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| Disney's First Full-Length Animated Film |
MIKE SAYS the most difficult thing about growing up during the Disney Renaissance was experiencing it after everyone else. While my friends were all raving about The Little Mermaid, especially the girls, my family didn't get to see it until it hit video. Thankfully, Mermaid was so successful that Disney decided to release it on video far sooner than their usual practice . . . a mere 8 months after it left the theaters.
Our trend of seeing the newest Disney film only on video continued for years . . . so long, in fact, that the next major Disney film I would see in the theater was A Bug's Life, which, incidentally, I saw with Kate.
Despite this time lag in my cultural education, the music of films such as Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King was the soundtrack of my teens. While I was far too awkward to try it in High School, there was the occasional mission companion that was romanced by my rendition of "Kiss the Girl" (and by romanced, I mean annoyed and repelled), and many a child brought to giggles by my enthusiastic recital of "Part of Your World," especially the line "Wouldn't you think I'm the girl, the girl who has everything?" which I belted out proudly, regardless of any gender conflicts.
Despite the magnificence of the Beauty soundtrack, the songs are a bit less singable for me. This may have something to do with the complexity of the songs, which is far more impressive than that of Mermaid's . . . though it's probably due to the fact that I didn't get as strong a reaction when I sung them.
Despite the joys that come from singing Disney in public, the films themselves are very good, though much of their quality is due to the music itself.
Mermaid began the Disney Renaissance and, through music and animation, showed us that animated movies could be just as entertaining for the whole family. Sure, these-cleaned up fairy tales may be full of stereotypes and gender roles, and all manner of other insulting things. But every kid knows the frustration of experiencing things that parents have forbidden, and the embarrassment of discovering that your parents were right.
Beauty and the Beast especially resonates for me on several levels, and not always on the levels you might expect. I understand Belle's search for a person who is deep and thoughtful, for someone who sees the world the way she does. I also understand the Beast's fears that no one will ever see through the guise he wears in order to nurture and care for the person he can be.
While many different lessons, both good and bad, can be extrapolated from these retold fairy tales, kids almost always see the good, which is wonderful. It's sad to think that it's we adults that have to over think things (for a great example of this, see my review on Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure).
For me, an animated movie doesn't have to have musical numbers. But at the same time, when we were considering movies for this list, these films didn't really occur to me. I didn't always think of them as musicals. But, when listening to the music and watching the numbers, you see that the scenes are the same as that of a stage musical: people dancing in the streets, characters doing wild and crazy things, music from nowhere, everyone knowing the words . . .
The greatest thing about these films is their resistance to aging. My kids love these films, and they don't blink an eye at the animation; because it stands up. And, these films, despite any subliminal messages, have good themes overall, which make it all the easier to encourage the kids to enjoy them.
But, to avoid some emotional scarring, I may not encourage my boys to sing the songs... at least not in public.
KATE SAYS my opinion of Disney's The Little Mermaid is influenced by two things. First, I consider any re-imagined version of The Little Mermaid to be better than the original.
| Disney himself was influenced by |
| illustrators who emphasized |
| the darker side of fairy tales. |
My second reaction is rooted in the mermaid as a symbol of spiritual castration, i.e. the mermaid's inability to walk can be equated to the mermaid's inability to act as a fully moral being. In lore, mermaids are often amoral and sociopathically detached.
I realize Disney is not operating from this standpoint, but I interpret Ariel's desire to walk not just as her desire for a rather limp romance but as her need for a fully integrated psyche.
Yeah, okay, that's way over-thought, but the idea is always there at the back of my head. Consequently, I react to the movie's plot holes (Ariel doesn't tell her dad where she is for three days--really? Ursula totally cheats at the end--what's so clever about that? Triton gives up his entire kingdom to an evil witch just because his daughter made a very bad bargain--what kind of king is he?) as balanced by the non-ambiguous nature of symbols: The Little Mermaid is an exploration of psychological development from dependence to independence (though I do wish Ariel showed a little more independence and hutzpah at the end).
The result is that the hero of The Little Mermaid is rather negligible. Believe it or not, Eric is slightly more interesting than Disney heroes prior to The Little Mermaid, who were little more than faces in suits, but he is still far less important than Ariel's rebellion and transition from non-speaking recklessness to speaking self-sacrifice. (I always think of Disney heroes pre-Beauty & the Beast when I read ridiculous commentary about the supposed chauvinism of fairy tales/Disney--sure, the women in Cinderella are all fighting over a prince, a MAN, but they are fighting over him for their own prestige and egos; his wants and needs are about as important as kelp.)
All said, I do consider the romance of Beauty & the Beast to be far more grown-up than that of The Little Mermaid. The dialog of B & B is downright sophisticated, not just lines like "If it's not Baroque, why fix it?" but also Belle and Beast's many exchanges, including Beast's grumpy, "But she is being so difficult!" followed by the very 'human' yell, "Then go ahead and *starve.*"
This couple is not simply at the mercy of a sweet voice and a cute face (seriously, why does Eric want to marry a woman about whom he knows nothing? and why would Ariel want to marry a guy who is searching for Miss Perfect?).
In comparison, Belle and Beast are a couple that fights, argues, laughs, enjoys each other's company, protects each other . . .
Okay, I admit, I'm terribly partial to the "captivity narrative," in which the hero and heroine get to know each other without outside intrusions.
| What's not to love about this guy?! |
If I were Belle, I'd sure be lodging a complaint right about this point.
Granted, the Beast's transformation is always a problem. Just as Belle has learned to love the Beast, so has the reader/viewer. McKinley, author of Beauty, rewrote her own masterpiece into Rose Daughter to try to fix this problem. But hey, Disney put the problem on film. When our family visited Disney Land shortly after the movie came out, the Beast was in the parade with Belle, NOT Fabio.
Whatever their plots, the music in both movies is perfect. Beauty & the Beast has a more purely musical stage quality; however, both provide bring-down-the-house numbers like "Be Our Guest" and the hilarious "Gaston" and, in The Little Mermaid, "Poor Unfortunate Souls," "Kiss the Girl," and the absolutely fantastic "Under the Sea." These songs are utterly memorable, utterly sing-along numbers. And the music really carries the plot; they are truly tributes to what it means to create a musical.
2 comments:
Okay, Mike, because of your review, I've had "Part of Your World" running through my head for 2 days now. (Granted, it's much better than having that OTHER Disney song stuck in my head: "It's A . . ." no, no, no!)
Lol... Mission: Accomplished.
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