Once upon a time, in a place called the Fine Arts Library, there sat a young woman trying to be scholarly. It was a difficult quest, fraught with distraction, temptation, and that mythical beast, the Internet. Suddenly, she pulled herself away from her magical word processing device, for the most glorious music reached her ears. Somewhere in the world outside of the brick tower in which she was trapped by Shakespeare, there was life. The marching band was playing Disney songs.
The other day while I was in the library doing my best to finish a paper, the strains of "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Under the Sea" crept in through the window and a tiny tear of joyful nostalgia came to my eye.
When I was little the best way to distract me from disruptive shenanigans was a Disney movie. If Alex was whining about being bored, pop in "Aladdin." If Alex dropped a huge pitcher full of sand and water on her toe at the beach and was practically inconsolable, put on "Sleeping Beauty." From the sound of that VHS tape whirring to life in the VCR all the way through to the very similar sound of rewinding the tape afterward, it was an experience of pure joy for me. But before I go on, let us all just take a moment to realize that there are kids now who have never watched a movie on VHS.
Don't you feel old now?
The repeated Disney viewing sessions had a very different effect on my parents and me. My mom, who had to see "Aladdin" probably a third of the times I watched it, will not hesitate to tell you that she would be OK with never, ever seeing it again. I, on the other hand, will brave the terrible and lengthy commercials for original programming on ABC Family just to catch a glimpse of my childhood.
That nostalgia is a large part of the draw for me. When I hear "Hakuna Matata" it makes me think of my own days of problem-free philosophy. I think of watching things with my family or my friends, of dressing up as Belle for Halloween, of swan diving off a cliff into a lovely lake, oh wait, that was Pocahontas. But it's not only the memories that bring me back to these movies again and again. I honestly think you can get things out of Disney movies when you are older that you would never pick up on as a child.
For instance: here are some words that come up in Disney songs that I remember off the top of my head: genuflect, coterie, menagerie, fakirs. As some of you may have realized, those are all from the song "Prince Ali" alone. Then of course there are the Shakespearean references, always dear to my heart, in "The Lion King" and Gaston's mob song. I won't even get into the darkly adult material lurking throughout "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" - though I will say there is a pole dance and there are actual liturgical chants. It's an interesting movie. The point of this long - though by no means exhaustive - list is that Disney movies, like all of the best children's movies, have things within them that you can only really appreciate when you're older.
But perhaps what I love most about Disney movies is how much a part of our own particular generation they seem to be. Sure, "The Lion King" just got released in 3-D, and judging by its success other classics will follow. Disney has also made newer movies like "Tangled," but the movies like "The Lion King," "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," "Beauty and the Beast" and even "Hercules," "Mulan" and "Pocahontas" came out while most current University students were kids. They were part of our culture growing up and I feel a kind of possession of them. I feel like you can talk about the Disney classics to almost anyone our age; practically everyone has a favorite Disney movie or character - mine is Belle, she's the nerdy girl's princess. Then there's the music. Disney songs are one of the few things that I will sing in public because people always join in. I think that's what the marching band was hoping to cash in on with its Disney-themed show, our own zeitgeist-y love of Disney. So next time you are wandering through Clemons looking for a movie to watch with your friends, maybe you should pick up a Disney classic so that you can simultaneously recall your childhood and laugh at lines like, "What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?".
Alex's column runs biweekly Wednesdays. She can be reached at a.davis@cavalierdaily.com.
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