Decoding Disney 101

The article, Simba's Revolution: Revisiting History and Class in the Lion King , by John Morton responds to the ideas in Robert Gooding William's article,  Disney In Africa and the Inner City: On Race and Space in the Lion King . Morton starts off with explaining Gooding-Williams claim of The Lion King portraying problematic views of race and class structure. In an immediate contradiction, Morton states that he believes the animation represents a "stable social class" which works as one in order to bring about the idea of history. He also mentions that Gooding-Williams holds a marxist bias in his writings and mainly focuses on the "fetishism of urban poverty." Throughout the rest of the article, Morton focuses on the web of life and the interactions between Mufasa, Simba, Scar and the Hyenas. What I thought was a good point in his argument was his claim that Gooding-Williams mentions nothing about Mufasa and the fact that the kingdom is run with legitima

Andy's Home! Just kidding, but Disney is creating an actually Toy Story land in Florida's Hollywood Studios! The attractions, hoping to be completed by 2018, is an area solely dedicated to Toy Story and all of its key components. The goal of the park is to make the guests feel like they have shrunk to "toy size" and give them a different perspective of the world. Disney will have a new restaurant called "Andy's Lunch Box" where everything will seem bigger than life, so that you feel as if your in Andy's lunch box. There will also be a roller coaster and swirling saucer ride that includes many of the fan favorite characters from the animated film. Come summer this will be a new and exciting place to visit! http://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/disney-vacations/disney-world-toy-story-land-updates

Disney is releasing its second season of the popular children's show "Andi Mack," but this time there is an important message. One of the characters, Cyrus Goodman, is a young boy comes to realize that he is gay and is in the process of coming out to his friends (the other main characters of the show). The Disney Channel series is meant to connect with all children and many of them seem to struggle with accepting themselves. Disney is hoping to "send a powerful message of inclusion and respect for humanity." The show seems to deal with serious and relevant topics, but is made sure to be appropriate for all ages. I wonder how critics will take this coming-of-age children's show? http://nypost.com/2017/10/26/disney-channel-character-will-be-the-first-to-come-out-as-gay/

Disney during Halloween seems to be loads of fun, especially because the parks seem to bring on a new set up. The most delicious of these changes is seen in the food that Disney creates for the occasion. Below there is a link to an article I found which shows pictures of the festive snacks that are presented. They seem to eloquently match the spooky time of the year, yet the look delicious! They also might give some good ideas for some home baking during the Halloween season. http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/disney-parks-serve-picture-perfect-halloween-treats/story?id=50509080

It has been confirmed that Disney's resorts will now be allowing dogs to stay at their facilities! Now families don't have to leave their furry friends at home, but instead can bring their dogs to Disney World with them. The article attached below gives an overview of the parameters and rules that go along with the new dog rule. Personally, I don't think that many people would want to bring their dogs to Disney because 1) they are most likely going to theme parks in which the dogs aren't going on rides with them and 2) having a dog in the room is quite expensive. On top of all the park, hotel, food and souvenir costs, a dog fee is something I would not want to invest my money in. It would also be a task to take the dog out and keep him fed while you're at a theme park all day. It seems that the dog would probably be happier and safer at home.  https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/roadwarriorvoices/2017/10/18/pets-now-welcome-disney-world-resorts/774803

After watching The Lion King again, I forgot realized how long it has been since I had revisited the story/songs. It is such an iconic and well known film that I didn't expect it to be different when actually watching it. Since we are on the topic of race, I was trying to focus on more of that theme throughout the movie. I did notice, as many articles have stated, the African American tone/speech of the hyenas compared to the British or American characters. The difference between the two is that the hyenas are the evil characters whereas most if not all of the British/American characters are good (besides Scar...obviously); therefore, children are more likely to connect dangerous people to African Americans. Other than that racial stereotype it was difficult for me to find racial slurs. Since this movie deals with animals, it is difficult to differentiate race because the animals do not have race. In this way The Lion King is beneficial to where children are able to more easily i

Pocahontas is a classic Disney film that I enjoyed watching, and I felt like there were also many controversial aspects that I could observe. For one thing, I liked the fact that Pocahontas is a Native American woman whose goal is to follow her own path. At least for women, I believe this is a step in the right direction. Another aspect that I thought was interesting about the film were the secondary characters of Meeko and Flit. I always connect more with the sidekick characters because they are usually funny, loving and focused on helping the main character. The last part of the film I enjoyed was the song Colors of the Wind . I feel that this particular song gives a clear message of how the European settlers don't value the earth and all of its beauties/purposes because they are too focused on their own destructive ways.  This statement gets me into my next point of the many dislikes I had for this film. The overall movie is told from a very Westernized point of view, for in

I enjoyed the movie The Princess and the Frog even though it was the second time I saw it. At the forefront it is a feel good movie with a lot of music, romance and culture. My all-time favorite characters from this movie are Ray the firefly and Louis the alligator because they are both fun-loving and cute. :) Besides the point, there are some likes and dislike that I have from the film. One aspect that I found enjoyable was the setting of the film. There are not many, if any, Disney films that are set in New Orleans or a Bayou. Even the way the animators included the lights from the fireflies was very upbeat and joyful. Along with the setting of New Orleans comes a rich culture filled with music and community. The way that jazz was implemented throughout the movie acted as a reminder of the bonded community, as an influencer to the romance and as a way of life. Another aspect of the movie that I enjoyed was the representation of dreams and goals. Tiana, from the time she was little,

The article, Repressed Brits, evil Mexicans, Arab villains: Why are Hollywood's animated movies full of racist stereotypes? by Steve Rose, argues the fact that 21st century animation displays extremely derogatory stereotypes of non-caucasian races. Rose starts off with specific examples of animated movies in which stereotypes are negatively protrayed, for instance in Rio 2, Dumbo, Despicable Me 2 and Planes. Many of these movies have main characters voiced by caucasians whereas their lesser, more secondary counterparts are voiced by African-American, Cuban, Puerto Rican or other culturally diverse actors. It is also necessary to note that their outer appearence stereotypically matches their voices. For example, El Macho in Despicable Me 2 is a Mexican villain who has a fat belly, large mustache, hairy chest and a gold medallion. Throughout the rest of the article, Rose goes on to write about the many different Disney and Pixar movies that contain racism and the stereotypical views

I have heard many rumors that Disney will take their movies off of Netflix, and as a Netflix/Disney fan I was slightly sad about this. Time Magazine says though that Disney won't be taking their movies off until 2019; therefore, there is still some time to watch the fan favorites. It has been confirmed that Disney will begin their own Netflix-like streaming service in 2019 as well as an ESPN-like channel. If you want to know about the two corporation's relationship the link to the article is down below! http://time.com/4893042/disney-leaving-netflix-movies/

The article, 10 Things You Should Know About Disney's Newest Princess, 'Elena from Avalor' by Angela Williams is centered around Disney's release of a new princess. Her name is Elena from Avalor and she is the first Latina Princess in Disney history. She also has many other different features, for instance, she will make her big break on television instead of the big screen. Disney is hoping to air multiple episodes on the Disney Channel in order to introduce her. Another big change with Elena is that she does not have a love interest. Like we have been discussing in class about gender roles, Elena makes a decision to not fall hopelessly in love with a man, unlike Ariel and Cinderella. If you would like to learn more about the new Princess from Avalor, I have attached the link to the article below! http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/10-things-disneys-newest-princess-elena-avalor/story?id=40716449

I was watching a video on buzzfeed recently and I remember when I was in middle school I used to take quizzes on the website all the time. So, in light of Disney I thought I would attach a "Which Disney Pixar Character Are You?" quiz and a "Which Disney Character Are You?". The first one is about 12 questions and the second one is about 30, so it just depends how long you want to spend on them! Personally, I didn't understand how some of the questions related to Disney or myself at all, but that's ok because it was fun. For the first quiz I got Edna from the Incredibles and for the second one I got Belle. Enjoy and hopefully you get matched with some interesting characters! What Disney Pixar Character Are You? What Disney Character Are You?

Halloween time at Disney theme parks seems to be the way to go for a long weekend during October. Disney encourages families to dress up in their finest costume and attend Mickey's "not-so-scary" Halloween Party. This event includes trick-or-treating at all the different attractions as well as attending a spooky parade featuring all of your favorite Disney characters. Even though I am an 18 year old girl, this experience seems like a blast! I would absolutely make my family dress up and trick-or-treat around the happiest place on earth. The link below gives a more informational explanation to Disney World's Halloween so if you want to check it out I highly encourage it! Who knows... maybe next year you will be going to Disney World for fall break! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2017/09/trick-or-treatits-time-for-halloween-at-walt-disney-world-resort/

Personally, I am a very big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and have grown up watching each of the subsequent movies. A couple of days ago I watched the last film of the series, Dead Men Tell No Tales, and was pleasantly surprised. When sequels are created for popular movies, it is usually a hit or miss with their quality. The Pirates of the Caribbean brand has done extremely well with their sequel franchise, yet went on the downhill with On Stranger Tides . The upsetting review of On Stranger Tides left me skeptical of the last film, but after I watched it I thought it was a perfect way to end everything. One of the things I enjoyed the most from the film was how it incorporated new primary characters while keeping the original ones. It was extremely interesting how the story line dealt with Will Turner's son and Captain Barbosa's daughter leading the charge to bring justice to their fathers. With Henry Turner, the plot was a continuation from the third movie whe

To add to my Halloween posts, I thought I could give people a site to help with Halloween costume ideas. Since we are in college I know that many supplies are low, but most of the costumes seem very simple and easy to create/replicate! Again, the site is linked below! Personally, I like the Buzz Lightyear and Woody idea :). https://www.buzzfeed.com/maitlandquitmeyer/31-disney-costume-tutorials-you-have-to-try-this-halloween?utm_term=.mvBmal81p#.vg5D8Nx7A

Since it is the first day of October I thought I would start with a Halloween themed blog post. There have been many rumors going around that Disney would be remaking a fan favorite movie, Hocus Pocus . It has been revealed that Disney will in fact be remaking the film. The downside (in my opinion) is that the original cast will not be featuring in the remake, and it will also feature a new director. Who knows what will become of the new generation of Hocus Pocus . The article is linked below. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/09/hocus-pocus-remake-sequel-disney-channel-new-cast