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. 

D23 Expo Recap

io9 has posted a great recap of all the news from the D23 Expo with links to each individual story. They've also helpfully divided it up into 3 major categories: Marvel, Star Wars, and "Disney" (which I guess is just an umbrella category).

Check out the link to get more information.

You know you teach a popular class when...

Happy First Registration Window Day, Class of 2021!!

I know that I'm not actually the one registering for classes -- although that was, geekily, one of my favorite parts of college -- but I do love following freshman registration. Primarily because people always tell me that my class is popular, in-demand, and hard-to-get, but I never quite believe them.

Until both sections fill up within the first few minutes.

And when the Registrar tweets out this:

Have your heart set on that Disney-themed Writing 101? Always have a back-up­—popular courses fill up fast! #Duke2021 #beprepared pic.twitter.com/hR9yaSqdq9

— Duke Registrar (@DukeRegistrar) June 15, 2017

I'm looking forward to meeting all of my new students in the Fall!!! (No, really. I love the first day of class -- first day jitters and all. 😊)

Wonder Woman + Moana = "How Far I'll Go"

This past weekend, PC and I were able to go see Wonder Woman -- and, full disclosure: to say I am "not a fan" of the DCU movies is an epic understatement. I made it about halfway through Man of Steel before I was bored to tears and maybe about 10 minutes into Batman v. Superman before I decided life was just too short. (<-- And I wish that was hyperbole, but honestly, that's 2.5 hours of my life I would have never gotten back.)

So when the heaps of positive praise for Wonder Woman started to come in, I was skeptical. On the one hand, it wasn't directed by Zack Snyder, so point in the film's favor. On the other hand, it was still a DCU film, and dadgumit if Marvel movies hadn't set the bar pretty high.

Long story short: I loved it. Well, I loved about 95% of it, but that's for another, longer post. There were also, I think, a couple of, if not deliberate, then definitely highly coincidental nods to Disney Princess movies, which given that Wonder Woman is, technically, an Amazonian princess, is interesting. The Disney princesses are often compared to Wonder Woman as examples of...what they could be? Should be? (TBH, I'm not entirely sure why, since Wonder Woman is a demigoddess and superhero, and it's a bit of an apples to oranges thing, but...*shrug*)

ANYWAY.  I digress. Point is, while The Little Mermaid parallels are the strongest, I think, the Moana ones are kinda hard to ignore, too. Especially when Diana and Steve arrive at the boat in the middle of the night. I literally leaned over to my husband and whispered, "Moana moment!" Which then got me singing "How Far I'll Go" in my head and really, the song works for either character.

And apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so:

Behold: A perfect thread. https://t.co/sPmvHCYlY9

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 7, 2017

You check out the entire thread screen-capped at Junkee, but I mean....just look at the lyrics:

"I know, everybody on this island seems so happy on this island
Everything is by design
I know, everybody on this island has a role on this island
So maybe I can roll with mine
I can lead with pride, I can make us strong
I'll be satisfied if I play along
But the voice inside sings a different song
What is wrong with me?
See the light as it shines on the sea it's blinding
But no one knows, how deep it goes
And it seems like it's calling out to me, so come find me
And let me know, what's beyond that line, will I cross that line?"

There are a couple of YouTube videos that play the song over trailer cuts, but it doesn't capture the full effect. So the gifs will have to do for now.

Aladdin + Racism

In honor of today's discussion on race, evil, and Aladdin, a interwebz finds:

It's easy to say that Aladdin -- one Disney movie -- didn't affect our perceptions of Middle Eastern cultures, but...it is part of a trend in 90s media. The problem may not be "one Disney movie, aimed at kids" -- but if that movie is part of a pattern of repeated portrayals of Middle Easterners as oppressive, cruel, barbaric, and evil? Perhaps that's why we have things like "a Muslim-travel-ban-that-isn't-about-religion." 

Review: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Confession: The Little Mermaid will always be my first Disney obsession, and Ariel will always be my favorite Disney princess, but I have no memory of seeing the movie. I have memories of my obsession, and wanting All The Happy Meal Toys, but not watching it.

I do, however, have a very strong, very vivid memory of seeing Beauty and the Beast in the theater. I remember watching the opening scene, as it zoomed in to the castle, and leaning over and asking my mom if we were at the right movie because the movie couldn't start this way. (Little Me didn't know about prologues and backstory.) She said something like, "of course we're at the right movie," because obviously not every movie was animated (but that's all I knew when I was 7). And I remember loving the fact that Belle read books, because even little Lisa was a total bookworm, and that she was a little different. Adult Me has been a little disenchanted with the movie, but I was so excited for this version. And, thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long to see it. (#godblessbabysittinggrandmas).

There's a very spoiler, full review below the cut, but, spoiler alert, I loved it. Accurate gif of me walking out of the theater yesterday afternoon:

James Corden + Beauty and the Beast

Not surprisingly, there's lots of Beauty and the Beast stuff going around the interwebz since the film opens this weekend. 

(We already have our tickets. Saturday matinee at our local recline and dine theater. I AM SO EXCITED.)

Until then, enjoy James Corden's late-night bit. :)