Disney Heroines: A Girl, A Curse, And A Kiss

Sleeping Beauty was Disney’s third animated film featuring the fairy tale princesses. Though there are various stories that tell of the girl who was cursed to sleep forever Disney choose Charles Perrault’s La Belle au bois dormant as the basis for Aurora’s story as we know it today. It was released in 1959 and was nominated for both Academy and Grammy Awards in 1960, though it did not receive them.

Before any animation began every shot of the film was done with live-action reference, with live actors in costume serving as models for the animators.

Aurora/or Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping Beauty):

1.      When you know you love someone, then there’s no going back: When you know you know.

2.      Be kind to everything.

3.      Prince Charming sometimes isn’t always the Prince Charming we wish or think should we have: Never assume.

4.      Listen to your instincts: They know the right more often than not.

5.      Listen to your loved ones: They love you and only wish the best for you.

Sleeping Beauty is one of those stories that seems to captivate, but is hardly looked upon with gratification. Something that troubles me so. I understand that this is because of the low ranking physical part for Aurora. This leads me to my discussion for this heroine; the theme that she let the man do all the work, and therefore, girls are only to be seen and are to let the men handle everything.

Even though this theme has standing (superficial only) on the surface, it is hardly what is being said. The situation that befell Aurora was never of her consent. When it was bestowed upon her, she was only a baby, incapable of making any choices, or doing anything for that matter, on her own.

When she was older she didn’t understand why her aunts treated her like a child, but when it came down to it she choose to obey them. She wanted to meet new people and make her own decisions (to take action), but understood that her aunts knew what was best for her. You’ve probably already guessed that I believe that Aurora would’ve done something more if she was able.

Looking at her story (as well as all the other fairytales in the world) for what lays on the surface is very much ignorant and rude. We always forget that they stories that we deem as fairytales were created for the sole purpose of telling morals. And if we forget this then we forget why we even have literature, which is one of the single most important things on this Earth.

Disney Heroines: A Return

The third and final heroine in the tales of Peter is Jane, Wendy’s daughter and oldest child.

Peter Pan 2: Return to Neverland was produced by DisneyToon Studios in Sydney, Australia and released in 2002 by Walt Disney Pictures. It is set during World War II during the London Blitz, which was the bombing of England by the Germans in an attempt to invade and conquer the country and its other United Kingdom counterparts.

The movie is ultimately a sequel to the 1953 Disney film instead of a sequel to Barrie’s Peter and Wendy. Though it was based on the final chapter, which briefly introduces Wendy as an adult and her daughter Jane. And rather than in the book, Jane being just like Wendy (motherly and domestic), Disney’s Jane is tomboy-ish, independent, and fully capable of taking care of herself. Wendy’s husband, Edward, and her son Danny were actually made for the film and are not even mentioned in the novel.

There are several other differences between the novel’s and Disney’s Jane, one being that in the movie she refuses to believe in her mother’s stories of Peter and is taken to Neverland by force (by Hook). In the novel Jane is eager to believe in Peter, and with her mother’s permission flies away with him much like Wendy had done.

Jane (Peter Pan 2: Return to Never Land):

1.      Childhood is precious and should be cherished.

2.      Family is important.

3.      Our wants shouldn’t blind us to our needs and what we know is right.

4.      If we allow it, we can change for the better.

5.      Friends are precious.

6.      Know where you’re needed.

Many would wonder why I’ve added a sequel heroine, since Disney has a habit of making sequels that don’t quite measure up. The reason for this is simple: Return to Neverland, in my opinion, was by far one of their best; with a realistically troubled girl who had her childhood stolen from her by war.

I haven’t seen any themes that berate Jane, and I’m sure that this is because she’s a sequel heroine. And because of this I’m going to address her, just who she is, and her story.

The beginning of Jane’s story, as I’ve said, is set in the London Blitz. Her father, Edward, has been sent to fight in the war, leaving Wendy to care for the two children by herself. Under the pressures and circumstances of war Jane became cynical, berating and belittling her mother and brother for having faith in the stories of Peter. Mostly doing so unintentionally to her younger brother.

Before her father left he told Jane to look after her brother and mother, and I think that this is that main reason for why she acted the way she did towards the stories. The war had lasted longer that thought, and she didn’t want her brother’s hopes crushed.

Jane, on the outside, seems cynical and too grown up for her age, but the truth was that she was actually worse off than her brother or mother. And I think the main song that everyone remembers from this movie, I’ll Try, states it quite bluntly and eloquently.

In her adventures in Neverland Jane was much different than her mother when it came to everything. She was more interested in getting back home than being a mother to the Lost Boys (because she wants to apologize to her mother and brother for the things she said), though they tried to teach her to have fun and fly. But she failed in these because she didn’t believe. When they accidently destroy her notebook she becomes angry and berates them for their behavior, and that she doesn’t believe in fairies. (Putting Tink’s life on the line)

When she’s confronted and tricked into a deal by Hook she only thinks of herself and getting home. But when all is said and done, after she learns to finally have fun and her serious façade melts away, that she threw away the whistle Hook gave her, refusing to help him. Her eyes were, in an effect, opened.

And even when she became banished, she knew she needed to fix her mistakes; and took action on that knowledge, by saving Tinkerbell, Peter, and the Lost Boys. This action, in the end, was the gateway to her belief. When she could finally fly she knew where she needed to be, much like her mother, and headed home.

In truth, Jane is one of the much stronger characters I’ve seen in a Disney sequel: And though she had a moment not that different from Ariel’s, when she realized her mistake she took action on it. We need to remember that that is the most important thing, for how many times do we say one thing and do another?

Disney Heroines: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

The next in line for the Neverland tales is Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell, as many know her, is Peter’s right hand pixie. 

Tinker Bell (Peter Pan):

1.      We all get jealous: Just don’t get carried away.

2.      We need to fix our mistakes ourselves.

3.      Protect those you care about.

4.      Think of others before yourself.

5.      Use your talents to help those who cannot help themselves.

Tinker Bell (Peter Pan 2: Return to Never Land):

1.      When you change for the better, there’s no going back.

2.      Forgiveness: To those who intentionally or unintentionally do harm unto you, and to yourself.

3.      Help others find themselves.

At first glance I’m pretty sure that some are confused as to why I’ve added this character (since she is only a supporting role), and maybe why her new movies are not included. Please allow me to enlighten you as to why.

Her new movies teach lessons in their own right and way. And I will not discredit them in any way, shape, form, ect. I haven’t added them simply because I’m more familiar with her old roles and movies. If I was more acquainted with her new adventures then maybe I would add them. All together I wasn’t certain that I should, and I think it best to go with my gut.

The themes that I wish to address are built around the notions that Tinkerbell isn’t a character that deserves to be put up with the Disney heroines; and that she teaches lessons of jealousy and hate. Themes that I’m sure everyone is familiar with. I would like to politely disagree, with all intentions and purposes of offending no one. To me Tinkerbell is one of the best entities of forgiveness and personal change.

In the first movie, Tinkerbell starts off as jealous and spiteful towards Wendy. And to me this is easily explained in the context of Peter. Peter is the boy who never grows up, and, is therefore, wanting to flirt and sometimes doesn’t even know that he does. He flirted with at least three separate girls in the first movie, and in an effect caused the tension between Wendy and the pixie.

Tinkerbell, therefore, only lashed out at Wendy because of her feelings for Peter. Her jealousy did get the best of her when she made the deal with Hook. But it was later, when she realized her mistake, that she took it upon herself to fix what she had done. And it was in this action that she saved Peter from the bomb Hook had planted, sacrificing her own life for his (even though he had dubbed her a traitor and banished her), that she told Peter to go save the other’s first. In an effect, telling him that she didn’t deserve being saved or forgiven for what she had done. She hated herself for letting her jealousy get the way of the other’s safety and what she knew was right.

In the end, when everything was said and done, she used her gift of pixie dust to help the darling children return to where they were needed most. She didn’t berate Wendy like she had done before, but rather the two came to a silent and permanent understanding. They became friends, in various meanings of the word.

And later, when Wendy’s children were old enough the believe the stories of the boy who never grew up, Tinkerbell would once again befriend. Even through everything that Jane did, ultimately, putting Tinkerbell’s life in danger, she did not blame or berate. She loved and forgave with every fiber of her tiny being; thus showing that change is, for the most part, permanent.

You see, I do not judge her because she was quick to be hot headed, we all have those times. (Her little body could only hold one emotion at a time.) I judge her on what she did about it. Her ultimate change of heart, what I strive to be like on a daily basis. She may have been only able to feel one emotion at a time; but the truth is, what she did with them speaks louder that any rumbling voiced echo that ever was or has been or will be.

Disney Heroines: A World Called Never Land

Since 1935 Walt Disney had been trying to buy the film rights to the theatrical story of the boy who never grew up. It was only four years later (after an arrangement was met) that he received them from the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. (Who J. M. Barrie had given the rights to) And in the early 1940’s his studio began story development and character designs.

They intended Peter Pan to make a follow up of Bambi, but WWII forced the project to be put on hold. The post war design for the film was quite different than what we actually know it to be. It was darker, and actually had Nana go to Never Land with the Darling children. It wasn’t till after the war that the actual production of the film begin, and later it was released in 1953.

Also, contrary to the popular rumor that Marilyn Monroe was the live-action reference model for Tinkerbell, it was actually Margaret Kerry.

In the world of Peter Pan there are three heroines that I’d like to address. The main heroine of the first movie, Wendy; the second main heroine of the first and second movies, Tinkerbell; and the main heroine of the second movie, Jane (Wendy’s daughter).

This page will focus on the first of these three characters.

Wendy (Peter Pan):

1.       Children are precious.

2.       Care for everyone.

3.       Hope for the best for others.

4.       Grudge no one.

5.       Remember where you’re needed.

6.       Think of others and not just yourself.

7.       Forgive and forget.

Wendy (Peter Pan 2: Return to Never Land):

1.       Moving on: Just because you disliked what happened in the past doesn’t mean you linger on it forever.

2.       Put other’s needs over your own.

3.       Just because you grow up doesn’t mean you have to change.

Like Alice, Wendy isn’t necessarily the one targeted in the themes I’ve seen. The main one that I’ve noticed is that the movie is full of racist notions. In looking on this I can see how that is true, and I won’t say that it’s false. I know that this statement is true, but please allow me to clear something up.

We forget that in the 1900’s racism was different that was know it today. The play Othello states this just about perfectly. Racism was more of a foreigner thought than skin color. (Though it had a major role.) For example, the British have always hated the French just because they’re French, and the French have always hated the British because they’re British.

This gives way to a new light on this theme. True, it’s there. But if we look at the bad the bad is all we’ll see, and if the bad is all we see then we’ll never see the good, which is the only thing worth seeing in the first place.

Disney Heroines: Down the Rabbit Hole

Though Alice in Wonderland was made in 1951 Walt Disney’s relationship (he loved the books) with Lewis Carroll’s books (Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass) went further back.

When Disney was still trying to make a name for himself in 1923 (when he was 21), he made many failed short animations hoping that one would do the trick. Among these was one called Alice’s Wonderland, in which there was a live action girl interacting with cartoon characters.

It’s because of these failed films that Walt teamed up with his brother to create the Disney Brothers Studio, and then went on to revive the idea of animated shorts. From 1924 to 1926 the Disney Brothers Studio produced over 50 shorts about the Alice girl. The success of these shorts was probably the most significant reason for the success of Mickey Mouse. (Odd isn’t it? How we grant Mickey credit for being the first Disney success.)

Disney’s love for Alice in Wonderland drove him to want to make a feature-length film, and planned on making it his first. But it kept getting pushed to the side for one reason or another and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ultimately became first.

Though, he never lost the ambition to make it so, because in 1938 Disney officially started recording the title. But the economic wreckage after WWII, along with other production demands, caused him to push the project aside until 1946. And then finally in 1951 it was finished and released. (Eighteen years after first discussing it.)

Alice (Alice in Wonderland & Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland):

Cartoon:

1.      Imagination is the gateway to everything.

2.      Curiosity can start quite a wild ride.

3.      Be polite, to everything and everyone.

4.      There is such a thing as too much nonsense: Logic and reason exist for a purpose.

Tim Burton’s Live Action:

1.      Remember your childhood dreams: They’re the things that made you who you are today.

2.      Impossible is never impossible.

3.      Figure out who you are.

4.      Decide where you want to be going.

5.      Crazy friends are sometimes the best: “All the best people are mad.”

6.      Be assertive (but polite) in what you know needs to be done.

7.      Stand up for what you believe in.

With the recent rejuvenation of Alice and her trip down the rabbit hole I’ve decided to add Tim Burton’s version in here as well. (Even though it’s not animated; And it is Disney after all.) and since both versions share the same Alice, just older in Burton’s film, then I’m pretty sure that doing this is okay. Otherwise I would’ve kept them separate.

The story of the Alice girl and her adventures in Wonderland are a less serious approach to teaching morals. The nonsensicalness of Wonderland itself is, if not anything else, cracked out.

I say “cracked out” because the main theme that keeps popping up with the lessons learned from this movie is about how the whole movie glorifies the use of drugs. (Nothing pointed fingers at Alice herself, but her story was the one attacked and that’s what I’ll focus on.) And while I can’t say for sure what the animation team was trying to get across, I can say that the center of this theme lies in the fact that the story was written to satirize the cultural norms of the Victorian era of Great Britain.

This bit of information is almost always misinterpreted: for if he wrote about a caterpillar smoking a hooka in a children’s story then it must then be an evil lesson lurking in the shadows. While I can see the logic behind this, I can also see its faults.

If we say that all pens are blue, then does that mean that since we say it its true? The fact that I have a black pen on my table suggest otherwise; and this is the reason why I don’t really take much discern to this theme.

Alice was a girl who had one of the craziest dreams (I know I’ve had some like it) ever thought up I the world of fiction. She wanted an adventure, and she got one. But just because it was a maddening joke on logic doesn’t mean that it was meant to praise the use of drugs. It was about the “what if” factor and the need to just let lose for a while; but it was also about the need for logic and reason. And that’s what we need to remember.

Disney Heroines: Glass Slippers

I guess I’m going in chronological order with Disney’s heroines, because the second is Cinderella.

The movie was the second of Walt Disney’s full length fairytale Animations and was released in 1950. Right in the middle of Disney’s “Golden Age” animations of the 1930’s and the 1940’s and the (though I’m not sure why) less critically acclaimed productions of the 1950’s; making it representative of both eras. (Which can be seen in the cell animation style.)

Cinderella (Cinderella):

1.      Hard work is always a part of life: Know the true value of hark work.

2.      Don’t be afraid to dream.

3.      Kindness is always a good idea.

4.      Be polite: Kindness should be displayed throughout the entirety of your actions.

5.      Love, help, and forgive those who criticize, mock, and despitefully use you.

6.      Forgetfulness is something we all regretfully have: It’s just part of who we are.

7.      We are all equal.

8.      Being home by curfew never hurts.

Cinderella’s story seems to be one everyone wants to hear or tell. And, quite frankly, I’m not surprised. The mere plotline (rags to riches) is one that we would love to have happen to us.

But, as with most of the princesses on this list, some believe that she teaches faulty lessons. One lesson in particular I find aversion to is that she was only saved from her step-mother’s horrible household for one reason (and one reason only), her clothes and beauty were the only reason the prince fell in love with her: And thus, one’s outward appearance is the only way to win someone’s heart.

Though the prince’s first inclination (from afar) of her was that she wasn’t like the other girls at the ball (beautiful gown and appearance), we forget that she was shy. And what girl wouldn’t be in a situation such as hers?

She was hesitant when she arrived (understandable, since according to her step-mother she wasn’t supposed to be there), when he acted on his first impression to run to her (again understandable, considering he was the prince), and when they first started to dance (once again understandable, seeing that he was the prince): But as time went on her nervousness melted away. She became more confident in who she was, and in her feelings for the prince: Which showed in her actions, revealing her personality.

This is another thing about her that captivated him; leading him to run after her when the clock struck twelve. Curiosity is the spark to passion.

Everything considered, Cinderella’s shoes were extraordinary and she achieved her dream of love and a better life; but the glass slippers weren’t the reason the prince went in search of her. Her personality was her most attractive accessory: And that’s a fact.

Disney Heroines: The One That Started It All

In 1934 Walt Disney and his animation studios began on a project that would change the face of animation. Before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs there had only ever been short subject matters, like short cartoons. So saying that they were working on something like this was down right outrageous.

Disney had to fight to get the film produced: he even had to mortgage his house to do so.

His brother and wife tried to talk him out of it, and those in Hollywood nicknamed it “Disney’s Folly”.

On December 21, 1937 it premiered to an audience of the same people that called it a waste of time and that told him no. The reception of the film? A standing ovation. Six days later, it appeared on the cover of Time magazine and the New York Times said “Thank you very much, Mr. Disney.”

This is one of the main reasons why I’ve chosen to do so Snow White first. Because people forget that without her there would be no Disney like we know it today.

Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves):  

1.      True beauty is in one’s kindness.

2.      Help others who can not help themselves.

3.      Listen to those older than you: They know more than you.

4.      Forgiveness: Forgive everything and everyone constantly; like it’s going out of style.

5.      Never assume: Thing’s are rarely the way they appear.

6.      Naivety is something we all regretfully have.

7.      Someday, our love will come: Just remember that waiting doesn’t mean you have to just sit there doing nothing. Do something while you wait.

8.      Love everything.

Yes, Snow White was “The Fairest”, but that wasn’t what made her the fairest. Her beauty was in her kindness. She forgave like it was a habit and was kind to everything.

True she had a moment of self stupidity, but who hasn’t. I know many a day where I was just as bad if not worse. Naivety is just part of being human. We’ll never be rid of that.

Plus she was 14 at that time in the movie.(When she got married she was between 16 & 17) How many 14 year olds do you know that have what we would like to call “Common Sense”? Common sense is only an illusion. What we think every one should know could very well be the worst idea in the world. For example, Geocentric Solar systems. Common sense changes, and that’s a fact.

All in all Snow White needs more credit than she deserves, because if we didn’t have her we wouldn’t have any of Disney’s Princesses; and that's a fact.