i've been listening to disney songs throughout my last two essay semi-crises (i.e. nights when i work to 3.30am trying to finish my essays for the next day's tute... which, actually, is not very xiong by the standards of other people here). all right, please please please do not keel over in shock from discovering that i actually listen to songs with lyrics, for God's sake, i don't want to have any blood on my hands (or the carpet, parquet, ceramic tiles or whatever have you), indirect as it may be, from people reading my blog.
and - i realize - i actually quite like them. (ok, don't writhe about on the floor, it's not becoming.) largely because they're immensely sappy (most of classical music isn't sappy, though it can get cliched) and sentimental. and i realize and appreciate, because i'm older now, some of the themes presented, the motifs, and also the pretty orchestration (kudos to the creators of Pocahontas. one also starts realizing little things like in when you feel the love tonight the strings enter when timon sings the words "romantic atmosphere"; this subtly changes the entire mood and sets the stage for the entry of the lovers. but 'nuff said.) and also because they make me nostalgic. a) because i really liked disney movies when i was younger but also b) because they make me realize what a stupid kid i was back then.
because now, you see, i also hate disney. well perhaps "hate" is too mild a word. i absolutely detest it. it is puerile and full of cute prancing bunnies with big eyes. (well, at least Bambi is.) and all the female heroines are good looking and have perfect hourglass figures. (damn.) and of course, big eyes. and it's always happy endings. and of course, they're so horribly unfair to the villains, who are presented without any redeeming features and are strictly one-dimensional, and who have immensely painful deaths. (now is that fair?) i wouldn't mind so much if it were just some dumb fairytale put on stage, like snow white. but claude frollo in hugo's novel was nowhere the power hungry sinister and cruel character that he was in disney's adaptation. (though i must admit hugo's frollo exercises a great fascination for me.) and disney lies. john smith of pocahontas fame is not tall, handsome, and blonde. he was, in real life, ugly with a huge red bristly beard, who got himself blown up by standing too near a store of gunpowder. so he was ugly and stupid. of course we see modern notions transplanted into the 'historical' disney films, for instance, the american indians were all noble savages on the rousseau-ian model, peace-loving and minding their own business until the whites came. (they were most certainly not. pocahontas's father, powhatan, was a blood-thirsty power-hungry head-basher of other indian tribes.) the only way they were noble savages was perhaps the fact that they didn't wear any clothes at all (including the women) which was not reflected in the movie at any point in time. mulan, of course, is utter nonsense, and you should know why.
but of course disney appeals to the romantic inside, so i'll happily consume the films and music while knowing that, really, i hate them.
and - i realize - i actually quite like them. (ok, don't writhe about on the floor, it's not becoming.) largely because they're immensely sappy (most of classical music isn't sappy, though it can get cliched) and sentimental. and i realize and appreciate, because i'm older now, some of the themes presented, the motifs, and also the pretty orchestration (kudos to the creators of Pocahontas. one also starts realizing little things like in when you feel the love tonight the strings enter when timon sings the words "romantic atmosphere"; this subtly changes the entire mood and sets the stage for the entry of the lovers. but 'nuff said.) and also because they make me nostalgic. a) because i really liked disney movies when i was younger but also b) because they make me realize what a stupid kid i was back then.
because now, you see, i also hate disney. well perhaps "hate" is too mild a word. i absolutely detest it. it is puerile and full of cute prancing bunnies with big eyes. (well, at least Bambi is.) and all the female heroines are good looking and have perfect hourglass figures. (damn.) and of course, big eyes. and it's always happy endings. and of course, they're so horribly unfair to the villains, who are presented without any redeeming features and are strictly one-dimensional, and who have immensely painful deaths. (now is that fair?) i wouldn't mind so much if it were just some dumb fairytale put on stage, like snow white. but claude frollo in hugo's novel was nowhere the power hungry sinister and cruel character that he was in disney's adaptation. (though i must admit hugo's frollo exercises a great fascination for me.) and disney lies. john smith of pocahontas fame is not tall, handsome, and blonde. he was, in real life, ugly with a huge red bristly beard, who got himself blown up by standing too near a store of gunpowder. so he was ugly and stupid. of course we see modern notions transplanted into the 'historical' disney films, for instance, the american indians were all noble savages on the rousseau-ian model, peace-loving and minding their own business until the whites came. (they were most certainly not. pocahontas's father, powhatan, was a blood-thirsty power-hungry head-basher of other indian tribes.) the only way they were noble savages was perhaps the fact that they didn't wear any clothes at all (including the women) which was not reflected in the movie at any point in time. mulan, of course, is utter nonsense, and you should know why.
but of course disney appeals to the romantic inside, so i'll happily consume the films and music while knowing that, really, i hate them.
posted by zhongkai at 6:45 PM
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