Fashion Summary

My goal was to get this done before the summer ended...(according to my job, that means end of August.) So here is my super nerdy Disnographic about my Renaissance fashion adventures! Yup, it's probably more than you ever wanted to know. But I figure that's like my whole blog. So really I'm just being consistent.

I am super proud of myself for putting together a whopping 47 outfits (46 Disney, 1 Avengers) and spending only 80 bucks on 10 new items! I've realized that I'm pretty passionate about being creative on a budget. There are few things that thrill me more.

I also find it quite interesting that I created outfits for twice as many male characters than female characters. I think there are actually a lot more male characters in Disney movies. Weird, huh?

Now for my faves!

1. Favorite Hero Outfit: Hercules
I love this color combination! It's something I definitely would not have done before... in fact, I think this is the only orange-rust colored thing I've ever owned.

Honorable mention: Beast

2. Favorite Heroine Outfit: Belle
Here's an outfit that required no new purchases. Most people remember Belle's yellow evening gown but her "daytime" look is much more my style.

honorable mention: Mulan

3. Favorite Villain Outfit: Gaston
I love that this outfit is both accurate and still totally wearable. I've never worn a belt around this shirt before but now I know I can!

honorable mention: Frollo

4. Favorite Sidekick Outfit: Magic Carpet
This was definitely one of my most creative outfits, straying far from the original character's look. I loved creating a new outfit from old clothes that I could wear again in the future.

Honorable mention: Crikee and Flounder

How do you think I did? Which was your favorite outfit from the entire project? Leave your thoughts in the comments. I need more verbal affirmation, people! haha. 

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 5: Love

It's the last of my Renaissance Venn diagrams! I promise. :)

In this final set I focused on love, unquestionably the central theme to almost all Disney movies. But love doesn't necessarily mean romantic love (though 9 out of 10 times it does). I would like to point out the two fathers featured here: Mufasa and King Triton, both of whom give their lives for their child. Mufasa's death is one of the most emotional moments in the entire Renaissance.

It's also notable that Pocahontas shows up the most often, whereas it had very few appearances in the previous sets. This is probably because the love story in Pocahontas is the most overwhelming and dominating (ie: that movie doesn't have much else going on). It's probably not a coincidence that it's my least favorite Renaissance film. I love a good love story, but not when it becomes the whole story, which is kind of Pocahontas' downfall, in my opinion.

So, what did you think? Did I miss any major similarities? What was most surprising/interesting? Leave your comments!

And check out the other sets here:  main characters  |  songs |  villains  |  sidekicks

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 4: Sidekicks

So you wanna be a sidekick.

Sidekickery is a vital job in the Renaissance. Your first order of business is to tell your hero why you're so awesome. You should do this with great panache - song and dance is a must. After you've gotten the gig, your next task is to tell your hero why he's so awesome. (Heroes tend to have identity crises. They're high maintenance like that.) After that, finding some other talent or way to help out is a good idea. If you can fly, you're pretty much set. Otherwise, you should try to work on bossing other sidekicks around. That way you establish some authority. It also helps if you have a great sense of humor, know how to train your hero for battle, or hold a position as the king's right hand man.

If all else fails, being chubby and cute works just fine.

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 3: Villains

It's time to talk about villains! There are actually a lot of similarities between them.

A good (and by good I mean bad) villain is a key component to a quality Disney movie. The Renaissance has some great ones, but also some ehhh ones (namely Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas. Man, does he annoy me).

Observations:

• No Shan-Yu (Mulan)! I suppose he could be considered a 'jealous of the king' villain, sort of. Not quite. He's definitely pretty different from all the others. One of the scariest, that's for sure.
• There's only one appearance by the first Renaissance villain, Ursula, who, not insignificantly, is the only female villain of the series.
• Most frequent appearance: Judge Frollo from Hunchback.  
• I'm not actually sure if Hades is the brother of Zeus. I'm forgetting my Greek mythology at the moment. Anyone want to correct/confirm? 
• My favorite parallel is the hilariously similar way that Frollo and Scar confront the main character (Quasimodo, Simba), atop a high place that's on fire (Notre Dame, Pride Rock) and confess the truth that they killed his parent. Villains always seem to want to confess the truth at the climax of the film as they think they are about to triumph. But it never turns out well because shortly after the confession, the hero has a resurgence of energy and defeats them, and they fall to their demise. 
• I also love how villains can never seem to do anything by themselves. They always have their henchmen do the work, only to get frustrated when they inevitably screw it up. If you were a villain, why would you entrust the most important task (killing your arch nemesis) to your stupid sidekicks? This is highlighted in the satirical Emperor's New Groove, but it actually happens in both The Lion King and Hercules. Seriously. Scar and Hades were smart villains. That was their biggest mistake.

Did I miss any parallels between villains?

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 2: Songs

It's another edition of RenVenns! Music is arguably the Renaissance's greatest achievement. I know I've spent a lot more time playing this music on long car rides (when I can sing along, it helps me stay awake) than I have actually watching the movies.

I already wrote about the types of songs featured in these movies, as exemplified by the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack. So here, I present some of the lyric and content similarities.

There aren't too many patterns here, at least none that are surprising. The most common theme in songs are the main character's search and longing for meaning, fulfillment, love, etc. (every movie except Tarzan has a song about this). Makes sense--these are clearly emotions and thoughts that can only be expressed in song. Wouldn't it be awesome if life were a Disney musical? Whenever I was feeling sad, happy, excited, confused, I could just burst out into a musical number and it'd be exactly what I need.

The design is a bit messy because I added in samples of some of the song lyrics. I know that not everyone knows these songs by heart, as I do. 

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 1: Main Characters

I'd like to say that I noticed similarities between all the Renaissance films after watching them consecutively for these past 3 months. But in reality, I created a highly extensive spreadsheet several years ago. Yes, I just admitted that here in the public blogosphere. I figure after 9 months of Disnerdy antics, I don't have much face left to save.

SO, I thought it was about time to turn that spreadsheet into some fun Disnographics! Here's my first edition of "Renaissance Parallels." This first set of Venn diagrams (should I call them RenVenns? Haha. Wow.) focuses on main characters.

I find it interesting that 5 of these 8 parallels are family-related, two of which have to do with father-child relationships. Also, Tarzan, the latest of the 9* movies I'm comparing, shows up 5 times as well. I suppose by the time they got to Tarzan, they just grabbed stuff from all the previous stories? In any event, you start to see how similar these movies are to each other when you look at them like this.

Coming up: sidekicks, songs, villains and a couple others if I can muster up the time. There are a LOT of parallels!

*Rescuers Down Under will not appear in this Disnographic series. It has so little of the same structure, which is why I've always said it doesn't count as Renaissance.

Renaissance Ranked

Well, folks, it's the end of an era. The Renaissance movies will forever remain the best of the best, in my Disnerd opinion. I'm sad that we're moving on, but I've really enjoyed the past 10 weeks! Hope you have to.

You can expect the blog to calm down a bit, but I hope you will still tune in. I've got some Renaissance Disnographics in the works, and believe it or not, there are still about 15 more movies to review! (Yup. That's about four more months, people.)

In case you are curious, here's how I personally rank the Renaissance films. Do you agree or disagree?

1. tie: Aladdin (review) & The Lion King (review)
Top question I've been asked in the past 9 months of Disnerding? "What's your all-time favorite Disney movie?" These two tie for first. They both seem to have that perfect blend of compelling characters, an engaging story, beautiful animation, and awesome music. Funnily enough they also typically get labeled as "boy" Disney movies. Like I've said before, I've never really been into the whole princess thing.  

3. Beauty & the Beast (review)
Just trailing those 2 is Beauty & the Beast, which also has the same quality elements I listed above. I also love the development of not one but two central characters. Their transformations are interesting and compelling.

4. Mulan (review)
The main reason this isn't higher on the list is because of the music. I do love the songs that are on the soundtrack, but somehow they leave me wanting. They're not as classic or memorable as some of the Menken/Ashman stuff. Otherwise though, it's a pretty awesome Disney movie. And Mulan is a pretty awesome heroine.

5. The Little Mermaid (review)
Despite my critique of the film's story, it's hard to deny that The Little Mermaid was instrumental in kicking off a magical era of animation. The movie's demonstration of creativity and fun outweighs its more annoying aspects. I dare you to watch "Under the Sea" and NOT sing and dance along!

6. Tarzan (review)
The relationships between the characters are what make me love this film. It's also beautifully animated and the sequences when Tarzan is flying/surfing through the jungle are impressive. Also, it's hard not to love a movie starring a muscular man in a loincloth.

7. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (review)
It's probably the darkest of the Renaissance films, but so interesting and unique for that reason. The Latin choral music-inspired score is pretty epic, and Quasimodo is one of the purest heroes ever.

8. Hercules (review)
As has been said, this film doesn't shine quite as brightly as the others, but it's definitely entertaining, heartwarming and fun. And I will always love Hercules' cinnamon bun ears.
 

9. Pocahontas (review)
Ehh. I think I've already said enough about this one.

10. Rescuers Down Under (review)
The only reason this falls after Pocahontas is because I've never counted it as an actual Renaissance film.

Stay tuned for more Renaissance wrap-up stuff: Disnographics, a summary of my fashion updates, and maybe some other stuff if I have time. :)

Disney Fathers - Two Types

Have you ever noticed there are really only two types of Disney fathers?

1) Strong, powerful, serious. Not particularly verbose, often has anger issues. Angular face, broad-shouldered. Almost always a king or leader. Undeniably good, but priorities to stay in control or to protect their family/kingdom can be their downfall.

Examples:
King Triton, Mufasa, Chief Powhatan, Zeus, Fa Zhou, Kerchak

2)  Short, fat, round, bumbling. Overly talkative and often mumbly. Comes off as silly and harmless, yet lovable. Hard to take seriously.

Examples:
Maurice, Sultan, Archimedes Porter (Jane's dad)

I've always been fascinated by this. Why are there only two kinds of fathers depicted in Disney movies? What does this communicate about the image of a father or a man?

Do these father images resonate with your experience, either as a father yourself or the fathers in your life?


Happy Father's Day! 

To my dad, who took me to my first Disney movie experience when I was 10. I have a vivid memory of him not falling asleep, as he was prone to do during most movies, but laughing and smiling along with my siblings and me. I guess you could say he's a Disnerd too (although recently I had to explain this term to him. That was a hilarious conversation.)

Lessons in Adolescence

This is the last from my Renaissance guest bloggers. Here's my friend Drew's thoughts on one of his faves, Hercules. Yes, it's out of order, as I covered Hercules two weeks ago. You can blame Drew for turning it in late.

If you’re a Disney animated movie, chances are you belong to a club. The $100 million club.

It’s not particularly exclusive. There’s no velvet rope, no bouncer, no list you have to be on. All you have to do to join is gross $100 million in ticket sales during your theatrical run. Pretty simple, really.

If you do that, you can mingle with your fellow members anytime. You can drop by and talk about books with Belle, watch soccer with the Beast and Aladdin, maybe even have a steak dinner with Simba and Tarzan. In fact, in this club, you can rub shoulders with every Renaissance Disney movie—except one.

Hercules.

Hercules grossed only $99 million dollars domestically. Not 100. 99. Missed it by a measly million dollars.

It’s a fascinating bit of symmetry that Hercules, a movie about a clumsy misfit who just wants to belong, is itself a bit of a misfit in the Disney catalogue, left on the outside of the $100 million club while everyone else parties inside. That symmetry is why, I think, it retains as much charm as it does, even while—objectively speaking—it’s not the classic that its predecessors were.

With few exceptions, Disney heroes and heroines are young adults working through the most readily accessible dimensions of growing up. Think Aladdin learning to be true to himself, Ariel craving new adventure, or Mulan struggling with her identity formation.

Hercules departs from those movies in the specificity with which it approaches young-adulthood. It is, by a marathon length, Disney’s most particularly adolescent movie.

Previous heroes were essentially glorified adults—theoretically 18, but practically adult in their vocabulary, movement and attitude. But Hercules, in his teenaged incarnation, is as gawky, overgrown, uncontrollable and accident-prone as any teenage boy ever was. He decimates an entire market square with his wild strength. Other kids call him ‘Jerk-ules’ and exclude him from their games. If there is a quintessential teenage feeling, it is that sense of “not belonging,” of having nowhere to fit in.

Those are universal feelings. To this day I can summon up, with remarkable clarity, the power of those teenage memories—of being misunderstood, not fitting in, feeling a little bit alone. I suspect you probably can, too. It's not very much fun. 

And it's this, I think, that accounts for some of why Hercules stumbled at the box office in the first place. Other Disney movies draw us back to rose-colored, exclamation-pointed memories of our teenage years: Growing up! Learning to love! Dreaming big! But Hercules firmly grounds us in adolescence’s hard, question-marked reality: Why am I so awkward? What’s my body doing? Do I fit in anywhere?

Hercules doesn't resolve those questions. Yes, it ends with true love winning and Hercules attaining immortality. But he also chooses to stay and live on earth with Meg, not ascend to Mt. Olympus. His choice means that he will always have to live in the in-between, never quite at home among humans and away from the place where his god-hood actually fits.

Sound familiar? The same adolescent tension vibrates through our own lives: not quite at home in a world that doesn't respect our Image-Of-God-ness, yet separated from the fullness of the Living God in whose context we make sense.

Hercules will never get into the $100 million club. It will spend eternity with its nose pressed to the glass, wondering why everyone else gets to go to the party. As Christians, we're lucky—like our physical adolescence, our time outside the party is temporary. And as for life here on earth, we take our cues from Herc—knowing that the tension is real, with no option but to live in it.

-------------
Drew Larson is the Editorial/Development Intern at InterVarsity. In the past, he maintained the world's only sports/comedy/theology essay blog, the Casual Footballer. He knows the words to more Disney songs than he will freely admit in mixed company, unless we are talking about A Goofy Movie, in which case, game on.

Fashion Update #8: Hercules

Hercules fashion week was super fun! Check out my looks:

Hercules: I think this may be my favorite outfit to date. I found this orange rust dress for $12 and I knew it would work perfectly. I really love this color combo and would totally wear this outfit again!

Pegasus: It's a little scary wearing an all white outfit. But for Hercules, when there are white flying horses, Muses and togas abound, it's kind of necessary to do it at least once.

Meg: Got this purple tank at Plato's Closet for $3! The gold leaves necklace doesn't directly correlate with Meg, but I think it adds a sort of "Greek-ness" to the otherwise simple look.

Hades: This is the drapiest dress I own and it happens to be the right shade of gray. As interpreted by my friend Abi, the chain necklace and earrings could represent Hades' underworld connection. haha.

Mt. Olympus: Someone dared me to wear a toga that week, and this was the closest I was willing to go. So I told people this silvery-sparkly outfit was a Mt. Olympus/Greek god-inspired look. :)

#35: Heroes & Pastries

Hercules, 1997
watched May 20, 2012

After two consecutive more serious Renaissance films, Hercules returns us to a more lighthearted, fun movie experience. Stylistically, the film intentionally mimics the sculpture and pottery of ancient Greece, giving it a very different look from its predecessors. The resulting boxy, two-dimensional style isn't my favorite, but I will forgive Disney, if only for the fact that teenager Hercules' ears look exactly like cinnamon buns. Yum.

Greek sculpture & pottery depicting "Herakles" - on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts. I took this picture back in December for the very purpose of posting it on my blog. :)

Seriously. Cinnamon buns!

If I ever had the ambition to pursue a completely useless degree for the sake of pure interest in the subject, I would have studied Greek mythology. Ever since middle school, when we first read stories about Zeus, Hera, Athena, and all the other gods of ancient Greece, I've always been fascinated by them. It's no wonder that Disney chose to draw from this world of dynamic, flawed characters and their intriguing stories.

And Hercules is a wonderful fit for the Renaissance era. He's born a god, but after being orphaned and zapped of most of his immortal power, he lives on earth, struggling to find out where he belongs. This self-discovery journey is quite familiar, as Hercules joins all our other Renaissance heroes and heroines who long to figure out what their purpose is, who they truly were made to be.

In this particular adaptation of the myth, Hercules sets out to prove himself a true hero so that he can return to Mt. Olympus and achieve his god-status. So Hercules does everything he thinks heroism means. He gets buff. He trains hard. He fights the bad guys. He loses the cinnamon bun ears. (They still look a little weird though. Maybe kind of like scones. I could really use a breakfast pastry right now...) On top of it all, he remains humble. No wonder Meg, the ultimate cynic, falls in love with him.

And yet, none of that really matters.

It's easy to be brave when there isn't that much at stake. The stuff we're made of is revealed at our weakest, darkest moments. When we've lost everything, when life is hard. Hercules becomes a hero not through physical strength or even bravery. It happens when he sacrificially loves the one who has hurt him.

It's spelled out pretty clearly for us this time. A true hero is one who loves his betrayer, who gives his life for theirs, who dies to see them saved. Hercules is one of the most obvious, but also compelling Savior figures in any Disney movie, cinnamon bun ears and all.

(Thanks for that low-hanging fruit, Disney!)

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!

12 Days of Disnerd Christmas - 10th Day

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!

Okay, so "rebirthing" probably isn't really a verb. But you know what I mean. We're about 8 weeks away from the Renaissance films and I am super excited! This is by far the most popular era of Disney animation among my generation. Which Renaissance film is your favorite?

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