Random Thoughts

ON DISNEY, NOSTALGIA AND GROWING UP

 

I recently turned 23 (insert me freaking out about turning 23 and everyone else laughing at me because, well, I'm turning 23). The night before my birthday, my roommate and I sat around listening to Disney music. (We actually danced around like maniacs, but isn't it nicer to picture us sipping Chardonnay and discussing the ways in which Hamlet influenced The Lion King?) It's incredible to me that after several years of not watching Disney movies on any sort of regular basis, I can still remember every word to nearly every song and can picture pretty specific visuals as well. In my experience, it's the things from my childhood that I'm able to hold onto the longest. I imagine most people have shows/songs/films they watched endlessly in their youth that stick with them today. For me, most of them were produced by Disney (along with a slew of non-Disney animated films that tried to coast along on Disney's coattails. Things like Anastasia, Thumbelina, and Ferngully.)

Disney has been a childhood powerhouse for decades, but I think my generation feels particularly tied to the company and its films. We grew up just as Disney was reemerging as both a creative and commercial force. After experiencing a slump in the 70s and 80s, Disney went through a “Renaissance,” beginning with The Little Mermaid, which was released in 1989 (the year I was born). They followed up The Little Mermaid with Beauty and the Beast (1991), the first animated film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture (and the only one until Up in 2010 once the category had been expanded to ten nominees.) The Disney Renaissance also included Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999). After the 90s, Disney continued to produce animated films, but none of them saw much commercial or critical success (outside of the vastly underrated Lilo & Stitch.) Shrek put competing animation house Dreamworks on the map, and most of Disney's biggest successes in the early 2000s came in collaboration with Pixar. Recently, Disney animation has seen some newfound spark with 2009's The Princess and the Frog and 2010's Tangled, but they no longer dominate the animation-market as they once did.

Disney is something of a uniting factor for people my age. In college I met a lot of people from all over the country. We grew up in different communities and had different relationships with our families. We had different religious backgrounds, different political affiliations (well, not really, I went Northwestern after all) and different socio-economic backgrounds (to an extent.) Yet Disney, and particularly the films of the Renaissance period, crossed seemingly all differences between us. I bet that most people ages 20-29 could sing along with Hakuna Matata without thinking twice.

Disney has been producing films for about 75 years and while the studio struggled to produce major hits in the 70s and 80s, there is still a huge cannon to choose from. Which means that not only can I connect with people my own age through Aladdin, I can connect with people of other generations through films like 101 Dalmatians or Cinderella. In fact, my mom and I share the same favorite Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp. 

What I find some powerful about media (film, television, books, music) is its ability to span time and space. In our digital age everything is a click or download away and media from all eras can be experienced again and again. I've talked in a few of my reviews about how much I like when characters in films talk about other films. A lot of my friendships are strengthened by a shared love of a movie, book or TV show. Alongside Disney, the Harry Potter series is probably the second strongest uniting cultural factor for my generation. I grew up alongside Harry and his friends, reading about his final year at Hogwarts (sort of) as I was preparing to enter my final year of high school.

Rereading Harry Potter or listening to a Disney soundtrack connects me to my youth and makes me nostalgic for a time when someone else made my lunches and drove me where I needed to be. In other words, it allows me to connect with a point in my personal history. It also allows me to connect with culture and history at large. It's incredible to think that 101 Dalmatians, which was released in 1961, can be equally resonant and nostalgic for my 55 year old aunt, my 23 year old self and my 7 year old cousin. To each of us, it was a movie of our youth and we could probably all hum along to the Cruella de Vil song.

Disney gets a lot of flack for being an evil corporation (a charge I'm not necessarily denying) and for producing sexist films. The last complaint I do take some issue with. Sure Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty need to be rescued by princes, but these films were made in an era that isn't generally remembered too fondly in terms of women's rights. It's not like there were a lot of pro-feminist films produced during the 40s and 50s. I also think Disney made a big effort to redeem itself during the 90s with some much stronger female characters like Belle, Jasmine and Mulan (I still have some issues with the whole Ariel leaving her world for a man she just met thing, but on the whole there are some pretty cool Disney ladies). Sure their animation gives them thin waists and impossible curves, but the male characters often have ridiculous physiques as well (taken a look at Hercules lately?)

Even if Disney heroines occasionally need rescuing, at least they are the protagonists of their own stories. Hell, half the time the princes don't even have names! These films tell the story of young women who overcome a struggle and get a happy ending. Disney has given us a whole army of awesome female characters and when I was a kid playing "Ariel" didn't involve sitting around waiting for Eric, it involved running around my house with my mom's bra over my t-shirt pretending I was exploring a hidden grotto. Disney gave me characters and worlds to build upon in my own imaginary games. It inspired my creativity and got me excited about creating my own stories and performances. 

I know many people think of the entertainment industry as a somewhat frivolous one. While I can't deny that it is an excessively expensive industry, movies, television and other media have played such a crucial role in forming our culture that it would be silly to deny their importance now. Maybe I'm just getting nostalgic in my old age (hardy har), but Disney has been with me for my whole life. It was there when I first began school, when I moved to a new state, and when I entered middle school. I sang along to A Whole New World with my friends in high school and with a new group of friends in college. It's comforting to think that, as I start to make my way into the post-collegiate-twenty-something (oh my god I'm almost 25!) stage of my life, Disney is still there when I just need to dance it out on a Wednesday night. 

I'm interested to hear what you think so leave a comment in the comments section below. Do you think films and TV are important to our society or just frivolous entertainment? Does Disney get a bad rap or is its criticism deserved? What were some of your favorite childhood movies? What Disney movie defined your childhood and which one is your favorite as an adult? Feel free to contribute to the conversation below!