Kacey Talks Disney

I love Disney Movies. That is the first and most important point of this blog entry. As a matter of fact I love all things Disney- Disneyland, Disneyworld, Disney stores, Disney music….etc. And while I know there people out there see a big evil corporation that Disney may have become… I see a magical land that was a part of my ongoing childhood (cuz you’re only as young as you feel) and will always make me smile.

Okay…That being said I recently sat and watched Beauty and the Beast which I hadn’t watched in a really long time. I love that movie. However, on my other recent obsession, no not Doctor Who but Pinterest, I have stumbled across this multiple times:





I couldn’t help but reflect on this a little while watching Beauty and the Beast. The innocent, glass is half full, world-through-rose-colored-glasses part of me sees a movie like Beauty and the Beast and thinks “what a great story about loving what is on the inside instead of what is outside or not caring about what anybody thinks and daring to dream big.” However, the over analytical feminist in me took some time to be a little more reflective on the movie, which led me to think about other Disney movies and ultimately concluding that Disney is not always a great feminist.

Beauty and the Beast: Belle is awesome and can see past the ugliness of the Beast, however she is a bomb shell and the Beast is like “hey a hot chick being held prisoner in my castle, I’ll use her ability to see the best in people to help save my spoiled, hot tempered self.” So ultimately the Beast becomes a better man and does the right thing and Belle is a total badass through the whole thing- but at some point I couldn’t help but think- where is the story about the handsome prince falling in love with the beasty woman? We never see that story.

Aladdin: Again, awesome main chick character seeing the best in a person and falling in love with someone she’s not supposed to fall in love with- but Aladdin is kind of a dumbass. He uses trickery and a freaking genie to get what he wants, and then still gets the girl. Really? What are we teaching little ones about lying? Chicks want honesty… he would have been better off standing outside the palace walls with a stereo held above his head.

Cinderella: So honestly Cinderella is my favorite, I think it has something to do with the sparkly dress and awesome castle. In reality Cinderella needs to get a spine- she’s kind of a doormat. I mean even the mice kind of boss her around. I prefer an “Ever After” version of Cinderella where she rescues herself and the prince doesn’t have to put a shoe on her foot to figure out who she is.

Snow White: Lives with seven men and does all the cooking and cleaning. Why doesn’t she get to go to the mines and work and one them stay home and clean? All I’m going to say.

Lion King: Okay this might be one that does with little criticism… Nola is kind of awesome. She doesn’t take shit, takes matters into her own hands and tells it to Simba straight. Really the thing that should be different is that she should get to be the leader of the Pride Lands… however I guess that’s not really how lion packs work.

Peter Pan: Why does Wendy have to just be the “mother.” Why can she play pirates and go on adventures with the rest of the Lost Boys. And instead of showing female comradery the bitchy chick is constantly trying to one-up the nice girl. Why can’t Tinker Bell and Wendy just once hang and have a fun girls night without the boys. It does make sense there are only Lost “Boys.” Girls would at least stop and ask for directions. (*pauses for laughter*)

Mulan: Chick doing what she has to for her family- which means dressing up as a man. Great- do what you gotta do in the circumstances given to you. But then this jerk leaves you to freeze to death and you invite him to dinner? No honey. You saved the Emperor… and showed him up. You make him beg, plead and buy you lots of things. And then maybe, just maybe, you let him take you to dinner.  

Little Mermaid: Ariel is a dreamer and I appreciate her desire to do what it takes to follow her dream of going someplace else to live, but really she does it all for a guy who is then is tricked into marrying someone else. And again she has to rescue him. Ultimately Ariel gets what she wants of being human, marrying the prince and living out the water… all at the rip old age of 16… wait what? 

So there are many others I could keep going on about- but I think I’ve made my point. And obviously some of these stories are culturally relevant and the stories were bigger than Disney to start with. Disney actually makes some of these stories a little bit nicer for kids than the originals and gives them happy messages. The morale of this slight tirade: I want to be a Disney Princess/Female Lead to show these ladies how to do it right.


Coming Soon: Sarah lays out a fail-safe survival guide to a zombie apocalypse she compiled after watching the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars Triology in one sitting.

Jamie's 50 Book Update

As I approach the half-way point (well ahead of schedule I might add, it is only April 13th), I thought I'd give a little update beyond just the number, plus we haven't posted in a bit. And, it may take me a it to get from 23 to 24 as I am currently taking on the second book in the epic Song of Fire & Ice series, A Clash of Kings.  I have to get this finished before I start seeing the spoilers from season two of HBO's Game of Thrones, which I assume follows the story of this book.  Anyhow, here are the 23 that have gotten me through the first few months of the year (in order read):

Already reviewed:

1) Game of Thrones
2) The Maze Runner
3) The Fault in our Stars
4) Franny & Zooey

Since then:

5) White Cat - Can't wait to read the rest of this Holly Black series, the final chapter of which just came out.
6) Clockwork Prince- I love this Cassandra Clare series about 1200 times more than the Mortal Instruments.  So if a certain Star Wars/V.C. Andrews like twist in City of Bones wasn't your cup of tea, I recommend you abandon Clary, Jace, & Simon for Tessa, Will, & Jem.
7) Ready Player One - My 80s pop culture loving self absolutely loved this book. 
8) The Descendants - Like the movie, I liked but did not love this dysfunctional family story.
9) The Baseball Codes - Great anecdotes, but really it's all about when you need to hit a guy.
10) Rebel Angels - Enjoyed this sequel even more than A Great & Terrible Beauty, and writing this out reminds me I need to pick up the 3rd book.
11) The Lathe of Heaven - I think I like Left Hand of Darkness better (the only Le Guin I have read and compare this to), but this was definitely a fascinating read. 
12) The Handmaid's Tale - This was a re-read for book club, and probably our best discussion ever.  And how very timely, with the current fascination with dystopian novels, plus all the crazy shit the GOP is trying to do to show they are anti-women.  Oh, is that not what they are trying to do? Could have fooled me.
13) The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Picked this up in anticipation of the upcoming film, and now I can't wait.  Teen angst in letter form, love it.
14) The Scorch Trials - The sequel to the Maze Runner, complete with a cliffhanger.  I am noticing that I can get pretty close to my goal of 50 just by finishing up all the series that I have started/continued in 2012.
15) Chocolat - Another book club selection, although we haven't even had the meeting yet.  A delightful book, even if we did pick it largely so that we could watch the movie w/Johnny Depp.  Hey, no judgments.  We have intellectual (often quite feminist) discussions all the time, and if we want to drool over Johnny Depp, then we will drool over Johnny Depp. 
16) Bossypants - I loved this book so much I wrote a whole post on it.
17) The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo - It took me 400 pages to have any interest in reading the rest of this series, but I'm in now, so I'll definitely add those to the list. 
18) One For the Money - My roommate absolutely loves this series, and after one book, I can definitely see the appeal.  I can't say I'll read all 18, but you never know.  Plus, Morelli can come hang out with me behind the counter anytime.
19) Beauty Queens - I think this is my new favorite Libba Bray book, which is no small praise as I love Going Bovine and the above noted Rebel Angels.  But this book is incredibly witty and entertaining, not unlike Libba on twitter. 
20) The Windup Girl - A fascinating world and an intriguing story.  A little slow to start, but it was worth sticking with to see how all the layers evolved.
21) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Quirky, entertaining, & heartfelt, I can see why this has been camped out near the top of the NY Times bestseller list.
22) The Magicians - So what if Harry Potter took place in college and instead of saving the world from Voldemort they just hung out. It would be this. Sex, drugs, & magic (which is even harder than it seemed at Hogwarts).  Oh, and the main character is obsessed with a Narnia-like book series, which is, of course, not quite as fictional as non-magic folks (or Muggles, as Potter fans may call them) may have suspected. 
23) The Scorpio Races - 100 pages into this book about a small community's annual water horse races and I wasn't really sure I cared to finish.  But Maggie Stiefvater's writing has this way of sneaking up on you and by the 200 page mark I couldn't have been more attached to the two main characters as I eagerly flipped the pages to discover their fate.

So far The Fault in Our Stars remains the favorite, but there are still many more to go.  Second place is Bossypants, and third a three-way tie between Game of Thrones, Clockwork Prince, & Beauty Queens. I'll be continuing with kings and dragons for 800 more pages before moving on to Mike Doughty's The Book of Drugs, The Night Circus and the newest Stephen King 11/22/63.  Then I guess I should wrap up all these series I keep starting.  Oh, and maybe next year my goal will be 50 blog posts.

Coming Soon: Sarah critiques the various uses of the high school bathroom scene on TV, from a place to conduct important business (Veronica Mars), to a place to dispose of drugs (Saved by the Bell), to a place to find that talisman that is leading to the school being haunted (Buffy).