Cinderella Official Trailer Sneak Peek #1 (2014)

I love that the screen capture for the trailer is this shot -- because honestly? He's the only character whose face you actually see in the Sneak Peek. (If the full trailer weren't being released tomorrow, I might think that was significant. As it is, I'm pretty sure they're just building suspense.)

Anyway. All I could think when I watched this -- and I will readily admit that Cinderella is not my favorite Disney movie by any means -- was, "Is that Robb Stark? That can't be Robb Stark. He looks so different! Maybe it's because he doesn't have a beard?"

Yep. First real look at a new, live-action Disney Princess movie and my first thought is more about Game of Thrones than Cinderella.

Happy 86th Birthday, Mickey Mouse!

"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing -- that it was all started by a mouse."

It's kinda hard to believe that he's been around for 86 years--may he always remain in our hearts and our imaginations.

If Disney Princesses Had Realistic Waistlines

I think it's funny that, whenever something Disney-related appears on social media, all of my friends either share it with me or tag me. Like when Disney released their Elsa wedding dress -- everyone thought of me first. And by funny I mean I love it.

A couple of people have shared this link with me -- a woman at Buzzfeed imagined Disney Princesses with realistic waistlines. I'm a little unsure if this is her own original work, but I think it is. The most striking one is probably Ariel:

Well, I say that...but Jasmine and Aurora are also strikingly different:

It's an interesting concept to think about, I think...much like the whole if-Barbie-were-a-real-woman-she'd-collapse thing. Body image and its portrayal in the media fascinate me as a whole though -- largely because I wasn't conscious of it when I was a teenager. Which is...weird. That's normally when girls are hyper-conscious of it. But I was an athlete who burned 3000 calories a day and ate whatever she wanted, and I was preternaturally confident. 

When I googled the article to find the link to it, interestingly enough, a piece from Cosmopolitan was the first one to come up. Here's the text blurb that accompanies the piece: 

Disney Princesses have long been held up as the Feminine Ideal. Graceful, lovely, and impossibly thin with big breasts; they could give a girl a complex. However, when you readjust their proportions to make them more human-like, as Loryn Brantz did over at Buzzfeed, they are still incredibly graceful and lovely, without presenting unrealistic beauty ideals to the future girl leaders of tomorrow. Plus, they all look damn good. Better, even. I wouldn't mind seeing some of them with smaller chests and bigger butts too! Beautiful women come in all sizes, even princesses.

Which is actually a fairly positive take on the Buzzfeed article -- from an unlikely source. Cosmo, after all, is not exactly a bastion of feminist content. One blog even points out that, "as the best-selling magazine in college bookstores and the No. 1 magazine for women with children Cosmo shows and tells its increasingly younger readership...what it means to be attractive, desirable, and successful through its glossy pages each month."

Which, yay Cosmo. (Or, more specifically, yay Cosmo blog.) But, I think its important to note that Snow White isn't included -- most likely because she's a pretty realistic portrayal. And by "realistic" I mean she's rounder and chubbier than her successors, perhaps because beauty standards were wildly different in the 1930s. 

That being said...I'm perhaps most intrigued by the comments below the article itself on Buzzfeed--particularly the debate about whether we consciously or subconsciously internalize "as normal" the standards Disney presents. I actually thought that the Interwebz would agree with the first commenter -- in that they insist that these are just movies and don't affect us -- but it seems to be a bit more evenly divided. Can't wait to discuss this in class! 

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ON FIRE

So....I know that new theme park rides break down. A lot.

Case in point: we stayed at a Universal hotel for one night just so we could get early park admission into Universal Studios. The park opened at 8 a.m. that day, which mean hotel guests could get in at 7:00. But, as all theme park vets know, you don't just show up at 7. You gotta get there early. Crazy early. And stand in another line (just to get in.) So we did get there early. Crazy early. Like, so crazy the downtown Universal part wasn't even open yet. Starbucks wasn't even open yet. But we were at the front of the line! And we booked it all the way to Diagon Alley, got in line for Gringotts and...waited. The ride wasn't working, you see. Then they did this thing where they let us in past the main queuing area, and we are almost the ride loading zone and...we were stopped. And turned away. Given fast passes to come back later, but still turned away.

But...I don't know that I've read of many (if any...?) theme park rides CATCHING FIRE. 

I would be concerned, if I were Disney.

Especially since anyone who was at the parks recently can vouch for the fact that the ride is having issues. Like, shut down for more than an hour and making people (1) freak out about their FastPasses and (2) pissed off that the new ride isn't working.

We did ride it in October, but (1) we had FastPasses (thank you, excellent Disney customer service!) and (2) it was shut down for about an hour and a half.

Better get on that, Disney Imagineers.

Disney Villains Parody/Cover One Republic

This really has nothing to do with nothing, but I love it:

It's a clever parody -- just in time for Halloween! -- but I think I like Captain Hook's part best. Witty.

Although...not sure I agree that Scar is the Evilest Villain Evar. Maleficent takes that title, IMHO. I will admit that class discussion on The Lion King helped a bit, since some students pointed out that Scar does succeed for a while. I mean, it's Disney, so you know he's ultimately going to fail, but where most Disney villains fail due to their ineptitude, Scar's plan works. After all, Hades' plan is foiled, Ursula doesn't get to wield her power for more than a hot minute (same with Jafar), and Gaston's plan to marry the girl does not...end well for him. I suppose Mother Gothel "succeeds" for a while, as she stays young for about 18 years, but compared to Scar's fratricide, Mother Gothel doesn't seem all that sinister.

Hmmm. I forgot about Frollo. He's pretty sinister -- but conspicuously absent from the video. He subjugates Quasimodo for about twenty years and persecutes the gypsies, so, you know, not a good guy. But Hunchback doesn't get much popular attention -- maybe that will change with the musical.

Why Disney Princesses Make Crappy Friends

It's funny because it's true.

Post by BuzzFeed Video.

Snow White -- Blank Slate or Fairy Tale Flatness?

One of my friends posted a link to this article today -- Snow White: The Blankest Slate of Them All.

It's an interesting read, especially given that I've always had a weird love-hate relationship with Snow White. On the one hand, the story really resonates with me. On the other hand, Disney's Snow White is so incredibly annoying. (And fairy-tale Snow White isn't much better: she's so dumb. But also 8, so there's that.)

 

Anyway, the article seems to be inspired by the fact that Neil Gaiman has a new book, The Sleeper and the Spindle, which is described as "weaving together a sort-of Snow White and an almost Sleeping Beauty with a thread of dark magic." And apparently Snow White is the one who kisses Sleeping Beauty awake. 

Which, okay. But the point of this article -- written by someone who "always hated Disney's Snow White, and is happy to see so many new incarnations pop up to change her mind" -- seems to be that Snow White is a "blank slate"  -- that "you can project anything you want onto her." (Which is also the same criticism many people launch at Bella Swan, but that's irrelevant.) 

And...no. Just no. I mean, if you're taking Disney's Snow White as your prime example, then maybe. BUT. First, Disney didn't invent Snow White--the Grimm Brothers didn't even invent Snow White. She existed before 1937, she existed before the 1830s, and she'll continue to exist. But that doesn't mean she has no personality -- it just means that she is, in true fairy-tale fashion, a timeless flat character that can be adapted to the times. 

And even Disney's Snow White has some personality -- especially when you compare her to her literary predecessor. She may be super saccharine, she may have an annoying voice, and she may talk to forest animals a lot but you can describe her in other ways: she's a dreamer, she's optimistic, she works hard and earns her keep and she's maternal and nurturing. All qualities Disney added -- qualities which reflect the 1930s and the Depression-era, sure -- but also qualities which are unique to her personality. 

Reductive, simplistic readings annoy me.

Also, I would really contest the fact that Snow White is "the most reimagined of them all." She's enjoyed some recent popularity -- with Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman in 2012 and  Snow White on Once Upon a Time -- but I'd argue that "Cinderella" is probably retold more often. Not only is there the new Disney version directed by Kenneth Branagh coming out in 2015, but it's been continuously retold in popular culture for decades. Not even taking into account all the literary versions, there have been the various versions of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Ever After in the late 1990s, and those Cinderella Story movies that started with Hilary Duff and spun-off to include the Selena Gomez and Lucy Hale ones. (I'm not saying they're good adaptations -- one of them has the girl lose an iPod instead of a shoe -- but still. The story seems to persist.)