Disney?

For our reading this week – it touched on the iconography of animals. I grew up watching the Disney series so I wanted to share why I think Disney is great (and not so great). If you take a look around Melbourne Central right now, you will be bombarded with Beauty and the Beast things for the release a couple of weeks ago.

PROS

• Lighthearted stories (most of the time)
• The original series (ie: The Lion King etc) are all hand animated
• Tends to be based of classics (also a negative)
• Animals (and nice characters!)
• Follows a linear story structure (beginning, conflict, resolution)
• Easy to watch (specifically for the older movies)
• Often has strong connotations to belief and believing in yourself and others
• Shows importance of loving and taking care of your family and others (as well as listening to authoritative figures)

CONS

• No longer animated by hand
• Has also become a ‘massive franchise’ (eg: DisneyLand etc.)
• Less emphasis on the storylines and more musical tones (ie: Frozen)
• lack of character development
• tends to focus on sequels, rather than releasing new movies (for example, they are releasing all the old movies with CGI – starting with Beauty and The Beast which premiered last week)
• Disney Princesses can give a bad image/role model for young girls about marriage and relationships
• Often stereotypes of individuals (eg: most women are weak and helpless, men are strong and should protect everyone)