Disney Princess Week

I'm a little disappointed I missed the opportunity to blog during most of Disney Princess Week. But there are still two days left, so I thought I'd share some of the more interesting or funny princess-related things I've found or that I've been sent since this whole Disnerd project began.

Princesses as Sailor Scouts

photo credit: findlaydonnan.wordpress.com

If you aren't familiar with Sailor Moon and pals, then you may not get why this is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Especially because I was a huge Sailor Moon fan in 8th grade, and because my favorite scout, Sailor Mercury, is depicted as Mulan!

"Real" Disney Princesses (& other female characters)

photo credit: jirkavinse.wordpress.com

I find these illustrations very intriguing because they make you realize how caricatured these female characters are. Which, to be fair, makes sense, considering they are drawings. Still though, just because the original characters are drawn doesn't mean they have nothing to say about body image. I find it particularly interesting that the faces which look most different from the cartoon versions are Mulan, the only Asian/Chinese girl, and Tiana, the only Black girl.

Princesses in period garb

photo credit: Claire Hummel at shoomlah.com

Thank you to Veronica for sending me this! These really cool illustrations depicting the princesses in more intricately styled clothing (and more cleavage, in some cases) make me a little jealous. Not because of the cleavage, but because I lack illustration skills!

Princesses as villains

I apologize to whoever created this; I cannot remember where I found it.

This was a great idea. I think Pocahontas as Governor Ratcliffe looks the most ridiculous. And Aurora as Malificent looks rather fabulous, actually. We're just missing Tiana as Dr. Facilier and Rapunzel as Mother Gothel. I'll bet that means this is a few years old.

Hipster princesses

thanks to Liz, Stacey and a few others I can't remember who sent me this. I don't know its origin.

Apparently there's this whole hipster princesses movement that I was unaware of! I guess I could say I was a Disnerd, before it was even a term. So does that make me a Disney hipster?  For more Disney princess hipster memes, check out the original Little Mermaid ones, and another collection of even more.

photo credit: viria13.deviantart.com

Here's one more hipster princess illustration. I'm kind of loving Snow White and Tiana's outfits. Also, did you spot the one non-Disney princess? Thanks to the friends (sorry I can't remember who) who sent me this.

Disney Housewives


Lastly, a Saturday Night Live video sketch. It's hilarious. Enough said. Thanks to Pete for sending it!

Disnographic of the Month - Cats

Although Disney started with a mouse, believe it or not there are quite a lot of cats throughout the films. Here are some thoughts about my findings:

• I counted Si & Am as one cat, since they are, after all, Siamese twins. Also I didn't want to skew the data.
• Surprisingly, the number of good cats far outweighs the number of bad ones. I suppose cats typically get a bad reputation, which is why the bad ones may be more memorable. Make sure to vote for your 'favorite' bad cat in the poll!
• When categorizing these cats into wild and domestic, I just couldn't figure out the Cheshire Cat. Any opinions?
• I'm pretty stoked about the way I presented this info. In case you needed more proof that I truly am a Disnerd.

Will You Be My Disnerd Valentine?

I had grand plans to have a Disnerd Valentine party, but I got sick, and so all my plans went out the window. I was going to include a time for card-making, and I came up with a bunch of snarky and/or cheesy lines to write on the cards. But I didn't even have time to do those on my own. So, I share these with you with the disclaimer that they were done in little time and without the use of Photoshop. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the humor! Share them with your friends!

Thanks to Disney and the interweb for the images. :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 Days of Disnerd Christmas - 11th Day

10 films rebirthing
9 princesses dreaming,

8 mice a-mending,

7 dwarfs heigh ho-ing,

 Six Lost Boys playing,
Five fairies' wings...

Four crooning birds,

Three handsome thieves,

Two hunny pots,

and Rafiki in his big tree!

In all my research, there really wasn't exactly 11 of anything. So I had to cheat a little. I would like to note the interesting observation that most villains are depicted with the colors purple or red, and varying shades thereof. Why is that?

Only one more day to go! Wouldn't it be nice if we actually did celebrate Christmas for 12 days?

Wondering about the Wonderland

In my extensive research (and you know what I mean by extensive, coughwikipediacough!) I learned that the children's books off of which Alice in Wonderland was based were a collection of stories originally told to a family of three young sisters by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a clergyman at Christ Church in Oxford. (My friend Kylene says this is the same church where many of the Harry Potter films were shot. How cool is that?) The middle sister, Alice, was Dodgson's favorite, which is why she had the honor of bearing the name of the main character in the books.

I also learned that Dodgson (pen name Lewis Carroll) claimed that he did not intend any deeper interpretation for the characters or events in the books. Some of them were inspired by real life people or stories, but they are not meant to represent a larger truth or anything like that. The books fall under a genre actually called "literary nonsense." Like that's even a real genre.

Still, many people have tried to make meaning out of them. I suppose people like doing that to stuff written by people no longer living. They're not around to correct or affirm their theories, so they can say whatever they want. Isn't that what English majors do? Just kidding! Please. I have the utmost respect for people who read and write well. I try to be like you, but alas, I am just a humble Disnerd.

So here are some of my own musings on a few of elements of the story I found interesting. Take it or leave it; these are just my opinions and there is no correct answer!

(c) Disney

White Rabbit
The White Rabbit is one of the only characters other than Alice who appears in multiple scenes. His famous exclamation, "I'm late! I'm late!" cleverly produces in audiences a feeling of anticipation throughout the film. Although the White Rabbit is not particularly friendly or warm, he does seem the most sane out of everyone in the story, which makes his presence somewhat comforting. And perhaps not on purpose, he acts as a guide to Alice as she wanders through the Wonderland.

is it me or does the mushroom look an awful lot like pie? yumm, pie. (c) Disney

Potion, Mushrooms & Cookies
Correct me if I'm wrong, but everything Alice ingests during the whole movie either makes her grow or shrink. You'd think she would have learned after the second time. The thought of this happening in real life is both amusing and frightening. The scene where she grows big and is bursting out of the White Rabbit's house is particularly scary to me. I am not really sure what is meant by all of the shrinking and growing. Perhaps there could be a comparison to the influence of drugs and 'heightened' awareness?

Queen of Hearts - scary or ridiculous? (c) Disney

Queen of Hearts
I can't not comment on the villain. While her screen time is brief, the Queen of Hearts certainly makes a lasting impression. In contrast with the controlled and quiet anger of the last villain (Cinderella's wicked Stepmother), the Queen is an unabashed tyrant. I get the impression though, that she's not very bright. I find her less threatening than villains who have more cunning wit than she does. The Queen appears angry and violent, but with no real plan of world domination, like many other villains. During Alice's "trial", the Queen goes along with whatever the King says, and is easily swayed by the Cheshire Cat's prodding. I suppose there is something dangerous about someone who is so easily unwound. Still, I find myself mostly bemused when it comes to the Queen of Hearts.

Giving oneself good advice and seldom following it
Alice says a few times in the movie that she often gives herself good advice, but seldom follows it. Hah. I think she's supposed to be like 10 years old, but she acts more like a teenager when she mopes about how horrible her life is, both at the beginning before entering the wonderland, and later on when she realizes the wonderland pretty much sucks. I guess I'm reminded of myself too, and the human race. Someone else said it pretty well:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

Yup, that's from the Bible, people. Romans 7, in fact.

So there you have it. I guess I was in a loopy mood for this post. Ah well, a loopy post for a loopy movie!

#13: Dream On

Alice in Wonderland, 1951
watched November 14, 2011

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

Although I think Alice in Wonderland is one of the weirdest movies in the Disney canon, I was very intrigued by this quote from the opening scene. As a young girl with a wild imagination, Alice is dissatisfied and bored with her life. She longs for adventure and escape: "Cats and rabbits / Would reside in fancy little houses / And be dressed in shoes and hats and trousers / In a world of my own..."

So what happens when Alice gets to dream up her own world? At first, it's merely 'curious': fun, intriguing, and seemingly harmless. As the audience discovers the world along with Alice, every character and place is unique while also somehow familiar, as if we ourselves once dreamt about bread-and-butterflies, umbrella vultures or mushrooms that make us grow bigger or smaller. I can see why Disney would be inspired by Lewis Carroll's book; it's full of whimsical and crazy creatures that lend themselves perfectly to animation.

But as the story progresses, each character Alice interacts with appears 'curiouser and curiouser,' revealing themselves to be not just mad (as in crazy) but creepy and disturbing. The Cheshire cat's floating grin was especially haunting when I was a kid. Slowly, Alice learns that this world of nonsense is not her cup of tea (haha, get it?), and she is eager to find her way home.

And who can't relate to Alice? The message today is so often, "Do what makes you happy. Do what you think is best."  The world encourages a very self-focused way of life. Especially in this postmodern culture, the thought of abiding to another's rules seems offensive. Like Alice, doing what we want seems much more appealing. But when we're actually given over to our own impulses, we end up with a chaotic world that makes no sense... where bad things happen to good people. Where sickness and death pervade. Where life is full of disappointment. The things that should be aren't, and what it is, shouldn't be.

I learn from Alice's Wonderland that a world made up with my own rules is not a wonderland at all. It's crazy and disturbing and all wrong. I need to leave the world-running to Someone Else who knows a lot more about how it should be done.

Fortunately for Alice, it was all a dream, and she was able to wake up to a reality where things made sense again. The question for us is, are we awake, or are we still dreaming?

A Disnerd Halloween Adventure

I've made an executive decision (and since I'm the only one running this blog it was pretty easy to get a unanimous agreement) that this year I am going to make all of my holidays Disney-themed. Why? It gives me a reason to post more fun stuff on here, as well as make this blog a community experience, getting other people involved in the Disnerdy-ness. And what better holiday is there to do this to than one where you're supposed to dress in costumes?

It was sort of a big deal that I decided to do something for Halloween because I haven't actually dressed up in a costume for Halloween since I was 6. That was around the time my family moved; the new neighborhood didn't have sidewalks, the houses were much more spread out and it would have been hard to go trick-or-treating. And we lived off a big/busy road so we didn't get any trick-or-treaters either. I didn't actually mind so much, because our mom still bought as candy and that was really the main draw for me as a kid.

So anyway, this year I broke my 23-year-long refrain from wearing a costume and hosted a Disney Halloween costume party! It was actually just my normal Sunday night Disney movie viewing (and as fate would have it, we watched The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad - the most Halloween-ish movie on the list!), but it was a great reason to get creative and have fun.

I'm sure you just want to see the pictures already...in fact you probably scrolled past all of what I just wrote and skipped right to this part of the post. If that's the case, I will forgive you, but only because the costumes are so awesome.

Me: Snow White

 

The breakdown of my outfit: 

• short black hair & brown eyes - got it. probably the only Disney princess I wouldn't need a wig for. (Even Mulan's boy-cut hair is longer than mine!)
• yellow dress - already owned this
• blue velvet jacket with puffed sleeves - already owned this
• red shoes - so, Snow White actually has yellow flats with bows on them. I was tempted to buy a pair but decided my red ones would work just fine. 
• red ribbon - $2.50 at Michaels
• safety pins - $3 at Michaels - used these to pin the red ribbon to my jacket.
• red headband - $1 at the Dollar Store (it actually came in a 6 pack so I also have pink, blue, dark blue, purple, red sparkly, and yellow headbands that I will probably never wear.) 
• white flexible foam - $.89 at Michaels - I tried to make a white collar using the foam but ended up not wearing it cuz it just wasn't working.
• shiny red apple - approx. $.50 at Copp's grocery store, I actually forgot to take this out during my party!

Total Cost: $8! I was super proud of myself for pulling off this look at such a low cost.

Mimi: Muse, Hercules
Mimi was the first to arrive - here she is looking all fabulous as a Muse from Hercules. Notice that she went conservative and did not decide to put a huge slit up the side of her costume. haha. Good thinking, Mimi. I also want to give her points for dressing as an animated character as requested (she was initially planning to come as Jack Sparrow, her favorite Disney character ever.)

Becky: Minnie Mouse 
Becky came as classic Minnie Mouse. Apparently she based her entire costume on this pair of yellow shoes she found at a thrift store. Nice job!

Christopher & Tiana: Mickey & Minnie, The Brave Little Tailor
Christopher and Tiana were Mickey and Minnie from fa Disney short called The Brave Little Tailor. (Actually none of us had even seen it so we all watched it after the main movie - it's super cute, I recommend it!) Their outfits were completely homemade and totally spot on - complete with 4-fingered gloves, as well as a needle and thread in Mickey's brown pouch!

Kylene & Vicki: Aces, Alice in Wonderland
Kylene and Vicki were aces! Ace of Hearts and Ace of Spades, that is. :) Their costumes totally cracked me up! Apparently they had to hand-sew the felt fabric because the iron-on glue stuff they bought didn't work. I'm so impressed! We all decided their costumes were the most Trick-or-Treating friendly - very warm and comfortable!

Grete: Lumière, Beauty & the Beast
Grete's costume was possibly the cleverest of them all! Of course for her, finding gold clothing was not a problem - she already had it all in her wardrobe. I loved the cream-colored legwarmers that she used around her wrists as the wax candles, and gold-spray painted styrofoam bowls around her wrists and neck. 

One of the reasons I decided to have this party was because I knew I could pull off a Snow White costume fairly easily. But I was totally blown away by how everyone else went all out for the occasion -- each and every costume was homemade and super creative! It genuinely warmed my heart to see my friends voluntarily dressed up as Disney characters in costumes that they spent so much time making. And having everyone keep it a secret until I opened the door was pretty awesome (not my idea but it was perfect)!

To top it off, I added a few extra touches to make this an actual party. From the Disney family website, I found instructions to make Mickey Mouse bat decorations, and Mickey Mouse mummy cupcakes. It was a scramble getting them finished before the party (I was in Chicago all weekend and got home just 2 hrs. before the party started) - but totally worth it!

I dunno, this was so much fun I may have to make this an annual tradition.We've already started talking about costume ideas for next year. :)

group pic! shout-out to Abi who did not come in a costume but came to join the fun anyway! :)

some of us wore our costumes to work the following day. i got to carry my apple around since i forgot to take it out at the party. we paraded around the office and some people gave us candy (as well as earplugs and nuts). haha