Yesterday, was able to go to Disneyland with some friends which was absolutely amazing and being able to spend time with good friends that you have built up a repertoire with is always fun. After all you never know what is going to happen. However, as usually while Disneyland may be the happiest place on earth … it is also the most imaginative and so I began to think. But more importantly to realize just how much of my life has been affected by Disney movies. One area of the Park in particular that has always impressed me has been the Downtown Hollywood area and Paradise Park when the sun goes down. Both those places are simply amazing as a whole. Yet, when I went into the Animation Theater area of the park there was the massive large screens showing the development of the Disney movies and more so the music played to them. The last time I was there I had an incredibly emotional moment realizing what I really wanted to do with my life and my Artistic skills. However, this time around as I sat mesmerized with the screens I began to think about how much Disney has done to promote the idea of staying imaginative, dream, and be ambitious while also combating the idea of fatalism.
People always think of influences in their life that have made them push forward and even to do incredible things. However, deep in the subconscious of many people who have seen Disney movies and their various multi-media is this idea of “never say die”. Now, someone might say that “hey these themes are in every movie” and they would be partially right. But the fact of the matter is with Disney the difference is that here is a company that truly believes in Hope and even more so in the idea of being able to struggle for what is good. Sometimes movies don’t always capture that so well. They give us these picturesque sort of paintings that we can look at and somehow dream or feel about rather than stories that are truly moving because they are relatable or believable. And that is why Disney movies of the more recent day have very nearly fallen into meaninglessness and a total loss of direction. Yes, you heard me right. I’m talking to you Brother Bear, Princess and the Frog, and the movies that came after the Disney Renaissance.
Well one might ask why these movies just didn’t carry the same moving power or staying power and I would say this. They were rejected because they were neither relatable or believable. Well one might say how that is so? The answer lies in something that every human knows and that is the idea of emotions tied to certain human themes rejection, imprisonment, loss of love, sacrifice, and various other problems most people have had to deal with in real life. That is why Beauty and the Beast is amazing, why The Little Mermaid is amazing, and why the Hunchback of Notre Dame is amazing as well. They aren’t made for kids these movies I tell and its one of the main reason’s for Disney’s success is that they DON’T cater to kids. This may sound ludicrous but its the truth … Disney caters to humans instead. They cater to ideas that transcend and mature as you get older versus just a frolicking fun time that you see from Sony and Dreamworks. I can’t begin to explain how amazing it is to come back to Disney movies as a more mature adult and to see not only the technical expertise of the animation and the narrative depth and deep content that a huge number of their movies hold. If you feel down or better yet want to be inspired go watch a Disney movie because I guarantee it will make your day if you haven’t seen them in a while.
P.S. I didn’t even talk about how good them music was either.
The BW 