Pages

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Disney Movies

so i grew up on Disney movies. i thought for the longest time that they were brilliant people thinking up these amazing stories. turns out it rained on my parade when i found out they took other stories and made them into children friendly sing along movies that i will share with my children. i wanted to find out where all my favorites came from. now i am not doing all Disney movies. that would be a bit excessive don't you think?

Alice in Wonderland


Is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world (the Wonderland of the title) populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic in ways that have given the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre. Some printings of this title contain both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and, What Alice Found There. Alice was published in 1865, three years after Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed in a boat, on 4 July 1862, up the River Thames with the three young girls, Lorina Charlotte Liddell, Alice Pleasance Liddell,  Edith Mary Liddell.  To while away time on the boat the Dodgson told the girls a story that, not so coincidentally, featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure. The girls loved it, and Alice Liddell asked Dodgson to write it down for her. After a lengthy delay—over two years—he eventually did so and on 26 November 1864 gave Alice the handwritten manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground,  The book has never been out of print.


Peter Pan


Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie (1860–1937)Peter Pan first appeared in a section of "The Little White Bird", a 1902 novel written by Barrie for adults. The character's best-known adventure debuted on 27 December 1904, in the stage play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up". The play was adapted and expanded somewhat as a novel, published in 1911 as Peter and Wendy" (later as "Peter Pan and Wendy", and still later as simply "Peter Pan"). Peter Pan has appeared in a number of adaptations, sequels, and prequels since then, including the widely known 1953 animated feature film "Walt Disney's Peter Pan", various stage musicals (including one by Jerome Robbins, starring Cyril Ritchard and Mary Martin, filmed for television), live-action feature films "Hook" (1991) and "Peter Pan" (2003), and the authorized sequel novel "Peter Pan in Scarlet" (2006). The notion of a boy who would never grow up was based on J. M. Barrie's older brother who died in an ice-skating accident the day before he turned 14, and thus always stayed a young boy in his mother's mind. Ironically, the "boy who wouldn't grow up" has appeared at a variety of ages. 




Beauty and the Beast


Is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740. The best-known written version was an abridgement of her work published in 1756 by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, in Magasin des enfants, ou dialogues entre une sage gouvernante et plusieurs de ses élèves; an English translation appeared in 1757. Variants of the tale are known across Italy. In France, for example, Zémire et Azor is an operatic version of the story of Beauty and the Beastwritten by Marmontel and composed by Grétry in 1771. It had enormous success well into the 19th century. It is based on the second version of the tale. The tale has perhaps been made most recently famous by the retelling in the 1991 Disney film.








Aladdin


 Aladdin literally meaning in English; "nobility of the faith", The original story of Aladdin is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. No Arabic source has been traced for the tale, which was incorporated into the book One Thousand and One Nights by its French translator, Antoine Galland, who heard it from an Arab Syrian storyteller from Aleppo. Although Aladdin is a Middle-Eastern tale, the story is set in China, and Aladdin is explicitly Chinese. However, the "China" of the story is an Islamic country, where most people are Muslims; there is a Jewish merchant who buys Aladdin's wares (and incidentally cheats him), but there is no mention of Buddhists or Confucians. Everybody in this country bears an Arabic name and its monarch seems much more like a Muslim ruler than a Chinese emperor. 1962 the Italian branch of the Walt Disney Company published the story Paperino e la grotta di Aladino (Donald and Aladdin's Cave), written by Osvaldo Pavese.




The Little Mermaid


The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. Written originally as a ballet, the tale was first published in 1837 and has been adapted to various media including musical theatre and animated film. Andersen originally ended the tale with the mermaid dissolving, but then later added the "daughters of air" coda and retconned it, stating that it was his original intention and, in fact, the working title of the story.The daughters of air say they can earn souls simply by doing three hundred years' worth of good deeds; but Andersen later revised it to state that all this depends upon whether children are good or bad. Good behavior takes a year off the maidens' time of service; bad behavior makes them weep, and a day is added for every tear they shed. The tale itself is considered by some feminists to contain a message about love and self-sacrifice, and the dangers of accepting abuse or inconsiderate treatment in the name of love.



Cinderella 

Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper  is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune. The word "cinderella" has, by analogy, come to mean one whose attributes are unrecognized, or one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. The still-popular story of Cinderella continues to influence popular culture internationally, lending plot elements, allusions, and tropes to a wide variety of media. The Cinderella theme may well have originated in classical period. The Greek historian Strabo recorded in the 1st century BC the tale of the Greco-Egyptian girl Rhodopis, "rosy-cheeked", who lived in the Greek colony of Naucratis in Ancient Egypt. It is often considered the oldest known version of the story.



The Jungle Book


The Jungle Book (1894) is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling.  Kipling was born in India and spent the first six years of his childhood there. After about ten years in England, he went back to India and worked there for about six-and-half years. The tales in the book (and also those in The Second Jungle Book which followed in 1895, and which includes five further stories about Mowgli) are fables, using animals in an anthropomorphic manner to give moral lessons. The verses of The Law of the Jungle, for example, lay down rules for the safety of individuals, families and communities. Kipling put in them nearly everything he knew or "heard or dreamed about the Indian jungle.". The Jungle Book, because of its moral tone, came to be used as a motivational book by the Cub Scouts, a junior element of the Scouting movement. This use of the book's universe was approved by Kipling after a direct petition of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, who had originally asked for the author's permission for the use of the Memory Game from Kim in his scheme to develop the morale and fitness of working-class youths in cities. Akela, the head wolf in The Jungle Book, has become a senior figure in the movement, the name being traditionally adopted by the leader of each Cub Scout pack.




Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs


Snow White is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm. The German version features elements such as the magic mirror and the seven dwarfs, who were first given individual names in the 1912 Broadway play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then given different names in Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsn their first edition, the Brothers Grimm published the version they had first collected, in which the villain of the piece is Snow White's jealous mother. In a version sent to another folklorist prior to the first edition, additionally, she does not order a servant to take her to the woods, but takes her there herself to gather flowers and abandons her; in the first edition, this task was transferred to a servant. It is believed that the change to a stepmother in later editions was to tone down the story for children. Some historians theorize that the tale of Snow White originates from an actual girl who lived the kingdom of Ghent. The girl was the daughter of a duke and his mistress. The child reportedly had a very pale complexion, and archaeological evidence suggests she may have even suffered from a form of albinism. The duchess, angry over her husband's infidelity reportedly had the girl put to death after the duke passed on. Jests at the time were made in which her motives were ascribed to her daughter being "fairer" (a pun making light of her complexion) than her mother. A poem written about "The Fair Maiden of Ghent" is suggested to be the inspiration for the tale by the brothers Grimm.




The Lion King


The Lion King was the first Disney animated feature to be an original story, rather than being based on an already-existing story. The filmmakers have said that the story of The Lion King was inspired by the Joseph and Moses stories from the Bible and William Shakespeare's Hamlet. However, certain elements of the film, bear a resemblance to a famous 1960s Japanese anime television show, Kimba the White Lion. One similarity is the protagonists' names: Kimba and Simba, although the word "simba" means "lion" in Swahili. The Creator of Kimba the White Lion, has refuted rumors that the studio was paid hush money by Disney but explains that they rejected urges from within the industry to sue because, 'we're a small, weak company. It wouldn't be worth it anyway... Disney's lawyers are among the top twenty in the world!' There was also controversy on how the hyena in the movie were portrayed. The resulting did not impress most hyena biologists: one hyena researcher sued Disney studios for defamation of character, and  Dr. Frank included boycotting The Lion King as a way of helping preserve hyenas in the wild. Hyena researcher Stephen Glickman wrote: "In both Hemingway and The Lion King there is an emphasis on greed, gluttony, and stupidity that is ultimately designed to be comical."




Mulan


Mulan originally began as a short, straight-to-video film titled "China Doll" about an oppressed and miserable Chinese girl who is whisked away by a British Prince Charming to happiness in the West. Then Disney consultant and children's book writer Robert San Souci suggested making a movie of the Chinese poem, "The Song of Fa Mu Lan" and Disney combined the two separate projects.The film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. The story can be traced back to The Ballad of Mulan. The earliest accounts of the legend state that she lived during the Northern Wei dynasty. However another version reports that Mulan was requested as a concubine by Emperor Yang of Sui China (reigned 604-617). The film may take place even later, as it prominently features landmarks such as the Forbidden City which was not constructed until the 15th century during the Ming dynasty. On the other hand, at the time of Northern Wei, the Xiongnu (Huns) had been already absorbed into Chinese culture. However, according to the style of dress, the film takes place sometime in the 15th century or before. The fireworks featured in the movie indicate that the movie is set during the Sui dynasty. Though Mulan is set in north China, where the dominant language is Mandarin, the Disney film uses the Cantonese pronunciation, "Fa", of her family name. Disney's Mulan casts the title character in much the same way as the original legend, a tomboy daughter of a respected veteran, somewhat troubled by not being the "sophisticated lady" her society expects her to be. In the original Mulan legend, Mulan uses her father's name Li and she was never discovered as a girl, unlike the film.



No comments:

Post a Comment