Today’s article is brought to you by the letter “G”!
I doubt anyone out there would openly want to consort with a real life Groose, so why do we love characters like him on the silver screen. Well, the short answer is it’s hilarious. Alright, show’s over, move along. But we’re not here for that. Why is the overly macho, overconfident memeatic badass such a lovable character? Here are a few ideas as to why.
A long while back, around June, I made a post about Wreck-It Ralph–Disney’s 52nd animated film–and I will have to say that I was skeptical. Looking back at my first impressions of Ralph, I am quite proud, pleased to say that after watching the film on its opening day I can honestly say that I was wrong. Say what you will about Disney Animated Studio’s most recent works–things like Bolt, The Princess and the Frog, and Tangled– but Wreck-It Ralph is, by far, one of the best movies to come out of the studio in the last few years.
Misfits and outcasts–like Vanellope and Ralph– are ready to save the day once more.
And it is through Ralph’s combination of superb artistry and strong story that makes this film definitely worthwhile.
Perhaps the only upside to extended periods of time disconnected from my constant stream of information is the joy of getting it all at once in bulk as soon as the periods of time end. Yes, it was not long after I opened up my laptop in a designated safe area after almost two days with no electricity thanks to the delightful harbinger of badly timed disasters, Madame Sandy, that I found the internet abuzz with news about what I had previously considered an impossible notion. There will be a new Star Wars. Yes, Disney has grown a few feet at the waistline thanks to this new deal, and this is a rather important fact when examining and predicting the future of a new set of SW films. But the cause, in this case, is outshone by the effect. There will be a new Star Wars. Hot damn.
Someone call She-Hulk, we’ve got a case on our hands. Avengers legal team assemble!
Tuesday saw the home video release of Marvel’s The Avengers film, quite possibly one of the best darn superhero movies… Ever. And if you all didn’t know beforehand, the special edition box set of the movie and all the other Marvel movies leading up to it was going to be quite something. In addition to six movies, the ten disc set was going to also contain four discs of bonus features galore, S.H.I.E.L.D files and even a model Tesseract all for a cool $150 if you pre-ordered. Sounds like a major deal right? Unfortunately we’re going to have to wait a bit longer.
Well-timed with the E3 conference, Disney has recently released four stills from their new animated feature: Wreck-it-Ralph. While Disney Animation Studio’s last two movies, The Princess and the Frog and Tangled, fell into the typical “Disney princess” line, Wreck-it-Ralph diverges from the tried-and-true Disney formula and is instead about a video game villain who seeks out to prove that he’s actually one of the good guys. On his quest to prove he’s not just a Donkey Kong ripoff (I’m sorry, but it had to be said, I mean, look at this promo-video), he lands in various video-game “worlds” ranging from a sci-fi FPS to a kart racing game, and (presumably) learns how to redeem his image in the interconnected game community.
Snow White Puts Her Big Boy Pants On:
What This Princess’s Media Makeover Says About Modern-Day Femininity
Disney’s Snow White (1937) and Once Upon a Time’s Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) (2012)
Everyone knows the story of Snow White: a young princess is forced to flee from a wicked, vain queen and finds herself in the company of a group of tiny dwarf miners, until her prince comes along and saves her from her poison-apple-induced sleep. For years, children worldwide have watched the iconic Disney film and seen its characters plastered on every type of merchandise imaginable. And the message this burned into the memory of little girls everywhere is clear: true love conquers all. Continue reading »
I don’t care if you think you’re the manliest guy around: everyone has a favorite Disney princess! Today, starshine and I sat down to discuss which princess is better: the fiery Jasmine or the bookish Belle?
Silverwolf: Hello all, silverwolf here to answer the age old question: who is the better Disney Princess, Jasmine or Belle. I’ll be on the Belle side
Starshine: And I will be on Jasmine’s side!
Silverwolf: Sweet, let’s get to it! I guess we can start with their characteristics. I have to say, what always drew me to Belle was just how determined she is despite everything she watches her father tormented all his life and suffers torment herself for her desire to, you know, be an educated woman in 17th century France, but even so she stays strong, she even is willing to undergo the ordeal of living with a monster!
Starshine: Those are a lot of the same qualities I see in Jasmine: independence, strength, determination. But the main difference I think is what you called “educated.” I think Belle (at least at the beginning) represents the worst of the backwater academic: a condescending attitude and snobbery. I knew kids like that in my hometown – stuck up, thought they were so above it all, and just overall insufferable.
Hello guys! Sorry for the uh, dead silence coming my way, I’ve faced hoards of angry (And ravenous) relatives, children, friends (Who have successfully cleared out my fridge, thank you silverwolf and your tiny hedgehog sidekick), and I’ve successfully completed a very woobly friendmance with Anders. In short, my vacation has been a little busy. (Uh derp)
And because of last week’s run-in with a few friends and family, my kitchen has been cleared out. (NOES) So with an empty fridge and an empty heart, we’re going to have to prepare for something big and awesome and fantabulous for next week but in the mean-time I’d like to share some food for thought.
After all, it’s a new year with new opportunities, especially for (wait-for-it) strong female characters!
Sexism is over >BU
Ahahah, no. Not those kind of strong female characters… Continue reading »
(Disney, Part 4)
There are several reasons I’ve focused on the period known as the Disney Renaissance for my series of articles on Disney (it probably won’t be the last, since they’re such a huge driving force behind Western animation.) The most practical reason is because I know them the best: as someone who grew up throughout most of the 1990s, I saw many of these movies in theaters, or else owned them on VHS and watched them to pieces (I mean that literally: we’re talking about VHS here, after all). All nostalgia aside, I think this is the most fascinating period of Disney’s history, and one of the most important periods in the history of Western animation in general.
After writing my previous articles, it occurred to me that there may be some of you who aren’t sure exactly what I mean when I talk about the Disney Renaissance. Basically, it was a resurgence of critical interest and popularity for Disney, who had struggled in the 1970s and 1980s, when they began dabbling unsuccessfully in live-action features. The renaissance began with The Little Mermaid in 1989, and is generally considered to have ended with Tarzan in 1999. Disney animated features that fall into this range include The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994),Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999).
I’ve written a few reviews, told you what I generally like and dislike about the Disney Renaissance format, but I don’t think I’ve given a good overall look at this groundbreaking period. So I’d like to take a look at some of the best moments from the Disney Renaissance.
In my previous Disney articles, I complained at length about Disney. In those articles, I argued that Aladdin and The Hunchback of Notre Dame were both held back by the “Disney formula”, which includes (among other characteristics) several catchy musical numbers, wacky sidekicks (an animation pet peeve of mine), and a happy ending. There’s a reason Disney stuck to this formula for much of the late 1980s and 90s, though: there are several popular and acclaimed Disney movies that use this formula to their advantage. The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and Mulan are all great examples; however, when I think of the best Disney movies – ones where the Disney formula that cemented itself during the Disney Renaissance works to the film’s benefit in nearly every respect, that are nearly perfect examples of the art of animation – there’s one film that always comes to mind first: Beauty and the Beast.
