I’m sure it’s not an original sentiment to proclaim that my kid is being brainwashed by Disney movies and their inane plots. Allow me to summarize:
A princess aspires to meet nameless prince with no personality, who can then rescue her from some kind of tower or sinister monster or wicked stepmother, thereby whisking her away to happily ever after, whatever that means.
Has anyone noticed how many princesses are nearly murdered by psychotic women due to jealousy over their beauty? Why can’t it be jealousy over their genius mind or charming personality? And why are there so many psychotic women out there in story land trying to murder princesses? And why do these stories always portray women as either mindless gorgeous princesses or crazy princess-killing bitches? And why do the protagonists always have to be princesses in the first place? Sheesh!
The latest Disney princess movie, Tangled, is admittedly pretty cute; in fact, I found myself stopping whatever chore I was doing in the next room to watch for a few minutes, which is no small feat given my ability to tune out Vivi’s movies (honed from many hours listening to the drivel dialogue frequently present in the 1940’s princess classics). But I am rapidly tiring of the same ol’ silly premise, and unfortunately even Rapunzel doesn’t escape the Grimm brothers’ fascination with stolen babies and crazed women.
Fortunately, despite Disney’s attempt to squash creative thinkers, my daughter has somehow emerged with a budding imagination. And when I am in my little peanut’s imagination-land, I would much rather play "bean-bag dinosaur and Buzz Lightyear go shopping for fruit cups" than "the prince slays the monster to save the princess." Another lucky break is that our latest great library DVD find is "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" classic that I loved so much as a child. I am happy to say it’s now her most-requested film. I can’t wait to get her some of the Milne books, not to mention eventually taking her to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie in the theater, if it’s still out there.