Comments on: It’s an embarrassing world after all

By: Skeep

Skeep — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:37:53 +0000

As a proud owner of all ten of the movies from the quiz, I take a slight offense to the comments n2y2.

I realize that the bad guy generally ends up dead but in all the villians n2y2 listed, they all met their fate during a fight with the hero. Would they prefer Beast to go over the edge of the roof instead of Gaston? Or the queen, disguised as the hag, crush the seven dwarves with the boulder?

There are only a few films I can think of the kids disobeying the parents, aside from Pinnochio. Ariel disobeyed in the Little Mermaid, which can be chalked up to good ol’ teenage rebellion and following her heart. In Mulan if she didn’t disobey, the Huns would have taken China and there would be no story to tell. In both cases the parents only showed regret for not supporting them more. I’m racking my brains and can not think of a movie where the parents are so wimpy they let their kids walk all over them.

As for not having two parent homes, here’s just a few with both parents, Peter Pan, Mulan, The Lion King (until Mufasa dies), Mary Poppins, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmations, Lady and the Tramp (human parents), Hercules, etc.

By: Talbert

Talbert — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:55:48 +0000

Dumbo doesn’t just include “possible” racism… those crows are pretty stereotypically racist (the leader crow was named “Jim Crow” in the script). Of course I was totally oblivious to this as a kid.

By: natlynn

natlynn — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 23:37:25 +0000

I’m with jenni… I also have the original VHS of The Little Mermaid, and it is definitely a penis. Seriously.

By: avecfrites

avecfrites — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:11:03 +0000

See the Disney comment at markhere.blogspot.com

“A heart-warming tale of black magic and interspecies dating…”

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:46:53 +0000

80% Blast those Mice and the nudy scences

By: n2y2

n2y2 — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:22:03 +0000

I think Disney has an undeserved reputation for being family friendly. Just because they market to kids does not mean that they should.

One quiz question reads, “The violent material in this film (not usually regarded as part of the Disney canon)…” Violence is a staple of nearly all Disney films. Take Disney’s first feature length film, Snow White. It features a dungeon scene where you can see the skeleton of a victim that was obviously tortured to death. Then the old lady orders Snow White’s heart cut out, and the hunter nearly does kill her.

The villain usually comes to a violent end in the Disney world. Snow White’s Witch, Maleficent, Gaston, Ursula, Clayton,… The list is very long. (There are some exceptions, Capt. Hook, Jafar, but the deaths outweigh them I believe.) Other studios offer more constructive fates: Jail, exile, embarrassment, resolution, redemption. Those are the lessons I would rather have my children learn. Disney seems to teach that no “bad guy” can change for the better and that capital punishment is the only fitting justice.

The parents are never right. The kids disobey, get into trouble and in the end it is the parents who apologize. Why don’t the kids realize the error of their ways? (Pinocchio is an exception.)

I could go on about broken families (Why is it that Disney films rarely feature a happy family with both a mother and a father?), but I will end my diatribe now.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:52:10 +0000

100% and I don’t think I learned any of these answers while working at Disneyland many years ago.

By: Rosalie

Rosalie — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:06:21 +0000

100%!!! I almost confused Dumbo and The Rescuers, as I haven’t seen either, but I figured Dumbo doesn’t have more than one title character or apartment buildings. I remember quite well the sex dust and the ‘Red Man’ song from Peter Pan. Oh, and the raciness of the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

By: Karl

Karl — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:04:25 +0000

100%! Do I know my Disney or what? (Actually, I’ve never seen “The Rescuers”, but by process of elimination…)

By: jenni

jenni — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:47:57 +0000

100% i had to guess for a few of them, but the lion king “sex” dust and the little mermaid penis(both on the cover of the box, and in the film with the erection of the priest) were the stuff of legend at my middle school.
I will add that I own the original VHS box of the little mermaid. newer designs have obviously cut out the penis, but to call it a phallic symbol is a joke. it’s definitely a penis.