#toofunnytuesday

I recently watched Hercules and had never noticed this line before! Haha :)


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#what'snextwednesday

https://youtu.be/OvW_L8sTu5E
I can't wait for the new Beauty and the Beast!!

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#workoutwednesday

Disney Villains and Evil

I want to reflect on how Disney villains have evolved throughout Disney movies from less lifelike to more so. In order to show this evolution, I will contrast Cinderella's evil step mother and Hans from Frozen. 

Cinderella’s evil step mother was unfair and mean to Cinderella from the beginning of the movie. She forced Cinderella to do chores such as feed the animals, scrub the floor, and clean the chimney, while her biological daughters did nothing of the sort. Cinderella was not even allowed to attend the ball like her half-sisters were. The point here is there is a clear distinction between good and evil, and there did not seem to be any good in the evil step mother.

On the other hand, Hans from Frozen was not such a clear-cut villain. In fact, I did not realize he was the villain until the end of the movie. For the first part of the movie, Hans seems like the perfect prince for Anna. They had that wonderful duet at the beginning of the movie, and it appeared they were in love. Additionally, he helped Ana not fall in the water, he took care of the townspeople when the snow storm came, and he supported Ana to go help her sister. However, Hans also betrayed Ana and tried to kill Elsa at the end of the movie. Hans is not a traditional Disney villain of the past because there is a grey area. His good deeds mixed with the evil ones make Hans more complex, believable, and realistic.

Most people in the real world are a mix of good and evil. Through Hans, Frozen provides an example of such a person. However, Cinderella only focuses on the one-sided pure evilness of the stepmother.

As Disney made this transition from less realistic to more lifelike villains, it sends a new message to everyone watching the film, both children and adults, that inspires critical thinking. It makes one realize that no one person is completely evil. As Daniel Forbes mentioned in “The Aesthetic of Evil”, evil is based on perspective. In the real world, evil is not as clear cut as Cinderella and is more comparable to how it is portrayed in Frozen, which better prepares children for the real world. Although my view may be skewed by the ages at which I watched these movies and the ages at which I could detect complex characters, to the best of my memory I believe this evolution has occurred.

Introduction

I want to be completely honest; writing is not my favorite thing to do. It has been stressful and painful process for me in the past. When I learned that Writing 101 was required at Duke, I began to dread the semester that I had to take the class. I knew I had to get into a class about a topic that I loved to succeed. Luckily, thanks to the first window of registration for the spring semester, I was able to get into the Decoding Disney class. 

My love for Disney was fostered by my mom. She worked at Disney in high school during the summers and school breaks. She often dressed up as one of the seven dwarfs during the day and danced in the electric light parade at night. She loved the characters, story lines, and magic that Disney possesses. As her daughter, I grew up watching every Disney movie multiple times and developed the same love Disney. One of my favorite things to do as a child was to act out Disney movies with my older brother. My favorite home video is of me and my brother acting out Peter Pan, which consisted of me (Tinker Bell), my brother (Captain Hook), a yellow lab named Millie (Tick-Tock), and several stuffed animals that played the rest of the characters. I cherish the memories I have watching Disney movies, acting them out, and visiting the parks with my family. My love for Disney has never dissipated, and a Disney movie is now the cure for homesickness or a hard day.

My love for Disney prompted me to sign up for this class, and I am thrilled to study and examine how villains are portrayed in Disney movies. In particular, I wish to investigate how the portrayal of villains has evolved and changed over time. I find it very interesting how drastically the villains have evolved and question if it is simply the animators’ choice or has our definition of evil also changed.