Post by d on Sept 11, 2010 23:19:49 GMT -5
It has been a plan of mine, for years, to go through the Disney Princess canon and analyze it. There's a lot of generalizations made in news articles and nonfiction, but not too much in the way of specifics. So lets get specific. In fact, comedy has turned a focused lens on the Disney heroines, skewering them through parody and satire. Drawn Together's Princess Clara is basically a Disney-Princess-On-Speed, and even Disney has been able to laugh at itself through the blockbuster Enchanted.
This weekend, ABC Family is running Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is a great coincidence. It's the first of the so-called princess films, made in 1937. It was also Disney's first animated film, period. It is now 73 years old. It has not aged well. I'm going to watch it and write a full post about it. I plan to do this for the rest of the princess movies, too. (And, yes, we'll be included the Disney Wannabes Anastasia and The Swan Princess, among others.)
These are my impressions of the film, my memories. But what I really want is to open the floor to everyone else to also send in your experiences with these films. For most of us here at Subterfuge our girlhoods intersected with Disney's so-called Golden Era (approx. 1989-1998, or, The Little Mermaid to Mulan). They were made for us, marketed to us aggressively, and our peers devoured them. We were bombarded by Disney. So what did we think about it? As kids, what did we like and not like? As adults, what do we now see in them?
Please do comment here and on the forums about these films, any of them. If you have a lot to say, consider writing a full post about it.
Pop culture has shaped our generation in a myriad of ways that we are only now beginning to understand. This is one of the most crucial, as it targeted us as very young girls, and pitched us an ideal of womanhood.
There will be songs. There will be big dresses, and handsome, nameless princes. It may get ugly. We'll see how it goes.
--Your Feminist Fairy Godmother, D
This weekend, ABC Family is running Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is a great coincidence. It's the first of the so-called princess films, made in 1937. It was also Disney's first animated film, period. It is now 73 years old. It has not aged well. I'm going to watch it and write a full post about it. I plan to do this for the rest of the princess movies, too. (And, yes, we'll be included the Disney Wannabes Anastasia and The Swan Princess, among others.)
These are my impressions of the film, my memories. But what I really want is to open the floor to everyone else to also send in your experiences with these films. For most of us here at Subterfuge our girlhoods intersected with Disney's so-called Golden Era (approx. 1989-1998, or, The Little Mermaid to Mulan). They were made for us, marketed to us aggressively, and our peers devoured them. We were bombarded by Disney. So what did we think about it? As kids, what did we like and not like? As adults, what do we now see in them?
Please do comment here and on the forums about these films, any of them. If you have a lot to say, consider writing a full post about it.
Pop culture has shaped our generation in a myriad of ways that we are only now beginning to understand. This is one of the most crucial, as it targeted us as very young girls, and pitched us an ideal of womanhood.
There will be songs. There will be big dresses, and handsome, nameless princes. It may get ugly. We'll see how it goes.
--Your Feminist Fairy Godmother, D