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Disney Blog
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Final blog
So this is the final blog. There is a lot we have done this semester
in Decoding Disney. Villainy and heroism, gender and racial equality are the
major topics in the Disney Academia. Starting from the beginning of the semester,
I enjoyed readings of Giroux and Haasen which presented unseen aspects of
Disney for most of its consumers. Although I expected certain criticism of
Disney, but the depth of research and the magnitude of Disney’s impact were out
of my expectation.
Disney is a power empire and it is getting stronger as we
speak. It provides children entertainment which seems so pure and impeccable,
but under close examination it is full of culture heritage that can be either
beneficial or create prejudice in their opinions, claimed by majority of
critics of Disney.
Consumerism was also discussed in class. Being a major
result of capitalistic society, critics argues that Disney is turning future
generations of American into product of consumerism. This statement was
interesting to me because it is hard to imagine any other life-styles besides
consuming through money purchasing in society nowadays.
We watched a series of Disney animation films ranging from the Beauty and the Beast to Frozen. The time lapse between these
movies shows not only progression of Disney animation skills, but also of the
ideologies that lie behind the movies. Racial equality, gender equality and ambiguity
of villainy are certainly improvements presented in recent Disney films. It is
hard to believe how much Disney improved in the past decades, and how much
American society has been looking forward into diversity and equality.
Disney is an enterprise that focuses on the interests
of the majority. It is to their interest to maximize revenue by creating films
that reinforces public opinions. As time passes, it is clear to see through
Disney’s films that they follow the trend of society instead of breaking it.
Its first South African princess film Moana, is a result of gradual equalization between races in US.
Disney produces entertainment by creating a world of perfection and magic, will
it gain as much success by challenging the currents of society?
Definitely not. Disney is not the representation of righteousness, because
neither is society. Everything in society is a mixed production of nature that
consist unique characteristics.
Equality is pursued by our society because we deem it a
desirable quality; however, under different social structures people might have
completely different opinions about equality. Some might argue that our
democratic society is the best in the world, statistically speaking it
certainly earns a lot of its fame; that is not saying it come without its own
flaws.
Disney has massive cultural power considering its impact
toward children, and our course provided me with many information of it. Disney
as a childhood memory might not seem so pure after all, but with a new layer of
capitalism and social injustice. I appreciate all the scholars’ efforts in
claiming their opinions on Disney which can result in positive progress in society
and raise awareness of the existence of this film giant, that seems to become
part of our identity long ago.
Some of the Giroux article can be find here.
Some of the Giroux article can be find here.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Frozen movie review
Information about the movie can be viewed here.
Frozen was the first princess Disney movie
that is memorized in my brain. I did not understand reasons behind its
popularity and still remembered it had something to do with the ice bucket
challenge.
The visual effects in the movie
is incredible, the scenery of the kingdom, princess Elsa's dress and ice castle
are all stunning showcase in the movie. The music is gorgeous and brings a
fresh taste of Disney's pursue of freedom.
One thing I remembered clearly
is that I could not identify the villain in Frozen the first time I watched the
film. I can feel the villainy in prince Hans but not a significant one. He
seemed like a decent guy who tries to rise in power but ultimately failed.
He has the intent to kill but princess Elsa also has such power when she
used the ice magic in front of the public forming blades of ice that nearly
hurt the guests.
The movie is inconsistent
sometimes. The development of side characters did not leave an impression to me
or made much a difference in the film. The movie consists a lot of sub plots
and takes a long time for them to converge.
The movie is unlike many other Disney’s
princess movie, there are two princesses in the first place. The movie tries to
make audience pay more attention toward Anna whose story is not very
interesting, sometimes I find her childish arrogance does not actually
accomplish what directors wished.
Interestingly there is also not much love
relationship going on with Frozen’s male and female characters. There is no
true chemical love, to say the least, besides the sister love between Elsa and
Anna. It is an atypical Disney princess film that might invoke controversy.
I was never a devoted fan into Disney’s
Princess movie, but I found the controversial discussion on Disney’s films
interesting. The Han’s twist in the movie certainly confused a lot of audiences
who are expecting Han to be the typical prince in a Disney film.
I appreciate Disney challenging its
traditional love story and still manage to attract audiences and make the film
a global phenomenon. Maybe that is the power of Disney magic.
At this point I am still not quite sure
the reason behind the feverish crowd. Maybe Disney has never made a snow
princess before? But certainly parents were going to take some time to explain
to their kids the reason behind Han’s betrayal.
While many claims Frozen to be the best animated movie of 2013. I have seen more
enjoyable films for myself such as How to
train your dragon. What is certain is that Disney really took different
approaches in the film that is different from Disney Classic: there is no love
interest, but has diversified story lines.
One fundamental reason behind the controversy is that villainy in Frozen is not convincing and undesired by parents. There is no clear separation
between good and evil but I have to give credit to Frozen for this confusion because
it does represents the ambiguity of morality in real life even though the
prince was condemned at the end of the story.
(ps: Sorry this is not the best movie review, quite busy this weekend with 5000 words due, while that is college right :D)
(ps: Sorry this is not the best movie review, quite busy this weekend with 5000 words due, while that is college right :D)
Saturday, April 1, 2017
TRON reboot expectation
I loved the tron movie when I watched it years ago with its amazing visuals, but now I am more excited for the reboot. Speculations can be viewed here.
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