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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not get Disney?

336 replies

Fridaysgirl · 14/09/2019 15:57

I'm talking about adults here, not kids.

Why do grown men and women feel the need to wear Minnie ears, buy mugs, bags and T shirts of Disney related stuff?

And why in god's name would you pay £££££s to go and gawp and an artificial pink princess castle when you could pay far less to see something real? Or cuddle a Minnie/Mickey Mouse (or should I say a stranger dressed up)?

Please can someone explain all this to me?

OP posts:
PumpityPumpPump · 21/09/2019 15:26

We went to Disney in Orlando for our honeymoon. Aged 26, no kids. All about the rides for us! Love a rollercoaster! 🎢

AlansLeftMoob · 21/09/2019 15:33

Because different things appeal to different people.
Because some adults like the nostalgia of Disney.
Because some adults like to buy things they wanted as kids.
Because some adults like the magic of Disney.
Because some adults find it comforting.
Because people work hard for their money and can buy what they want.
Because people enjoy the fandom and conversing with other Disney lovers.
Because people find it fun.
Because even though people know it's a randomer in a costume they still like to have the hug from their favourite childhood character and a picture to look back on.

Personally do I get it? Nope. I'd sooner claw my own eyes out than go near Disneyworld. But there's no need for us to judge the people who love it, just find something you really love instead and enjoy that.

BoneyBackJefferson · 21/09/2019 15:43

I would have more respect for the person asking the question if those asking told us what they really enjoyed.

redappleandaquamarinebow1987 · 21/09/2019 15:45

@boujie she does through marriage like it was the duty for most princesses

boujie · 21/09/2019 15:49

she does through marriage like it was the duty for most princesses

Right, but for the part of the film where she's just complacently being cheerful in the woods, accepting her lot and waiting to be rescued, she doesn't know she is a princess. So she's not doing her duty. She's just passively accepting her boring, lonely life because she doesn't have any agency as a character.

redappleandaquamarinebow1987 · 21/09/2019 16:05

@boujie she is realitic about her options and also thinks the kind aunt that are without magic she does not know about rely on her to help out at the house

redappleandaquamarinebow1987 · 21/09/2019 16:05

She has no clue they are fairies able to run a house without her

Grannybags · 21/09/2019 16:11

We go to Orlando every year - can’t wait till the grandchildren are old enough to go.
Everyone likes different things. I can think of hundreds of things that people love doing that I have no desire to do but each to their own.

boujie · 21/09/2019 16:48

she is realitic about her options and also thinks the kind aunt that are without magic she does not know about rely on her to help out at the house

I honestly don't think there's a single scene in that film which you can point to as showing that Aurora believes she could have a better life if she wished, but stays where she is due to a noble sense of duty.

She hangs around in the woods with a bunch of animals, she meets the prince, she falls for him, she gets told by the fairies she can't marry him, she flings herself on the bed and cries and then she's pretty much asleep for the rest of the film until she gets kissed (seriously awkward consent messages there) and wakes up to marry someone she has literally known for a few minutes.

It's not a strong moral tale for girls. You can tell an alternative version if you wish where she chooses the life she leads for reasons of her own, but that isn't the message of the Disney film. In that film, she is a purely passive character.

Fluffiest · 21/09/2019 22:34

Aurora doesn't have much agency in the film, it is true. But all the characters who do have agency are female.

The fairies are the protagonists, Malecifent is the antagonist. Saving Aurora is the goal they fight and plot over. Philip is a sidekick and the Kings are comic relief.

boujie · 22/09/2019 09:40

Aurora doesn't have much agency in the film, it is true. But all the characters who do have agency are female.

The fairies are the protagonists, Malecifent is the antagonist. Saving Aurora is the goal they fight and plot over. Philip is a sidekick and the Kings are comic relief.

This is true and a good point. Female villains do actually quite often get agency in fairytales - the evil queen in Snow White is the same.

This is a pet subject for me, because I think the way femalehood is illustrated in fairy tales is fascinating - it's a perfect example of the Madonna / whore complex.

There is virtually no space in traditional fairytales for healthy / normal female sexuality; virtually every woman who has a baby, for example, dies. Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella, Belle and Ariel are all motherless. What you get instead is a dichotomy between the pure, virginal angels (the princesses) and the monstrous perversions (evil queens). There might be the occasional benign sexless spinster as well (the fairies, the fairy godmother).

In that framework, the women who have the most agency - specifically, the villains - have this agency because they have turned their backs on their femininity. They serve as examples of how monstrous women become when they aren't in their proper place.

(This is obviously not the pattern that all Disney films follow, but those rooted in traditional fairytales do).

Fairytales are ultimately morality tales. Although they contained subversive themes - magic, monsters, desire etc - they were ultimately designed to reinforce the prevailing morality of their times. The purpose of them is to reiterate to girls that their job is to be industrious and obedient and self-controlled and cheerful; if they aren't, the evil queens represent the fate that awaits them.

That's why I think it's difficult to extract a positive feminist message out of the more traditional Disney films; the source material actively resists it. That doesn't mean the films aren't fun or that kids shouldn't be allowed to enjoy them. But to my mind, they should come with a health warning that wholeheartedly buying into them as examples of how nice girls should behave isn't a great idea for modern girls.

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