague remnant stomach bug going around and I caught it. (Which is a big deal, because I never catch those. I always get the colds. Which, fun fact, I got too. Back to back: the virus and a cold.) Basically, this has been me for the past few days:

via GIPHY

YAY ADULTING. 

But, this email from TeeTurtle popped up this morning helped a little bit. Two new Disney couple shirts available! 

I mean, on the one hand, I definitely don't need any more Disney graphic-tees, no matter how cute and nerdy they are.

But on the other hand...it's Rapunzel and Flynn! (I'm definitely "meh" about Aladdin and Jasmine -- love the movie, love that scene, but as characters...meh.) And it's the lantern scene! Which is one of the most gorgeous pieces of animation and also "I See The Light" was the First Dance song at my wedding. 💖 

Check them out and add to your collection here -- along with a bunch of other Disney shirts I definitely covet. 

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. :) 

People Love Disney.

Okay. Whatever you're doing -- stop, take 5 minutes of your day, and listen to this beautiful cover/Disney mash-up. 

I am always in total awe of people who can not only sing but who can sing acapella since I have no musical skill whatsoever. 

Here, Kirstin Maldonado (of Pentatonix) and Jeremy Michael Lewis (of AcoUstiKats) mash-up "I See The Light" (from Tangled), "You'll Be In My Heart" (from Tarzan) and "Go The Distance" (from Hercules) and the result is stunning. I'm so used to Phil Collins' version of "You'll Be In My Heart" that I think hearing the soprano version when Maldonado sings is a bit weird for me, but she absolutely slays the Rapunzel vocals in "I See The Light." (And, as I explained to my husband, she's the reason I'm nitpicky about the actresses who play the Disney princesses on Broadway -- a few years ago, we saw an Ariel who was just so nasal, it bothered me the whole show: yes, Disney Princess songs are incredibly hard to sing, and I'm not professing to do any better, but when you find the right vocalist, it's amazing. They're out there!)

And those vocalists in the background? Doing the "music"? SO TALENTED.

*sigh* I wish I could sing. (On-key.)

Life Imitates Disney Art

So this story popped up in my newsfeed this morning: "Fayetteville Home Invade Receives A Little Frying Pan Justice":

(Full Story on the local ABC news affiliate.)

Cliffnotes version: guy breaks in (apparently shot?); homeowner attacks him with frying pan.

Sound familiar?

I mean, you just have to laugh. 

Not about the guy getting hit with a frying pan. Although I think he's okay, that's still not a humorous incident. (Especially since I think he assaulted a woman before the B&E.) 

But...they did use a frying pan to take care of an intruder. Survival skills by Disney? I wonder if they're even aware of the Disney/Tangled connection...

Tangled TV Series

One of the news stories making the Internet Rounds today is that the Disney Channel is developing a Tangled animated series.

Now, Tangled is one of my favorite Disney movies. Rapunzel is pretty high up on my list of favorite Disney characters -- #3, behind Elsa (#1) and Tink (#2). It was always one of my favorite fairy tales, but I love the Disney version -- due in no small part to Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi. (Seriously. How ADORABLE are they??) I love the music, I love Rapunzel's spunkiness, and I love, love, love the lantern scene. After all, "I See The Light" was the song my husband and I danced to for our first dance at our wedding. 

So when I read that the Disney Channel was making a TV series, I'll admit I rolled my eyes and sighed a little. 

After all, I remember The Little Mermaid TV show (which was horrible) and the Aladdin one (which was even worse). So low budget. 

BUT. Then I read that not only have "Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi have signed on to reprise their roles" but also that "The duo responsible for the movie’s original score, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, also will serve as songwriters on the series." That in and of itself is a pretty big deal. 

But it gets better. Not only are we introducing a new character, "Cassandra" who is a "strong-willed handmaiden who also serves as Rapunzel’s confidant" but here's a brief summary of the plot:

“Her irrepressible spirit and natural curiosity about the world drives her to the realization that there is so much more she needs to learn before she can truly accept her royal destiny. She boldly puts her crown and impending marriage on hold to seek out epic adventures, much to the dismay of the King who, after missing out on Rapunzel’s youth, must accept that his daughter is now an independent young woman.”

For the Disney Princess franchise, this is kind of a big deal. The TV series will take place after the movie but before Flynn & Rapunzel's wedding (from the short "Tangled Ever After"). The implication is that, as the plot summary states, she "puts her crown and impending marriage on hold to seek out epic adventures." That is, we'll get a Disney princess who, despite some progressive moves (she wielded a frying pan!), was still firmly relegated to the traditional Disney princess sphere of love and marriage. When I put on my Critical Cap, one of the things that strikes me the most about Tangled is that Flynn Rider controls the story -- and at the end, he reassures the reader that despite the fact that Rapunzel is going to be a great queen, don't worry -- they got married and live happily ever after. An innocent, romantic ending perhaps, but there's also the potential to read that as the patriarchal voice shifting focus away from the female-as-ruler and placing her back in the safe, domestic role of wife. And then, the focus of the short is, of course, their wedding.

But this TV show proposal changes all that. Or, at least, expands the story and Rapunzel's character to be more consistent with the progressive character we initially see in the film. The fact that she's deferring her marriage to explore the world and discover herself is an amazingly progressive role for a Disney princess. (I know the summary blurb also mentions that she defers her crown but that really doesn't make much sense. After all, her parents are still alive, and thus the rightful rulers of the kingdom. She should, in theory, only be able to take the crown once they've passed -- and, as the plot summary mentions the King's disapproval, it seems to indicate that we'll keep our nuclear family intact -- again, another "different" move for the parent-killing Disney storytellers.)

I have such high hopes for this show -- which, maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment, but I think Rapunzel could have the potential to be another Elsa in terms of independent princesses.