As for the censoring, I remember as a kid we had a read a long book of Song in the South. I never knew it was a movie for the longest time. It was so demeaning towards African Americans that they never released it since. Yet, we still can see clips of Zip e doo dah and hear the song so much. It's quite sad that they didn't find a way to either get rid of it completely if it's that horrible or just let it be released. There was also a part in Fantasia that can be seen on youtube ( Fantasia Cut) about misrepresenting blacks at the time. This was cut when it was rereleased in the 70's and forever after. Definitely a good scene to remove. I still love the movie regardless, especially the whole ancient greek mythology.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Disney for wk. 8
I think Enchanted (2007) is a good satire example of Disney's characters. Reading the part about Grimm's fairytales, I've always thought that Disney told the true tale. When I was a kid, I assumed everything was that kind of fluffy fairytale like Snow White. NO, red hot shoes, the choking corsette, or the poison hairpin. Yes, I read my grandmother's copy of Grimm's fairytales and was surprised by all the censored stories. Enchanted takes that idea of ridiculous Disney princess censorship to mock and actually bluntly express how cartoon and unreal it is. When Disney made realistic full featured movies, he wanted to show animation in a more realist way. Yet, it seems like it is all unreal and a fairytale.
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I agree with you on Enchanted. It really undid the whole traditional Disney movie although it still had a happy ending. But it drew attention to a lot of things that happen in fairytales. Such as the characters decide their in love even though they’ve only known each other for a minute. Interesting, that you mentioned Greek Mythology since as I was reading your post I was kind of reminded of it. It shares a lot of elements with the Grimm fairytales like Medea who gives Jason’s fiancée a poisoned dress.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your opinion of Disney in general? I personally am not a big fan of Disney and what's been created by them over the last few years.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Enchanted is definitely a satire of Disney's orthodox animations. Though I am a huge fan of their princess tales, I loved what was accomplished with Enchanted. For example, it recreated the typical fairy tale ending with one that is far more common to reality, in that multiple people are involved and feelings can be confusing. The fact that Disney is willing to mock itself makes me that much more of a fan.
ReplyDeleteI watched Snow White today in Disney Channel by accident and I was laughing the whole time about how ridiculous it is (or it seems to me now!). Also, it is crazy all the pervert thoughts that crossed my mind about the seven man and that girl alone in the house! nuts!
ReplyDeleteBut at the same time, it is also very surprising the great influence of Snow white in other animations (you mentioned already Enchanted, but I loved how Shrek also mocks about it in the movies, converting Fiona in the anti-princess)
I looked at the Fantasia Cut that you had linked to in your post. I looked up another cut of the "Pastoral Symphony", which would be the one available to consumers today, and I was astonished at how much had been altered and cut-out. Here is the link of what I watched:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKTJyyZ-Igw&feature=related
In comparing the two versions, it was remarkable that Disney seems to be trying to erase history and is able to do so in altering their work. The derogatory African-American character in the scene was entirely removed. Without reading your post, I might have never known that this version existed. This definitely makes me wonder how many films Disney later altered, and exactly what material they took out.