Having a thinky think again because thinky thinks are fun and time consuming.

A website I follow posted an article about all the things wrong with Disney's Beauty and the Beast today and they linked to a youtube video about Beauty and the Beast's subliminal messaging. It was mostly silly, silly stuff: "look, the word 'sex' hidden in the animation a million times ifyousquintandmashittogetherabit". Firstly, do you really think that the top Disney executives sit their animators down and say "See here, fellas, you haven't fulfilled your quota of childish self-sabotaging graffiti yet - I want the word 'sex' sort-of-but-not-really scrawled at least ten times more in this film!" Really? If any of the so called 'subliminal' texts were deliberate (and it's a tenuous claim to make) I'd blame a mischievious animator or artist, not the company as a whole.
As for the other critisims? This is where it becomes interesting. I took a little time and watched a few of the youtuber's other videos and some of the points made are definitely more valid than the silly 'sex' thing: how about Disney's reinforcement of racial and gender stereotypes? How about the messages perpetuated about normality and physical appearance and sexuality? I think these are valid things to talk about - but always, always with a pinch of salt!

It's a dangerous thing to blame Disney for only portraying very beautiful people in their animated movies. We need to remember that the very nature of Disney animation means all characters are heavily stylised - and we should not be forgetting Disney heroes like Quasimodo and the Beast himself (who, it has been pointed out, is not even usually found attractive in his human form). Looking at the rest of Western media, particularly American media, it's very, very rare to find a television show or film in which even the supposedly unattractive characters are not visually pleasing. This is because film is a visual medium and people want to spend their time looking at visually pleasing images... not a crime, but it becomes hypocritical and silly very easily. To blame a single company for the perpetuation of this is foolish.


Would I (supposing I ever had any) allow my children to watch Beauty and the Beast? Yes. I think I would. Not at too young an age - I think perhaps early primary school is a good time to let children start watching Disney movies (my kids won't watch any films until they're able to hold a conversation about what they saw - I don't want to use the television as a tool of distraction rather than a medium for education and entertainment). And (as far as I can and if my husband agrees) I won't let them watch a film based on a written story until they've read the story. So no movies until the age of four or five. Wow. I wonder if I'll be able to do that?
Does that mean my kids won't be watching Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame until they're about fifteen and have bothered to wade through the depths of Victor Hugo's immense, tragic, somewhat batty novel? YES. YOU BET YOUR BOOTS THEY WON'T.

This is what the internet is for:

See you later, agitator!

NANOWRIMO!


My word count is growing ever so sluggishly thisevening, which is quite sad, really. My sentences are becoming horrible, long freight trains, overflowing with redundant words and abundant commas. I won't apologise for the commas.

Been listening to obscure Disney music whilst I novelise, which may be why it's such hard slog... keep getting distracted and hollering LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS! instead of actually getting down to business and defeating this wordcount. I'm a silly. Seriously, though: some Disney music is pretty rubbish, to balance out the famously awesome stuff they've produced. Like this. (WHY DID I LISTEN TO THIS? IT TOOK ME ABOUT TEN YEARS TO GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD THE FIRST TIME! WHAT AM I IN FOR NOW?) And this. (I sort of hate Pocahontas anyway, though.)




This song is sort of guilty pleasure of mine, though. It's one of those songs that sound really really odd when one suddenly starts singing it - though the fact that my sister always tunes in with the alternating lines makes it about twelves times more fun. Just the melodrama and hilarity of it all! DECEPTION! DISGRACE! Go on, zebras, vocalise judgementally! Stomp, all you outraged rhinos! Sway with anger, elephants!
I need sleep and some kind of cure for a dodgy writing style.

Is that a bow-tie? I like bow-ties. I HAVEN'T SLEPT IN EIGHT DAYS!

Hello.

Finished sweeping some floors and washing some dishes. My dermatitis-y fingers hate me right now.

Just watched the second half of Meet the Robinsons. Such an underrated film. Makes me go all mushy inside. The first half is pretty 'meh', as Disney films go - the jokes are so-so, the characters are very mediocre (though there are standout moments and characters - Goob!) ... but the second half! Aaaahhh! I have no words! I guess I'm a bit of a sucker for time travel stories - Ahem - but not all time travel stories have the capacity to reduce me to a sniveling pile of soppiness like this movie does. Aaaaand I always get that 'don't worry, things will someday be different' vibe from watching it.

I'm tired of worrying about things and people and futures. Ugh.

Went to the zoo yesterday with the littlest of the kiddiwinks. The pictures are pretty awful, sadly, because I forgot to change the size before I took them:

Lots of people don't like zoos because animals don't belong in enclosures and stuff, but I'm a lifelong Gerald Durrell fan, so I've been indoctrinated with pro-zoo propaganda for quite some time. Besides, I think it's nice when people get to see real animals face to face instead of watching documentaries all the time. I'm very un-PC.

Besides... oh, my gosh! It's Aslan!!! *chortles of joy* I could have stayed at this part of the zoo forever...

You should know that this is the strangest thing I've ever done!

Good afternoon.

Went to see Disney's Tangled last night; here's some (hopefully!) brief thoughts.

I generally prefer old-style Disney movies with the traditional hand drawn animation; they just seem to be more story-focussed and prettier in general than the recent splurge of computer animated films, but Tangled has gone some little way in changing my opinion. To begin with, it was pretty much an old style Disney film: complete with sheltered pretty princess singing about her desire for a 'dream' to come true... in fact, it was just old style enough for me to get the old time butterflies in the tummy that I used to get going to the movies as a little kid. And the design of the whole thing was just SO GORGEOUS! In a little girl's bedroom kind of way, but still! I did have some issues with it though... (feel free to skip my gratituous whinge fest)Firstly, the music. Alan Menken has done some brilliant lovely work: Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, to begin with. Buuut, with Tangled, I feel, he has fallen far far below the standard set in these films. The music is mediocre and just doesn't quite feel right in many instances. Plus, the lyrics are awful - they really shouldn't have hired someone with such awful and limited experience.
And I got annoyed very quickly at how the characters' lips didn't always move whilst they were singing. It felt a bit like all those rock music montages in Shrek films awkwardly married to a proper Little Mermaid style song. I know Disney has done this before and it has worked - but not this time.
Moving on. The animation and design were amazing and I won't fuss about them - except to say that Rapunzel's head was too big... and I found this oddly distracting. Particularly since it made Flynn's pupils (in his eyes) look too small in comparison - making him look permanently shocked whenever they were in frame together. At least, that's how I felt. Haha - and now you'll have to notice it too. Sorry.

Now we get to the difficult stuff. The romance felt just a leetle bit off - watching the ads I wasn't even sure there would be any, and watching the film I kept veering towards 'yep, this is pretty intimate and... nope, not romantic' over and over; possibly a deliberately sought effect by the filmmakers, but definitely annoying. I think the fact that Rapunzel looks so darn young has a lot to do with the 'off-ness' (and when I say 'off' I don't mean 'off' like a rotten fish, I just mean 'off' as in 'off kilter') of the romance - coupled with the fact that it was mostly from her perspective - it felt a bit like a girl with a crush on an older man. Awkward.
Particularly when one thinks that the film is partially narrated by Flynn, I would have liked to see a bit more of his side of the romance. Plus, I generally prefer to see members of the opposite sex feeling insecure and lovestruck in films. Don't you?


And the movie should have been called Rapunzel! Tangled, as a title, just doesn't fit with the feel and the direction of the film, which, for all the derring-do and humour, is mostly heart.

I did love this film. I connected really well with this film. Forget my whinging, please :-)

Fighting With My Addiction To Parentheses And Failing.

170th post! Huzzah! (Isn't it a pretty number?) Made smashed potatoes, steak and lebanese beans for my Lee-babies this evening (should go and make my own dinner sometime soon... if I can find any food!); I was singing 'Bring Him Home' in the kitchen whilst I cooked (with big operatic hand flourishes), and Joshy, the second youngest (he's 2), started echoing me on the last note of every line. "Let him beeeeee" - "Beeeeee" "Bring him hoooooome" - "Hooooome"! A-dorable.


Dang. Just missed QI. And tonight's theme was 'Gothic'! The literal exact word for what I'm studying right at this very moment! Argh! Just got my books for this study period. I love getting parcels. And the book I'm supposed to be finishing this week from last week is only 100 pages long! Score. I should have it down soon - it's a gothic novel of the 1700s, called The Castle of Otranto. Really looking forward to getting into this unit. :)

Why do I have nothing interesting to say? This is really quite depressing. My MP3 is frozen? That's not interesting. Just also depressing.

Borrowed the Les Miserable soundtrack from Marickville library; would so so much love to see it live! The movie with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush is amazing. (Although it's the only movie in which I've ever really hated a character played by Claire Danes.)

Really do recommend it, though I half wish I had read the book first. There seems to be some sort of jinx on me finishing Les Miz - the first time I ordered it at Angus and Robertson the bookshop's computers had a meltdown and I had to wait four weeks instead of two for my copy. Then, when I was halfway through it (and, no joke, it's a seriously hefty volume!) it mysteriously went missing and hasn't been seen since. The second time I decided to order with QBD instead of A&R - my order went missing. I had to re-order. And then, when I was two-thirds through the book, I left it in the backyard and it got rained on! I have another copy now, ages later, but this, unlike the others, is not my usual 'Penguin Classics' edition, so maybe I'll get to read the ending someday... it's an amazing, redemptive story, that much I know. You feel so much for the convict turned philanthropist turned fugitive hero... and also so much for the legalistic, police-inspector anti-hero. Not to mention all the sympathy that 'les miserable' - the miserable people of France themselves - inspire!

Speaking of Victor Hugo. (Yes, we were speaking of him; he wrote the above book.) He also wrote the muchly famous novel: The Hunchback of Notre Dame. (Although the original French is Notre Dame de Paris. Hugo hated the English title because he meant the book to be about the cathedral and its surroundings: it isn't Quasimodo-central) I actually managed to finish this one; long, depressing but fascinating look at depraved human nature. Seriously, I can't in any way see how any person affiliated with Disney could ever have looked at this story and gone 'Hey, what a great idea for a kids' movie!' I only watched it for the first time a few days ago. (With Jayden :D)

Hard as it may be to believe, Frollo is actually more sympathetic in the original. All that stuff he tells Quasimodo is true - about the mother abandoning him and all. In the original book Frollo starts off as a loving older brother/guardian to a juvenile delinquent uni student - a man who takes on the deformed baby foundling out of the goodness of his own heart. It's the gypsy girl, of course, who sets off his long descent into utter depraved craaaaziness. (She is, by the by, a vacuous, shallow airhead, who - spoilers - actually does die at the end.) The plot is tons more complicated than the Disney adaptation. Weird as it sounds, Quasimodo is the changeling child that the gypsies swapped Esmeralda for... so she isn't even really a gypsy. Her own birth mother is the one who betrays her to Frollo at the end - what's worse is that they realise, as the soldiers ride to arrest her, that they're mother and daughter. It's absolutely horrible. Oh, and Phoebus is a totally horrible person who uses Esmeralda and doesn't even remember her name.
The whole Hellfire sequence, (which I shall address shortly), from the Disney one, (in which Frollo struggles with his lust for Esmeralda and decides she shall 'be mine or burn' or words to that effect) happens in monologue/conversation several times: here's a little direct quote for you.

"Then, running, and drawing her after him, for he still kept hold of her, he went straight to the gibbet, and pointing to it: 'Choose between us,' said he, coolly."

Now, as to why anybody would want to make a kids' movie about a mixed up, physically deformed man, a depraved priest, a playboy soldier and an idiot gypsy... I have no idea. Despite cutting out most of the story and quite a bit of the eeeeeevilness, our beloved animating company certainly stepped straight into the deep end with this production. Have you listened to Hellfire? Talk about adult content! Images; words that will trouble children for decades. Basically, no. I won't post it here, profaning my blog with such disturbia. And the rest of it! Seriously depressing stuff! The ugly guy is beaten up in public, the gypsy mother dies in the first five minutes, people are burned alive, nearly hanged, dodgily molested... what the heck? There's even poledancing! Why, Disney, why?

I must go to sleep now. Busy day tomorrow.
Kisses and hugs.

My soul belongs to God I know/I made that bargain long ago/He gave me hope when hope was gone/He gave me strength to carry on!

Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.

I am a sad, sad person. To demonstrate: I cried on the bus this evening whilst reading about C. S. Lewis's death... which happened 28 years before I was born. So... yeah. I also just sat down and watched Mulan 2, which wasn't as horrendously bad as I expected it to be. Didn't cry in that, probably because my beloved Lee-babies explained the twist and ending to me beforehand (they love spoilers. I don't know if I'll ever be able to enjoy Harry Potter - if I ever read it - knowing as much as I do now... because of their desire to remove any surprises!)

Bleuhhh. I feel like a deflated beach ball or a romantic poet or something. Somebody hug me! Quickly!

Clap your hands if you believe in fairies!

Today I made a giant pot of spaghetti bolognese, whilst listening to James youtubing National Geographic videos about killer whales and helping Joshua make noodles out of playdough...

Ahaha! Just nipped out, mid-blog, to watch QI . Coz I'm cool like that. The only people I recognised (besides Stephen Fry, whose nose is really really wonky... thanks Monica for pointing that out *incredibly distracted*) were Barry Humphries and Bill Bailey. Apparently the red stuff that oozes out of meat when you cook it isn't blood. It's myoglobin, not haemoglobin, and it does something different to what blood does. I love information!


Argh. I hate these evenings in some ways. My brain is broken - keeps playing the same thoughts over and over again. Here's one of the worst for you: what if I never ever meet somebody that I can love and who loves me back? Romantically, I mean; there are several people whom I love very much in the non-romantic way (and you may count yourself in the very selective list, my dear reader. Yes, you may. (unless you are Hurstville library. In that case I feel unsure of my feelings towards you, considering the extraordinary amounts of money you have charged me for overdue books over the years.))


I mean, seriously. Whatever will I do with myself if I wind up a crotchety old lady, dying with the name of God on her lips, without those lips ever having tasted true love's first kiss? (belated Warning: I reserve the right to be as sentimental as I please here) Come on! Please? Please, no?!

Good night dear readers. Please pray that I sleep through the lonely, chilly 3am that is sure to come in only a very few hours.

Cartoonies

Just watched Disney's Robin Hood with Jayden, who can turn even the mildest of children's films into a giggle-fest of innuendo.

Well, um, because I can't think of anything else I'd rather blog about right now, I'm going to go weird-nerdy and list all my favourite cartoon lads:

Roger from 101 Dalmatians

"Melody first, my dear, and then the lyrics. Hmmm?"

I know, I know, this may seem a little obscure, but stick with me here. He's a musician/songwriter from the 50s/60s who is fairly good-looking (despite the schnoz), charming, in an endearingly bumbling fashion, unselfconscious, entertaining, good sense of humour; British accent; strong, family man who stands up for his, um, dogs. Yes, the dogs are a bit of a drawback (all seven million of them) but I think I'd be willing to put up with at least the two they had at the beginning if I were Anita...

Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty

"Now, father, you're living in the past. This is the 14th century!"

He's just lovely. The first Disney prince to have a personality, or any opportunity for real derring-do. Sings, dances (only briefly though...), takes initiative and defeats the bad guy - using the Sword of Truth and the Shield of Virtue! The only weapons, my dear... As a kid, I always identified with Aurora - blonde, kinda ditzy and vague, loves to sing and walk around barefoot, enjoys a nice nap... and who could ask for more than a Philip?

Robin Hood, from, you guessed it, Robin Hood

"Marian, my darling, I love you more than life itself."

Total sweetie. All the way. Even if he is some kind of anthropomorphic, tunic-wearing fox thing. I'll admit it was an odd decision for Disney to make the classic legend all animal-y, but they still couldn't destroy the pure awesomeness of our favourite outlaw. (Although Kevin Costner did manage that, somewhat later, in a movie I will never ever again watch.) I won't even list his lovely traits.

Derek, from The Swan Princess

"She's like... And then... How about... Am I right?"

His hair, as I have before mentioned, is a total 90s letdown, but his broad-shoulders, knee-high boots, singing voice, and sheer determination (once he realises that he's an idiot) to find and marry his lady-love are surely endearing.

Cornelius, Thumbelina

"Every day I'll take you higher - and I'll never let you fall!"

Well, he may be only sixteen years old and a fairy (with a 'funny name'), but since I have loved this film since my earliest infancy (or at least since 1994, the film's release date, which is further back than I can remember) I have adored Cornelius.

Prince Naveen, The Princess and the Frog

"One minute I'm a prince, charming and handsome, cutting the rug, and the next minute - woah!"



The latest addition to the Disney canon - and very different he is to the rest! Definitely possessed of the most personality - the most flaws, the most growth, definitely. And totally gorgeous. Just watch the movie.

An Old Mate Down In Devon/Said My Idea Of Heaven/Is 47 Ginger Headed Sailors

My MP3 hates me. I (accidentally) dropped it down the gap as I got off the train yesterday - then became late for work after pondering my chances of a large fine or death if I retrieved it myself; finally got the cityrail lady who scooped it up with a long pair of rubbish collecting tong things - and now it seems to have taken up arms against me. Every second or third song (even after I pointedly turned the 'shuffle' mode off three times) is Phil Collins's You'll Be In My Heart from the Disney film, Tarzan. I don't hate the song (at least, I didn't), but it was never my favourite. I'm not a big Phil Collins aficionado. Never have been. I tolerate his music. It's only there because it was on my 'Best Disney Album In The World Ever' playlist.
I now have developed some serious hard feelings against this song, but we have a problem. I don't know how to delete music off the ruddy gadget! So I'll just be carefully going through my playlists now with my finger on the 'skip' button from now on...



Soon. Soon I shall be free of public transport. Free to fly to the ends of the Earth (or as far as my petrol budget can take me), in a car once more. Just need to find said car. My morning and evening commute has been sapping the strength from me for far too long. I figured out today that I, on average, spend twelve hours commuting and working per day. When you subtract the requisite eight hours sleep (often more, when my aching limbs have their way), this leaves me four hours. Four hours for study, chores, eating, bathing and dressing every day. I hate this state of affairs with a passionate hatred. Spending several hours every day packed in amongst zombie-faced strangers, each positioned carefully to have his/her eyes locked upon a distant (non-existant) horizon and his/her hand resting firmly on something attached to the train, without touching anything else, if possible; this lifestyle wears thin.


Ugh! This whole deal is making me grind my teeth... *seconds later*: am now flying on a cloud made of John Schmidt's Viva La Vida Meets Love Story. Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. Sighhhhhhhh...


On a cheerier note, one thing I love to do when on one of the older trains (you know the ones - they look as if they've been punched out of aluminium foil and they're flat at the front; especial notice be taken when I say that they're the only NSW trains that have opening windows) is open the window and lean my face against it so that I can see the world travelling alongside me twice - out the window and in the reflection of the inward opening glass (as shown above). When I do this for long enough it feels like flying, although eventually my eye starts feeling a bit dry and sore and I'm sure if the train hit something or had to stop suddenly my brain would be gouged out...