As a kid, I grew up watching Disney movies. I loved them to death. My favourites were Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid. I think its pretty safe to say that almost all of us grew up watching classic Disney movies too. They were apart of our lives then and as it is now. For some of us anyway. These cartoons taught us love. Maybe not the best way to teach us, but it did anyhow. It made us girls anticipate the moment we meet Prince Charming. Made us want that "happily ever after" badly. Looking back at it now, was it all really a good influence for us? I know its not nice to blame Disney solely since they just put to film old literature. So bare with me.
They were all entertaining, don't get me wrong, but really though. A lot of what these cartoons represented was that finding Prince Charming was the most important thing in an adolescent girl's life. Yes its fun and exhilarating and all that, but seriously. Shouldn't cartoons teach the little ones about selfless love instead? About looking beyond how a person looks or dresses? About family pride? Let's see some examples.
Cinderella and Snow White
Here's the story of the girls that later branded all stepmoms as evil. Tell me honestly. What's the first thing you think of when you hear the word "stepmom"? Evil? Mean? Not all stepmoms are evil. In fact, some try so hard to be nice but fail because kids already have this idea of them being evil planted in their minds. A bit sad don't you think? One can only try so hard. She is human after all. All that hate is bound to rub off on her and get her hating on them too one way or the other.
Then there's Cinderella's prince charming. Genius over here falls madly in love with the girl he has one dance with. Only reason he danced with her? Cause she looked the best at the ball. Would he have taken a second look at her had she attended the ball looking as she normally does? We'll never know but I wouldn't put my bets on the table if I were you. Looks aren't everything and if you're going to let your kids watch these cartoons, you'd better explain to them the reality of things afterwards. Its only fair. Now back to the prince. He falls in love with her and then after she leaves, instantly forgets how she looks like and has to try the shoe on every girl in town to find her. How romantic.
Snow White on the other hand, had to run away from home because her again "evil" stepmother wanted her dead. Why? Because she was prettier than her. Is this really what we want taught to our kids? Eliminate your competition by whatever means necessary. Even if it means you have to kill the person. Ha ha. Everybody's beautiful one way or another. You're pretty in your own way, and so is she. There's really nothing to fight about here. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder anyhow. So back to Madame Snow White. She's forced to run away from home, and the first thing she does? Enter a stranger's house, dig around their stuff and then fall asleep in their house. Ever heard of trespassing or stranger-danger? So OK, she has her beauty sleep and then she wakes up to not one, not two strange men, but seven tiny, old men carrying pick axes in their hands staring at her while she sleeps. And she STILL chooses to stay. She chooses to stay and does them a favour by cleaning their house. Ha ha. Turns out though, these men give her some cool advise about not talking to strangers (as ironic as it sounds) and despite them telling her not to, she goes ahead still and talks to a scary old woman with a wart on her nose. Or was it chin? Anywho, it was a scary ass old hag and she even took an apple from her and ate it. So yea, we know the rest of the story after that. She falls into a deep sleep, the old, tiny men come home, kill the hag which turned out to be her stepmom, prince charming finds her somehow or rather (it took a magic mirror for the stepmom to find her), kisses her, she wakes up and they ride into the sunset and live happily ever after. All in the span of a few days tops. I can't remember how long she was asleep. Trust me honey. If you were that dead asleep in the company of seven men who've been living without women for a long time, you won't wake up that lucky. Just saying.
I can go on and on about some more but I think I'd rather not. As much as I hate the message some of their cartoons send out, there are some pretty decent ones. These for example teach that true beauty comes from within, or that the only thing you can do with your past is learn from it and change the future, or even that nothing beats the love you get from your parents and friends - that's true love. Here's some.
Beauty and the Beast
My ultimate favourite Disney movie. Ha ha, yes I may be a little biased with this one but you can't blame me. From the very start Belle goes on about her love for reading, her love for wanting something different, for an adventure. She's not at all bothered about the village "hottie" (or at least he claims to be) and all of his proposals. Any other Disney princess would've made him her life's goal. Ha ha. The cartoon really starts with the story of how the prince turned into a beast. About how he was a snob and then was taught a lesson that true beauty lies within. Not only does this cartoon teach us about inner beauty, it teaches us etiquette. How to behave like a gentleman. How losing your temper is a bad thing. And also how sometimes the best thing to do is to let go. Sacrifices pay off. Like when Belle sacrificed herself to take her father's place as prisoner and when the Beast sacrificed his chance of going back to human form just so Belle could be with her father again. Brings a tear to your eye doesn't it?
The Lion King
Aaah this movie. Sparked my love for lions, it did. First saw it when I was 5 and I've been in love with lions ever since. Mufasa <3 Anyway, fantasies aside, this cartoon teaches us family pride. Teaches us that the most important thing is to "Remember who you are". Teaches us that jealousy only leads to destruction and also teaches us love. It has to doesn't it? Lion or not. Ha ha. It also teaches us that a pair of men can bring up a child to have a good head on his shoulders. Yes I know being gay is not accepted in a lot of societies. But being gay shouldn't matter. Love is love. And how you bring up your kids depends on you. Most of the people in jail were brought up by normal parents. By normal I mean a father and a mother. Didn't turn out quite right did they? Still you don't see anyone making a fuss about it. Meh. Another post for another day. Overall, the movie taught us that families are important. And even if you stray away, you know they'll be right there waiting for you to come home.
The same applies to Finding Nemo and 101 Dalmatians. The story about relentless parents on the search to bring their children home. Be it just one or a hundred and one.
All in all, I think parents need to sit and watch Disney cartoons with their children. To highlight the important parts of the cartoon and to tell them the reality of things otherwise. Kids are growing up very fast these days. What with all their music and movies telling them love and romance is everything. Let them grow up slowly and savour every moment of their very short childhood. I'm lucky I was just weird to not be so into all this finding love and romance. I mean, I still want it. But never at that age. The idea of happily ever afters appeal more to me now, as it should. I want my Prince Charming. But I also know it'll take time. Teach kids that. That true love will take time. Let it. And it'll last.
Forever and ever.
