Tuesday, April 06, 2004

The Disney Subculture

I don't really like Disney movies. To this day, I still cannot watch Bambi or the new addition to their collection, Brother Bear, without weeping pitifully. My roommate looks at me strangely when this happens. I know what she's thinking. I don't even have to ask. "It's only a cartoon. What's the matter with you?!?"

Actually, the sad truth is that I tend to enjoy the creations that Disney manages to come up with. The reason that I dislike them is because of the standards of interaction they promote and uphold for children nowadays. Call to mind any Disney movie you can think of. Now really think about it. Does it contain any standards or suggestions that tend toward Humanism? Yes it does. Now think about any of the Disney princesses. Which of them had a respectful, healthy, loving relationship with their parents, or, more importantly, with their fathers? You won't find one. I think the one who probably comes closest is Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but even then, are the viewers encouraged to hold the father in high regard? No. He is merely a silly old man with many foibles that the viewers are encouraged to laugh at and dismiss as a silly old man with zero ability. Where are the father figures in the Disney films?

Bambi's father is a respectable character. Wait, no. He's absent, first physically, then emotionally. What child wants to only be allowed to meet their father if their mother dies first? Bambi's father may be a prince of the forest, but viewer's are not expected to see him in a great light after seeing his cold, hard attitude toward a cute little baby deer.

What about The Little Mermaid? And Princess Jasmine? Pocahontas? Obviously their fathers are close-minded, hard-hearted, ignorant, unreasonable idiots who have daughters who, though only in their early 20s obviously know more about life and the world than their crotchety old overbearing fathers. That's right kids, tie up the 'rents and take over the household right now. You have the right since your perceptions of the world are the only true ones, and your fathers only want to bully you around and impose their will upon you for their own pleasure. Give me a break. Some of these themes are just ridiculous, and yet we fill the minds of our little girls with them, then wonder why they are so disrespectful and rebellious. Why has it become cool to complain about how lame your parents are, or how they don't "listen" to you? Because we tell them it is.

Why should your parents listen to you? What do you know? You're 9 years old! Your feelings are important, but you do not know how to manage the family finances or time schedule.

More later.

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