Top 10 Lessons from Disney: Part 2

You’re still interested in reading, I suppose? If you haven’t read the first part of this article, then I highly suggest to click here!

5. The Little Mermaid

“Before giving up her legs forever in order to live with humans, the Little Mermaid knows exactly two things about them. Some of them pose attractively on boats, and, oh, yes, they eat fish. In Ariel’s world, fish can talk, swim and stage elaborate musical numbers, and yet she completely fails to run for the beach in horror when Prince Eric attempts to eat her mentor and friend. By film’s end, she’s fully converted, standing around and chuckling while her best friend races madly to escape being murdered.”

– Cracked.com

That’s point number one in this wonderful movie we like to call The Little Mermaid. Interestingly enough, Ariel is not really “little” in this movie–she is quite beautiful and apparently old enough to decide that she no longer wants to be a mermaid! So what does she do? She goes to Ursula and makes a deal with “the devil” and essentially sells her “soul,” or voice in this case, in return for human legs. And that’s fine and dandy, except she forgot one thing: she needs to talk to the Prince before making him fall in love with her.

But that’s okay, because he ended up taking the bait despite Ariel’s naive attempts at becoming human (using a fork as a comb is so attractive to men!) And in the end, Ariel gets her voice back because Prince Eric saves the day and kills Ursula. Then they lived happily ever after! The end (let’s ignore for a second all of the sequels that Disney decided to make and move on to the article).

The Supposed Lesson: True love really can conquer all.

The Interpreted Lesson: Giving up an important part of your soul is a-okay, as long as the person who took it is out of the picture and you get everything back. Oh, and it’s totally fine to betray our own race and allow humans to eat them, as long as you’ve used them up in your ploy of getting the prince to kiss/fall in love with you. Yep, no worries!

4. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Remember this movie? Probably not; a lot of people aren’t too familiar with this epic Disney movie. Quasimodo, a man who is supposed to be the ‘ugly’ hunchback of Notre Dame, has basically lived his entire life in the bell tower of a cathedral. Early you see the main villain, Frollo (a creepy man who lusts over the gypsy fyi) murdering Frollo’s mother. Terrible, right?

But that’s not all to Quasimodo’s life. When he meets the beautiful Esmeralda, he is immediately love stricken. And you know that Frollo guy? He decides that if he can’t have Esmeralda, then no one can. So he does the only logical thing any man in love would do: burn her at the stake. So the damsel in distress gets saved by Quasimodo and they all live happily ever–wait, what?

She kisses some other guy in the movie. You know, the handsome guy who is totally chivalrous and better than Quasimodo. Captain Phoebus, a man who did some great deeds throughout the movie, is still the type of person that a lot of girls choose over the “nice guy.” Sure, Quasimodo gained the respect of their peers, but it’s a Disney movie and the main characters are supposed to get together! Not the main girl and some random other-guy. Oh well Disney, you can have it your way.

The Supposed Lesson: Appearances don’t matter if you’ve gained the respect from your peers by just being yourself!

The Interpreted Lesson: Nice guys never win, especially when they don’t look as good as that other guy.

3. Aladdin

“One step ahead of the breadline.” [translation – I steal everything I eat.] “One step ahead of the sword.” [translation – I hate cops]. “I steal only what I can’t afford. That’s everything.” [translation – Really. I’m not joking. I steal everything].

– Cracked.com

Who could ever forget the epic song that Aladdin and Jasmine sing in Aladdin? I for sure can’t, and the whole darn world shouldn’t. It’s a great song inside a good movie. Well, good enough. I mean you have a thief who happens to find a magic lamp and ends up befriending the genie inside of it.

And then you have Princess Jasmine who is totally in her rebellious stage and doesn’t want to be arranged to marry someone. And then you have that creep, Jafar, who is just creepy. And in the end, what do you learn from this movie?

The Supposed Lesson: Who cares about where a person came from as long as you love them.

The Interpreted Lesson: It’s okay to pretend to be someone else (cough cough, impersonate royalty) to impress the Sultan’s daughter. It’s not like your background of thievery will prevent her from loving you!

2. Mulan

Mulan is probably the best role model out of the entire Disney Princess cast. She sacrificed her life to take her father’s place in the war, and she totally kicked butt and killed all of the Huns with a simple plan. Then she saved the Emperor of China and declining his offer, she went back to her family and regained the respect she lost earlier in the movie.

And then Disney decide to muck it up by changing the voice actress and the entire point of Mulan I. Instead of relying on her own skills, she lets her fiance, Li Shang, do all the saving for her. And to top it off, the three warriors from the previous movie get a girl. How sweet! Who cares about honour when you’ve got a Prince Charming?

The Supposed Lesson: Girls can do whatever boys can…and better.

The Interpreted Lesson: Even if you saved all of China and retained your sense of honour, you will eventually lose that and become a damsel-in-distress and rely on your fiance. According to Mulan II, you can’t be a warrior and a princess at the same time. Buuuummer.

1. The Lion King

Did you know that this  Disney movie was based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet? Simba knew he was Mufasa’s next successor as the Lion King. But then his dad had to go and get trampled to death by wildebeests. His death was caused by Simba’s evil uncle, Scar. Instead of reclaiming what was rightfully his, he is banished by Scar so that he can become Mufasa’s successor. Later when he learns what ‘Hakuna Matata‘ means, he decides to man it up and take back his throne…

…But in order to do this, he had to kill Scar. I mean it wasn’t on purpose per se, but Scar gets his justice (I guess) as he is torn apart by hyenas. It’s not like Simba would have been in power without experiencing two horrendously gruesome deaths. Plus he couldn’t have been able to convince Scar to become a good guy, or banish him from the lands. But unlike Hamlet, everyone but the bad guy dies. But it was clear to the audience what the intent of the screenwriter’s wanted: Scar had to sacrifice his life (cough) in order for Simba to become the Lion King. And lucky for him, they made his “dreams come true” without attaching any guilt whatsoever to it. So they lived happily ever after, and Disney decided to make another Shakespeare inspired play called The Lion King 2. And of course the villain had to face his inevitable death; I’m sure all the little kids didn’t cry.

The Supposed Lesson: Eventually you will have to become a responsible person, man it up, and face your problems.

The Interpreted Lesson: You have to take something (like, say, a person’s life) in order to be successful. It happens in corporations and it happens in the Disney universe, too!

Conclusion

So, I hope you still love Disney and all of its awesomeness. They’re great, even if their underlying messages are questionable. But please don’t stop watching them because of this article! They can make some really good feel-good movies that are popular for a reason. Ladies, try to be smarter than those Princesses so that you don’t become a damsel in distress. Gentlemen, being a stalker won’t necessarily get you married to your dream girl…it might get you a restraining order. Everyone else, I hope you enjoyed these articles!