Damn. Your co-blogger posting while you were trying to put something up is the new being Weiner-pwned when you didn't hit preview.
Ursula actually bore a surprising resemblance to my favorite high school history teacher.
But there was a big penis on the cover of the movie!
The bookworm-living-in-a-provincial-town thing is a bit of a peeve for me. I like old fairy tales in all their sexist and classist ("sexy and classy!", says the Apostropher) splendor. Interesting updates I appreciate -- Cocteau's B & B is pretty awesome -- but the Disney take on B & B just doesn't do it for me. It's not an anti-Disney thing, I like their "Snow White" a lot. But the bookworm-living-in-a-provincial-town thing just doesn't seem to have any connection to the source.
The Fluke is the Duke of Soul
YEAH
They're bringing The Little Mermaid to Broadway.
Beauty and the Beast always felt a little forced. "Her name is Beauty, but she reads books! Now we can get on with having little girls want to princesses, we fulfilled our duty! On to Ice Princess"
Not sure I agree with The Little Mermaid analysis, though. She is giving up her voice for a man; she doesn't know she can get it back, so it's fairly classic sacrifice-your-unique-talent-for-some-dumb-prince.
I really prefer Snow White. Snow White doesn't do anything besides be sweet, kind, and fall in love, but at least she isn't pretending to be a smart university bookworm first. I like my old sexist stories old and sexist, not pretending to be updated.
What about the heroine in Aladdin? She's pretty good. Doesn't want to marry anyone who she doesn't love, &c.
I like my old sexist stories old and sexist, not pretending to be updated.
I love you. Please forgive my bitchiness over on the other thread. Here you get it exactly right.
t's not an anti-Disney thing, I like their "Snow White" a lot.
Come to think of it maybe it is an anti-(contemporary Disney) thing.
7: But *she* never really valued the thing she's giving up, and she wanted to go on land long before she ever met Eric. She wants to know "what is a fire, and why does it--what's the word?--burn?" I think memory of the HCA story prevents people from seeing the movie as its own narrative.
It has now taken exactly three days for the unmanning of Ogged's blog to be complete.
My favorite was always Sleeping Beauty. (I really dislike Disney's Cinderella even though it's one of my favorite fairy tales.) I loved her dress, and I love the three fairy godmothers. My favorite bit was when they broke out the magic for her birthday celebration,and Meriweather is making cake, and she says "Eggs, flour....oh,just do it like it says in the book."
I once saw a wonderful version of Cinderella that was set in 18th century France. (It's not quite as gruesome as the version where the sisters cut their heels to fit in the shoes and the birds tell the prince to look for the blood.) After she's found and brought to the palace, the ministers tell her that she really shouldn't marry the prince. He's supposed to marry a princess from some other country, and this is important because it will cement an important political alliance and keep the country safe. Cinderella, because she is a dignified gentlewoman and not a gold-digger, puts country before her personal happiness and leaves. Of course, ultimately they get married anyway. But the implication is that she's not being rescued.
Hey why not a link to Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont? "The youngest, as she was handsomer, was also better than her sisters."
Tia, maybe. She does seem pretty reluctant to hand over her voice to Ursula; I think it's a mistake to think only her father values it.
She doesn't pop out of the water with her reprisal until after she's met the prince, either. Knowing what fire is? Leads to an underwater collection. Meeting the boy? Now I need to get me some legs.
Plus, there's the whole anorexic with huge boobs and seashell bikini thing. Snow White had a plump little face.
Whoa, you were TEN when the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast came out? Wow.
I like the movie, btw.
the unmanning of Ogged's blog
Ummm, excuse me?
Whoa, there are a few new "abouts".
You know what I'd like? The opportunity to comment on the "About" pages.
I was just making fun of myself quoting Little Mermaid lyrics is all. Apo, you're right, as Weiner so aptly pointed out, no one could be prissier than Ogged.
You want a post soliciting comments on the new Abouts (or, I suppose, on the new bloggers generally)?
Joe, I give you permission to do it in this thread.
No, no, the pages themselves should have comment boxes, in case I want to leave one saying "lizardbreath u r so smokin hott", or whatever.
What, this blog wasn't set up for my personal benefit?
I think I was seven when Beauty and the Beast came out. I don't remember seeing it at the theatre, though. Lion King is the first Disney movie I can remember seeing in first release.
Why do you hate Ben w-lfs-n, JO?
Nobody needs to hear any more about fuckin w-lfs-n.
Hey y'know what I'd like to see around here, is a thread where everyone gives some explanation of how they happened on their pseudonyms. Misleading explanations would of course be welcome, and shaggy dog stories doubly so.
25: Nah, she's been out of the loop for a day or two because her email was down. I figure she'll have a page up soon.
I didn't opt out of About. My email has been down so I didn't get the memo about it until this morning. Now I feel woefully behind.
See, I'm so behind I even got scooped by LB on being behind.
28 -- sure. I had not even fully grokked that Matt Weiner was a pseud.
I want to hear more about LB scooping Becks' behind.
34 -- it might be, it might not be.
Aside: for everyone who's been desperate to get in touch with me, including those mongers of the web's finest penis cream, I'm entering a slightly modified version of my e-mail address (I'm sure you'll all be able to decipher it).
Because even if you're a penis cream-monger, you should at least be personal, and not rely on robots to do your dirty work.
My sister was obsessed with Disney's Sleeping Beauty such that 'make it pink! make it blue!' really could have been the only thing she said when she was four.
I had a soft spot for Robin Hood. Odilally, odillally, golly, what a day.
Sometimes the ups outnumber the downs.
34, yeah, my real name is "Jeremy Osner." What's yours?
(IOW, You've Been Trolled!)
What, exactly, is wrong with Ursula's body? It's beautiful, it's powerful, it's got tentacles. Are you suggesting that your vertebrate-centric standards of beauty ought to be imposed on it?
I'll admit that it took me a pathetically long time to figure out who Ttam R. was.
No, not at all. My last boyfriend was a banana slug.
I still whistle the theme from Disney's Robin Hood on a pretty regular basis. I loved that movie.
My last boyfriend was a banana slug.
Ah, the banana slug -- most phallic of the gastropoda by far.
I just wish they hadn't named her Ursula. It's a great name tied to an octopus for all eternity. She had one of the best songs in the movie though.
I'll admit that it took me a pathetically long time to figure out who Ttam R. was.
Wait, is it someone famous?
(46 was for you Emerson. I hope you're visualizing.)
Ah, the banana slug
UC Santa Cruz! Woot!
My first girlfriend's older sister was named Ursula, but she was hot, so I have that to counteract the Sea Witch.
most phallic of the gastropoda by far
Of the gastropods, maybe. But it's still no geoduck.
I once offered to answer the question posed in 28, but ogged hurt my feelings.
JM -- we talking musical comedies here or RL? I lost track.
Rats! 57 should be 23 on a different thread.
The bookish girl with the soaring, transcendent desires has another classic form: Emma Bovary. I just saw an ambitious, overlong but worthwhile student production at Northwestern.
Now that is a Disney Animation I'd love to see. Could be good, too.
Slugs look phallic, but their sex play is pretty oral.
My first girlfriend's older sister was named Ursula, but she was hot, so I have that to counteract the Sea Witch.
You're probably too young to be familiar with the very hot Ursula Andress.
Apostropher, your geoduck cannot make up for the inherent prissiness of co-blogging with a bunch of girls.
the inherent prissiness of co-blogging with a bunch of girls
That's not prissy; that's hott. We all post completely naked, you know.
Intriguing take on the Little Mermaid... however, the problem remains that the girl is 16 when she marries the prince.
She may not have had a voice to say no (how symbolic!) and there probably weren't any statutory laws in... well, wherever Eric's kingdom was supposed to be... but still.
That was the crux of my Disney disillusionment, anyway.