I have grown up loving Disney. I have dressed up as multiple princesses (Jasmine, Ariel, and Alice) for Halloween, have watched many of the movies multiple times, and even met some of the princesses in real life when I went to Disney World in the 4th grade. Even earlier this year, almost everyone in this class had some part in the Disney Gala we performed in May. So it's pretty clear that the Disney franchise has played a very big role in my life and continues to do so. In class last Friday, we read Deborah Ross' Escape from Wonderland: Disney and the Female Imagination, which basically put down every movie ever created by Disney due to their "reluctance to embrace imagination with both arms", feelings of distrust and danger towards dreaming, and "rigid adherence to rules". Even with the close scrutiny done by Ross with her examples used in Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast, all the reader can do is feel attacked and exasperated when reading this essay.
Ross uses examples from Disney's films to support the idea that imagination is not homogenous and that Disney should not be supporting the idea that marriage is the end all be all for girls. She says that "conservative authors have used romances and novels to teach that their dreams are dangerous and of little relevance to their daily lives". Children are taught to dream and as they grow up they can percieve whether those dreams are realistic or absolutely unachieveable. In Alice, Ross points out that at first "Alice stories...present adventure as positive". And it absolutely is. We shoudl be encouraging girls to go around the world and see new things and explore their passions. But then Ross says that Alice fears her dreams and wants to go home and go back to reality. This shows that we should not follow our dreams and that we should accept the fate that is given to us. And I love this story and it feels like this is such a bad representation of what that story was.
I completely agree, marriage should not be the end of their tales. In the Little Mermaid, Ariel wants to see our world. She wants to walk on the street and sit in the sun and learn how to dance. The viewer roots for her in this aspect, especially with her "Part of Your World" song. But in the movie, as soon as she locks eyes with that prince, all of those dreams seemingly vanish with the blindess of love. I read the original tale before it was mentioned in this essay, so I knew what Ariel truly wanted. All she wanted was to be a spirit of the air and to gain a soul for Heaven. The movie completely looks over that tragic beauty to her character and instead replaces it with a bouquet and veil. It takes away the sacrifices that the little mermaid had to endure to gain her freedom and her legs and instead made her out to be a perfect housewife for Eric.
Now, this essay made some great points in its attack on marriage being the "happily ever after" and that dreaming should not be seen as a flaw. But it was such a chore to read and honestly I became so frustrated with Ross, if I am being completely honest. I have such a personal connection with both these movies and the fairy tales. I can sincerely say that I enjoy both the books and the movies. But the blatant attack that Ross uses immediately makes me exasperated. It just sounds like another adult berating a child for still dreaming when we're apparently too old to do so.
Emily, I appreciate and validate your exasperation....I would challenge you to look past that, as you do....I would argue that Ross does not say that we are too old to dream, that in fact she celebrates the dreams of the characters and of children, but criticizes the fact that they settle for far less than those dreams.
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