Throughout the majority of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Quasimodo's only friends are three gargoyles that come to life when Quasimodo is alone. In his article "'You're a Surprise from Every Angle': Disability, Identity, and Otherness in The Hunchback of Notre Dame," Martin Norden points out that "the gargoyles' explicit and implied messages are troubling, to say the least, and go a long way toward undercutting whatever sympathies the filmmakers had created for its disabled character" (168). After reading this, I decided to go back to the film and watch the gargoyles' song "A Guy Like You" once more. When the song ended, I was amazed to realize that Norden is right. Although I had never paid much attention to it before, when describing how Esmerelda could possibly be in love with someone like Quasimodo, the gargoyles consistently reference Quasimodo's physical appearance. If the film was truly meant to represent deformity in an accepting light, the gargoyles should have been talking about Quasimodo's character and how he is a kindhearted person that Esmerelda would be lucky to have. Instead, they sing about how Quasi is shaped like a croissant and how it's hard to forget a face like his. One of Victor's lyrics struck me in particular, when he sings about how Quasi deserves "extra credit because it's true you've [Quasi] got a certain something more". Normally, this statement wouldn't bother me. However, the way Victor delivers this lyric is troubling. In the song, the gargoyle slows down when singing the words "certain something more," implying that the "certain something more" that Quasi has is his deformed physical appearance. This throws this originally harmless lyric into an entirely new light. Now this line seems to promote the idea that the physically disabled deserve special treatment, which completely undermines the supposed message of the movie that all people should be treated equally. While it is understandable that characters such as Frollo and the villagers would focus mostly on Quasimodo's looks rather than his character for the majority of the film, it is ridiculous that Quasi's friends, who have probably known him for quite some time, are still unable to see past his outer layer. If Disney were truly attempting to encourage acceptance of those who are deformed, it should not have had the gargoyles focus so intently on that aspect of Quasi's character.
One of my favorite articles that we have read so far in this class is Ken Gillam's article titled, "Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar." In this article, Gillam argues that Pixar promotes a more feminine model of masculinity rather than the traditional alpha male. Using Lightning McQueen from Cars, Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles, and Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story as evidence, Gillam does a fantastic job of showing that these three films promote a less macho version of masculinity. This article reminded me of my brother a lot. Over the last few years, my brother has struggled with the idea of masculinity as he faced graduating from college and entering the real world. He has been diagnosed with having anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. My brother's form of obsessive compulsion comes in the form of obsessive thoughts, and one of these thoughts that he has had some trouble shaking over the last couple of years is this idea of being an alpha male. My brother obsesses about typical things such as being able to provide for his family, however he also focuses on trying not to show emotions and physique. There have been many times where my brother will become depressed because he believes he is not the tall, muscular man of most films. Although I attempt to reassure him that nothing is wrong with him or his body, he is unable to shake these thoughts and they continue to plague him. Often times, too much of Disney's criticisms focus on the company's portrayal of women in its animated films. Although there is still room for improvement, Disney has come a long way when it comes to female stereotypes when one considers the differences between Snow White and Rapunzel. Now it is time to focus on Disney's men. The typical depiction of Disney princes are men with lean bodies and immense courage and strength. They show no fear in the face of danger and they are always there to protect their female counterparts. This portrayal is unrealistic and boys need to be shown that it is okay to let a woman take care of them occasionally and that emotions should not be suppressed or avoided. The media affects men as well as women, and we need to start recognizing this and working towards more accurate depictions of both male and female roles.
During Fall Break, one of the first things that I did was I went to Best Buy with my dad to pick up the Diamond Edition of The Little Mermaid. My dad was just as excited as I was to watch the hours of special features that were part of this addition as well as to see the movie in 3D for the first time! As much as I loved watching my favorite movie with an added dimension, my favorite part of this new edition of The Little Mermaid was getting a behind-the-scenes look at the live-action reference footage that was used in The Little Mermaid as well as in Disney films across the decades. For those of you who don't know, live-action reference footage is what Disney animators use to ensure that their animations of both people and animals are realistic. For The Little Mermaid, the company hired actors to play Ariel, Prince Eric, and the remainder of the human cast. These actors would then go through every scene that involved these characters and act them out in front of gridlines and from various angles. This gave the Disney animators footage of realistic human movement that they could reference while drawing the movie. According to the special features, this live-action reference footage came in handy the most when the animators were attempting to draw one of the final moments in "Part of Your World" when Ariel reaches through the opening in the top of her grotto. Without this footage, the animators wouldn't have known where to draw Ariel's hand in relation to the opening as well as how much larger Ariel's hand should get as the frames progressed. I enjoyed seeing this aspect of Disney animation as I had never thought about how the animated movies were blocked (how the characters' movements were decided on) before. This special feature showed me once again the enormous amount of effort that goes into creating the animated movies that I love so dearly.
