"Aw, shucks. That ain't nothin' but a little ole cricket bug!"

Ever since we found out we were pregnant, my husband and I have been referring to our daughter as "Cricket Bug." And my husband feels a little weird about it -- at least when we call her "Cricket Bug" in front of other people -- because he knows it has a weird, random origin. (To which I say, "don't most nicknames?".)

It's an odd nickname, for sure. (Although, in the beginning, when we didn't know whether we were having a boy or a girl, it was a nice, generic, gender-neutral nickname.) But -- surprise, surprise -- there's a Disney connection:



Last fall, before the semester officially started, we watched a few older Disney movies on Netflix -- especially ones my husband hadn't seen in a while.
The Aristocats was one of them. I loved this movie as a kid -- and I have very vivid memories of picking out a stuffed Duchess at the Disney Store mall in Connecticut. (Marie, of course, is very popular these days -- she's something of a transitional character for little girls who are too "old" for Minnie Mouse and too "young" for princesses. Savvy marketing, Disney.) 
Anyway--we both found the fact that, in the middle of the French countryside (or the suburbs outside of Paris? Not entirely sure on the geography here...), there are two super Southern dogs. And the line in the video above -- "aw shucks -- that ain't nothin' but a little ole cricket bug!" -- just struck us as really funny and we would bust out the quote in random situations and laugh about it.
Fast forward a few weeks to when we found out we were pregnant: it was fairly early on -- it may even have been the night I told my husband -- but I was expressing some anxiety and fear about being pregnant and becoming a mom. My husband, trying to make me smile, said to me: "There's nothing to worry about -- it ain't nothin' but a little ole cricket bug." 
And the nickname has stuck ever since.  (Turns out, it's an appropriate nickname too -- when she's calm and happy and content, she makes these little squeaking, chirping noises. My mom calls her a little mouse; we think she sounds like a little ole cricket bug.) 

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. :) 

Happy International Women's Day!

The Disney Princess FB page had four princesses -- Belle, Jasmine, Mulan and Rapunzel -- but Mulan seemed the most appropriate choice. While her feminism is a source of debate for many academics, I feel like, in terms of "women's economic, political and social achievements," she's the best Disney Princess--closely followed by Tiana. 

I'll freely admit: I didn't really know today was "International Women's Day" until I saw all the social media posts...and even then, I didn't fully know what it was. I mean...I get the basic context from the name, but still.

So, according to the Wikipedia page (and since this isn't an academic piece, citing Wikipedia is totally okay):

"In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation, and love towards women for women's economic, political, and social achievements. Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended the culture of many countries, primarily in Europe, especially those in the Soviet Bloc.^[3] In some regions, the day lost its political flavor, and became simply an occasion for people to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. In other regions, however, the political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner. Some people celebrate the day by wearing purple ribbons."

Huh. Interesting.

Seems About Right.

From the Disney Movies Rock My World FB page:

I mean...it's not like Disney movies don't appeal to "big kids" too...

...and it's not like I listen to the Disney station on Pandora on my commute...

...and it's not like "I See The Light" was the song my husband and I danced to at our wedding for our First Dance...

...oh wait. ALL of those things are true. 

via Buzzfeed: "42 Thoughts I, A Grown-Ass Man, Had While Watching “The Lion King” For The First Time"

So, this popped up in my FB feed a few days ago and it was, quite possibly, the 15 funniest minutes of my day:
42 Thoughts I, A Grown-Ass Man, Had While Watching “The Lion King” For The First Time
No, really. It's hilarious. Some NSFW language mixed in but, IMHO, that doesn't detract from the hilarity.

(And I fully agree: it seems weird that someone, somehow, could have escaped watching The Lion King or at least knowing the basic plot for his entire life. #firstworldproblems But The Lion King is, like, the *defining* movie of the Disney Renaissance Era -- even more so because it defies rigid classification and appeals to both boys and girls. Everybody loves animals!)

NGL--we do get off to a bit of a rocky start:

As in--No. Just no. I have to respectfully disagree here, dude. I can get behind your point that, "when it comes the music of Disney movies, the '90s was where it was really at" because, yeah. Those Disney Renaissance movies had the *best* music, including the *best* Villain Songs. Scar's "Be Prepared"? Perfection -- down the evil laugh at the end. Ursula's "Poor Unfortunate Souls"? Car Karaoke at its finest. "The Mob Song" from Beauty and the Beast? I'll admit: I pretend I have a torch and a pitchfork in my hand when I sing along.

But to insult Frozen? Not cool. I mean... in terms of opening number, yeah, "The Circle of Life" is nigh impossible to beat -- for sure, "Beware the Frozen Heart" doesn't come close. But that's due to the perfection of the former, not a flaw in the latter. I'm also a HUGE fan of Book of Mormon and Avenue Q -- which were written in part by Robert Lopez (1/2 of the Frozen song-writing duo) and which are a very different type of Broadway musical than that of the 80s and 90s, which is where those Disney musicals draw their inspiration.

But everything else? On point.

 Proving once again the ingenious power of Disney marketing and merchandising: the guy hadn't even seen the movie and he still owned something with the characters on it. Amazing.

via Buzzfeed: 17 Times Disney Princesses Had No...Chill

**Disclaimer: NSFW Language**
If you're offended by that. As a child of two New York drivers, I tend not to be. (I also tend to find Bernie Sanders' accent very familiar and comforting, which I realize is probably not normal. It just sounds like family dinners and holidays to me.)

But I digress.

Anyway. Buzzfeed posted this a few days ago: "17 Times Disney Princesses Had No [Effing] Chill."

I love the subtitle: "Because crying on your bed always makes things better."

"17 Times" may be a bit of a stretch--since a large portion of the article focuses on the same scene, just different shots of it. 

But it basically is an account of every time the Disney Princesses cry.

Like Cinderella (1950):

Or Aurora (1959):

Or Ariel (1989):

Actually, Ariel cries *a lot* for a Disney princess. Most have that ONE SCENE; Ariel has like 3, maybe 4. Definitely one of the more emotional ones.

Or Belle (1991):

There's actually quite a lot of flinging oneself down on a surface -- a bed, a bench, a rock formation -- and sobbing.

The crying may decrease as we move forward in time...I can think of Rapunzel and Tiana and even Anna getting emotional, but I don't remember any super dramatic sob fests.

Charlotte might be the exception -- and this is like a textbook Ugly Cry:

And, as the Buzzfeed article does point out, these are all teenage girls. And puberty & hormonal changes are hard enough without having to deal with learning your entire identity is a lie or realizing that you just gave up your freedom and dreams to save your father's life.

So, yeah. They cry. 

You know who else cries a lot? Hermione Granger -- the anti-Disney Princess if ever there was one.

I remember reading an article once about Rowling's depiction of Hermione as constantly crying -- and it infuriated me:

"Yet throughout her role development thus far, Rowling allows Hermione to lose sight of her own strength and revert to stereotypic behavior and she facilitates this by employing gender-related stereotypic words to Hermione's behavior again and again. Repeatedly, Rowling has Hermione "shriek," "squeak," "wail," "squeal," and "whimper," verbs never applied to the male characters in the book. [...] Throughout the books, Hermione often bursts into tears.... [...] Her hysteria and crying happen far too often to be considered a believable part of the development of Hermione's character and are quite out of line with her core role in the book. They add nothing to an understanding of her persona or its individual caricature nor, for the most part, anything to the story. Thus, they can only be interpreted as "how [silly, weak] girls act," which is unfortunate from the viewpoint of feminist analysis." --Lana Whited 

As someone who is a self-professed Crier, I find this really insulting. I'll admit it -- I cry. A lot. I cry when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm stressed. It's just how I, personally, deal with emotions -- in part, I think, because they usually run fairly close to the surface. I can compartmentalize and suppress with the best of them, but, as a general rule, I'm very easy to read emotionally.

Does this make me any less feminist? I hope not. Just as not crying doesn't make a person any or more less feminist. Showing a character has crying or displaying emotions -- and like Hermione, many Disney princesses don't just cry -- they show quite a range of emotions, particularly the later we go, chronologically -- shouldn't be a reason for criticism.

Life is, for lack of a better phrase, going to suck every once in a while -- and I think it's okay to show that you don't have to maintain a preternatural level of optimism and cheerfulness when you encounter it. It's okay to falter, to stumble, to be "down." (Look at women in the 1950s -- when they were expected to be cheerful all the time, it did not end well for them.)

#ShareYourEars

In honor of Disneyland's 60th Anniversary -- and their long history of granting Make-A-Wish Foundation wishes -- and in the true spirit of "when you wish upon a star / makes no difference who you are / anything your heart desires / will come to you" -- Disney has started a new campaign.

Upload a photo of you in your Mickey Ears to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and share it with the #ShareYourEars. For every photo shared, Disney will donate $5 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation -- up to $1 million. 

I don't remember wearing ears when I was little -- although I do remember my dad had a pair of Goofy ones -- but when my husband and I went on our first trip together, we each bought a pair. (We did it right, that first trip!)

c. October 2011

c. October 2011

c. October 2012