October 23, 2011

"Realistic portraits of the women of animated Disney films."

A Metafilter post with comments like: "I've never seen Hercules. Does Megara look that drunk and horny in the movie?"

And: "See these Disney characters? See how they are really gorgeous and skinny but they're animated? Imagine what they'd look like if they were gorgeous and skinny and looked like very highly photoshopped people instead of cartoons!"

40 comments:

Freeman Hunt said...

Visual fanfic fare?

Freeman Hunt said...

The artistic(?) product of ogling Disney characters. It's a little creepy.

rhhardin said...

What does a mermaid need a bra for?

blake said...

>>What does a mermaid need a bra for?

Modesty.

blake said...

These aren't that bad, mostly. I knew a woman who looked a lot like Jasmine. The Little Mermaid was based on Alyssa Milano.

The last time I saw a collection like this, the images weren't at all realistic, they were just differently illustrated in a hyper-sexualized way.

Side note: Megara does look a little drunk and horny in Hercules. It's her job to seduce him, at Hades' request.

This drawing makes her look a little closing-time trashy, though.

And Belle looks a little ... constipated?

I guess I should be disturbed but on the new, modified, Internet scale of creepy, this is pretty tame.

Also, I just saw The Smurfs. Gargamel is basically the god of Pedophiles, isn't he?

coketown said...

What does a mermaid need a bra for?

Okay, dumb joke that works better verbally than in writing, but here goes: Why do mermaids wear seashells? Because B shells are too small and D shells are too big.

I know, I know. Laaaaaame.

edutcher said...

Better than gorgeous and skinny is gorgeous and buxom, curvy, voluptuous, sumptuous...

Not to mention full-flavored.

rhhardin said...

What does a mermaid need a bra for?

Backflips.

blake said...

What does a mermaid need a bra for?

Modesty.


No, the MPAA ratings guy.

PS I took one of The Blonde's nephews to see "Hercules" because the rest of the family was in Canada. Megara didn't look that good.

Scott M said...

"Meg" is one of the coolest Disney fems in a long while. "Hercules", in my humble opinion is a far better film than "Lion King". At least Hercules was ripped off from the Greeks, not the Japanese.

Freeman Hunt said...

Anyone watched on of these films lately? I have. When you're a young kid, you don't realize how generally awful they usually are.

Anonymous said...

Disney seems to a have a fixation on ta tas. I fully approve.

deborah said...

I don't think they're actually awful, at least the older ones I watched with my kids. There are some great songs, like 'Under the Sea' and 'Kiss the Girl.'

I dislike CGI and claymation, though. Even as a kid I couldn't get into the Frosty and Rudolph ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QrKiod8rXM&feature=related

Why a seashell bra? To sexualize her. But as I've always told my kids, the human body is a beautiful thing.

edutcher said...

Freeman Hunt said...

Anyone watched on of these films lately? I have. When you're a young kid, you don't realize how generally awful they usually are.

They're really made for adults (cleavage, etc.); in fact, when "Beauty and the Beast" came out, the critics made a big deal about how un-Disney they were.

PS How's your Dad? Last I recall, he was pretty sick.

David said...

Freeman's father died. Fortunately he left us Freeman.

edutcher said...

Didn't hear that.

My apologies and sympathies, Freeman.

richard mcenroe said...

"Does Megara look that drunk and horny in the movie?"


Absolutely.

richard mcenroe said...

To be fair, she looks a lot better through the retsina goggles at closing time.

deborah said...

I watched a ton of Disneys with my kids, but I never watched Hercules or Aladdin, and probably a couple others I can't think of. I'd become so tired of them.

Some from the other studios were interesting. I found the Bluths, such as Land Before Time and Feivel, a bit depressing in artistry. Warner Brothers All Dogs Go To Heaven was a hoot, but it took me a while to appreciate.

One of my all time faves was Warner Bros.(?) Thumbelina. A bit dark, but I appreciated where they were going, and great music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkCPlKANPzs&feature=related

ricpic said...

No All-American beauties. Of course not. Must be stamped out. Must be replaced with a blended International half-beauty. MUST be. Insane elite culture crushers.

deborah said...

Oh, ricpic, lighten up :) Belle is white, as is Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, and a few more.

Anonymous said...

For an All-American beauty, see my favorite Disney TV heroine: Kim Possible.

Freeman Hunt said...

Ed, no problem. It was about a year ago.

And so will we all follow him at some point.

Jose_K said...

At least Hercules was ripped off from the Greeks, not the Japanese.
The creator of Simba , the white lion,was a fan of Disney. He was the first in Japan to draw manga and used big circular eyes like Mickey´s because of his admiration for Disney.The good characters have big, round eyes. The evil ones, little ones
I watched Simba for years but the relationship between the two characters does not go well beyond the name. The Lion King is a good version of Hamlet with a feminist twist.
The white lion jr was an heroe that once in a while fought beside his father. No dead father , no Claudius .No drama but entertainment
When hercules was released, the NYT? published an article critizicing Disney for the edulcorated, version of Hercules.I did not watched it but i remember from the trailers the bad guy been a man. Hera was a woman fighting the son of his adulterous husband like he was guilty of his father´s sins. And Heracles killed his children in a rage inspired by Hera.
And there was an anime of Hercules in the 60s. He fought against Dedalus with the aid of a young centaurus

Jose_K said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jose_K said...

The mermaids in Fantasy did not have a bra. They discussed it and they mentioned it on a documentary about Walt made by Disney in the 70´s

ricpic said...

Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella were like a lifetime ago. You wanted to plow them and at the same time they were virginal: the best of both worlds.

Ariel and Belle I don't know since I haven't watched any Disney since he stopped doing the animated paint brush setting the scene in his nature series. That animated paint brush ruined painting for me cause I thought all you had to do was pass the paint brush over the canvas once in a waving motion and, voila, a picture. Thirty years have I resented that painting takes effort. ;^(

deborah said...

The old madonna/whore complex, eh?

You remind me of the time I was about five, and was disappointed to find that you can't just sit down at a piano and play.

deborah said...

Belle: no cleavage except ball gown scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVovQfq7U0w

Ariel and Jasmine, cleavage related to background.

Pocahontas, little cleavage, but necessarily so, as she's probably the most generously endowed Disney gal. And sweetly 'ethnic' thighs and booty. (Damn you, Althouse! why the hell am I discussing this?)

deborah said...

Pocahontas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEzfWpGahng&feature=related

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Looks like the Cards bats have been cooled tonight.

Nasty breaking pitch form Bush 43.. scored as a pass ball on hall of famer Nolan Ryan.

I love Zooey Deschanel

Henry said...

@richard mcenroe -- "retisina goggles". Nicely done. A month ago I would not have had a clue. But then read Roald Dahl's Going Solo. He flies a Hawker Hurricane in the doomed British defense of Greece against the fascists. Those RAF pilots needed all the retsina they could get.

Wince said...

Assuming each started with a famous woman as a template, my guesses:

Pocahontas - Tia Carrere

Jasmine - Kim Kardashian

Esmerelda - Amanda Peet

Aurora - Debra Harry / Kim Basinger

Merga - Mary Louise Parker

Ariel - Geena Davis (young)

JAL said...

See Drudge's lede?

"New Libya to Introduce 'Radical Islamic Law'"

... under a smiling Obama.

Drudge really knows how to stick a knife in and twist it.

Wince said...

Ursula - Susan "Stop the Insanity" Powter, gone insane

deborah said...

Congrats to Drudge on the ultra-creepy smile. Yes, he did stick the knife in.

Albatross said...

@deborah:
Why a seashell bra? To sexualize her. But as I've always told my kids, the human body is a beautiful thing.

Except when it is half fish.

Blech.

deborah said...

"Last of all you old seadogs
Who travel after whale
Youd storm the gates of hell itself
For the taste of a mermaids tail
Who come from long lines of skippers
Whose duty was fulfilled
In the words of a warriors will
And protocol."

A beautiful song by Gordon Lightfoot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jut8wYL9NVk

blake said...

I disagree that they're all awful. The Ashman/Menken movies (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and half of Aladdin) are great.

Ashman, of course, died while Aladdin was in production, and all subsequent Disney musicals have suffered.

We went from the sublime voice of a 16-year-old mermaid pining:

Betcha on land
They understand
They don't reprimand their daughters


to the banal, unaware Mulan:

When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?


Blech.

Hell, in that one movie where Rice takes over from Menken, "Aladdin", the cutting (and ultimately censored) lyric:

Where they cut off your ear
If they don't like your face


replaced with the banality (and broken rhyme scheme) of

Where the heat is intense
And the desert's immense


Pfeh.

Freeman Hunt said...

I disagree that they're all awful. The Ashman/Menken movies (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and half of Aladdin) are great.

I can't agree. Those are the ones I've watched lately. I was shocked at how poorly they compared to my memory.

Joe said...

You want bad, try watching The Aristocats.

blake said...

Well, yeah, but you were, what, five when they came out the first time? Nostalgia distortion factor!