Someday, my prince will come… Well, probably not. But according to thefilmsI grew up on, I just need to wait a little longer! Or I might turn into an evil villain soon.I love a goodDisney movieas much as the next person, and there’s no doubt that some of them have incrediblesoundtracks. But once we grow up, we’re able to look at these stories a bit more critically. And it turns out that they don’t all have the best messages.Redditors have recently beencalling outDisney movies that convey questionable themes tokids, so we’ve gathered some of their valid critiques below. Keep reading to also find a conversation with the person who started this thread, and be sure to upvote the replies that you can’t help but agree with!This post may includeaffiliate links.
Someday, my prince will come… Well, probably not. But according to thefilmsI grew up on, I just need to wait a little longer! Or I might turn into an evil villain soon.
I love a goodDisney movieas much as the next person, and there’s no doubt that some of them have incrediblesoundtracks. But once we grow up, we’re able to look at these stories a bit more critically. And it turns out that they don’t all have the best messages.
Redditors have recently beencalling outDisney movies that convey questionable themes tokids, so we’ve gathered some of their valid critiques below. Keep reading to also find a conversation with the person who started this thread, and be sure to upvote the replies that you can’t help but agree with!
This post may includeaffiliate links.
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Any movie which pushes marrying someone you just met.
I have a running joke with my wife that Aladdin is about a young man who lies to and gaslights a woman, but she doesn’t care because he has a cool car.
“I started the conversation because I felt that Disney movies had the reputation of just being good entertainment for kids, and I wanted to see what people’s opinions were,” they toldBored Panda. “Specifically, a bad message can be disguised with pretty visuals.”
Not sure if it still holds but for the longest time, all Disney hero’s had American accents and villains had foreign accents. Even when they were from the same culture. Remember kids - foreigners are scary.
For me it’s The Little Mermaid. Change everything about yourself for a guy? No thanks.
We were also curious to know which films the author believes share questionable messages.
The Lion King is my favorite movie about running away from your life’s problems until you are old enough to k*ll your uncle.
Cinderella.Poor woman with no hope in sight meets rich man, spends part of an evening dancing with him, neither of them have any idea who the other person really is, but when he finds her again, they are instantly married and just when the real story and character development could take place, that’s the end, of course happily ever after.Boys: your goal is to be a wealthy provider, and then you’ll be happy because you’ll have a pretty woman…Girls: find a rich, charming man and he will take care of you and you’ll be happy the rest of your life.And neither are going to do well in relationships if they internalize this message.
On the other hand, we wanted to know which Disney movies convey the best messages.“I enjoy the moviesMulanandPrincess and the Frog,” they shared. “[Their] messages show the value of honor, hard work and ingenuity. I also enjoyBeauty and the Beastbecause it shows how people can change and the value of kindness. My favorite Disney film remainsThe Lion King, but that is really just a retelling of Hamlet with stellar visuals and an amazing voice cast.”
On the other hand, we wanted to know which Disney movies convey the best messages.
“I enjoy the moviesMulanandPrincess and the Frog,” they shared. “[Their] messages show the value of honor, hard work and ingenuity. I also enjoyBeauty and the Beastbecause it shows how people can change and the value of kindness. My favorite Disney film remainsThe Lion King, but that is really just a retelling of Hamlet with stellar visuals and an amazing voice cast.”
I’m going to make a very controversial pick and say “Inside Out”. But with a heavy caveat. Only in regards to boys/men. The emotions of women when shown are complex and deep. The male counterparts were gag jokes and stereotypes.
They had to repeatedly assure people the message of The Hunchback of Notre Dame was not, “Be grateful for the pretty girl’s friendship and step aside for your handsome friend, because that’s clearly the best you can hope for.”
“Wish”, easily.copper-feather:I believe this movie would have worked better if they had tried to go with the message “Not every wishshouldbe granted”.Instead they went with the message “There are no bad wishes, only bad genies”.
However, they added that a lot of people missed the point of certain movies. “InBeauty and the Beast, there is no Stockholm Syndrome as we understand it. Rather, this movie is about the Beast learning and changing until he becomes loveable.”
“Similarly,ThePrincess and the Frogis not about Tiana’s need for a rich boyfriend, but about her balancing her ambition with human connections,” the author explained. “And similar toBeauty and the Beast, the prince is not loveable until he learns the value of work.”
I’m not a fan of the end of Encanto, where the message seems to be forgive your narc Abuela even though she made everyone miserable.
Though it was my fav growing up, Sleeping Beauty should probably be on this list.Takeaway messages:A) The gifts the fairies are bestowing upon infant-Aurora are all superficial (until the last one). Being pretty > being smart, kind, healthy, etcB) It’s a-ok for a dude to kiss an unconscious woman. In fact, it makes you a real man, a hero even.
Does Rise of Skywalker count?After Last Jedi set up a message of “It doesn’t take being born special or being part of a certain bloodline to make a difference,” Rise of Skywalker went “LOL NEVERMIND, ONLY THE SUPER SPECIAL PEOPLE BORN INTO THE SUPER SPECIAL FAMILIES CAN BE COOL, AND PEOPLE WILL ONLY LISTEN TO THE FAMOUS CELEBRITIES IF YOU NEED HELP!!!“God what a sh**show of a movie.
A lot of them are bad, but I’ve always struggled with The Princess and the Frog…. Amazing hard working woman, so close to achieving her dreams, has to learn to….calm down on her bad*ss work ethic to make room for a guy who hasn’t worked a day in his life? Don’t love it. I expect the classics to be awful. It’s more jarring when the main character is fully competent and prepared to make her dreams come true without a man.
Not really a message, but Parent Trap was just creepy to me.A couple is married and the wife has twins. Then they get divorced soon after the births. Each gets custody of one child and move far apart from the other. Not only do the girls have zero contact with their other parent, they aren’t even told they have an identical twin sister.
Individually the messages of Wreck It Ralph and Wreck It Ralph 2 are fine. Together it’s incoherent. Why does Ralph have to learn to accept his position in life but Vanelope get to live her dream in a different game? The two movies have diametrically opposing messages and it drives me insane.
Everyone’s going for the classics, here’s a more recent one:Raya and the Last Dragon.You should have faith and trust everyone, even the woman who stabbed you in the back and has shown repeatedly that she cannot be trusted.MysteryGirlWhite:Raya was apparently “you have to learn to trust others”, even though the movie has her being betrayed over and over again
Tinkerbell in Peter Pan, what a mean girl bully.
Little Mermaid.She left her family and her world and sacrified too much for someone she didn’t even know because he was handsome.
Beauty and the beast. Stockholm Syndrome at its finest.
Wasn’t Cars 2 the one where the disabled were the villains?Lisija123:Yes, the “lemons” were demonized throughout the entire movie for using fossil fuel. Even though that’s not their fault, that’s just how their body works. They didn’t choose to be born (built?) as lemons.
Coco and Encanto tells you that your family will immediately and substantially change their negative behaviors if given logic information.
Hot take, but Encanto.People who are mistreating you are simply under pressure, misunderstood, and/or doing what they think is best for everyone. Redemption and forgiveness is always possible.As someone who has lived for far too long around families like this, I can tell you that Abuela’s character arc was completely unrealistic and unbelievable. If they replaced Abuela with Mother Gothel from Tangled, it would be such a better movie.
Oliver and Company: The best way to free yourself of money payments is not to learn how to be better with handling money but to k*ll your creditor. You just gotta make it look circumstantial.
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I love, love, love Up, and think it has great messages about love, unlikely friendships and giving people a chance. But just lately, “scientists are the villains” didn’t do the world any favors. Also, trophy hunters were right there if they needed a villain who hunts the last rare bird.
Blank Check.bruingrad84:Taught me to spend all my money fast before the authorities take it back…. The dumb And dumber philosophy.
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Someone once pointed out that the lion king is a very pro monarchy authoritarian story but in the original the animation is so beautiful you can look past that. But in the remake you’re forced to realize what the story is like.
Chicken Little.It effectively amounted to ‘People will only believe you if you are popular and successful regardless of the truth.’ That may have not been their intended message, but it’s what it amounted too. Though so much of that was also having one of the worst dads in Disney history as a major character.
The actual message of Frozen is good, but the song Fixer-Upper stands out as something they really should have been cut in favor of more storytelling. Replace that song with a scene of Anna regaining her memories or at least learning the truth about her past from the trolls and suddenly the whole movie is a 10 instead of an 8.“Our son kind of sucks but you can fix him” is just a terrible song and it’s played for laughs on purpose so take my ranting with a grain of salt.
I think most Disney and Pixar movies promote extreme individualism over collectivism, which I’m not much of a fan of. Many also promote this fallacy of a “true self” and self actualization over the reality that our selves are mutable, complex and constantly changing. To be fair these points tend to be the default western philosophy, but I’d love to see a feel-good Disney movie that espouses the importance of social cohesion and the dangers of self-worship and extreme individualism.
The disney movie about superheros and sidekicks, Sky High, is basically about class warfare and eugenics. “Youre either born a sidekick or a superhero” is kinda enough.
Worst literal message: The Fox & the Hound boiled down to, “It’s cute if you want to be friends but let’s face it, some differences are insurmountable and ultimately there’s just less conflict with segregation, amirite? Let’s just agree to like each other while being very, very segregated.“Worst overall message: Tomorrowland (because it was f*****g incomprehensible).
Mr. Magoo. They got so much backlash from the blind/visually impaired community that they had to put a disclaimer at the beginning saying the character did not accurately represent people with poor eyesight.
‘Dumbo’ sends an outdated and insensitive message about exploiting physical differences for entertainment.
The live action remake of The Jungle Book, human kids should just stay in the jungle.
If you look at the original story behind Pinocchio and keep it in mind while watching, the moral is that Italians treat each other poorly at any given opportunity. .
Tomorrowland.The whole planet is going to burn/melt/freeze/drown but if we can convince random people with ‘hope’ to come join our cult, we can probably save it.Not physicists or engineers or anything like that. Final scene shows hotel cleaning staff, kids busking with guitars - that’s who is going to save us from ecological disaster.
Why is no one talking about Zootopia? The whole movie is about institutional racism and corrupt law enforcement. But they don’t solve anything. In fact, at the end, the career criminal becomes a cop. While it is probably the most realistic Disney movie, the moral ends up being “Everybody sucks at least little bit so let’s have a party.”.
Turning Red is supposed to be a metaphor for Puberty but she literally starts selling her body at 13 years old and then her whole family condones her selling her body at the end so they can pay for the millions of dollars of damage they did to Toronto. I think this is obviously problematic and strongly outshines any points about family acceptance.
I have to say, Monsters University sends a pretty disheartening message. The movie essentially tells us that no matter how hard you try, you can’t always achieve your dreams. This is evident through Mike’s journey. Despite his passion and relentless effort to become a scarer, he ultimately fails because he simply doesn’t have the innate ability for it. Instead of promoting the idea that hard work and determination can help you achieve anything, the film suggests that some goals are just unattainable no matter how much effort you put in. While it’s a dose of reality, it’s not exactly the inspiring message I was hoping for from a family movie. I might have got it wrong tho.
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Žydrūnė Trukanavičiūtė
Linas Simonaitis
Aivaras Kaziukonis
Entertainment
