Chiisana Kodomo No Diary

Deleting my LJ

chacusha — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 22:00:29 GMT

Hi everyone, this post is just to say that, in light of LJ's user agreement, I've decided to delete this journal permanently.

I'm going to keep it up a month or so to make sure my content is backed up.

I'm still available on other social media, so if you want to keep up with me, follow me there:
Dreamwidth: chacusha
Tumblr: chacusha
Facebook: PM me

Announcement

chacusha — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:55:31 GMT

Hey everyone, this is just to say that I'll be cross-posting from Dreamwidth from now on, the reason being that one of my landcomms moved there, and I'm helping out with it, and I needed to buy a Dreamwidth paid account in order to post polls there (because I love posting polls!), which basically means that I went all-in, i.e. there's no longer any reason why I shouldn't just use Dreamwidth since I'm paying money for it (especially since the paid account also came with enough icon space to accommodate/import all my LJ icons - yay!).

Anyway, I'll still be checking both my friends page at LJ and my reading page at DW regularly and being active in both. Well, as active as I have been, which means "bad at commenting on entries" and "bad at replying to comments people post" and "posting sporadically"... But carry on as normal as far as my entries go -- I'll always read comments and entries posted here or at DW, even if I may not always reply.

There'll be DW links at the bottom of posts, which are mostly just to help me navigate to matching entries on DW and LJ. You can comment wherever you like, and it's not meant to be like a "join Dreamwidth where all the cool people are!" type of thing. I'm just using Dreamwidth since it's become more convenient for me to do it this way.

100 Disney Things [005]: Common Criticisms of The Little Mermaid

chacusha — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 08:49:38 GMT

100 Disney Things [005]

Oh man, I am getting too busy for these posts. This one's been sitting on my hard drive for a while, and I've only now gotten around to cleaning it up. Basically, it's sort of a rebuttal/examination of the common criticisms that get lobbed at The Little Mermaid, plus my own thoughts on the movie and Ariel as a character. It's an evaluation of The Little Mermaid and Ariel, from a feminist perspective, but hopefully much more in-depth than what you usually see on the Internet or in a media studies class... (And sort of ranty.)

The more I think about The Little Mermaid, the more I feel like it's been somehow criticism-proofed. As in, it's like they knew exactly what people would criticize about the movie over and over again and specifically put in scenes to THWART THAT CRITICISM. Examples:

• As if they knew that people would criticize Ariel for wanting to be a human for love, they put in Ariel's big "I want" song, "Part of Your World," before she even knew Eric existed.

• As if they knew that people would criticize Ariel for leaving her "loving father and sisters" for a man, they put in a traumatic scene where King Triton destroys all of Ariel's most prized possessions in a rage. They also put in a line where Ariel asks Ursula if being a human means she'll never get to see her father or sisters again. "Life's full of tough choices, innit?" is Ursula's response. Ariel weighed it. Her decision wasn't about blindly choosing Eric over family but about making a clean break, deciding to run away from home to a new life -- permanently, if need be. (Admittedly, it was kind of a gamble that Eric would turn out to be an overall good person and also interested in her, and also admittedly it's a little iffy that Ariel's goals of being human and being with Eric become pretty much merged after she saves him from the shipwreck -- that muddles the waters a bit in understanding why Ariel struck the bargain in the first place. But in any case, Ariel only struck the bargain with Ursula after Triton destroyed her grotto. This is important!)

• As if they knew that people would criticize Eric for only liking Ariel for her looks, they put in a whole date montage where Ariel is able to clearly convey her personality through her actions.

• As if they knew that people would complain about Eric heartlessly choosing another girl over Ariel after she made all those sacrifices for him, they put in a scene where he decides to give up on his mystery singing girl in favor of Ariel, only to have Ursula hypnotize him right after. Like, this is the one that strikes me as particularly prescient. Not content with Eric simply encountering a woman with the right voice and that changing his mind, they took extra measures to show that Eric chose Ariel, and then made it so that Ursula only changes his mind by hypnotizing him.

Too bad about 75% of the Internet seems to not remember these scenes.

That isn't to say that there's nothing in this movie that can be criticized, but just that the types of critiques that you hear a lot must be made by people with a fuzzy recollection of the film, since, like... they're dealt with in the film itself.

In more detail, here's how the "problematic storyline" of The Little Mermaid goes:

Ariel's hobby is collecting human artifacts. At the beginning of the film, she skips concert practice to go trawling through a shipwreck looking for interesting items to add to her collection.

She then goes to the surface to consult Scuttle about the unfamiliar objects. She is later scolded by Triton for this because of the danger of merfolk going to the surface. He tells her never to do it again. She doesn't acquiesce, and instead swims off tearfully.

In her secret grotto, she sings about how she longs to be part of the human world. Afterwards, she goes to the surface, sees Eric's ship, and falls in love with him. There's a storm and the ship ends up catching on fire. Eric goes back to the burning ship to save his dog. However, he's flung into the sea where Ariel saves him and brings him to shore.

She sings to him but leaves before he's able to clearly see her face. Here, "Part of Your World" reprises and becomes about wanting to stay with Eric and be part of his world specifically. From this point on, Ariel's desire to be human becomes melded with her desire to be with Eric.

Flounder finds Prince Eric's statue and presents it to Ariel. Triton shows up at the grotto and they argue. Ariel lets slip that she loves Eric. A furious Triton blasts everything in her grotto, leaving a crying Ariel.

Flotsam and Jetsam show up offering Ariel a way to be with Eric. She goes to Ursula who gives her this deal:

She gets: Human form
On the condition that: She gets True Love's Kiss from the Prince before sunset on the third day
Price: Her voice
If she fails to meet condition: She becomes Ursula's property (a polyp)

Ariel accepts. In essence, Ursula is giving her one desire (human body) on the condition that Ariel gets her other desire (Eric's love) to happen too, so she either wins twice or forfeits her freedom in trying to make her own dreams come true. She gives up her voice, which at various points in the movie is described as particularly beautiful (by Sebastian and Eric), so arguably she is giving up her "greatest possession". However, there's no indication that Ariel herself values her singing voice any more than, you know, any person would value their ability to talk. Remember, she skipped music practice earlier to go hunting for human artifacts.

After that, Ariel becomes human and Eric finds her and takes her in, they have dinner together, Ariel is like a kid in a candy store, etc. etc. The next day they go on a ride through the kingdom, Eric starts to fall for her, and they almost kiss, but Ursula sabotages it. That night, Eric decides to stop mooning after the Mystery Voice Girl. Ironically, Mystery Voice Girl shows up but it's Ursula and actually she's hypnotizing him.

The next day, their marriage is announced and Ariel's heart is broken. Upon hearing that Vanessa is Ursula, though, she decides to not give up. Scuttle breaks Ursula's shell, Ariel's voice returns to her, Eric breaks free from the spell, and they almost kiss again, but time runs out, so Ursula takes mermaid Ariel back into the ocean where Triton shows up and trades his life for Ariel's. Eric shows up and eventually kills Ursula.

Triton, finally understanding his daughter's feelings, turns her human again.

The important thing to note here is that The Little Mermaid, unlike Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, etc. is not a love story about Ariel and Eric. It's a coming-of-age story about Ariel and Triton. It's about their loving but rocky relationship and how Triton eventually comes to understand his daughter and realize that she's grown up while he wasn't looking, and to let her go in the end.

The whole movie builds up to this moment -- when Ariel says, "I love you, Daddy."

Ariel's turning human is partly about making her dreams come true, partly about finding love, but also partly an act that can only really be compared to "running away from home." If The Little Mermaid took place in modern times, the climax of the first act of the movie would essentially be Ariel getting into a huge row with her father, him throwing a tantrum and trashing her room, and then her deciding she absolutely does not want to stay there anymore and running away. (To "Auntie Ursula" who promises her the dream life in the Big City, everything Ariel wanted! Except it comes with a catch. ...This would make an awesome AU.)

I think there is valid criticism in having the motivation and goals for Ariel's actions be men on both ends -- her motivation for leaving comes from her father, and her objective once she becomes human is related to Eric. However, this doesn't seem particularly horrible other than just the lack of female presence in the storyline. Also, I think there is valid criticism in that she ends up more dependent and passive after becoming human. For example:

• The condition of the spell means everything hinges on Eric's actions -- she is therefore reliant on him.

• When the wedding is going down, the animals (Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle, and Max) are the ones who take all the action. What bugs me about this part is that Ariel can't even swim anymore. She jumps into the water to get to Eric but needs to hold onto a barrel to float and needs Flounder to pull her through the water. She doesn't even kick her legs or anything, a complete reversal from when she was a mermaid. I suppose you could argue that maybe she only knows how to use a tail to swim and can't figure out how to make human legs move the same way. Or that this was an intentional creative choice to contrast Ariel's mermaid world/body/skills she sacrificed with the human world/body/skills she received in exchange. Still, I do not particularly like this creative decision, since it's such a reversal from Ariel's active and physically-oriented personality shown in the first scene, and I don't think it would have hurt the movie very much to at least show her kicking.

• She ends up being saved by Eric in the final scene, a reversal from earlier when she saved him. Not really bad by itself (I mean, it's not like you're not allowed to be saved by anyone ever or you're a Bad Female Role Model OMG!!), but these three things together do show a progression from Ariel going from a very active state at the beginning of the movie to becoming noticeably more passive by the end.

Another valid criticism for this movie is that Ariel falls in love instantly, and True Love is achieved in about 1.5 days. However, this isn't exactly uncommon in Disney movies... or just movies in general, which tend to be very fast-paced/condensed when it comes to romance, and plot in general.

There is also semi-valid criticism in that Ariel is silenced during the latter half of the movie. I don't think there's a negative message in here, though, like, "Women should or have to give up their right to speak in order to get a man!" or "Hey, Ariel had a happy ending by giving up her voice so you should do that too!" I can see how the loss of her voice would make people uncomfortable, because she loses her ability to express her thoughts, communicate, protest, make a scene, etc. And combined with my earlier critique that Act II!Ariel is more passive than Act I!Ariel, it might remind people uncomfortably of cultural expectations that women be quiet and passive (lampshaded by Ursula's lines during "Poor Unfortunate Souls" -- "Yet on land it's much preferred for ladies not to say a word [...] But they dote and swoon and fawn / on a lady who's withdrawn / It's she who holds her tongue who gets a man"). But I think it's inaccurate to say the movie is implying that that's right or the way things should be. Sure, Ariel does lose her voice and ends up getting the prince, but it's portrayed in the movie as a disadvantage/challenge Ursula set up, NOT a positive thing that helps Ariel find love. In essence, the way I view Ariel's sacrifice is that it's sort of... Faustian? Not sure what the right word to use is. But she's basically playing a high-stakes gambling game with a devil who will use tricks to make sure she never wins.

My final critique is that I do think Ariel's body shape is sort of problematic. While it's not unusual for a cartoon character to have a tiny waist compared to their head (because cartoon characters tend to have big heads and be pretty stylized), the way Ariel's waist narrows is just... not realistic. In order to do that, you either need clothing that shapes your waist such as a corset (which Ariel doesn't have as a mermaid) or you need to be constantly sucking in your waist (which is just a silly thing to do). My minor nitpick.

So to sum up my thoughts on The Little Mermaid and critiques I read of The Little Mermaid... I generally get frustrated by critiques of this movie because I think what a lot of them miss is that, when Ariel makes her deal with Ursula, while she is doing it to get a man, even more important than that, she is doing it for her own chance at happiness. Women taking risks or making mistakes while striving to achieve personal happiness -- I'm not quite sure how this is a "bad message"? If the main character were male, we'd view them as a brave, heroic figure who made sacrifices for their dream, and those sacrifices paid off.

As for my evaluation of Ariel, I find her to be one of Disney's strongest heroines in the sense that overall she is a very active character -- this is undoubtedly her story, and her desires and her actions take center stage. I also think she's pretty interesting because she's meant to be largely sympathetic, but she has her share of real flaws as well (impulsiveness, rebelliousness, etc.). I find real flaws like this much more compelling than faux flaws like being clumsy or being an outcast or being ugly-but-sekritly-beautiful or whatnot. I had trouble digging Ariel when I was younger because I didn't relate to her at all (since I never had a rebellious phase and I get along with my parents pretty well), but now that I'm older I kind of appreciate the fact that she IS different from me, with different circumstances, and a different personality. It makes it more interesting to try to understand and empathize with her.

EDIT: Lol, I just saw a link to this on Tumblr. While yes I agree Ariel's actions screwed other people over, this sentence is the epitome of everything I hate about TLM analysis: "She gives up her whole life, the one thing that makes her really special (her voice), her family, her friends, everything she knows, just so she can be with Eric. She changes her species for a guy she’s never even met!" NO. STOP.

Also, regarding trusting Ursula, I should note that if Ariel and Triton hadn't been so strained in their relationship, Triton could very easily and painlessly have given her a human body (this is, after all, what he does at the end of the movie). But convinced she had a snowball's chance of convincing her dad to do that, she turned to the only other person who apparently had the ability to do it. You can view it as a metaphor of sorts that if you outright ban someone from doing something that they really really want to do, most likely they will end up doing it behind your back anyway and in a more dangerous way than if you had just allowed the possibility.

You can suggest topics for future posts for this meme over here.

Intuition and Sensing, Left and Right Brain (dichotomies I hate)

chacusha — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 21:15:22 GMT

So I am (slowly) working on a MBTI-related thing for my Disney post series and so am reminded once again how much I dislike the sensing vs. intuition dichotomy, so here's a rant about it. (This post is public because I'll probably be linking it when I actually post my Disney MBTI thing.)

First off, my biggest issue with intuition is trying to understand what it even means. The intuition we're talking about here is this one:

the ability to acquire knowledge without inference and/or the use of reason [...] perception via the unconscious

This notion of intuition is built on the theory of the conscious and the unconscious that was popularized by Freud. As opposed to sensing which uses the five senses (hearing, sight, smell, taste, touch) and facts + inference, intuition is a sixth sense or some kind of internal source of information that isn't necessarily grounded in the external world. Orrrr... intuition means this:

Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning? This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).

Or wait, maybe it means this:

Do you pay more attention to information that comes in through your five senses (Sensing), or do you pay more attention to the patterns and possibilities that you see in the information you receive (Intuition)?

Wait, no, maybe it means this:

Paying the most attention to impressions or the meaning and patterns of the information I get. I would rather learn by thinking a problem through than by hands-on experience. I’m interested in new things and what might be possible, so that I think more about the future than the past. I like to work with symbols or abstract theories, even if I don’t know how I will use them. I remember events more as an impression of what it was like than as actual facts or details of what happened.

(All taken from the Myer-Briggs Foundation website)

To me at least? THOSE ARE ALL DIFFERENT THINGS.

I also looked up a summary of Carl Jung's writing on intuition (which is where the MBTI types come from), but it still has the same issue:

Intuition is a way of comprehending perceptions in terms of possibilities, past experience, future goals, and unconscious processes. Intuition asks the question "What might happen, what is possible?" The implications of experience are more important to intuitives than the actual experience itself. Strongly intuitive people add meaning to their perceptions so rapidly that they often cannot separate their interpretations from the raw sensory data. Intuitives integrate new information quickly, automatically relating past experience and relevant information to immediate experience. Because it often includes unconscious material, intuitive thinking appears to proceed by leaps and bounds.

Let's make a list of these things, and try to figure out how they are correlated:

1) Intuition / sixth sense / internal, unconscious wellspring of information (as opposed to external source)
2) Seeing patterns (as opposed to... um... not seeing patterns?)
3) Adding meaning immediately (as opposed to separating observations from interpretations)
4) Seeing possibilities (imagination) (as opposed to dealing with what's real)
5) Intaking information as impressions (as opposed to remembering specific details)
6) Learning theoretically (as opposed to hands-on)
7) Concerned with the future (as opposed to the present/past)
8) Liking symbols and abstract theories (as opposed to... hating symbols and theories?)

I can kiiind of see how (1) and (4) are linked. I think it's a perversion of the original definition of intuition but you could argue that imagination and creation of things-not-in-existence need an internal source of information generation, so therefore, intuition. It's a stretch, but let's just say those are the same thing -- being intuitive means you like possibilities / new things / imagination. This links it with (7) as well because the future falls under the umbrella of "things not currently observable with your five senses" (although we've twisted the original meaning of intuition as given above). Another stretch.

I can also see how (3) and (5) are linked. Adding meaning immediately does seem like it would be connected with difficulty remembering specific details because you jumped immediately from observation to impression, rather than collecting pure information for later analysis.

And I can see how (6) and (8) are linked. These mean that you are a person who doesn't necessarily have to learn by doing. You can do thought experiments or whatever.

However, what does 1/4/7 have to do with 3/5? Being imaginative has nothing to do with whether you intake things as impressions. What does 3/5 have to do with 6/8 other than that they deal with abstract rather than concrete thinking? How you intake information doesn't have anything to do with how hands-on you have to be when learning. What does 6/8 have to do with 1/4/7? Someone can like symbolic/theoretical thinking and yet not be focused on the future or the realm of possibility. And why is 2 even listed here at all? Finding patterns has no relation to any of these unless you mean you find patterns unconsciously.

If I were to do a parody of this dichotomy, I would come up with something like, "Hey, most people can be divided into two types -- active and idle. Active people like physical activity, are proactive, can be confrontational and a bit high-strung. Idle people tend to like quiet reflective activities such as reading, tend to be more passive go-with-the-flow types, dislike confrontation and are laidback." You'd probably be like, "WTF how are those groups of traits at all related."

That is how I feel about the S vs. N dichotomy. The definition is murky and tries to encompass too much. If you were trying to describe S vs. N succinctly, I guess you could say "facts vs. ideas", which is vague, but I think, worse than that, it's a rather weird dichotomy because of course both are important and I think it's rare to find anyone who strongly neglects one in favor of the other.

Which leads me into my next issue with S vs. N, which is that the rhetoric involved in describing the whole sensing vs. intuition dichotomy often resembles that of left brain vs. right brain descriptions, which I very much dislike, mostly because they're a load of BS.

Experiments HAVE discovered that the left brain is clearly involved with language and is also associated with mathematical calculation and fact recall, while the right brain is involved with visio-spatial perception, facial recognition, and prosodic parts of language. Cool.

But somehow this has warped in popular perception into a whole slew of left brain/right brain differences and, since most of the population is right-handed (left brain dominant), books about how we need to develop our "creative right brains" more for increased success in our lives. You can often find lists like this (taken from this page):

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS	RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic detail oriented facts rule words and language present and past math and science can comprehend knowing acknowledges order/pattern perception knows object name reality based forms strategies practical safe	uses feeling "big picture" oriented imagination rules symbols and images present and future philosophy & religion can "get it" (i.e. meaning) believes appreciates spatial perception knows object function fantasy based presents possibilities impetuous risk taking

As a left-handed person that is extremely detail-oriented and strong in math/science, much more than most right-handed people I know, I find this list just sort of ludicrous. The notion that I'm somehow more creative than left-brain-dominant people... hahaha NO. It just doesn't ring true to me at all. And again, I'm not understanding the connection between being a future-thinker and, for example, dealing with symbols and images or liking philosophy. HOW ARE THESE CORRELATED.

Notice just how many of the above dichotomies are reflected in the intuition list above. (The only exception is that (2) got listed under the left brain section, which makes sense.) This is why I hate S vs. N -- it reminds me of this new age-y notion that discipline is the enemy of creativity, facts oppress imagination, hard science is at war with soft science and the arts, we could solve so many problems by thinking outside the box, be a rebel, rise up against the system! Or something like that. Not that that that stuff isn't true (for example, highly restrictive environments CAN quash creativity), but that I personally think all those "opposites" are actually things where you can be good at BOTH individually and one doesn't hinder/inhibit the other. You need discipline AND creativity, facts AND imagination, science AND art. Or well, if you prefer one over the other, that's fine too, but it doesn't make the other part your enemy.

That's why I think S vs. N is a false dichotomy (even more false than the other ones). It just doesn't match up at all to how I view/categorize the world. (Although I may be biased and trying to apply my own personal worldview to the general world.)

Changing the topic slightly, I also want to touch on another thing that bothers me about the idea of "intuition" that also relates tangentially to left brain/right brain differences. I just find the whole idea of intuition old-fashioned, the reason being -- I was reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and I came across this:

"Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the other of us, and finally, with a woman’s quick intuition, fastening upon my companion

And then later I was reading Peter Pan, and I came across this:

In his [Hook's] dark nature there was a touch of the feminine, as in all the great pirates, and it sometimes gave him intuitions. Suddenly he tried the guessing game.

I just... okay, evidently the idea of female intuition was a Thing? Still is a thing, actually, although less common of a notion as it was in the early 1900s, I'm guessing. To explain what's going on in the quotes, for the first one, the woman was meeting Holmes and Watson for the first time and was able to correctly guess which of them was Sherlock. In essence, she arrives at an answer through a hunch unexplainable by logical inference. Same with Hook -- even while being tricked by Peter Pan, he suddenly is inspired to do a guessing game, which ends up turning the tables on Pan, and this inspiration is ascribed to a "touch of the feminine" in his nature.

And nowadays, you can find spiritual, new age-y sites about embracing your natural female intuition and using your empathic powers or whatnot. The notion of a "woman's intuition" encompasses both their ability to "just know" things they shouldn't be able to know just from looking/hearing/using five senses and also their ability to read people and pick up on subtle emotional cues (empathy). I find both of these ascriptions dated and sexist. The first because the idea that women believe or do things that have no logical or physical basis is only a short hop away from the historical image of women as irrational beings; the second because the idea of women being naturally empathic and more in tune with emotions is also not that far away from the historical image of women as driven by emotion (as opposed to reason). (See also: the T vs. F dichotomy of MBTI.) (This is an article I found that goes more into this.)

And then recently, I saw this Tumblr post that sets up this dichotomy between male and female: "Men are programmed to think logically and mathematically. Where as women are programmed to think more emotionally and socially."

Well, that doesn't have anything to do with intuition (still T vs. F territory here) but it IS doing the same thing as the right brain/left brain things, which is perverting neuroscience in order to set up this dichotomy that math and logic are OPPOSITE of emotion and socialness, even if those two aptitudes may be completely unrelated and coincidental.

And like... this issue goes deeper. Well, at least for me, because I have an interest in astrology and tarot, both of which (maybe because they're also tied to the new age philosophy?) use the exact same language as S vs. N and also connect femininity with intuition, the unconscious, emotions, etc.

For example, in astrology you have the water signs, which are associated with emotion, empathy, and sensitivity, and often have words like intuitive, emotional, imaginative, nurturing, secretive, and dreamy applied to them. They make up part of the negative/introvert/feminine half of the zodiac along with earth signs (which actually might be the closest to the idea of "sensing" -- being practical and materialistic (i.e. involved with the "real world")... so that kind of undermines my argument, but stick with me here).

Cancer is ruled by the moon, seen as emotional and moody (like the moon I guess -- more on moon connections later), sensitive to the feelings of others, and deeply connected to their family. Scorpio is seen as secretive and mysterious, with the uncanny ability to read people (intuition). And then Pisces is... well... the right half of the brain table above (minus the last two items). They're seen as super intuitive, having an almost psychic connection with the world as a whole.

As for Tarot, there's the High Priestess who represents:

staying nonactive: withdrawing from involvement, allowing events to proceed without intervention, being receptive to influence, becoming calm, being passive, waiting patiently

accessing the unconscious: using your intuition, seeking guidance from within, trusting your inner voice, opening to dreams and the imagination, being aware of a larger reality

seeing the potential: understanding the possibilities, opening to what could be, seeing your hidden talents, allowing development, letting what is there flower

sensing the mystery: looking beyond the obvious, approaching a closed off area, opening to the unknown, remembering something important, sensing the secret and hidden, seeking what is concealed, acknowledging the Shadow

[...]

The High Priestess is the guardian of the unconscious. She sits in front of the thin veil of unawareness which is all that separates us from our inner landscape. She contains within herself the secrets of these realms and offers us the silent invitation, "Be still and know that I am God."

The High Priestess is the feminine principle that balances the masculine force of the Magician. The feminine archetype in the tarot is split between the High Priestess and the Empress. The High Priestess is the mysterious unknown that women often represent, especially in cultures that focus on the tangible and known. The Empress represents woman's role as the crucible of life. (source; see also: 1, 2, 3)

And then similar language pops up when you compare the Sun and Moon cards:

With Pisces as its ruling sign, the Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. At its darkest this can be a very scary card warning the querent of hidden enemies, mental illness, alcoholic blackouts or a bad drug trip. At its very best, however, the Moon is a card of genius, of mental breakthroughs, astonishing creativity, powerful magic, and intuition.

The querent who gets this card should be warned that they may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial, a time when they'll do things that seem to make sense to them, yet when they come out of it they'll wonder, "Why did I do that? It makes no sense!" Their mind will be playing tricks on them, and so this is not a good time for making decisions that require rational thought and a clear head.

The Sun is ruled by...the Sun, of course and as the Moon was your inner darkness, the wild, untamed, unconscious part of you, the Sun is your inner light, civilized and rational, yang to yin, Apollo to Diana.

The Sun promises the querent their day in the sun. Glory, triumph, simple pleasures and truths. As the moon symbolized inspiration from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made wide awake. This is science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect and youthful energy. (source)

As the moon symbolized inspiration from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made wide awake. This is science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy.

Oh hey there, my old nemesis, sensing vs. intuition, consciousness vs. unconsciousness, science/math vs. poetry.

The idea of the moon for some reason being tied to mystery, the unconscious, the female, intuition, dreams, madness and lunacy (lack of reason)... While those dichotomies are very beautiful and poetic, they are also really old-fashioned and still disturbingly pervasive. They are STILL being used to promote the idea that women are "naturally worse" at math and science which is just. not. true.

And finally, my last issue with "intuition" is that I have trouble thinking of it as a trait because, well... the way we use intuition frequently is this: "develop an intuition for". I think people are more intuitive in fields they are experienced in/good at and not intuitive in fields they lack experience in, which makes the whole idea of intuition-as-personality-trait kind of nonsensical, because it's not really a personality, it's more like a skill. If we move a bit away from the more sixth sense/ESP-sounding parts of intuition (which I don't believe in, but you might), the Jung-based definition at the top basically says that intuition is when you rapidly assign meaning using past experience, with processes that are often unconscious. This makes sense. When you're really experienced in something, you can tell when something "just looks wrong" or "looks right" even before you can consciously explain what gave you that feeling. So asking if you're an intuitive person or a sensing person is analogous to asking whether you're good at doing things or bad at doing things. For which the answer is: "Well, what things do you mean?"

For example, look at this other way that intuition is used in Sherlock Holmes:

Then it was that the lust of the chase would suddenly come upon him [Sherlock], and that his brilliant reasoning power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals.

Sherlock Holmes is a highly detailed person, a highly logical person, who relies on his five senses and inference to arrive at all of his conclusions. He is sensing with a capital S. But his powers "rise to the level of intuition" because of expertise.

What's the difference between him and an intuitive person? Only that Sherlock can still explain his reasonings after the fact, maybe? (i.e. He CAN separate his interpretations from his initial observations.) Okay well, I suppose that makes sense. In that case, maybe this IS a cognitive difference/personality trait. I guess what MBTI is doing here is separating people who tend to explain their conclusions with "Well because X, Y, and Z" (because they are working directly off of sensory data) from the people who tend to explain their conclusions with "Well because... because!" (because they've already replaced sensory data with conclusion in their mind). But what does that difference have to do with imagination, creativity, future thinking, or abstract thinking? I will never know.

Oh and a Google search for "MBTI Sherlock Holmes" tells me that most of the Internet seems to think Sherlock is an N. BWAHAHAHAHAHA. MBTI TRAITS, YOU ARE POORLY DEFINED AND USELESS. USELESS, I SAY!!

Sorry for the poor organization of this post. I'm sure I could make it flow more logically if I took the time to rewrite it, but I've already spent way too much time on this, so...

100 Disney Things [004]: Beauty and the Beast and the Hades and Persephone Myth

chacusha — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 02:52:58 GMT

100 Disney Things [004]

That graphic is crap but I was really excited about posting this, so whatevs.

In this essay, I'm sort of treating Beauty and the Beast the Disney movie as the same thing as Beauty and the Beast the original fairy tale, which I just said is a no-no, but... oh well. I want to talk about both.

Beauty and the Beast and the Hades and Persephone Myth

I always found it odd that the story of Beauty and the Beast is linked to the myth of Cupid/Eros and Psyche because to me, the myth I always think of first when I think of BATB is that of Hades and Persephone. I suppose the original version of BATB IS closer to Eros and Psyche, since both feature a hero who is a monster during the day and human during the night (sort of: in the original BATB story the prince appears in the heroine's dreams so she sort of spends her nights with the prince; and in the E&P story Eros never lets Psyche see him, but is supposedly a creature) and both feature the heroine asking to go home, which is when her jealous sisters sabotage her relationship with the hero. Neither of these are plot elements in the Disney version of BATB.

However, I think the original story does also have a resemblance to the Hades and Persephone myth as well, and I would say the Disney version resembles that myth more than the E&P one. Here are my reasons:

First, I guess the main reason I associate the two is because... hm... how to say this... They are both very popular stories among women, and most modern interpretations of the stories portray very romantically a relationship that is initially based on imprisonment/abduction. Put another way, they both play out like a particular romance novel plot, which is "young single woman gets kidnapped or captured by pirate/raider/someone and her initial animosity eventually transforms into attraction" (with some of "young single woman goes to live in the household of older, cold, jaded, reclusive, mysterious man and they gradually fall in love" to boot). (I don't actually read romance novels but from osmosis I think these are fairly common plots??)

In general, I think there is a huge array of plot devices in romance stories to create situations where the hero and heroine live under the same roof -- and are therefore constantly near/interacting with each other -- but aren't yet in love (because the slow development over time of a romance is what's emotionally satisfying). Abduction is one of them. In this sense, even if the BATB story or the Hades and Persephone myth weren't originally a modern romance novel, they both very easily translate into one, and I think the reason why they appeal so much to modern readers/consumers is tied into that. (This kind of plot definitely has issues in the power imbalance at the start, but I do admit there is some kind of deep appeal for me anyway.)

I find it interesting that most adaptations of the H&P myth make the relationship highly consensual even though abduction is a key aspect of the story. For example, the episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys that features H&P ("The Other Side") makes Persephone in a relationship with/attracted to Hades before the abduction takes place (the relationship being given a "girl-being-~rebellious~-by-dating-the-bad-boy" spin, at least IIRC). I've also seen takes on the tale where Persephone knowingly eats the pomegranate seeds (although I think most stories make it accidental/inadvertent, or even a trick). I suppose the reason why consent is added is because it's almost too brain-breaking/horrifying to imagine it any other way? Like, imagine the alternative where there's no consent/love on Persephone's part at all. Yikes! (As far as I can tell, I think the original H&P are sort of portrayed as a more-or-less normal marriage and Persephone's consent was just sort of irrelevant because that's how marriages worked back then -- obviously for people today her consent is VERY relevant.)

Anyway, that long tangent aside, my point is that, in the end, BATB and H&P (as they appear today) are both widely-adored stories today despite their problematic abduction-turning-into-romance aspects, which I don't think are as present in E&P (although it could be seen that way).

Okay, all that was the first similarity. The second similarity is related to above but I think independent enough to give it its own point. In spite of the way H&P is reinterpreted consensual, there is a particular element of the plot that to me implies a more non-consensual BATB-style imprisonment. That is that the pomegranate seeds are the only food that Persephone accepts while in the underworld. Why? Because it's dramatic I guess? But to me, the rejection of food suggests grieving and a rejection of Hades' advances. In this way, it makes me think of BATB, since the heroine of BATB grieves at being separated from her father (this is how I see Persephone's reaction to being taken from her mother too) and also (in the original version), every night after dinner she turns down the Beast's marriage proposal (rejection of advances). The corresponding plot element in the Disney version is of course Belle's refusal to join the Beast for dinner (that is to say, she refuses to eat (in his presence, anyway)). So there is just enough in the H&P myth to suggest to me similar circumstances -- an undesired imprisonment/period of mourning that later develops into a more loving relationship. Again, this element is not so present in the E&P tale.

The third similarity is mostly between the Disney version of BATB and the H&P myth and that similarity is in the heroes of the stories. The Beast, as a broody/melancholy character who is at first incapable of loving, is a MUCH more Hades-like character than an Eros-like character (who, after all, is a symbol of romantic love). This really only applies to the Disney movie, though.

Fourth similarity is that both stories involve the passage of seasons and time before the resolution of the relationship. The explanation of the seasons and dead times of the year is an important part of the H&P myth. In the original tale of BATB, the heroine's father gets lost in winter where he finds a garden with roses growing despite the season; Beauty then spends several months at the castle before returning home; when she later returns to the castle, the Beast is dying. In the Disney version of BATB, Maurice gets lost in autumn; Belle spends the winter at the castle and then is released; and when the curse breaks, it literally is the end of the winter and the start of spring (matching the Beast's rebirth). All of these seasonal and life/death elements make me associate these two stories with each other.

With all that said, I think Belle/Beauty is much more of a Psyche-like character than a Persephone character. Belle/Beauty is a commoner whose main claim to fame is her beauty, much like how Psyche is a mortal who is exceedingly beautiful. By contrast, Persephone is a goddess, and not only is she a figure of death but also of life. Belle lacks that sense of regality and primal symbolism.

Still, I'll always associate Beauty and the Beast with Hades and Persephone first and foremost. Hopefully this post succeeded in illustrating why?

You can suggest topics for future posts for this meme over here.

100 Disney Things [003]: Once Upon a Time - Conflating Fairy Tales and Disney

chacusha — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 03:39:21 GMT

100 Disney Things [003]

Focusing on a show I currently follow and enjoy - Once Upon a Time - but approaching it from a Disney angle:

Once Upon a Time - Conflating Fairy Tales and Disney

Much as I like Once Upon a Time (OUAT), what I don't particularly like is that, at times (because it's made by ABC, which is owned by Disney, which lets them use Disney trademarks) it reinforces the view that the Disney version of the fairy tale is the monolithic "official" version of the fairy tale. For example, it's hard to imagine the "little mermaid" being named anything other than Ariel and having bright red hair. Or it's hard to think of "Snow White" without thinking of her red, yellow, and blue outfit from the Disney version.

Ironically enough, though, the Snow White in OUAT is the one who departs the most (at least visually) from her Disney counterpart, so that's not an issue here. There are some things, though, that conflate Disney-specific fairy tale additions with elements from the original fairy tale...

1) Jiminy Cricket: There is a cricket in Pinocchio but it is not named Jiminy Cricket. That's unique to the Disney movie. Design-wise, he differs a lot from the Disney version, but with things like his umbrella being a key part of his getup, he still very much feels like a direct continuation of Jiminy Cricket from the Disney version.

2) THE DWARVES. They are named Doc, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Happy, Bashful, and Grumpy, just like in the Disney version. :| There is also an extra dwarf fitting the Disney naming pattern called Stealthy but he doesn't last long. This one I find particularly weird because those names don't even sound remotely fairy tale-ish.

3) Maleficent: Again, the Disney-specific name for the character.

4) Cinderella: She ends up wearing a blue ballgown reminiscent of Disney's Cinderella (which is actually white but I digress) plus the classic updo, which is what pushes OUAT's take on Cinderella into "updating the Disney movie" territory as opposed "new take on the fairy tale."

5) Allll the Beauty and the Beast stuff: Hoo boy, there's a lot here... First, that Belle is called Belle, which is something unique to the Disney version, since other versions tend to translate her name to Beauty. Second and third, that she has an unwanted suitor and that suitor is called Gaston. There's no such character in the original story. Although the Disney version isn't the only adaptation that adds one, it IS the only adaptation that names the love interest Gaston. Finally, in the episode Belle is given brown hair and an off-the-shoulder yellow ballgown and a blue and white dress obviously inspired by the Disney film.

There are other cute Disney references here and there that I didn't include in here because they seemed more like easter eggs rather than a recycling or reinforcing of Disney's take on fairy tales (the image at the top is one of them -- I thought it was pretty appropriate for this post, though, because just that red bow is enough to make you think of Disney's Snow White). But yeah, the ones listed above sort of bother me because there seems to be the assumption behind them that the Disney version is the real/original version, which is confusing and sort of misleading.

Of course the Disney versions ARE wonderful and incredibly well-known/ubiquitous. They also even popularized the fairy tales they adapted, so perhaps one could argue that any worthwhile adaptation WOULD take the Disney version as the starting place and work from there (as opposed to going back to the roots of the story). That does make some sense to me.

I do still find the whole situation sort of awkward, though. Having ABC (even if they don't have any agenda / didn't purposely set out to do this) contribute to the idea of the Disney version being the official version seems rather... self-serving. XD

You can suggest topics for future posts for this meme over here.

100 Disney Things [002]: Home on the Range

chacusha — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 22:32:59 GMT

100 Disney Things [002]

My second post for this thing is dedicated to the underrated Disney movie, Home on the Range. No spoilers here, just me talking about why I love this movie and who I would recommend it to.

The basic story of Home on the Range is this: Maggie (the main cow in the center) is given away when her owner goes out of business, because all of his cattle were mysteriously stolen in the night by the cattle rustler Alameda Slim. She moves onto a new farm, which is also struggling with debt. In order to keep her new home going, she comes up with the idea to arrest Alameda Slim -- that way, she can collect the bounty money needed to save the farm and get her revenge. The new farm also had two cows before Maggie: Mrs. Caloway and Grace. Mrs. Caloway dislikes Maggie but she and Grace end up getting roped into the mission anyway. Basically, it's like a Western, or a play on a Western, but from the point of view of the livestock.

Also there's this horse voiced by Cuba Gooding Jr. who aspires to be a bounty hunter and beat up bad guys.

Reasons to watch it:

1) The music is done by Alan Menken. And it's really good. YMMV, of course, but speaking for me, I genuinely love every song on the soundtrack. The lyrics (done by Glenn Slater) are also pretty clever and fun to listen to IMO ("Bees by the dozen are buzzin' real peaceful / Every bluebonnet, doggone it, smells nice. / Even the tumblin' tumbleweed slows down to match the speed / on my tiny half-an-acre of paradise" -- damnnnnn). As a representative of the soundtrack, the song above blends a lot of the musical themes of the movie and then reprises the opening song. It's cute.

2) It is hilarious. I suppose it depends on what kind of humor you like -- a lot of the reviews I saw said that the humor was too childish and the movie as a whole would be really boring for an adult. But the humor worked perfectly for me (I dunno what that says about me...). The whole movie (visually and humor-wise) is very much like a Looney Tunes cartoon. (My friend describes it as Animaniacs if it were feature-length -- that kind of silly humor.) You can consider this a plus or minus.

3) It features three female protagonists. I believe the only other animated Disney movie that can make the same claim is Sleeping Beauty. Admittedly the protagonists are animal rather than human but it's still a pretty awesome creative decision, you have to admit.

4) It has heart. In case you're concerned that the movie is just slapstick and animal antics or whatnot. The theme of friendship is maybe not really creative or particularly moving or anything new but it's still there.

Obligatory sad rain sequence.

Reasons you might want to skip it:

1) The animal protagonists. I understand if having three cows as main characters is sort of a turn-off. I feel like it takes more effort to be engaged by movies with talking animals as opposed to people, and maybe it takes more disbelief-suspension too, especially for a plot like this.

2) Roseanne Barr voices the main character. This doesn't bother me personally but I've seen people who HATE her and/or the sound of her voice. I agree that her voice can be kind of obnoxious but Maggie is a very loud and obnoxious character and I actually like that about her. I know, though, some find brash/in-your-face main characters really annoying, so...

Bizarre character designs. Bizarre character designs everywhere!

3) The art style. The art isn't bad but the movie has its own peculiar art style that might be bothering (for example, the way the cows' hipbones jut out like that bothers me... and the pointy nostrils WTF!) and might also seem... lazy? If I had to compare it to another Disney movie, I would say The Emperor's New Groove or Atlantis: The Last Empire -- very exaggerated character designs. In particular, I really dislike Alameda Slim's bizarrely top-heavy design... That said, even though the character designs are a bit meh, I really love the backgrounds. They are also stylized but I find them really beautiful. Like, I'm talking scenery porn level here.

Did I just smuggle a positive into the negative section? Yes. Yes I did.

4) Some of the humor does fall flat. I will admit this despite how much I love the humor of this movie. Once one of the characters start yodeling, your reaction will probably be to shake your head in secondhand embarrassment. And then there's the occasional butt/underwear joke and you're just like :|. But still, hopefully the rest is entertaining.

And one last sales pitch:

My RL friend and fellow Disney buff is so far the only person I've met who actually likes Home on the Range EVEN MORE than I do, but his reasons for liking it are a bit different from mine. The reason he likes the film so much is because, in a way, it's an allegory for the state of the Disney Animation Studios themselves at the time the movie was being made. Like its story, Home on the Range itself was a last hurrah, one daring desperate romp, to save the "farm" (the 2-D animation studio), and, in particular, the song "Will the Sun Ever Shine Again?" seems almost a depiction of the general atmosphere at the time (his interpretation). So in terms of Disney history, I feel like this movie is actually kind of significant. :P

If I were to compare Home on the Range to a slightly more popular Disney film, I would liken it to The Emperor's New Groove. Like mentioned above, their art styles are comparable and so is their silly, frenetic humor. Both movies sort of started out as adaptations of short fairy tales (HOTR draws from "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" while TENG draws from "The Emperor's New Clothes" (also, "The Prince and the Pauper") -- although, for both movies, you'd hardly be able to guess that based on the final product. And finally, they both have overarching themes of friendship and teamwork.

If you're expecting a Renaissance movie, I think you'll be disappointed with the complete lack of "magic" in this film. It will seem quite a step down from Disney's glory days. If you're looking for a silly, post-Renaissance movie, though, COME ON IN.

I'll be doing other underrated-movie-appreciation-posts like this (Brother Bear is definitely getting one too). If you have suggestions for future posts for this meme, you can leave them over here.

100 Disney Things [001]: Disney Astrology

chacusha — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 22:13:30 GMT

100 Disney Things [001]

Kind of a copout, but my first post for this 100 Things challenge is my Disney astrology set complete with reasonings. And some extra Disney zodiac thoughts here:

• I was also considering Jessie and Atta for this set, but there were already three Pixar characters, so I decided to leave them out. But I considered Cancer for Jessie because she's very much about emotion and her connection with people, and she can be a bit anxious when she feels in danger especially the danger of losing someone. Atta I think is mostly Virgo with some Libra indecisiveness, maybe. She's sort of shy and lacking in confidence, but wants very badly to do everything just right and that causes her to be a little bit of a worrier. I think Elinor is a Virgo too, because she likes to control every little detail, she has an evaluating eye, she's well-mannered and calm, etc. (But I always knew that Merida would be the Brave representative in the set, so I didn't spend too much time thinking about Elinor).

• I also considered putting in Tinker Bell because she's a very iconic Disney character, but I decided against it because there was already Wendy and also because Tinker Bell's personality is just kind of hard to figure out in general. The best I could come up with was Aries because it works with Tinker Bell's impulsiveness and temper and also with her courage and heroic sacrifice. However, aside from that, she has sort of a vain/primping personality and I have no idea where that goes. And that's not even taking into account new!Tinker Bell, although I guess new!Tink might be a more clear-cut Aries.

• Belle, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Snow White gave me the most difficulties. When I came up with a "short list" of what signs they could be, I had six signs listed. :| For Belle, I think it's because there are moments where she's brave and impulsive, others when she's dreamy and distracted, others when she's practical and grounded, etc. It's hard for me to get a handle on her personality. For Pocahontas, it's this contrast between this wild, playful character in the first part of the movie, and this deep-thinking, emotional character in the second half that confuses me. For Mulan, I figured she's probably not a fixed sign, but other than that I was pretty lost. I think Aries, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius, and Pisces all fit aspects of her character. And Snow White is like... I dunno. She's cheerful and hopeful and sweet, but other than that it's like the rest of her character has to be filled in or interpreted.

Whew, that's pretty much it.

You can suggest topics for future posts for this meme over here.

100 Things Challenge

chacusha — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:36:30 GMT

{Take the 100 Things challenge!}

I'm late to the party but I've decided to do this, because procrastination. My topic is...

Disney mini-essays
Yes, 100 posts of me blabbering at length about various Disney topics. So far, things I'll be posting include analysis of Disney villains and sidekicks, thoughts on songs and movies I particularly adore, and several posts regarding feminist criticism of Disney movies (both actual criticism of my own and criticism of criticism...). I definitely do not have enough topics to make 100, though, so if you have anything Disney-related you'd like to share my thoughts on in excruciating detail, please let me know. :)

Just as a note, all the posts related to this challenge (including this one) will be public (unlocked), so just wanted to give people fair warning.

Shameless pimpage

chacusha — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:49:31 GMT

Sorry about the pimp (real entries will come when my art scale is done) but I'm running this silly little activity and I think you should check it out:

Nominate your favorite Disney villains!

We have about 50 nominations so far. Nominate villains and support your favorites! ANY Disney villain is okay -- animated movies, live-action, TV series, Pixar, as long as they're Disney. :]

My Top 25 Disney Characters

chacusha — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:18:08 GMT

Top 25 Disney Characters
A list of my 25 favorite Disney characters of all time, for disney_uberland.

I spent an insane amount of time on this, mostly because I talk way too much and because I'm way too perfectionistic.

Note: This list is highly subjective and contains my favorite characters, not necessarily the ones I think are the best. And there is a difference -- I can have the utmost respect for certain characters, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily my favorite. When it comes to determining my favorites, I tend to take into account things like how personal of a choice this character is for me, how popular that character is, did I own this movie when I was a kid? Really subjective things like that. If a character is really popular, they actually have a lower chance of making it to the top, probably because I feel weird putting that possessive there -- they're not really my favorite character so much as everyone's favorite character.

And yes, the order of this list directly contradicts my Top 10 Villains list. I'm inconsistent like that.

25. Rico
There were two other Home on the Range characters as well as two Beauty and the Beast characters I considered putting in this spot. Don't hold me to this one, but for this moment at least, Rico won out. Why do I like Rico? Well he's a bounty hunter, and there's just something intrinsically awesome about bounty hunters. I like how he has this eternally serious, dark glower, which makes him kind of a humorous "straight" character in a movie that's filled with very silly characters. Oh yeah, and he gets an awesome/hilarious intro!

-- SPOILERS --
When it was revealed that he'd been working with the villain the whole time, I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to believe him to be the hero that Buck thinks of him as. But the reveal also kind of makes him more awesome, somehow, because it sort of builds on his mercenary nature.
-- END SPOILERS --

So yeah, I love him. I love all the characters in Home on the Range, though, so it was so hard to pick him above the others. I think he's kind of handsome, though! >_>

24. Vidia
Okay, so... I seem to have a thing for characters that are the female version of the Jerk with a Heart of Gold trope. You know, the type of characters that are queen bees, a little stuck-up and petty, disparage the main character(s) and act as an antagonist... But then, when it counts, they do the right thing. They make the sacrifice, or they ally themselves with the main characters when they're forced to choose a side, or they show that their heart is in the right place even if their personality is hard to deal with.

Vidia is just one of three(!) characters on this list that fit this type. She quickly became my favorite fairy when I watched Tinker Bell because she's kind of bitchy, with the habit of using patronizing words like "honey" or "dear", but at the same time I find her pettiness endearing and the fact that she's like the cranky anti-hero gives her a cool factor?

I also love that she's a talented fairy and she's proud of it. Also, I was playing the Tinker Bell game for the DS (shush, it's quite good!) and Vidia in it is awesome. In the game you can build up your relationship with fairies by doing errands for them and stuff, and when you have a low relationship with Vidia, she's really cold, like in the movie. When you've built it up higher, though, she begins to be a bit nicer. And she randomly gave me a pair of Vidia Boots and a Vidia Dress, which I've not had happen with any other fairy. That's... cool? XD ALSO KIND OF CRACKTASTIC.

I really need to watch the third Tinker Bell movie. From the previews it looks like Vidia plays a major role when she saves Tink from getting trapped in a jar. Love her character so much!

23. Belle
I love Belle because she's a bookworm, because she loves fairy tales (which kind of gives a whole weird meta level to this movie...), and because she's a completely ordinary woman who gets put into extraordinary circumstances. The fact that there's nothing really special about her -- she's not a princess, she's not cursed, she doesn't have magical powers or a fairy godmother or any of that -- gives her kind of a grounded, mundane feel.

Which isn't to say that being a normal peasant meant she felt normal. I like how she stuck out, how she had trouble relating to people. I mean, who on the Internet hasn't felt that feeling of being weird, of having different interests than other people?

I like how she's kind-hearted, but not to the point of letting people walk all over her. I like how she has a mature, calm personality, while still having somewhat childish dreams and a reckless sense of curiosity.

Belle is an amazing character, probably the first female Disney heroine to actually read as a hobby. Considering how many people on the Internet are ~~Ravenclaws~~ voracious readers, it's no wonder that she's so popular!

22. Quasimodo
What I like about Quasimodo is that he's so naive and innocent and self-deprecating, you just want to give him a hug. I love how his hobby is people-watching, and how he's fascinated by a world that he knows he can never be part of -- like Ariel, basically! "Out There" has such wonderful lines like, "If I were in their skins, I'd treasure every instant." He's an outsider wistfully looking in, or rather, looking down.

I love also how there's a purity to his spirit; his soul is so very untarnished. "Heaven's Light" is a perfect foil to "Hellfire" because Quasimodo loves in a very shy and pure way, such a contrast to the way Frollo loves. And the Frollo/Quasimodo contrast is perfect for the monster/man theme of the movie.

I also love his optimism, which is something I can relate to. He's reluctant sometimes, tries not to be too hopeful, but usually the gargoyles fix that eventually, and send him off filled with positive thoughts. Which leads to an absolutely heartbreaking moment when Quasimodo finds out that Esmeralda doesn't love him after all; she loves Phoebus. Aww...

I like book!Quasimodo a lot as well. He's a bit older, more gruff, and more cynical, knows what the world is like; wants no part in it. A more silent and in-the-shadows type of character, but he also falls in love with Esmeralda and probably loves her in the healthiest way of all the people in the book.

So yeah, I love both versions of the character. I like how in both book and movie too that Quasimodo is very nimble and crazy strong. He's like a gentle giant type, I guess?

21. Mulan
Mulan is awesome because she kind of fails sometimes. She's growing, trying to find her place in the world, trying to find something she's good at, trying to find herself. In the midst of all this confusion, she goes off and does something drastic for no reason other than to protect her father. A crazy idea, but it works.

In fact, Mulan is filled with crazy ideas, which turns out to be her true strength in the end. It's what helped her scale the poles, which allowed her to stay in the army, it's what saved the soldiers from the Hun attack, it's what helped the soldiers break into the palace, and it's what enabled her to best Shan Yu in the final showdown.

I just love how, through perseverance and hard work, Mulan blossoms from a girl who doesn't know who she is to a competent woman who ends up saving all of China. She shows true guts, compassion, skill, and loyalty. I mean, does she have any flaws?

20. Tiana
Tiana is basically me. A diligent workaholic who's wound just a little bit too tight? Yep. The only thing is that she has something that I envy a lot -- a life dream. Actually maybe Tiana isn't me so much as she's my mother, who is the kind who keeps her eye on the prize and is so diligent that she has things done before you even think of them.

I love this about Tiana. I love that she's super-competent, and that she has a plan, a roadmap, a concrete path so that she actually does Get Stuff Done. I love that she also has a lot of pride and wants to earn her restaurant entirely through hard work. I also like that her dreams aren't related to love and she's not really a romantic. But at the same time, that doesn't prevent her from finding love in the end.

Oh and her relationship with her mother, her father, and Lottie are all really sweet. Heck, I even think it's cute she has a frog phobia, at least before getting turned into one...

19. Archimedes

What's not to love about a cute little cranky owl?? He's basically like a ball of attitude packed into the cutest owl body ever. I like how irreverent he is to Merlin too. They're like old friends.

18. Celia
I have a bizarre love for Celia. I love her voice, and I love her cutesy relationship with Mike ("googlybear," "shmoopsie-poo," etc.). (And I like how said cutesy relationship gives an interesting dynamic to Mike, Sulley, & Celia when they're together -- "Oh hey, Celia...welia...") I also like how that relationship gets strained as Mike gets sucked into the ongoing crisis but eventually she learns the truth and she helps them escape from Randall (a really awesome moment, actually!).

I love how she's a secretary too, a really nice secretary! I guess I kind of wish I could be more like her. She just seems like a really sweet, romantic, and friendly/outgoing character, I guess, and I like her relationship with Mike; I think it adds humor as well as drama (because of the misunderstandings) and emotion (because Mike being banished frustrates him that much more because he has Celia waiting for him in Monstropolis) to the story.

She has a pretty cool design too, as far as a monster goes. I like when her hair-snakes start kissing Mike and she's just like, "Girls! Girls!" It's kind of cute. And weird, I guess.

17. Cogsworth
Of all the characters in this list, I think Cogsworth is the most like me, actually. I'm a goody-two-shoes that tends to be averse to rule-breaking and getting into trouble, just like Cogsworth. He's always the one who nervously makes his objections and says the servants need to keep it down or the Beast will find out.

And his tendency toward pomposity is something I can definitely relate to as well (this post illustrates this pretty well, actually...). He's basically like Percy Weasley, who was always one of my favorite Harry Potter characters -- a little self-important, a little pendantic. I've always had a soft spot for characters like that!

I also like how he's the head steward but the other servants don't really take him all that seriously. Kind of hilarious. And his love-hate relationship with Lumiere is always entertaining. I mean, they seem like best friends who like to get on each others' nerves or something. I kind of wonder how they came to be such good friends.

16. Cinderella
I love Cinderella because she's a very humble and unassuming person who has modest dreams. And yet there's something very special about her. I think her appeal is very much the same as Aladdin's -- she's a diamond in the rough. Though reduced to a servant, she quietly sings a song to herself that far surpasses that of her spoiled step-sisters. And even though she's continually pushed down, she never loses her spirit and her dreams. She has a strength, nobility, a purity of character that shines through all the shabbiness.

Continuing with the Aladdin parallels, she's aided by a magical being who helps her dreams come true, and also falls in love with royalty before realizing who they are! As the clock strikes twelve...

Prince: No, now wait! You can't go now, it's only --
Cinderella: Oh I must, please. Please, I must.
Prince: But why?
Cinderella: Well, I, I... *lighting up* Well the prince! I haven't met the prince!
Prince: The prince? But didn't you know that --
*clock tolls*
Cinderella: Goodbye!
Oh Cinderella, you were dancing the whole night with the prince and you didn't even know? You're too qt. I think her romance with the prince is one of the most adorable among the Disney princess movies, too. He spies her far across the room, looking around distractedly, either a little lost or admiring her surroundings. There's something special about her that makes him brush past her stepsisters and ask her to dance. She doesn't even notice him until he touches her hand but then she returns his bow with a happy curtsy. So cute...

I find her very emotionally strong too, very level-headed and hopeful, surprisingly so considering her circumstances. People say she's boring or personality-less but I don't really think she is? She's just kind of an understated character.

One of my favorite quotes by her is what she says when she isn't ready in time for the ball:

(wistfully) Oh, well. What's a royal ball? After all, I suppose it would be frightfully dull, and, and boring, and--and completely... completely wonderful.
I love it because it's so understated. The soft-spoken words belie the fact that this is all she really has to look forward to. Such a modest dream, but it means so much to her! She downplays it because she doesn't want to be upset at not being able to go, but in the end her longing comes to the surface.

I also LOVE her in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. I think they captured what makes her such an amazing character. She's someone with an amazingly pure heart, that no matter how much darkness is around her, she still manages to shine through it all... by refusing to let go of her dreams. Cheesy, yes, but I think it makes her an admirable character.

15. Tinker Bell
I like old school Tinker Bell for the same reason I like Vidia. She may be vain, petty, jealous, and mean, but she also has her heart in the right place and she risked her life to save Peter. I just love this part in the movie:

Peter: Where are you, Tink? Tink? Tinker Bell! Tink, are you all right?
Tinker Bell: *tinkling*
Peter: Wendy? The boys? But I gotta save you first! Hold on, Tink! Hold on! Don't go out. Don't you understand, Tink? You mean more to me than anything in this whole world.
Um. *bawl* ;_____; I mean something to notice here is that from Peter's side of the dialogue it's clear that Tink asked him to go save Wendy and the boys. Right after she finished saving him from a bomb. Awww Tinker Bell! ;___;

And I love new!Tinker Bell because she's a freakin' ENGINEER who has a compulsive need to fix things. I smell John Lasseter all over this, but as an engineer with an interest in women-in-engineering outreach, I wholeheartedly approve! I like how she hates her talent at first but then comes to realize she's better than anyone else at one very specific thing -- tinkering with Found objects. Once she finds this specialty, she finds her purpose in life, and it's very satisfying seeing that for Tinker Bell!

14. Bagheera
Hands-down my favorite Jungle Book character. I guess the reason I love him so much is 1) he's a beautiful black panther! I just love the way he's animated -- he looks so sleek and muscular and elegant as he bounds through the jungle. And 2) his voice. I don't know, I just love it a lot.

I love his adoptive-father relationship with Mowgli too, and his relationship with Baloo and how it changes from annoyed at first to BFFs by the end. I like how the two of them have such different personalities and approaches. The scene when they try to save Mowgli from the monkeys is a good example. Bagheera comes up with a plan, but before he can implement it, Baloo has already rushed in wearing a monkey disguise and starts dancing with them. ??!! Oh dear. *facepalm*

I find that dynamic hilarious, though, with Bagheera being the responsible one and Baloo being the silly bum. I also love that even though Bagheera is kind of the reserved one, he still gets to be part of action sequences and rescue scenes. It's kind of cool. I don't really know how to explain properly... I just think he's an awesome character.

13. Jiminy Cricket
I don't know why I love him so much. BUT I DO. I'm sure you couldn't guess by my default icon. Or my LiveJournal layout. Nope. I mean, what can I say? I guess I just love what he represents? He's a little cricket who is also someone's conscience. I mean not many people get to be a personified conscience. That's awesome. I also like how he starts out the movie as a bum and then the Blue Fairy gives him a respectable appearance so that he'll lead Pinocchio along the path to respectability too. And I love his outfits! I think they're very dashing.

And I guess I relate to him a little? He has good sense but his voice gets drowned out and and so he can be pretty ineffectual at times. Also, he's totally a Stark! Or maybe a Tully. Well anyway, the kind of character that follows rules and can be a stick in a mud (see also: Cogsworth).

I also think he's just very cute in general. Like, just look at him with his big feet and his huge eyes. SO FREAKING CUTE! I love that he's constantly cracking these little jokes and that he kind of fails at explanations.

"Yep temptations. They're the wrong things that seem right at the time. But... even though the right things may s-seem wrong sometimes... sometimes the-the wrong things... heh, may be right at the... wrong time. Or... uh... vice versa. Understand?"
*Pinocchio starts to nod, then shakes his head no*
Last but not least, I love his voice and I think his rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" is just... sooo beautiful.

12. Donald Duck
I'm not sure why, but Donald has always been my favorite of the original shorts characters. I think it's because he has such a colorful personality. This is someone who loses his temper easily, who has terrible luck and tends to be the eternal butt monkey, who is cranky and can stoop to pretty low levels. It makes him a more interesting / sympathetic / lovable character.

I think Donald tends to be kind of an underdog. He's not exactly the most noble character and things tend to irritate him more than he irritates others (not always, but I think, since he's an easily irritated character, there's so much humor in making plots where he gets driven bonkers!). In that sense, I think he is quite like Daffy Duck, who was always my favorite Looney Tunes character.

Donald really adds a lot of adorable charm to Band Concert, which is an example where he's irritating, haha. I also love his character in Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers as the coward who finds courage eventually. His role in Kingdom Hearts is pretty awesome as well, as a badass mage who's ~~saved me many times with a well-timed cure spell~~ searching for his king and helping save the world and whatnot.

11. Georgette
I wasn't kidding when I said I really liked this trope. Georgette is feminine and vain, a drama queen who loves the spotlight. "Perfect isn't easy," she says, "but it's me." Yeah, she really has no qualms about making claims to perfection. With an ego to rival Gaston's she says, "But when all the world says YES, who am I to say no?"

She lives for the spotlight, and when Oliver takes that away from her, she becomes petty and jealous and schemes to get rid of him. Hmmm, are you seeing the Tinker Bell parallels here? XD

When push comes to shove, though, she's firmly on the good guys' side. She gets sucked into the wild chase scene along with the rest of Fagin's gang and by the end, she comes out of it closer to the mutts. Speaking of which, I have to mention her relationship with Tito because I think the pairing is so adorable. The first time they meet, despite all his ~flirtation~ she totally rebuffs him by calling him a "bug-eyed creep"; by the epilogue, though, she and Tito are on good terms and dancercising together, to everyone's surprise. Awwww.

But alas, it's not meant to be.

Georgette: Alonzo, darling, could I see you for a moment... privately?
Tito: Privately? [...] You guys beat it. Uh, my baby and I, we gotta talk.
Georgette: You know, you're not so bad for a bug-eyed little creep. With a little grooming...
Tito: Grooming? Uh...
Georgette: That's it! We'll start with a bath.
Tito: Bath?!
Long story short, Tito ends up hightailing it out of there, dressed up in a cute sailor outfit, with Georgette yelling sternly at him to come back. I guess it wasn't meant to be -- not surprising considering just how high-maintenance Georgette is -- but it's still the cutest couple ever. :D

I love Georgette, I love this character type, and her short-lived relationship with Tito is adorable. Oh yeah, and the way she barks is by saying, "Bark!" She's hilarious. XD

10. Lady Kluck
To put it simply, I like Kluckie because she is a BAMF. Just look at how she charges through a crowd of rhinoceroses like a pro football player (in the hilarious climax of a hilarious action sequence!). What kind of lady-in-waiting is this? Certainly not a very lady-like one!

I love how she takes the role of Prince John when she and Marian are playing pretend with the kids. She's very mocking and over-the-top irreverent, I love it. :)

Oh and I think she and Little John make a cute couple too. ROFL.

I'm not really sure where my love for her comes from. I suppose I think she's the most hilarious part of Robin Hood but she's so very overlooked.

9. Kocoum
Totally my Disney crush since I was, like, 10 years old. He's awesome, and I love how he has his badass moments in the movie, like when he saved an injured warrior by grappling with one of the settlers and slowly overcoming him with sheer strength. Awesome.

I like that he's brave, that he has that sense of valor in combat. I also like his stoicism and constantly-knit eyebrows. Pocahontas may not like his serious attitude but I'm all over that, man. I love people who are SRS BZNS :|, because I am too! At least, some of the time!

He plays an interesting role, being a bit of "romantic rival," and a bit of "guy-who-dies-and-sparks-a-war." That's awesome. B) I feel like I'm doing a terrible job of explaining why I like Kocoum. He's muscular and walks around without a shirt and has dark silky hair and likes to glower for no reason. That's all the explanation that's necessary as far as I'm concerned.

Actually, I just kind of realized, if Pocahontas were Romeo and Juliet, Kocoum would totally be Tybalt. And I have an irrational love of Tybalt! Everything makes sense now!

8. Mary Poppins
Is there anything not to love about Mary Poppins? She's practically perfect in every way! An authoritative and eccentric nanny who likes to use magic and then act as if she's done nothing out of the ordinary and knows just how to motivate and use reverse psychology to get people to do what they should. I love her because in the movie she's just so freaking mysterious. She literally comes from the sky, blows in on a wind, seems to enter and exit multiple children's lives as they need her or cease to need her, while not aging. Who is she?? What is she?? I have no idea! It makes her awesome, though!

My favorite part of the film is when they visit Uncle Albert and everyone except Mary is up in the air from being unable to stop laughing. Through all this, Mary Poppins is on the ground rolling her eyes in annoyance and not finding the situation funny at all. What this means in terms of the movie's themes of laughing and enjoying life, I have no idea, but it's such a great scene!

Another thing I like about Mary Poppins is that she shows that you can have a musical featuring a young, larger-than-life woman coming to live in the house of a dour older man and changing him for the better... and NOT have her end up with him eventually! Yes, I'm looking at you, Enchanted, Sound of Music, and to a lesser extent My Fair Lady. I always favored the younger, more cheerful love interest, anyway... (i.e. Bert, Edward, Freddy...).

7. Frollo
One of my favorite Disney villains. Like with Quasimodo, I've sort of combined book and movie version in my mind and it makes him even better. In the book, he's less of a villain and more of an anti-hero. At the core he's a man in love who is not able to love in a healthy way -- it manifests itself as something entirely destructive. There are things about his character in the book I like less (e.g. his interest in black magic) and some things I like more (he willingly adopted Quasimodo, even when other people were disparaging the child for its ugliness).

The movie version of Frollo is so different yet somehow compatible with the book version. This Frollo is manipulative and evil and a judge rather than a priest, but at the core he's the exact same -- a man in love who cannot bring himself to admit it, and therein lies his tragedy. I have a soft spot for characters who are motivated out of love, even if it's love that has been twisted into hatred.

Another thing that I realized when watching this movie as an adult is that Frollo is so very human. This shines clearly in both movie and book versions. The "Hellfire" sequence is so amazing because it reveals Frollo's heart so well (and I completely missed the fine points of this sequence as a kid -- crazy how there's an entire layer to this movie that you can not "get" if you're too young):

Beata Maria, you know I am a righteous man
Of my virtue I am justly proud
Beata Maria, you know I'm so much purer than
The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd
Then tell me, Maria, why I see her dancing there
Why her smouldering eyes still scorch my soul?

[...]

It's not my fault, I'm not to blame
It is the gypsy girl, the witch who sent this flame!
It's not my fault, if in God's plan
He made the devil so much stronger than a man
I love this because of the hypocrisy. As humans we sometimes consider ourselves above criticism, above judgment, while judging others in turn, and we never realize it until we get called out on it... Frollo demonstrates this perfectly. He truly believes he is a good person, a person who has lived his life by his moral code and doesn't see his flaws. Not only that, but he's honestly made an effort to be righteous and upstanding, in the way that he defines it.

And then Esmeralda comes, and his moral code tells him that she is sinful and wrong, and he can't love her. But he does. Oh, how he does. And that is the source of his anguish and misery! "Hellfire" is such an amazing sequence because the fire in it represents both love and passion (e.g. to carry a "torch" for someone means you have feelings for them; a "flame" is a love interest) but also Hell and damnation.

In his mind, he knows what has happened. He imagines people accusing him, while at the same time denying any fault. He escapes his dilemma by choosing to believe in a delusion that Esmeralda has somehow MADE him love her, bewitched him so strongly that he's lost reason. It's the only explanation that allows him to keep his honor, and yet he hints that deep down he knows it's his own personal weakness and failing that's truly at fault. But why, why did God design humans to be so weak to temptation? He has difficulty accepting the full blame.

And finally, the sequence ends with his resolution that either Esmeralda will be his or he'll destroy her. It's an intense decision and one that illustrates the conflict in his heart well -- if she will have him, he'd be willing to go against everything he believes in to be with her, but if she won't, there is nothing for him in that future and she is merely something sinful that must be destroyed. Intense and disturbing, but so powerful at the same time. Frollo is a character at once dark and twisted and yet so very human. A quote from ASOIAF is appropriate here: "We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy."

6. Megara
When I was young I actually didn't really like Megara, mostly because I couldn't understand a word she was saying through her drawl; her lines in the film basically just sounded like this to me: "*sarcasm* *sarcasm* *sarcasm*" Hercules was one of the films I didn't own so I actually didn't see it again until I was in college, and then I had a completely new appreciation for her character.

What I really like about her is that she's sardonic and jaded but her jadedness comes (ironically) from her idealistic and romantic nature. It's this clash that really made her an interesting character to me. It's not that she's a wise-cracking cynic; she's a wise-cracking romantic that purposely hides it under cynicism to avoid getting hurt. And I like that she can be both romantic and sarcastic at the same time!

I know this movie is all about Hercules's journey to becoming a hero, but I felt like the second half of the movie is actually more about Meg's journey than his because a major part of the story is in Meg learning to open up and trust again, and eventually making the same ultimate sacrifice for Hercules as she did before with her old boyfriend, this time without regrets.

Also, her relationship with Hercules is so freaking adorable. "You're the most amazing person with weak ankles I've ever met." D'awww you two. Why you gotta be so cute? It's just so sweet because you know Herc means every word of it too, and you can see the effect that pure sincerity has on Megara. Icy heart... thawing.

5. The Evil Queen
One of my favorite villains of all time. I already kind of mentioned why in my villains picspam but in more detail... I love how she's driven by obsession. She's beautiful; why does being the most beautiful in all the land matter so much to her, to the point of driving her to murder? There is no reason. She just does. Her fairy tale roots make her so very much larger than life, almost symbolic in a sense.

I love the paradox that she presents -- a beautiful exterior that hides ugly cruelty and jealousy. A woman so relentless in her pursuit of beauty that she transforms herself into an old hag. In the words of the witches from Macbeth, "Fair is foul and foul is fair." The queen represents both fairness and foulness wrapped in one.

I love her elegance. This is a woman who has several RAGE moments in the movie but they're so classy and contained. Her eyes widen, and then with a dramatic fling of her cape she storms off to her secret lair. Speaking of which, I feel like her cape is worthy of a mention. Just look at 3:10 of this video. That cape is gorgeous, man.

Finally, I love that she's scary. She orders Snow White's heart cut out, she practices black magic, she transforms herself into a scary hag... This lady doesn't mess around, man. There's this very spooky and macabre air to her which I just love. Makes me think of Halloween, actually. :)

4. Denahi
Okay he's like my Disney crush. His looks and adorkable-ness aside, I love him for what he is in the movie. For most of the movie, he acts as an antagonist, but he's not a villain -- his motivation is purely out of familial love. I love that Disney actually made a movie with an antagonist who's not a villain. I also love his dynamic with his brothers -- his older brother who has to keep him out of trouble, his younger brother who he likes to rib and lovingly bully. I love his journey and his story is just so emotional -- witnessing both your brothers die, embarking on a quest for revenge, almost losing the trail, freezing alone on a mountain and wondering what you're trying to accomplish, finding the trail again, only to realize shortly afterwards that your younger brother IS alive and that you very nearly killed him, and then finally (the most heart-wrenching of them all) willingly letting your brother go again, moments after you've found him. Kenai's the main character of the story, but Denahi's story is every bit as emotional, and ack I love him so much. I even love his role as the narrator. It's a cool way of opening the story and it's awesome knowing that he becomes Tanana's successor and a story-teller when he gets older.

I also love Denahi's character. He's obnoxious but tries to be mature and do the right thing when it's important. He also has this sort of reluctant air to him that I love. It's like he hesitates where Kenai rushes in; and it's when he realizes his hesitation cost him his brother that he sort of becomes more of a loose cannon.

I pretty much just fangirl Denahi. I'm fairly sure I even inwardly squee'd when he showed up all disheveled with a mustache when watching the movie the first time. Love at first sight.

3. Pocahontas
I think the reason why I love Pocahontas so much is that when I was a little girl, I resembled her. As a character, she spoke to me, especially in the "Colors of the Wind" sequence, I loved how she could empathize with things (e.g. "I know every rock and tree and creature / has a life, has a spirit, has a name") because as a kid, I often thought that inanimate objects such as trees or water had spirits or a consciousness, but found when I tried to tell this to people they were like, "What." I really connected to her spirituality, which was unconnected with any religion (more on this later, I suppose). I also related to her open-mindedness and how she is non-judgmental and even to how she was a cultural outsider.

Second, I admire Pocahontas. I admire her bravery, I admire her maturity, her open-mindedness and her sense of adventure. I love that all those traits were how she was able to stop a war (in the movie). When Powhatan says, "My daughter speaks with wisdom beyond her years," you have no idea how much I swell with pride. Pocahontas had enough insight and courage to do something no one else could, and this part:

Look around you. This is where the path of hatred has brought us. This is the path I choose, Father. What will yours be?
a;skjfa;jkdfa Basically, she's amazing.

My mother recently told someone else that, when I was little, I really looked like Pocahontas. Upon hearing this, I confess I squee'd a little on the inside. Best compliment ever. Also, weirdly enough, my sister looked a lot like Nakoma, and my sister and I when we were young? Totally had the same BFF dynamic that Poca and Nakoma did. I don't really think I "am" Pocahontas -- she seems a lot more confident and brave and non-geeky than I am -- but I still feel connected with her. I wonder if that's healthy...

2. Mother Gothel
Hands down my favorite character in Tangled. I love her because she's bad and realistic and complex and just... SO MANY MIXED FEELINGS. She just feels so real. This was pointed out in several reviews of the movie but Gothel's "gettin' kinda chubby" line... yeah that struck a chord with me. I used to say that to my sister when I was younger, and it caused her to be self-conscious about her weight for a period in her life -- so much guilt associated with that. It's just... you KNOW this person. She feels so believable as a mother, a very flawed mother, the kind that responds to criticism with "So now I'm the bad guy?" and disparages your abilities every so often, and can't be reasoned with. But ultimately a mother who does everything a mother does -- provides for you and keeps you company and sings to you and fetches you seashells when you ask for them and makes your favorite soup for you when she knows you've had a bad day.

And at the same time she's a villain, of the classic Disney variety. She plots, she schemes, she traps the heroine and threatens the life of the hero, and she's after the MacGuffin (which is Rapunzel's magic hair here), all with a touch of Disney theatricality. Like a villain, she's significantly lacking in empathy and the ability to really love. Because of that, she really does toe the line between "bad mother, but within reason" and "abusive villain masquerading as a mother", and heck -- that makes her absolutely fascinating to me as a character! It prompts the question -- how much of Gothel & Rapunzel's relationship was a real mother-daughter relationship and how much of it was actually Gothel & magic-flower-in-human-form?

At the end of the day, I romanticize their relationship a bit, look at it through rose-colored lenses, wish that Gothel could have had a better ending... because at the end of the day, Rapunzel loved her mother, through all her faults and selfishness and overprotectiveness and villainy. To what extent that love was reciprocated is anyone's guess. Personally, my interpretation of Gothel's character is that she had too little empathy to really truly love someone, but if there was one person... one person in all the world she could have loved, it was Rapunzel. It makes their relationship all the more bittersweet... heavy on the bitter.

1. Esmeralda
Probably not surprising if you know me and noticed she didn't appear earlier. Esmeralda is, like, mah gurl. Like with Frollo and Quasimodo, I think in my mind I've combined the best of both the book and the Disney movie in my head to create a character of SUPER AWESOMENESS. In the movie what I like about Esmeralda is that she is so self-reliant and yet compassionate as well. Her fighting skills are pretty awesome, and they're not just thrown in there to get Action Girl brownie points -- her physicality is a defining aspect of her character -- she's a dancer and a street magician. Her body is the tool she works with; accuracy and fine motor control are skills she's purposely honed. It also ties in to how she is so confident in the way she moves, it just exudes sexiness. Even Frollo is not immune!

But what I love most is that she can be all that and still be compassionate and warm at the same time...

I love love LOVE "God Help the Outcasts", mostly for this one line:

I ask for nothing, I can get by / But there are so many, less lucky than I.
This is Esmeralda in a nutshell. She doesn't need help, nor does she ask for it. And yet she is empathetic enough to feel others' pain and that keeps her hoping for a better world. Like Megara, it's the combination of two traits that seem like maybe a bit counter to each other (in this case, toughness + compassion) that makes her a deeper character.

And actually, I lied, there is another reason why I love "God Help the Outcasts" so much. It's because it's a very spiritual song, a song between a heathen and God (or alternately, the Virgin Mary):

I don't know if You can hear me
Or if You're even there
And I don't know if You would listen
To a gypsy's prayer
This really speaks to me personally because as a non-religious person, I was told as a kid that this made me a bad person, and in some cases even an evil person. But I've always been of the opinion that it's not about what religion you are, but how you treat others. You do NOT have to be religious to treat others with respect and compassion, or to live a life of dignity. So thank you Esmeralda, for showing me that you can be a good person, spiritual even, without being religious. :')

Esmeralda in the book is really different. In both versions, she is kind-hearted and compassionate, but in the book her personality is really demure, sweet, naive... movie!Quasimodo's personality, basically! I like her movie personality better, but I think where the book is better than the movie is that Esmeralda is THE main character. Quasimodo is a major character but it's not his story so much as Esmeralda's. In case you're confused by the title, the original title of Hunchback of Notre Dame is actually Notre Dame de Paris -- which means either "Notre Dame of Paris" (as in the cathedral) or literally "our lady of Paris" -- meaning the Virgin Mary, but also meaning Esmeralda (there are parallels between the two; also notice that in the movie, Esmeralda directs her prayer in "God Help the Outcasts" to a statue of the Madonna). An alternate title that would describe the book better is perhaps Esmeralda and Her Terrible Love Interests. So yeah that's why I love Esmeralda so much. She's such a driving part of the story in the book, and such an awesome character in both book and movie.

Oh by the way, in the German Hunchback of Notre Dame musical, Esmeralda sings "Someday" (a cut song that appears in the credits of the original movie) as she waits to be burnt at stake. Here are the English lyrics:

Someday
When we are wiser
When the world's older
When we have learned
I pray
Someday we may yet live
To live and let live

Someday
Life will be fairer
Need will be rarer
And greed will not pay
God speed
This bright millennium
On its way
Let it come
Someday
;____; If an English language version of this musical ever gets off the ground (*crosses fingers*) I will watch it and Esmeralda is going to make me cry. SO. HARD.

Three Hunchback of Notre Dame characters on this list!

Random

chacusha — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 08:55:04 GMT

Sometimes I can't believe how silly I am. I went grocery shopping on Monday and so I was walking to my door with a bunch of grocery bags as well as the satchel I use to carry my lunch to work. The bags were cutting into my hands though, so I readjusted and then I thought I heard the sound of a plastic container (i.e. the tupperware I use to bring fruits to work) hitting the ground. It was dark, so I just quickly grabbed my satchel to make sure I could still feel the tupperware in there, and kept walking.

So then I went home and had dinner, including half a can of soup. This will be important later on.

Anyway, the next day, as I was packing my lunch I realized the tupperware was nowhere to be found in my house. It wasn't in the sink. It wasn't in the dishwasher. It wasn't on the floor. It wasn't in my satchel!

Luckily I had another container, pretty much identical, but a smaller size, so I could use that for the same purpose. But everyday this week, I searched the area where I thought I might have dropped it, but I couldn't find it. I even considered going to the leasing office and asking if they had a lost and found but I thought that, even if they did, the chance of someone bringing in a small tupperware container was pretty small -- they'd probably just throw it out.

This saddened me. In fact it made me realize I have an emotional connection to the darn thing. My mom would always pack fruits in it for me for work everyday, and now I'm packing fruits in it for myself for work. I dunno, it has memories and traditions attached to it or something. I felt like I missed it a lot more than what is normal.

So imagine my surprise when I was washing dishes tonight and I found, sitting in the sink, the tupperware! It was definitely the big tupperware, not its smaller sister that I've been using this week as a replacement. But I couldn't figure out why it was there!

Then I looked around and saw its lid next to the microwave and I realized -- I used it today to microwave soup! When I had half the soup can on Monday, I put the leftovers in the bigger tupperware (to be safe -- I didn't want it to flow over) and put that container in the fridge -- and then promptly forgot I had done it, and never once this week connected my missing tupperware with the leftover soup in the fridge.

I am so silly.

Anyway, unrelated but I have to do one last post about the Final Fantasy landcomm. For anyone on my flist that was interested in the Final Fantasy landcomm:

Join ff_land

Applications are open now! Apply @ ff_classchange

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS

chacusha — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 06:17:28 GMT

OMG. GUYS. THIS IS IT. THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN WISHING FOR FOR FOUR YEARS.*

Thanks to koretetsu for linking me this:

LOOK AT 1:40. YEAH THAT'S RIGHT: HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME WORLD. ILU Square Enix. ♥

* I'm not kidding.

Pimping

chacusha — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 17:48:20 GMT

If you like Disney, please join...

disney_uberland | Application Page

The way it works is that you get put in one of three teams, and you then earn points for your team by entering various challenges (fic, graphics, and puzzles). Whichever team ends the game with the highest number of points wins.

The three teams are Team Ariel (for princesses, heroines, fairy tales, and traditional animation), Team Sharpay (for live-action, Disney Channel shows, and villainous characters), and Team WALL-E (for CG animation, both Pixar and Disney, and heroic characters).

But you should join Team Sharpay (even if you hate HSM with a burning passion) because we have:
- Tron / Tron: Legacy
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- All Disney villains

Heck yes. I'm currently helping out as a co-mod for disney_uberland and the new game is beginning January 2nd (Sunday), so do join if you're interested. :)

Picspam: My Top 10 Favorite Disney Villains

chacusha — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:41:51 GMT

A picspam done for disney_uberland.

#10 - Maleficent

I'm sure if I had watched Sleeping Beauty as a kid, Maleficent would be much higher on this list. But since I saw it for the first time when I was like, 20, she's #10. Maleficent is a really popular villain and I can see why. She's classy, throws crazy temper tantrums, can turn into a dragon, and she's, like, a fairy (eeevil fairy). What part of this doesn't sound awesome?? I love her purple and green color scheme too.

#9 - Prince John

I just can't help but find Prince John adorable. He has this childish air to him and all these silly traits that make it impossible to hate him. Peter Ustinov did such a great job with his voice. Some villains are just better when you can laugh at them!

#8 - Lady Tremaine

I think Lady Tremaine is a super key part of Cinderella, because she has to be the answer to the question, "Why would Cinderella allow herself to become a servant in her own home?" Because this lady is evil, shrewd, and manipulative, that's why. While normally poised and genteel, she can be downright intimidating when angry and most of all, she's crafty. In allowing Cinderella to go to the ball IF she finishes her chores, she ensures that Cinderella doesn't outright rebel against her AND that if Cinderella doesn't end up going to the ball, it's her own fault, not Tremaine's. She is the one who nudges Anastasia and Drizella into ripping apart Cinderella's dress, who figures out who the mystery girl is, who locks Cinderella in her tower, and who trips the slipper-bearer before Cinderella can try the shoe on. This lady is cunning, man. I always come out of this movie feeling like it's a miracle Cinderella got her happy ending at all, and that's exactly what she's there for.

#7 - Yzma (+ Kronk)

I just love Yzma's character design. Her bizarre body shape, her crazy eyelashes, all the different slinky dresses she wears that don't work with her body type AT ALL (towards the beginning of the movie she changes dresses like every scene). I love her interactions with Kronk and all the silliness they go through together. She is awesome and hilarious and voiced excellently by Eartha Kitt.

#6 - Anton Ego & Chef Skinner

Two half-villains = one full villain, right? I love these two. They crack me up so much and have the best quotes in the whole movie. "I don't like food. I LOVE it. And if I don't love it, I... don't... SWALLOW," and, "Regrettably we are all out of wine." (See icon.) Skinner, like Prince John, is too adorable to hate, really. And Ego's reversal is the best part of the movie.

#5 - Frollo

Frollo in the movie is much more out-and-out evil of a character than in the books but nonetheless at the core they're the same -- a man tormented by his love for Esmeralda. I love the "Hellfire" sequence because it really humanizes him -- he is deeply flawed but chooses to lash out and blame others instead of admitting it to himself. He commits crimes in the name of righteousness and succumbs to obsession. Favorite line from the song: "It's not my fault, if in God's plan, He made the devil so much stronger than a man..." Tony Jay's voice = ♥ Also, you have to admit he looks pretty badass swinging around his sword. "Hellfire" is my favorite villain sequence of all time. I could do a picspam all about that, really.

#4 - Gaston

I love the fact that Gaston is charming, handsome, charismatic -- and still totally evil. I also love how he's just so over-the-top in every way possible. Looking admiringly at himself whenever he passes a reflective surface? Five dozen eggs for breakfast? "It's not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas, and thinking..."? Thanks, Gaston. He's just a character that was made for epic things. He's also an excellent foil for the Beast, becoming more and more devious and black-hearted at the same time Beast turns over a new leaf and becomes nice.

#3 - Ursula

There are so many things to love about Ursula. She's an octopus, she's a witch, she has an awesome voice. She's hilariously dramatic. Her motivation is simple: POWER, pure power. Her villain song is fun and I like how she presents herself as a "reformed" sea-witch. Hah. I also like how she takes the form of an evil version of Ariel, who shares the same voice. It's very Odile/Odette-ish (Swan Lake). Her character design is amazing -- I love the hair, the earrings, the huge double-chin. She's just an extremely iconic villain.

#2 - Evil Queen

Snow White was a really big part of my childhood, but besides that, I think I just really love villains who are motivated by obsession (see also: Frollo). The evil queen is every bit as narcissistic as Gaston (note the peacock imagery of her chair above), but she obsesses over it much more than he does. Gaston is so sure he's the studliest man ever, but the queen? She asks the mirror every day who is the fairest in the land. Eventually, her jealousy and hatred of Snow White becomes so overwhelming that she gets rid of the thing she holds most dear (her own beauty) to kill her. This lady is intense.

#1 - Mother Gothel

And finally, #1 is Mother Gothel. This may be the novelty bias speaking but I think right now she really is my favorite villain. She has the dramatic flair and fun villain song of Ursula, the single-minded obsession with beauty of the evil queen, and even the fake adopted parent, "trust me, you're safer in your tower" thing going on with Rapunzel that Frollo has with Quasimodo. She is gorgeous, and I love her complicated relationship with Rapunzel. She may be a villain and she may be mean but she raised Rapunzel and is the closest thing she has to a mother. I love her villain song, "Mother Knows Best" -- her voice actress has a wonderful singing voice.

Okay that's it. I apologize for any typos or if my rambling just don't make sense (I probably should have left them out considering this is supposed to be a picspam but whatever! I like to talk!). I'm writing this at like 7:40 in the morning after having not slept at all. @_@

Sick

chacusha — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 01:26:06 GMT

Ugh, I've caught a cold. Trying to read today just resulted in a headache/sinus pains. Drinking orange juice and then going to sleep.

Oh and also I ordered a grilled steak sandwich for lunch today and that was the Worst Decision Ever. There was just way too much steak and it was all one slab so I don't even know how it was supposed to be a sandwich. I spent more time cutting it up than I did eating, and the beefy aftertaste stayed in my mouth for like 4 hours. I guess this is why people talk of cleansing your palate or whatnot.

:O

chacusha — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 08:17:39 GMT

OMG TODAY IS 10/10/10.

That is all.

I am disturbed

chacusha — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 02:19:03 GMT

My mom sent me this link today: http://www.webguild.org/20101002/murder-by-facebook-how-dharun-ravi-molly-wei-killed-tyler-clementi

Two college students set up a live stream of their male roommate having sex with another man and posted on Twitter and Facebook inviting people to watch it. The roommate later committed suicide.

This is just so messed up. I have no words. I was going to post unrelated ramblings in here too, but I just feel wrong putting anything light in an entry as heavy as this.

Disney video games

chacusha — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:52:54 GMT

OKAY SO, I may have spoken too soon. Epic Mickey does look pretty epic.

I'm becoming a Disney parks nut, so yeah, this looks awesome! On the other hand the graphics aren't anywhere near the level of prettiness that Kingdom Hearts is, so that makes me sad.

AND SPEAKING OF KINGDOM HEARTS EVIDENTLY BIRTH BY SLEEP CAME OUT SHORTLY BEFORE I LEFT FOR JAPAN OR SOMETHING. This means I have to buy it! .......Oh, and a PSP too. .......That would help. ......Goodbye, money.

Moving update: 50% moved out. Still at my mom's house. I'm moving the rest of my belongings and getting my furniture tomorrow.

Until then, I'll be here working on my art exchange pieces. (‾∇ ‾ )

iTunes

chacusha — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 20:52:15 GMT

Ummm so I went to my Applications folder today, and iTunes' logo has changed?? Whenever things like that happen I freak out because I think my computer is infected or someone has been meddling with it, but no. Apple really changed it from this beauty:

To this monstrosity:

See article.

@&!@#

chacusha — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:00:23 GMT

ARGHHH I JUST SPENT 40 MINUTES EDITING A FAQ POST (which, you know, requires very precise wording and stuff) AND LIVEJOURNAL FARTED AND LOST ALL OF MY CHANGES. SO MAD RIGHT NOW.

Also... is it just me or is LiveJournal like... more inactive than it used to be? Like on the weekends, it's like a graveyard around here. :/ And like... all of my friends seem to be using tumblr/twitter/plurk instead.

Edit: Nevermind, it was my Internet connection that farted. Sorry for blaming you, LiveJournal. u_u ALSO, luckily I still had the preview window open from an older draft of my changes so I was able to recover about three-quarters of my work. YAY.

Disney bracket

chacusha — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:20:21 GMT

singingllama is running this Disney character battle to determine the BEST Disney princess, prince, sidekick, villain, villainess, etc. And it's the final round! (I maaayyybe should have linked this earlier so that I could tell people to save such-and-such character. BUT TOO LATE. Now the match-ups are such that I don't really mind either character winning. Except maybe Beast vs. Aladdin? Vote for Beast? And Cinderella's Fairy Godmother too!)

Also, in other news, my team (Team Scar) won the first round at disney_uberland! YAY!

Back!

chacusha — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:02:39 GMT

HEY GUYS I'm back from Disneyland!

I've got a lot of stuff to say but I'm dead tired and still need to post a reminder for wd_lims so I will write up a summary later! But it was awesome! And I've had Disneyland songs stuck in my head all day long!

Beast/Belle ship manifesto

chacusha — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:15:02 GMT

More disney_uberland things. This time it's an essay explaining my love for the Belle/Beast couple. Except I don't do a very good job explaining!

Pairing: Belle/Beast
Word Count: Roughly 3200

It’s a Tale as Old as Time
A mini ship manifesto exploring Belle and Beast's relationship using tropes

NOTE: Links to TV Tropes abound in this. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

In trying to explain why I like the pairing of Beast/Belle so much, I struggled. Then I came up with the idea of describing their relationship in terms of tropes from TV Tropes. I did this for two reasons: (1) because I've been browsing TV Tropes way too much lately, and (2) because Beauty and the Beast is itself a trope. So here we go -- Beast/Belle, as described by tropes! Let's start at the beginning...

01. Take Me Instead

“You have my word.”
“Done!”
Related?: Deal With The Devil, I Gave My Word

Belle and Beast's first meeting, and what a dramatic meeting it is, in all the best ways. When Belle sees her father freezing cold and sick in a damp dungeon, she begs the Beast for mercy. Beast, however, is angry and not willing to forgive Maurice's trespass. Then Belle offers to take his place. Beast's anger is replaced by shock, and the sudden realization that she could be the one to break his curse.

“You! ...You would... take his place?”
“If I did, would you let him go?”
“Yes. But you must promise to stay here forever.”
Before Belle makes her decision, she asks to see the Beast's face. (Up until this point, he'd been stalking around the dungeon in the shadows.) CUE AWESOME AS HECK STEPPING-INTO-THE-LIGHT SEQUENCE.

The main trope at work here is Take Me Instead. In fact, Belle says those exact words. Other tropes I think are somewhat applicable are Deal With The Devil (because Belle makes a binding pact with the Beast who, with his monstrous appearance, could be a devil for all she knows) and I Gave My Word (Belle's wording is very similar to this). The dark atmosphere of this scene might suggest these tropes... except for the fact that the viewer already knows that the Beast is not a demon but just a sad cursed prince. Whereas a Deal With the Devil or an I Gave My Word inevitably come back to bite the person who made the pact, here you just KNOW the only character who will get hurt from this is the Beast himself.

You may notice that none of these are romantic tropes. In fact, the more common manifestation of these tropes are in hero-villain interactions. To say Belle and Beast get off to a rough start would be a gross understatement; Beast acts nigh villainous in these scenes. However, this is an amazing setup to the dramatic changes to their relationship that follow.

02. Rage Against The Reflection
“It’s no use. She’s so beautiful, and I’m... WELL LOOK AT ME.”
Related: Curse, Angst

Let's skip past Belle and Beast's next few conversations because they aren't very shippy. They consist of Beast being immature and bad-tempered (but at times pretty hilarious!) and Belle not putting up with any of it, because she's awesome like that. Instead, though, we can examine three scenes of Beast by himself to see a different aspect of his character.

The first is when he's anxiously waiting for Belle to come down to dinner. The topic comes up that Belle could be the one to break the spell, and Beast has already thought of that but expresses his nervousness with the quote above. As he comments on Belle's beauty, he rubs his neck self-consciously, a gesture that reveals his vulnerability. (Seriously, the body language in this movie is AMAZING.)

“I’m just fooling myself. She’ll never see me as anything... but a monster.”

Later, following his unsuccessful attempts to politely ask Belle to dinner and his storming off, he uses his magic mirror to spy on Belle and hears her declare she doesn't want to have anything to do with him. Instead of getting infuriated, he just becomes resigned, expressing the sentiment that he was a fool to be hopeful. Awww. :(

And one final example: after Belle sneaks into the West Wing and Beast loses his temper and roars for her to get out, Belle flees. After she has left, Beast, still huffing, realizes that his rage has just cost him his best chance of salvation. A look of regret crossing his face, he does the world's most anguished facepalm.

See, one of the best things about the Beast is that he's got angst, but it's angst of the best possible kind. He's got a lot of well-justified self-loathing, not just because of his physical appearance but also because of his personality failings -- his pride, his bad temper, his lack of social grace -- that made it so hard for him to ask Belle to dinner and eventually caused her to get the heck out of there. Not only that, but his curse has a time limit so there's a sense of doom and urgency to him as well. His angst is believable, and very personal, and never descends into the more irritating versions of angst such as Wangst or Mangst.

I tried looking up tropes that captured Beast's character, but I couldn't find any more specific than the generic Curse and Angst tropes. Probably the closest is Rage Against The Reflection -- a trope where a character expresses self-loathing by destroying their reflection. Beast actually did this in the past: after getting cursed, he claws a portrait of himself, and later in the movie Belle passes by a smashed mirror outside his room.

Cursed and flawed, ferocious yet vulnerable, Beast is an extremely complex character, not easily defined by tropes, and capable of eliciting the audience's sympathy despite his shortcomings. It's this sympathy for Beast and his arc of redemption that further bolsters the emotional power of Belle and Beast's relationship throughout the movie.

03. Rescue Romance

Now onto the turning point in the relationship. After the West Wing incident, Belle takes Philippe and flees from the castle, but gets attacked by wolves. Just when it's looking pretty bad, the Beast comes to the rescue and chases the pack off, but then collapses with exhaustion.

In my favorite moment of this scene, Belle turns away from the Beast to look over Philippe's saddle, an expression of pure shock on her face. Not only does she have to process the fact that the Beast just saved her from wolves, but she has to decide what to do next. In the end, she decides to sling Beast over Philippe and take him back to the castle so that he can recover. Yes, it's a DOUBLE Rescue Romance.

There's more to this scene than just "rescuing/protection is romantic" -- to Belle, there was really nothing positive about the Beast before. Now, however, she has just witnessed him risk his life to save hers, and now he's the one in danger of dying. For the first time, she can feel something toward him other than resentment -- gratitude and pity and a bit of respect for his sacrifice.

04. Florence Nightingale Effect

“THAT HURTS!”
“Well if you’d hold still it wouldn’t hurt as much.”
“Well if you hadn’t run away, this wouldn’t have happened!”
“Well if you hadn’t frightened me, I wouldn’t have run away!”
“Well you shouldn’t have been in the West Wing!”
“Well you should learn to control your temper!”
(silence)

Related?: Slap Slap Kiss, Belligerent Sexual Tension

Back at the castle... I admit, tending to wounds is kind of romantic. In addition to the "rescuing/protection is romantic" thing, there's also the fact that treatment usually requires gently touching the injured character's body. And again, we -- and this time Belle too -- get to see the other side to the tough and ferocious Beast: the childish and vulnerable side. Huddled in his chair, he tries to make his wound better by licking it, and when Belle tries to help, he throws a tantrum. An interesting thing to note here is that Beast no longer scares Belle. She withstands a full-in-the-face roar and immediately returns with a retort of her own. Is it because she sees the childishness in his behavior, because they now stand on more equal footing, or because she's realizes he has humanity in him? I have no idea. Maybe a mix of all three? In any case, the servants (who ARE frightened by Beast's tantrums) begin to have hope that Belle can do something for the Beast that they couldn't.

However, it's also important to note that Belle DOESN'T start to fall in love here. While the scene does end on a tender note ("By the way, thank you... for saving my life." / "...You're welcome."), as a whole the purpose of this scene is simply for Belle and Beast to undo their rough start and pave the way for amicability and eventually friendship. While it does contain elements of Slap Slap Kiss and Belligerent Sexual Tension, this scene definitely does NOT fall under those tropes, and I'm glad. I'm not a fan of the whole "they bicker... it must be true love!" notion. This scene instead consists of Belle and Beast airing their grievances in an honest manner -- they really ARE angry with each other -- while at the end also admitting that this doesn't preclude them from being grateful as well. It allows them to forgive each other and get a fresh start.

05. Falling In Love Montage
New, and a bit alarming; who’d have ever thought that this could be?
True, that he’s no Prince Charming, but there’s something in him that I simply didn’t see
Related: Love Epiphany

Ah, the ice melts. Well not really because it's wintertime but, over the winter, things change between Beast and Belle.

“I've never felt this way about anyone. I want to do something for her.”
It all starts when the Beast, nursing his bandaged arm, looks down at the courtyard where Belle is happily spending time with Philippe and the Footstool. He has feelings he can't really explain, and the actual desire to do something nice for her. Lumiere gets an idea and in the next scene Beast presents Belle with the castle library. Best. Present. Ever. And also sweet because Belle is a bookworm so it makes her super happy, which in turn makes Beast happy. Awww. :)

And now onto my favorite Disney song, "Something There." I recommend you just watch the whole scene. :)

This clip is good because it includes the breakfast-eating scene too, which I also happen to be in love with. Even though there isn't any singing, the score is just amazing.

Anyway, this scene may not be so much about falling in love as becoming friends and just getting closer in general. Some might argue that this contains Belle's Love Epiphany (see the quote above) but I think that comes later in the movie. On the other hand, by this point in time, Beast has definitely fallen in love.

And speaking of which, he still manages to be a little angsty ("No it can't be; I'll just ignore... But then she's never looked at me that way before"). But in general he's cheering up! Awww. :)

06. Dance of Romance
Barely even friends, then somebody bends unexpectedly

A short scene at the beginning shows that the castle has been preparing for this special night -- dinner, candelight, romantic music -- when the Beast will profess his love for Belle. But he's nervous and isn't sure he can bring himself to say it. Adorable.

Then the "Beauty and the Beast" sequence. I would be remiss if I didn't include the full sequence here because the WHOLE THING is amazing.

I'm tempted to just copy and paste this entire song's lyrics, but I'll spare you. Personally, my favorite line is "Bittersweet and strange, finding you can change, learning you were wrong." Because... wow. Just wow.

Anyway, this song is about small changes -- changes in the relationships between people, changes in a person's character when they realize their own mistakes. It's also about the "tale as old as time", i.e. love. Love is something we all know, something maybe even inevitable in our lives, and yet when it happens to us, it will manage to surprise us all the same. It captures Belle and Beast's relationship so perfectly.

So yes, this song makes this one of the most romantic relationships of all time. Belle may not be in love with Beast just yet, but she's gradually getting there, bit by bit. And Beast? Just look how ecstatic he gets when Belle rests her head on his chest.

07. I Want My Beloved to be Happy

“Well, Your Highness! I must say everything is going just swimmingly. I knew you had it in you. Ha ha!”
“I let her go.”
“Ha ha ha, yes, yes, splen -- (horrorstricken) You what? How could you do that?”
“I had to.”
“Yes, but, but, but... why?”
“Because... I love her.”
Related: Love Redeems

After the dance, Belle and Beast go outside and it's all peachy and romantic until... Oh no! Belle looks away longingly and reveals that she wishes she could see her father again. Beast obliges, using his magic mirror to show her Maurice. But oh no! Maurice is lying on the ground, coughing, and looking miserably cold.

When he hears Belle express her concern about her father, Beast turns and stares at the rose, his expression pained, before making his decision.

“Then... Then you must go to him.”
“What did you say?”
“I release you. You are no longer my prisoner.”
Beast has come a long way. Belle only expresses her concern for her father, not her desire to go to him, but Beast, having picked up some much-needed empathy skills, gives her permission before she even asks. At the beginning, Beast started out as a villainous character, but love has changed him for the better.

The curse says that in order to turn back, he must "learn to love another, and earn her love in return." And finally -- as the rose is beginning to wilt -- he's successfully done the first part but the irony here is that in so loving Belle (and thus getting one step closer to breaking the curse), he loses her (and thus his chance of breaking the curse). But he does it anyway because he wants his beloved to be happy.

08. Love Triangle
“Please, I know he looks vicious, but he’s really gentle and kind. He’s my friend.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had feelings for this monster.”
Related: Stalker With a Crush, Murder the Hypotenuse

Back in town... I wasn't sure whether I should mention Gaston in this manifesto, but sure, why not. He does play a pretty big role in Belle and Beast's relationship by threatening it during the events of the movie's climax. In the scene where Belle uses Beast's magic mirror to convince the townspeople that her father isn't crazy, Gaston is the one who picks up on the fact that Belle has romantic feelings for Beast -- which makes Beast his romantic rival -- even though Belle probably hasn't even realized that yet (she simply refers to him as a "friend"). Of course, this means Gaston wants him out of the picture. Mob, go!

I'm not quite sure the Gaston-Belle-Beast dynamic counts as a love triangle because Gaston is just SUCH a villain that you can't consider him even in the picture, romantically speaking. However, it is interesting if you compare Gaston and Beast as Belle's two suitors. In many ways, they are foils of each other -- although they both start out flawed at the beginning of the movie, over the course of the movie, Beast becomes a kinder person while Gaston becomes more ruthless. This is ironic because Gaston is outwardly a handsome man while inwardly a monster, and Beast is outwardly a monster while on the inside retains his integrity and humanity. At this point in the movie, everyone should be rooting for the Beast!

09. Heroic BSOD

“What shall we do, master?”
“It doesn’t matter now. Just let them come.”
Related: Angst/Wangst?

Back at the castle... Beast is depressed, so much so that he's practically catatonic. As the mob invades the castle, he's pretty much lost the will to survive. (Luckily, the servants haven't!) I always thought Beast was being a little overdramatic here -- I can understand the depression if the curse killed him once the last rose petal fell (in fact, I'm pretty sure I was under that impression when I was a kid), but the curse actually just keeps him a beast for all time. But now that he's a nicer person, he doesn't have to be miserable, even as a beast so... I'm not sure why he's so upset. This is probably a holdover from the original story where the Beast tells the main girl character explicitly that he loves her so much that he will die if she doesn't return to him within a certain time period.

Well, whatever the reason behind it, Belle arrives just in time to snap Beast out of his funk, allowing him to put up a fight against Gaston. He wins the fight but just tells Gaston to get out. Then Belle and Beast have a touching reunion, which is made even better by the music, which reprises the "Prince Charming" segments of "Belle" and "Something There."

“You came back.”
Just look how his eyes light up when he sees Belle. Awww. :)

10. The Power of Love

“Please don’t leave me... I love you.”
Related: Love Epiphany

But wait, we spoke too soon! Gaston stabs Beast, then loses his footing and falls to his death (smart move, Gaston). Belle manages to grab hold of the injured Beast and lays him out tenderly on the balcony. In his last words he expresses his happiness that Belle came back and that he got to see her "one last time." He closes his eyes and Belle begs him not to go, declaring her love at long last. As she does so, a single tear slips from her eye... and the last rose petal falls.

(Again, see why I always thought the curse would kill the Beast??)

But The Power of Love steps in, causing colorful sparks to fall from the sky, Beast to be both transformed and healed, and even the castle to be given cheerier decor.

I really love this scene because I believe this to be Belle's real Love Epiphany -- she doesn't realize it until she says it out loud, and she doesn't say it out loud until it's very nearly too late. Also, the transformation scene is amazing and beautifully animated. (Transformation Clip on YouTube)

After this scene, it's a short happily ever after sequence, but that's more like tying up loose ends. This scene with Beast's death and transformation is really the final and most powerful part of their story because it's triply satisfying: first, because Belle finally professes her love, which is a crucial development in Belle and Beast's relationship; second, because the curse, which is what the movie opened with, is finally broken; and third, because Beast, who you thought died, comes back to life. The way these three aspects of the plot intersect in one crucial scene is pretty much perfect.

Conclusion

As a kid, I never noticed it, but now that I'm older I realize that Beauty and the Beast is essentially a love story, and the more I analyze the love story, the more respect I have for how nicely put together it is. The key to making it all work is making Beast a sympathetic character despite his flaws. From there, multiple plot devices are used to take Belle and Beast from being antagonistic to friendly to loving in a believable way, aided by amazing musical numbers. And finally, the love story is so deeply integrated into the whole movie's plot and in the end, everything just works.

In my opinion, the movie poster didn't lie -- this is one of the most beautiful love stories ever told.

Sleeping Beauty fic

chacusha — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:14:03 GMT

This is just something I need to post somewhere for disney_uberland. So you can ignore this unless you're interested in reading fic about Aurora from Sleeping Beauty.

Title: Maybe When You're a Little Older
Words: 759
Rating: G
Summary: An exploration in what life was like when Aurora/Briar Rose was 10 years old. Might have been better as an essay, since it's kind of awkward as a fic.

Briar Rose thought that today would be a good day to pick berries, but with Flora away at the castle town, her other two godmothers wouldn't let her go out into the forest alone.

"Oh no, no," Merryweather had said when she'd suggested it.

"You're much too young to do that all by yourself," Fauna added gently. "Why don't you help us out today, and when Flora comes back tomorrow, you can go pick berries together."

Briar Rose held her chin up. "But I'm old enough now," she said. She had turned ten three months ago. "And I know the forest by heart. I won't get lost."

"Maybe when you're a little older," Fauna said.

"There are enough chores to do today anyway," Merryweather added, rolling up her sleeves. She beckoned Rose to come over to the table where she was bent over a cooking book. She pointed at the page, a recipe for an onion stew. "Let's see if we can make this."

Rose nodded and looked over Merryweather's shoulder to read the recipe. Her youngest godmother was the best to cook with, she had decided a while ago. Merryweather had no trouble with most recipes, but Fauna and Flora on the other hand... Fauna had the strange tendency to interpret all the cooking instructions very literally, while Flora tended to skip steps entirely and do things the way she thought made the most sense. The results in both cases were usually inedible disasters.

Merryweather and Briar Rose went right to work, and had just finished chopping up the carrots and onions when Fauna called Rose over to be measured with a tape.

"What's this for?" the girl asked, as she held out her arms for her godmother.

"A new dress, since you've been getting so much taller. You're going to outgrow yours soon, dear. Ooh, I'll make you a shawl too, for when you go outside. Wouldn't that be just lovely?" Fauna clapped her hands together in excitement and beamed.

"Do you need any help with making it?" Briar Rose asked.

"Oh no, I'll be fine," Fauna said, putting away her tape. "You go help Merryweather with the stew."

Briar Rose did as she was told, and soon the stew was done. As she laid out the dishes on the table, her thoughts turned again to her mother and father. Most children had parents -- that she knew from conversations she had overheard and from the books she had read. But she was different.

Of course none of her godmothers would tell her anything about who her parents were. The only thing Briar Rose was reasonably certain about was that they were both living, by the way her guardians talked about them.

"Don't you think it's quieter when Flora's gone?" Merryweather asked suddenly.

Fauna chuckled. "Well, she'll be back soon enough."

Briar Rose couldn't help but ask, "Can I accompany Flora the next time she goes to the village?"

The other two women both turned to face her, and both spoke at the same time. Fauna said, "Oh, no," while Merryweather blurted, "That's not a good idea."

"It's dangerous," Merryweather added quickly.

"Dangerous?" Briar Rose asked. "Dangerous how?"

"Well, not dangerous, but, uh..." Merryweather looked at Fauna for help.

"It's a long trip, and very boring," Fauna said.

"Yes," Merryweather said, nodding enthusiastically.

Rose looked at the two of them skeptically. They were definitely hiding something -- but she didn't mind secrets, and she was used to hearing "no"s from her godmothers anyway. Briar Rose liked looking at the castle, and the nearby town, but she wasn't sure if she would actually like to go there. Flora had told her once that she would need to wear shoes in town, and Rose had wrinkled her nose at that.

"I suppose you'll say, 'Maybe when you're a little older'?" she asked Fauna and Merryweather.

The two women glanced at each other and nodded. "Oh, yes, for sure, you'll be able to go when you're older," Merryweather said.

Seeing that everyone was finished with dinner, Fauna set about clearing the table. "Rose, would you be a dear and get some more wood for the fire?"

The girl did so, taking a few logs from the stack outside the cottage and placing them in the fireplace. When she was done, Merryweather was busy washing dishes, and Fauna was struggling with a pair of scissors and a bolt of cloth.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Briar Rose asked, as she climbed the stairs leading to her room.

"I'm fine," Fauna assured her.

"All right then, good night." Briar Rose went to her room, tucked herself into bed, and dreamt that she walked through the halls of a castle.