The Aftermath of Frozen

It's been almost a year since Disney's "Frozen" release at the end of last November. Its popularity soared, and doesn't look like it's going away any time soon.

Elsa was a prominent choice for little girls' costumes this Halloween, and holiday commercials are using Frozen toys and products as a way to attract customers. With the unusual cold we've been having in the Midwest, someone on my Facebook feed joked about how maybe the fact that nearly every little girl wanted to dress up as Elsa had something to do with the unseasonal snow flurries.

Disney seems to be pushing the products so hard, both in the Parks and stores (the Christmas Parade is officially titled the "Disney Parks Frozen Christmas Celebration") that its been getting some backlash from frustrated customers. People are not only tired of seeing the merchandise everywhere, but very upset that the classic Norway ride, Maelstrom, in Disney World's Epcot is being replaced with a Frozen-themed ride.

 Yet people are still going in hoards to buy the merchandise, so much so that Disney stores has a limit of 1 Anna or Elsa costume per customer at their stores. I heard that costumes were being sold on Ebay for hundreds of dollars around Halloween (my good friend Christy went as Elsa in a homemade costume). I thought the three hour line to meet the Princess sisters at Disney World was bad in the spring, but their initial appearance in Epcot led to lines as long as 7 HOURS. I cannot imagine standing in line for that long to meet actors in costume. Many people don't even get seven hours of sleep a night...

Yep, Frozen on Ice is already happening

The fairy tale blogging world has already discussed the film and why it's so immensely popular. The rest of this post isn't really new thoughts, just review as we look back over the year. I think it boils down to two main factors:

1. Our culture was very ready for a fairy tale retelling that doesn't focus on love at first sight. Children's enthusiasm can only go so far without parents willing to support the movie and characters as well, spending money on the products and even waiting in line with their kids for hours and hours. We've been complaining about the fairy tale/Disney Princess stereotypes for so long. Could this be the beginning of truly altering the fairy tale formula in our modern interpretations?

Edmund Dulac, Illustrations for Andersen's "Snow Queen"

Having two strong female protagonists was also a strong point for a more feminist culture, but it's ironic because Andersen's original "Snow Queen" is, arguably, much MORE feminist. It's essentially the story of a young girl who goes on an adventure to rescue her male friend, a complete inversion of the classic heroic-male-rescues-damsel-in-distress, and she meets many strong female characters along the way of all ages who help her in her quest.

2. Girls like superpowers too. I think this point shouldn't be underestimated when looking at the success of the movie. I know many young girls who love Frozen, and Elsa is ALWAYS their favorite (with maybe one exception being a girl whose name is Anna). Superheroes with special powers are marketed pretty exclusively to boys, but girls like to pretend to have special abilities just as much. I can think of multiple young girls I know who are half convinced that any time it snows it's because of their spirited renditions of Let It Go, and Heidi Anne Heiner of Surlalune says its the same with her niece as well.

I've been surprised when stores like Walmart and Target still prominently feature Frozen, it's like no other kids movies were made this year. But for me, it was a childhood obsession with Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" that led to my ultimate desire to research fairy tales. Who knows-maybe in 10-20 years we'll see an increase in young women who start to look up the history of Snow Queen, their own favorite Disney movie's inspiration, who will through the film discover for themselves the wonderful, enchanting world of fairy tales? Here's hoping-

How Disney Parks Affect How We View Fairy Tales

I'm back! The trip was fantastic. Exhausting, as I expected, but totally worth it!

After some days of performance we spent a very anticipated day in Disney World's Magic Kingdom. If you think about it, the experience of Disney Parks-from the rides to the shows and characters-are really just a different way of storytelling. In high school I watched Disney's "Snow White" and realized that, if I had ever seen it before, it was so long ago I barely remembered it. But I thought I had seen it-I was familiar with the characters, music, and basic plot. Such is the effect of riding the ride, seeing the characters march by in parades, looking at the merchandise, etc.-viewers are still familiar with the Disney versions of fairy tales even if they've never seen the movie. The rides are such a short, truncated version of the Disney movies-they remind you of the major scenes of the movie in five minutes or less, keeping that specific version prominent in your mind, especially if visitors to the park aren't regularly reading/watching other versions.

The last time I was in Disney World was five years ago so I got to see the new Fantasyland addition for the first time. And as a lifelong Beauty and the Beast fan, it was incredible to see scenes from the movie in life size.

We got to eat in the Be Our Guest restaurant, which allows you to dine in either the library (which looked nothing like the library in the movie, didn't even have any books), the West Wing, or the ballroom. We also walked through the hall of armor and got to take pictures by the stained glass window.

I was thrilled that my buddy for the week was my very good friend Christy, a 17-year old young woman with Down Syndrome, who was actually the junior bridesmaid in our wedding. Long time readers may remember some of her fairy tale artwork or when I blogged about the experience of watching Disney's Sleeping Beauty with her and her reactions. 

Two Beauty and the Beast illustrations done by Christy for me in years past

One thing that was new to me this trip was the whole experience of meeting characters. It was never something my family was really into (the picture of me with Belle and the Beast is an exception). They train each actor with knowledge of the movie they are in, having them mention trivia about their character during your visit, so it  really enhances the feeling that they are real characters with a life even beyond their Disney movie.

Meeting the princesses and heroes was fun for the students in our group, but I really enjoyed visiting Gaston. First of all, we weren't actually in the line, his shift was almost over, so we were just watching. But he saw two adorable girls with Down Syndrome, one in a wheelchair, and when he was done with the people in the line, he came over to us and brought our students over to him! In general the cast members at Disney seem to have a soft heart for people with disablities, but a special thank you to Gaston!

Christy asked him why he was so mean to the Beast. Gaston replied that he wasn't mean; he was the nice one (because he had a nice face). He also had this whole theory-which is actually something that fans and critics of the movie have brought up before-that the Beast was really an imposter, because where did he come from? If he was the Prince, where were his parents, i.e. the reigning King and Queen? How is he a Prince if he apparently has no kingdom? He also called the Beast Belle's dog, and twice insulted my shirt, saying it was horrible:

I was wearing this tank top from Hot Topic last year, no longer available

Hearing Gaston's point of view was interesting for me, and really made Christy think. The rest of the day she kept asking questions, "Why did he say he didn't like your shirt? I don't understand" (even after repeated attempts at explanation) and "Why did he call the Beast a dog? Is the Beast a dog?" She struggles a bit with abstract thinking, but that's what's so great about exposing kids to the fact that, while he might be lying, Gaston would have a different point of view than Belle or the Beast. Christy was great though, continued to challenge him, and when Gaston was showing off his muscles she whipped out her own biceps:

Then, the highlight of the trip: meeting Elsa and Anna. So, Christy has loved Sleeping Beauty for years, but like most other young girls has become OBSESSED with Frozen lately. She knows all the words to all the songs and will tell the plot of the movie, in depth, to anyone who will listen (as well as those who are tired of listening...). So we knew we had to use our fastpasses to skip the three hour line (!!!) to see the characters. 

Now I'm pretty sure Christy doesn't think the characters are actually real, she will ask which people do the voices for some of her favorite cartoon characters and she's seen different plays so she's aware of the concept of actors playing parts. But even if she logically knows, partly, the characters aren't the ones from the movie, she takes them very seriously. All day long she was practicing what things to say to Elsa-she was going to tell her she was her favorite Queen because she has powers, she loves snow, and all her favorite parts of the movie. When it was finally her turn, she excitedly greeted them each by name like they were long lost friends, and ran up to Elsa and gave her a hug. It was so precious I was actually crying as I was snapping pictures...

Here is Elsa noticing her own face on Christy's shirt:

 Anna noticed that Christy also happens to have a gray streak of hair, and was very excited, jumped up and down and said, "we're twins!" Christy LOVED it, the rest of the evening when we saw people from our group she would tell them, "Guess WHAT!! We saw Elsa and Anna, and she saw my HAIR!! We're TWINS!!!"

 I can only imagine what effect this kind of meeting has on a child afterwards. If they were already fans of the character, now he or she will go home and be even more connected to the movie. Christy now has a personal connection with her heroes, who called her by name and noticed similarities between them. She also got a souvenir Frozen storybook from the gift shop and was showing it to everyone, and the next day poring over it in the airport.

And unfortunately for us, meeting the characters in a believable way makes it even harder for kids to accept that the Disney version of a fairy tale is NOT definitive. I didn't bother trying to tell older versions of the fairy tales on this trip; with this audience of mostly concrete thinkers it would be more confusing than anything else, and I didn't want to ruin their special day. Although another day of the trip we were on a lake that had several swans swimming, and Christy was very excited, saying, "It's Swan Lake!" (she's really into ballet too) and we named all the white swans Odette and the black ones Odile.

I'd love to hear from other people-how have your experiences in the Disney parks affected you/young people of your acquaintance, especially in how you thought of fairy tales?

Make 'em Smile!

I've mentioned before that I teach music to people with disabilities at church; long time readers may even remember that three years ago I got the amazing opportunity to go with our group to France, where my students sang and played instruments in various churches, group homes, and a disability festival.
 
We are now going on another trip, this time to Orlando, Florida for the Nathaniel's Hope Make 'em Smile Festival on June 7, as well as some other local performances. And of course, being in Orlando, we'll be spending a day in Disney World.

I thought I'd mention it a few weeks early, just in case any of you have friends or family members with disabilities and might be interested. Nathaniel's Hope is a nationally known organization and hundreds of people attend the festival every year. I haven't been yet but I'm really excited!

Also, with a day in Disney on the horizon, I've been thinking a lot about the whole psychological phenomenon of Disney, the movies and merchandising, and especially the effect the theme parks have on people's attitudes to those versions of fairy tales. Around the fairy tale blogosphere there seems to be more negative attitudes towards Disney than positive, but I agree very much with Kate W. of Enchanted Conversations when she said she has "REALLY complicated feelings about Disney." For all the issues I might have with certain aspects of the choices made in their fairy tale movies, many of the topics we talk about concerning Disney are really quite complex. It would require multiple posts to talk about their portrayals of gender roles over the years, the evolution of fairy tales, even the character of Walt Disney himself. But even being aware of many of the negative aspects of Disney, that doesn't change the fond memories I have of watching Disney movies with my family as a kid or going to the parks.

I fully admit I am SUPER into Disney theme parks. There's something about stepping into the world of the stories you grew up with that seems utterly magical when you're a kid, and to those of us who experienced Disneyland in childhood, we tend to have a soft spot for it far into adulthood. There's a whole culture of adults, with or without kids, to whom visiting/researching/collecting memorabilia of Disneyland is a hobby. Part of Disney's formula for success is this unique experience that involves literally all five of your senses. It's really quite uncanny how a visit to the parks seems to inspire a love of  and loyalty to Disney to even casual fans. (Seriously, I don't think ANYONE can see Fantasmic! without getting a little bit emotional...)

Me, as a kid, in a Beauty and the Beast t-shirt, pictured with my heroes

And as I've mentioned recently, Disney is huge among my students, so it's also a way of connecting with them, and it's been fun to see their enthusiasm. I've been nerdily picking out Disney music for us to perform and having way too much fun Disneybounding on days we have rehearsals.

To bring it all full circle, here's a quote from the post I wrote when I was about to leave on our France trip:
"I love the people I work with. Isn't it interesting that often the heroes of fairy tales are the lowest in society? The youngest child, the servant girl, the one who is thought to be the Fool? And yet they are the ones who overcome all judgement and prove themselves to be the most worthy at the end of the tales. And while my students don't have the highest IQs, they surpass most people I know in the qualities that really count, like love and compassion, and they certainly excel in humor! I hope that through our trip we are able to help overcome prejudice and fear of people with disabilities. For, as we learn in many fairy tales (especially Beauty and the Beast), appearances can be deceiving..."

Tours Departing Daily

 You may or may not be as into Disneyland as I am, but you will probably appreciate the photography of Tours Departing Daily, a blog that features pictures of Disneyland that would probably make most adults who have been there do a double take and think, "Wait, is that actually the same Disneyland I went to?"

Photography by Kevin Crone, Michaela Hansen, and Matthew Hansen

I selected pictures that have to do with fairy tales (or stories that have tags on this blog, like Peter Pan and Alice) to share here, but they feature glimpses into all aspects of Disneyland, including California Adventure, Downtown Disney, the hotels, etc. Snow White's witch's dungeon is one of my favorites:

Disneyland then and now

Happy birthday, Disneyland!!

Came across this site with some very old Disneyland pictures, and I was reminded of how different it is now than when it opened in the 1955! (These pictures were taken sometime in the 50s or 60s)

The lagoon in Fantasyland used to host actual mermaids! Due to sunstroke/sunburn they are no longer there...The old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride has been replaced by the Finding Nemo subarine.

 The entrance to Tomorrowland has changed quite a bit-

As has the park entrance. This sign was taken down:

 And now we have this-

This one's my favorite. Would you allow your child to take her picture with this rabbit?

Haunted Disneyland

In this age of technology I'm very skeptical of video "proofs" of ghosts...however I think it's still fun to read/watch and entertain the notion enough to get a thrill.


The above two videos seem the most convincing to me out of the several supposed ghost sightings in Disneyland on Youtube. Others are floating around out there and I either don't see anything or it's obviously a special effect. Disneyland is, after all, a place of illusion...
This ideo below is one man's explanation for the most common ghost "sightings," although from the comments left on youtube this isn't a very popular explanation for the supposed ghosts. You can decide for yourself which explanation seems most likely.

Vintage Disneyland, Part II

Disneyland postcards from the 60s-early 70s.

These are from a little picture book about It's a Small World. Small World was new in the 60s, as was the whole concept of Audio Animatronics (the mechanical dolls or people that move and speak on many Disney rides)





View the first Vintage Disneyland