Throughout the semester, every time we started a new topic I could come up with a Disney movie that would fit that theme. As time progressed I came to see just how much philosophy we have instilled in us at a young age through the movies we watched over and over again. When you watch movies as a child, you get the storyline; you cheer for the heroes and root against the villain. Then you revisit the movies as you get older and a whole new level is opened up because of your knowledge of human interactions and the subtleties of language. After this class, I realized that the movies had yet another level, one that many people probably never grasp.
One of the first topics we covered in class was the question of is there a God. While Disney makes few outright references to God, some characters can be seen praying. The film that deals the most directly with God is The Hunchback of Notre Dame. As the movie mainly takes place in the cathedral it is inevitable that God would be mentioned. The scene below is one of the best. It is towards the end of the movie. The villain, Frollo, has attempted to capture all the gypsies. Quasimodo has saved Esmeralda and poured molten copper in the streets to prevent pursuit. Frollo has corned Esmeralda and Quasimodo and is trying to kill them. This seen portrays God as Frollo’s words are turned against him by some higher power.
The next topic we talked about was closely related to the first. People have long been asking what happens to us after we die. The Disney movie that relates to this topic is Hercules. In the film, Hercules, son of Zeus, falls in love with Meg, who has sold her soul to Hades. Hades offers Hercules a deal- Hades will free Meg if Hercules gives up his powers for 24 hours. Hercules agrees, but during that day, Hades unleashes the Titans upon the world. Hercules fights one and kills it, but Meg is killed in the battle. The scene below shows Disney’s take on the afterlife (the first three minutes is the relevant portion).
The third topic in this set of ideas is the question of evil. Disney movies abound in evil villains. The movie I chose was The Black Cauldron. This movie never achieved the popularity of other Disney films, yet is one of my favorites. It has the scariest villain of the Disney movies and he is quite evil. The Horned King is searching for the mythical black cauldron. When he finds it he plans to use the cauldrons power to raise the cauldron-born. The cauldron-born are undead warriors who cannot be killed. The Horned King plans to unleash these warriors on the land and destroy everything. If ever there was an evil villain, the Horned King is it. The scene below shows the Horned King using the black cauldron to raise the cauldron-born. It captures the essential creepiness of the movie.
After evil, we turned to the question of personal identity. This is another popular topic in Disney films. Most of the characters undergo some identity crisis. The example I chose is Beauty and the Beast. This is a classic paragon of the question of personal identity. Does the Beast’s outward appearance define him, or is it simply a covering for his true identity. The scene below is the beginning of the movie, where the Beast is first transformed from human to beast. It asks the question of what makes a man, his appearance or what lies beneath?
The next topic we looked at was determinism and free will. There are Disney films for both sides of this argument. I found one of each. For the determinism side of the dispute, Sleeping Beauty and for the free will side, Pocahontas. Sleeping Beauty argues strongly for the determinism case. When Aurora is a baby, she is cursed by Maleficent. Maleficent says that on Aurora’s sixteenth birthday she will prick her finger and die. The curse is lessened by another fairy who says she will not die only fall asleep for a hundred years. Everyone in the kingdom does everything they can to avoid Aurora’s finger prick, but it happens anyway. In Pocahontas, she is told how to live and who to marry. However, Pocahontas is obstinate and refuses to do as she is told. As she is able to do this, the movie seems to argue that free will has a foot in life.
Sleeping Beauty: http://youtu.be/_sngtc5jn7w
Pocahontas: http://youtu.be/jNUtsI9Yb9I
Following Determinism and free will, we discussed epistemology and Bacon’s idols. The Disney movie that provides an example of this is Tangled. Epistemology is the question of how do we know what we know. In Tangled, Rapunzel believes that Mother Gothel is her mother and that she must hide from the world. She thinks these things because they are what she has been told by Mother Gothel. In the movie Rapunzel leaves her tower and travels the kingdom. Mother Gothel catches up to her and brings her home. Once there, Rapunzel realizes that all she has ever known is a lie. The scene below is her realization.
One of the last topics we discussed was gender reversal. The classic movie that contains a switch of gender roles is Mulan. In the film, Mulan pretends to be a boy in order to join the army in her father’s stead. The results are humorous, as is expected from movies containing gender reversal. The scene below is Mulan’s first try at impersonating a boy. It enforces the stereotypes of men and women by playing them up in this scene.
The final topic we discussed was ethics. All Disney movies have some ethical undercurrents. The two I chose were on a point we touched on briefly. The point was the question of whether animals fall into Kant’s categorical imperative. We argued that euthanasia was acceptable because animals do not have souls. This was used to say that animals do not fall into Kant’s categorical imperative. The movie I chose was Bambi. In the scene below, Bambi and his mother are chased by a hunter. Bambi’s mother is killed. This scene is one of the saddest in Disney movie history. I argue that people would not care so much if animal’s did not fall into Kant’s theory.
I know there are many other movies that would be examples for these categories. That is my point. Disney movies have all of the philosophical topics covered, as long as you know where to look.
What a great analysis, Veronica. You pulled together the major themes we have discussed through Disney movies. Now phil of film has "runied" Disney for you :)
ReplyDeleteI agree that once we have some exposure to philosophical questions, those questions and debates about the big ideas seem to appear everywhere.
You have great examples. thanks for such insight.
The Manly Business Of Disney Movies
ReplyDeletehttps://americasmansman.wordpress.com/2019/07/06/the-manly-business-of-fairy-tales/