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Friday, December 25, 2015

A Parody Poem: A Visit from Mickey


Originally: A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clark Moore

 

 

 
A Visit from Mickey
 

'Twas the night before Disney, when all through the house,

everybody was happy, to meet Mickey Mouse;

The excitement and jitters buzzed through the room,

in hopes that the parks, they would visit so soon.

The children and parents could both hardly sleep;

While visions of princes and castles they keep.

The day finally came, it was time to explore,

we all just could not wait to get out of that door.

When we got through the gate, and ran down that big street,

I sprang with delight and jumped right onto my feet;

Away down the street to the castle I flew,

it rose to the sky, like a tree growing true.

The magic just seemed to fill the air all around,

as the land of great fairy tales there, was just crowned,

parades were filled with magic and joyful delight,

great happiness filled this big place day and night.

The Fireworks sparkled and lit up the night sky;

The magic and dreams there, made me want to cry.

The happiness here filled my heart with pure joy,

my spirit and feeling my heart did not destroy.

With Mickey, and Minnie, and Donald and pooh,

and Goofy, and Daisy, the whole Disney crew.

To the top of the castle! to the top of it all!

Tinker Bell flew out of the castle so tall!

As the people around us held there families tight,

I finally discovered that magic is right;

All the people who were there, both big and both small,

I started to realize the whole point of it all.

The magic and dreaming is not all just for fun,

it helps us dig deeper and all become one.

We all share a passion, we all share the love,

love is something that we all have a lot of.

We all have some magic, us, me, her and you,

and that is surely something I know to be true.

We all try to believe in the happy endings,

and at least while at Disney, it's fun pretending.

It teaches us that dreams, and miracles too,

can certainly, magically, completely come true!

It's a message that's been taught through decades and on,

a message that's taught and must never be gone.

Walt Disney's great dream was to keep his alive,

and he and many others made his dream thrive.

He started with seven small dwarves and a girl,

now there's a girl with ice does she whirl.

A mouse and a dream, and a big empty pocket,

his ideas took flight, just like a rocket.

His dreams came true, and his story is still living;

The gift that he gave us keeps constantly giving.

It gives people hope and a reason to dream;

It shows that things are not always as they seem.

His dream captured many through year in and year out,

and it showed us what magic is really about.

And to think this whole thing had a mouse to it's start,

and that that mouse would capture a million hearts.

Miracles happen, no matter who you are,

"Dreams can come true, if you wish upon on a star!”
 
 




Friday, December 18, 2015

A Delicate Rose

Sleeping Beauty was released by the Walt Disney Company in 1959 (IMBD).  It is a story of a young princess who was cursed by Maleficent on her birthday that when she would turn 18 she would prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die.  Merryweather, a good fairy, changes it so that she will only be in a deep sleep.  In fear, her parents send Aurora away to live with three fairies in the woods until her 18th birthday.  On her 18th birthday, she goes out into the woods and meets a young man whom she falls in love with.  When she returns to her cottage the three fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, surprise her with a birthday surprise!  She is to return home and she find out she is betrothed to marry another man!  However, Aurora is not very happy about it for she was to meet the young man she fell in love with the next day.  She returns home devastated.  When suddenly she hears a voice calling to her.  She follows it and it leads her to a spinning wheel where she pricks her finger and falls into a deep sleep.  Flora, Fauna and Merryweather find Aurora and cast a spell on the entire kingdom so that they will sleep until Aurora is awakened by true love's kiss.  However, this true love is actually Prince Phillip, the man from the forest and her betrothed!  He was captured by Maleficent and rescued by the faries.  He valiantly fights and kills Maleficent, climbs to the top of the tower where Aurora is asleep and awakens her with true love's kiss.  The kingdom awakens and they all live happily ever after!

The featured Princess this week is Aurora!

Pros:
- She wants too marry for love:  She want's to marry Prince Phillip before she even knows she is a prince.  All she wants is true love and she is content with that.

Cons:
-  Naïve: She falls in love with a stranger in the forest whom she has only met once!  I'm sensing a theme her Disney...
- 18 minutes:  Aurora only appears in 18 minutes of her entire film.  The rest of the time she is unconscious.  Prince Phillip is the true hero of this story.  Why didn't they name the movie after him?

If you ask me, Aurora seems pretty irrelevant to her own movie.
Let me know what you think!  Comment Below!

Friday, December 11, 2015

Slippers Made of Glass

Cinderella was first released by the Walt Disney Company in 1950 (IMBD).  This is a story of a young girl who becomes a maid to her step mother and step sisters shortly after her father and mother die.  She wants to go to the ball that is being held at the palace for the young prince, but her step mother does not allow her to go.  With some help from her fairy godmother and her animal friends, she is able to go to the ball, but the spell will only last until midnight.  Cinderella arrives at the ball and dances the night away with her prince charming when suddenly, the clock strikes twelve!  She runs from the castle and in the chaos loses her shoe!  The prince finds it and searches the kingdom to find her.  He finally finds Cinderella and they live happily every after!

Today's featured princess is Cinderella! 

Pros:
- Dreamer: A dream is a wish your heart makes!  They can't order me to stop dreaming!
- Determined:  When her step mother and step sisters ruined her chances of going to the ball, she didn't give up!  She didn't give up on finding her prince either!
- Kind:  She is kind to everyone she meets.  Even the one's who don't deserve her kindness.
- Doesn't Complain:  Not once does she complain to her step mother or step sisters for making her do all of their chores and duties.  That takes strength.
- Doesn't seek revenge:  Even after she finds her happy ending, she doesn't seek revenge on her family and she even welcomes her sister Anastasia into her heart in the second movie!

Cons:
- Loses shoes:  How hard is it to find the right shoe size?  Seriously!  She needs to get her foot re-measured.
- Not Assertive:  Even though she never complained, she never stood up for herself either.
- Naïve:  She fell for the prince in less than 24 hours and even though we admire her optimism, she sees the world as a completely happy place and it isn't always great.

There have been many remakes to this classic tale, even a live action version released by Disney in 2015 (IMBD), but the original version will always be the Disney classic!

Let me know what you think!  Comment below!

Friday, December 4, 2015

An Apple a Day

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released as the Disney companies first full length animated film in 1937 (IMBD).  It features a young princess, Snow White, and an evil queen who wants to rid of Snow White because of her impeccable beauty and kindness.  Snow White runs into the woods finds herself a cottage and seven little friends (Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Dopey, Happy, Bashful and Doc).  One day and old witch (the evil queen in disguise) tricks Snow White into eating a poison apple.  When she takes a bite, she falls into a deep sleep with the only chance to awaken is by true loves kiss.  Her young prince charming comes and kisses her and they live happily every after.
 
Today, I am going to analyze the character of Snow White.  Maybe Snow White is your favorite princess, but to me, she is on the bottom of my Disney Princess ranking.
 
Pros:
- Kindness:  Snow White is consistently kind to every person and creature throughout the entire film.  This is a great trait to have and is a definite pro in my book!  Though her kindness would serve as weakness later in the film.
- Baking Skills:  Because who doesn't love food right?
- Cleaning Skills:  She whipped that cottage into shape and it was spotless!
 
Cons:
- Naïve:  She falls for a prince for whom she meets once and never actually speaks to.  This should normally end in a bad way, luckily with Disney's touch of magic, it didn't take a turn for the worst.
Side note: this guy who she has only met once kisses her while unconscious... that spells CREEPY!
- Stupidity:  When she is about to be killed, SHE RUNS INTO THE WOODS!  Away from ALL of HUMANITY!  She also let's an old creepy woman into her home (her kindness) and eats apple that this stranger gave her!  STRANGER DANGER!!!  When it comes to smarts, Snow White could have been a bit better.
 
Though Snow White has her good qualities, like every princess does.  Her overall actions were not the greatest.  This is why she is my least favorite Disney princess, but to each their own!
 
However, when it comes to the Snow White portrayed on ABC's Once Upon a Time.  Snow White is my favorite character!
 
What do you think of Snow White?  Tell me below!

Friday, November 20, 2015

Green is the New Black



Green is the New Black

Stereotypes and Segregation have been big issues around the world for many years.  Segregation of African American people in the United States was a big event between 1955 and 1968, during the civil rights movement.  After the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, many thought that segregation was, for the most part, over, but new controversy about Disney’s first African America princess, Tiana, in The Princess and the Frog is starting to stir.  Many believe that Disney is being insensitive to the African American community.  There are parts in The Princess and the Frog that could be taken offensively if taken a certain way, but like most movies, problems and criticisms follow.  Let’s not forget that this is a children’s movie.  Disney is not being insensitive to African Americans because they are promoting interracial marriage, showing the culture of New Orleans, and almost every movie can be taken offensively by a group or culture.

Many people would argue about the message Disney is sending by making the prince a non black character.  Angela Bronner Helm was on a website dedicated to African American culture where pictures of the new prince and princess were posted.  She noticed the princes’ relatively light skin color and wrote “Disney obviously doesn’t think a black man is worthy of the title of prince.”  While many thought this was the message that Disney was attempting to send, others believe we should applaud Disney for promoting interracial marriage, adding diversity of ethnicities in this film, and helping teach children about racial tolerance.  There are many different cultures and ethnicities in this movie, so why is the princes’ race so important?  Let’s not forget the fact that both characters spend more than half the time in the movie as small green amphibians where their race isn’t even noticed.

The setting of New Orleans and the stereotypes about its people portrayed in The Princess and the Frog have led people to believe that Disney is being insensitive to the victims of hurricane Katrina.  Disney wasn’t trying to offend, but to promote New Orleans and show its interesting and rich lifestyle.  During the movie Disney shows New Orleans beautiful buildings and infrastructure, its bayou and waters, and it even shows their great celebration of Mardi gras.  The fact that mostly all the Caucasians in the movie were more rich than the ones who were black made people upset, but we have to remember that this movie was set in New Orleans during the 1920’s and the United States hadn’t even thought of the Civil Rights Act yet.

People are making such a fuss about The Princess and the Frog that we don’t even stop to think of the stereotypes of other heritages in movies made by Disney that don’t have as much controversy as this one, such as Dumbo, The Jungle Book, Aladdin and Pocahontas.  The reason this one means so much to people is because of the history of blacks in the United States.  Disney created their first black princess because of the criticism for not having one in the past, and by creating her they are trying to diminish the racial stereotypes that have gone on for years.

            Disney is trying to capture the culture of New Orleans and of the African American people.  They did not mean to offend anyone by making a non black prince, but instead wanted to add diversity to the film.  Anika Noni Rose, the voice of Tiana, defends Disney saying “There is no reason to get up in arms.  If there was something that I thought was disrespectful to me or to my heritage, I would certainly not be a part of it.”  She agrees that Disney is not insulting her heritage and realizes it’s a children’s movie and should not be taken personally.  Floyd Norman, an African American Disney animator, says “overly sensitive people see racial or ethnic slights in every image, and in their zeal to sanitize and pasteurize everything, they’ve taken all the fun out of cartoon making.”  That’s exactly it, everyone is so caught up with being sensitive and making everything perfect that they forget the fact that this is a children’s story.  It has been proven that children learn most of their behaviors and beliefs from their parents, so their actions truly depend on the family lessons and values they are taught as children not so much based on the movies they watch.  Disney has been making princess films for many years and every princess, black or white, captures the hearts of little girls everywhere.  It is time to put our judgments aside and remember that it is the inside that counts and Disney teaches us to dream big, and to love each other for who we are on the inside not by the color of our skin.



 
 

 

Friday, November 13, 2015

The Little Mermaid Movie Review


Let The Little Mermaid be Part of Your World

Disney has done it again; The Little Mermaid is a fun and inspiring tale for all ages with its captivating characters and its irresistible music, it’s a must see for the entire family, a classic in the making.

Story:

Ariel is the youngest of the seven daughters of the ruler of the ocean, King Triton.  Though this rebellious mermaid loves the ocean, she is fascinated by things on land.  She is so curious in fact that she ventures up on land and happens to find the man of her dreams, Prince Eric, and this gives her the desperation to live on land.  She makes a deal with the sea witch to make her dreams come true but gets into mischief along the way.

What went well:

The likeness of this movie is fully based on how you feel about fairy tales.  If you’re not a huge fan of the fairy tale scene I would suggest swimming past this film.  As for me, these are the best kind of movies.  Disney fairy tales are classic tales that are loved by generations and generations of people everywhere.  The rebellion and curiosity of this Disney princess is the change the Disney company was looking for, a princess who can stand up for herself and fight for her dreams instead of just dreaming of them.  Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora better step out the way because Ariel’s charisma and attitude make her a prime candidate for a new favorite Disney princess for little girls (and old as well) everywhere.

The music of this film is captivating and gets easily stuck in your head.  From the beautiful and passionate song Part of Your World to the fun and rhythmic tune of Under the Sea, the music from this film won’t have you clamming up, but will have you tapping your feet.

The animation in this movie is quite incredible.  The animators at Disney studios did an amazing job with giving this movie an under the sea feel.  The way Ariel and the merpeople moved through the water was life like and realistic.  Ariel’s animated under sea hair added personality and depth to her character and somehow made me love her even more, maybe it’s the color or the style but either way she made me jealous of her red beach waves.

What went wrong:

            Many parents will argue that this princess is not a good role model for little girls.  She deliberately disobeys her father, claims she’s in love at age 16 with a man she’s seen only once and never spoken to, makes a deal with an evil witch (which we all know never works out) and goes through a drastic body change just to be with someone she’s never spoken to.  Parents agree that these are not good lessons to be teaching young girls.  Sorry Disney, but this rebellious princess still has some lessons to learn.

Characters:

            There are many characters in this movie, to name a few, Sebastian, the loveable crab, Flounder, the scared but adorable best friend, Scuttle, the crazy and scatter brained seagull, King Triton, the strong and overprotective father, Ursula, the evil and deceiving sea witch and of course the main characters of Ariel and Prince Eric.  Ariel, being the main character of this film is a very relatable character to many young girls (well and old too).  Even though at times she may do some stupid things, it goes to show that everyone makes mistakes. There are even relatable characters for boys in this movie, such as Prince Eric.  This young prince is strong and has a huge thirst for adventure but he’s a bit of a perfectionist.  His kingdom wants him to marry but he believes that he’ll find the perfect girl when she comes along, in fact he spends half of the movie looking for her but is blind to the fact that she is right in front of him.  Even fathers can relate to the powerful King Triton, wanting to protect their daughter but having to learn to let go.  As you can see there are many relatable characters for many in this film, who knows, you might find more.

Overview:

            Even though this movie has its flaws and its critics, it has all the joy you would expect from a Disney film, the adventure, the devastation, the determination, inspiration, and happiness that these stories bring.  This movie is a classic that the whole family can enjoy.  I would recommend going to see this film. 

Friday, November 6, 2015

How She Found Her Voice


This is a poem that I wrote pertaining to the essay below.  It compares Disney's The Little Mermaid to Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Seamaid.

A fairy tale is one,

Which teaches our life,

The values and morals,

And that good is what’s right.

 

It teaches that dragons,

And fears can be won.

That dreams can come true,

When the journey is done.

 

There once was a mermaid,

With a voice she must find.

One through a man,

And one being kind.

 

In search for a soul,

In search for a mate,

Both of these mermaids,

Were the sea witches bait.

 

They gave up a voice,

In the quest for a life.

A life they have longed for,

A life as a wife.

 

One of them got it,

The dream they so pleased,

The other gave up,

And fell to her knees.

 

As she started to die,

She was saved by her soul,

With her good, selfless deeds,

She accomplish her goal.

 

She rose to the sky,

As a daughter of the air,

Her soul will be granted,

Through the goodness she shares.

 

The lessons taught now,

Are flawed and obscure,

False hopes and bad message,

Makes it all feel unsure.

 

 

The pureness of message,

And the fate that’s at hand,

Of the children they teach,

May not go as they planned.

 

Sacrifice, love,

And her goodness of heart,

Is what saved this young princess,

From falling apart.

 

The other had won,

In a happier sense,

Though much sacrifice,

She did not dispense.

 

One found her dream,

And the other did too,

One just found out,

In a way that was new.

 

Though one of these lessons,

Is not quite as deep,

Both of them helpful,

And both we shall keep.

 

People escape,

From the world dark and sad,

To a place that is warm,

And not quite as bad.

 

It gives them a hope,

A belief and a love,

To know that happiness,

Can always be won.

 

That good always wins,

That love can cure all,

That the fears they once had,

Are only so small.

 

That happiness comes,

Here and thereafter,

In ways can’t expect,

Our happily ever after.