Goals

So anyone who knows me is aware that ever since I was around ten or eleven, my dream job has been to work for Pixar. Well, with a bit of internet searching, I found a Buzzed article that shows various sights around the Pixar campus. Below I will post the link to see the pictures of the article, but here are a few of my thoughts.

1. The entrance to the campus looks very similar to Nike's HQ entrance in that it is very simple and minimalist. There isn't much that needs to be said in order to convey the exclusivity. However it is interesting to note how the style is reflective of their region: Pixar's HQ is located in California, Nike is in Oregon and both architecture styles are reflective of such attitudes.

(Nike) 

(Pixar)

2. Giant trees and sculptures are another commonality between Nike and Pixar's campus. 

 (Nike)

 (Pixar)

3. The attention to detail is one that I wish Duke's campus had more of. When you can notice something Pixar-related in everything from the floor to the bathroom doors, there's a huge sense of pride that comes from the experience. It strengthens the integrity of the brand in a way that associates it with high quality products and fun.

4. Just looking at a PICTURE of the Academy Awards case gave me goosebumps and made me sigh a longing, sad, breath. I imagine this is how teenage girls feel when they look at pictures of One Direction. 

5. Their eating areas look amazing............ly expensive.  I wonder if the employees get a food plan like Google. Because if so , I totally would not mind going to that cereal bar everyday. 

Pictures Of My Dream Life

Messages

The last post I composed got me thinking about the negative messages that Disney can portray:

Blame Disney?

I noticed this picture online, and surprisingly I'm not sure how I feel about it. Usually I totally support the idea of viewing Disney through a different light, and making note of the contradictory messages that it sometimes promotes. However, this time I feel as though this was more of a stretch, a reach to find controversial aspects that weren't originally controversial. It also bothers me that this image plays along the idea of a celebrity or a set of films drastically affecting how a child is raised. 

Response to Blackness, Bayous, and Gumbo

In this article, Sarah Turner argues that the Disney film the Princess and the Frog "represents a complex moment in a culture steeped in political correctness and an adherence to the politics of colorblindness." Her disapproval of the film stems from the idea that Tiana is merely a Disney Princess who "happens to be black", rather than a Disney Princess who's character and identity is affected by her race. I believe that Turner's argument is effective in describing how race was downplayed in the film; this article convinced me of such. However, I don't agree with the alleged implications of this decision.

The beginning of her article is the strongest. By explaining and deconstructing the process of encoding that takes place when producing media, she puts the reader in the shoes of the producers. She walks them through various strategic decisions: what characteristic of Tiana should be emphasized, how much attention is brought to her socioeconomic status, and even the mindset of the projected demographic. When the reader is brought into this point of view, they are able to see the options the producers had when creating this film and the thought process behind making a decision between them. A point that I hadn't even considered until I read this piece was how much the concept of handwork is shoved down the throats of viewers. The sad truth of the matter is that no matter how much hard work Tiana put into getting her own business, if this film were historically accurate, theres a good chance she wouldn't have reached her dream anyway primarily because of her race. This glass ceiling concept is one that I wish she had elaborated on for her audience because it plays a major role in the context of how race is undermined through this seemingly progressive film.

Some of her pieces of evidence didn't connect as well as they needed to in order to strengthen her argument. For example, while criticizing the location of the setting, she discusses the relationship between New Orleans and the theme of "starting over". This portion of her argument is strong and easy to follow until she brings up the film "Enchanted" as a piece of evidence as support. She states "Disney's 2007 Cinderella story Enchanted, with its white princess played by Amy Adams, takes place in 21st century New York City, the classic yet contemporary Cinderella story," implying that race played a factor in the setting of the film. However, Turner doesn't take time to make this connection clear to her readers and instead leaves the translation of her evidence their responsibility.

The Youtube Channel I Wish I Had Discovered Sooner

I came across a Youtube Channel that has several, Disney musical-styled songs that take on everything from Disney itself to other Fandoms with modern humor and pretty catchy musicality! Links to a couple different featured projects with several million views:

Disney Villain Musical - www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6em5XNkiIA

Hipster Disney Princesses Musical - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yPfmRoSfpA

Dr.Who Musical - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoSDbku7Cio

Star Wars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRMFH71fDIE

Pokemon Musical - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlE6E4wY6WA

More People Accusing Disney of Worshipping the Devil

So I came across an article titled "Disney's Frozen Conspiracies" and decided to give it a look. I don't know what I was expecting from a piece posted by a website titled "illuminatiwatcher.com", but somehow I was still surprised by their findings. Although I'll post the link at the bottom of this post, I'm still going to do my best to summarize this groundbreaking discovery for you.

1. The author starts by saying "The woman who thinks Frozen is pushing a homosexual agenda is ridiculous and crazy," which originally gives me the impression that this piece was created by a rational individual. He effectively argues against her theory, pointing out the flaws in her argument and the absurdity of homophobia.

2. Then I get the feeling that I imagine occurring often in Scooby Doo films, the moment where everyone starts to piece together that the person they are talking to is actually the perpetrator all along. When he says, "All of Disney is about magic and the basis for this is occult in nature, take the upcoming Maleficent film," I get the sense that this isn't going to get better as I keep reading. He then goes on to explain how Maleficent is representative of the Devil .

3. The moment he lost all of my trust was at the sentence "There are several images of triangles, which are of great importance in Witchcraft and other occult practices. The triangle is a magic spell that I go into further detail in... ". From there he spends the rest of the paragraph posting pictures of triangles in Frozen and how represent a "salute" to demonic figures.

4. Another point made is the shape of the snowflakes in the film, which happen to be commonly hexagonal. The Seal of Solomon, a device used to summon supernatural spirits, is in the shape of a hexagon. Therefore any snowflake that has six points is proof that Elsa is a witch. A witch who performs a Freemason ritual and evil spell to give dead evil spirits life, (This is in regards to Olaf and the stone creatures).


Obviously this is a Satanic production. How did I not see this before?

http://illuminatiwatcher.com/disneys-frozen-conspiracy-theories/

Disney Movies that I Would Like to See Made into Musicals

It has recently been announced that Tangled is going to be produced into a musical.While it is starting through Disney Cruise Lines, it can be assumed that the goal is to move the show on land if it's successful. Typically I am a huge fan of musicals, and I'm fascinated with the progression of technology and creative innovation within the theatre industry as of recent years. If you were to go back a couple decades in time and tell people that a story about lions and other animals would be transformed into one of the most respected musicals of all time, they would assume you were crazy. However, the Lion King collected several awards and transformed the physical restrictions of theatre.

Cats was also a show that broke visual and artistic boundaries. Everything from the choreography, to the makeup and costumes, even the physical training of the actors played a role in manipulating the mind of the audience. Before I begin a lengthy, theatre-nerd, rant, the point I am trying to make is that anything is possible with stage magic. I would love to see the following somehow transformed into a show with a great story and an even better soundtrack!

5. Life-Size

So I'm aware that this movie didn't have the deepest storyline, and probably was one of the more forgettable Disney films, but it used to have a pretty strong cult following and has the potential for a pretty funny reboot. Legally-Blonde is a show that comes to mind to model the tone after: very pop-infused songs with culturally relevant jokes and charisma. 

4. Eloise

Unfortunately this product's fan-base also has a pretty small demographic, only much younger. Successful from the coattails of the books, this could prove to be a show similar to Annie, only for a more contemporary audience. Also, because French culture plays such a huge role in the story's design, there is an opportunity to introduce a newer style of music to theatre. 

3. The Emperor's New Groove

I sense a very Hakuna-Matata sense of playfulness to Kuzco that would appeal to anyone with a heart. Although I don't remember the soundtrack of this film, I do recall the silliness and spirit, an easily transferrable attribute to the stage. Is it bad that I automatically picture Helena Bonham Carter as Yzma? 

2. Hercules

For the most part this film already has a fantastic soundtrack, there are a lot of ways a director could choose to play up the gospel sound of the most popular songs. I would love to be the costume design director for this show, just the thought of designing a nightmarish look for Hades gives me goosebumps of excitement. 

1. Lilo and Stitch

I already have the soundtrack of this movie memorized by heart. Hawaiian culture plays out beautifully on stage, not to mention the opportunity to transform a human into a dangerous, yet adorable, alien. 

25 Thoughts on Princess and the Frog

Live-Blog Time!

1. If this movie is supposed to make me dislike small, blonde, white, toddlers, it has done a fantastic job in the first ten minutes.

2.  I feel the kindness of small blonde princess's dad was unrealistic....

3. Come on Disney. Did you really just illustrate this girl to use Tabasco? If she were white would you have had her use Tabasco?

4. Of course the Dad dies, why else would the people she loves remain in her life to see her happy ending? I think I hate this movie. Nine minutes in.

5. Why is Tiana getting the money if the cook is the one who made the beignets?

6. The Prince has entered the movie! I asked my friend sitting next to me how she feels about his race.

"I feel like he's mixed, but that's just my prior history of New Orleans. The higher class was comprised of mixed people who were into classical musical, and that is where his excitement of jazz comes from."

(Me) "What is the definition of mixed?"

"Mixed means that someone is of african american descent, but it throws me off that he has this weird accent. He's French. Maybe he is just foreign. Wait. WHAT IS HE?! Hold up, stop America with this need to define people and put them into boxes."

7. For Tiana to say that she has two left feet, she makes a fantastic dancer.

8. Why is the assistant of the Prince white?

9. Comment from my friend "Why does the villain look like a crackhead?" A good note is the fact that he has a gap in his teeth, why can't it be the good people to have imperfections?

10. So if the Prince gets tricked into being cursed, then does that make him the damsel in distress?

11. It is interesting that so far three quarters of the way into this movie, none the characters with Southern accents are portrayed as intelligent. Every character with a drawl is depicted as obnoxious, exaggerated and foolish to some sense.

12. One thing I love about Tiana is the idea that she is taking on a role in this film that is traditionally represented by men. She's teaching skills and outsmarting enemies, surviving through strength and power. All while being adored by her partner. In most cases it is the female who is given the role of looking pretty and tagging along while the man initiates the action.

13. It is hilarious to me that Naveen is translating French with a Brazilian accent.

14. More Tabasco references. Why can't she recommend oregano or truffle oil?

15. Falling in love with the moon has to be simultaneously one of the saddest and most romantic things I've ever heard.

16. "Just because you wish for something doesn't make it true." Very different from, "When you wish upon a star..."

17. Ray is most certainly my favorite character of this film.

18. I feel as though the plot of this movie was more difficult to follow than traditional Disney movies.  I forgot how the Shadowman had debts to pay to the demons, maybe I was just confused.

19. Ray's death goes right up there with Doby dying. Hurt my heart to watch.

20. Detail I liked, when watching Ray die, TIana doesn't turn away or bury her face into her prince out of despair. She represents such strength in so many subtle aspects, it's hard not to appreciate.

21. I wish there was a happier ending for the alligator, he seemed deserving of such.

22. LOL at how racially ambiguous Prince Naveen's parents are, their skin tones were practically gray. However, all of his guards were white! #whereisNaveenFrom2k15

23. On second thought, I wish the alligator was turned into a human and then married formerly small blonde girl. That would have been nice.

24. No one questions the giant alligator playing the trumpet?

25. I must say I liked this film, but I'm definitely disappointed in it's production. Disney had all of the tools necessary for a major, major hit, but they made the production true to stay musically authentic to the era. This was a mistake because it narrowed the demographic of viewers that would stay loyal to the film and buy into the franchise. If they had produced a catchier, more widely appealing soundtrack such as in Beauty and the Beast or Frozen, they would have been able to sell Tiana to nearly every Disney-loving home in America, breaking barriers and grounds in terms of media diversity. However, this film was limited in developing a cult-classic-esque fan base, thus limiting the impact of a black disney princess and defeating the purpose of her existence.