Monday Morning Mocha

I went to see Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” yesterday with my two cousins and their young children. The movie is historically significant because it features the first black princess of the Disney movies. The movie was really cute and my little cousins really seemed to enjoy it! The basic theme of the movie was to dream BIG and work hard to make your dreams a reality. Although I enjoyed the movie I couldn’t help but think that sometimes Disney movies inspire false hopes in children. I grew up watching Disney movies, my brother and I; we had them all, my favorite of all time was The Little Mermaid (my very first Disney movie) and The Lion King of course. So I was truly excited to see this movie myself because I had grown up on Disney movies and was interested to see the story of the first black Disney princess. After leaving the movie though I began to wonder why we take our children to see these fairy tales. I mean I know we want them to be amazed but at the same time are we giving them false ideas of reality? I think that by watching a lot of the movies I did as a child, it made me believe in ideas that weren’t necessarily true; such as, my prince in shining armor would come rescue me and I would become a princess and live happily ever after. But does happily ever after really exist?

Also, dreaming BIG and working hard in a capitalistic society does not promise everyone a path to success and riches. It’s just not possible in a capitalistic society because in this type of social system there has to be a class order, and that means poor people, individuals in the middle, and those on top. I am just saying, we are taught all these things as children but then as we get older, we realize that obtaining our “dreams” may not be as simple as we have been led to believe and most of us just settle for the status quo. And then we wonder why we are so messed up as adults, because we have been fed a bunch of BS and lies our whole lives. We live a life of freedom as children and then we are thrown into the slavery of the system in having to work to survive and take care of a family. 

Of course there are those who do make their dreams a reality, but this is just not possible for everyone, especially if those dreams include being rich. Another under-lying theme in the movie was the idea that money is power and if you don’t have the green, your dreams are impossible to make a reality. So the movie contradicts itself by saying in the beginning that if you dream big and work hard your dreams will come true, but then it says, wait, but not without MONEY! Everyone cannot be rich in a capitalistic society because then there would be no such thing; money would lose its value if everybody had it. This system is designed for people to fail and the people that make it all the way to the top usually lied, cheated and stole to make it there.

You may be thinking, how I could get all of this out of a Disney movie but most of the time the truths are presented to us in the form of a story or cartoon so that we will be so amazed by the tricks and illusions we look past the truth that is there. If you don’t believe me, go watch the Lion King and listen to the STORY that is being told, look past the illusion that we see in the animation….Now I’m not saying not to take your children to see animated movies but what I am saying is to listen to the real story and message that is being told to your children. Present them with both sides of the spectrum, especially as they get older. You have to give your children some realities, so that it won’t hit them so hard when they are faced with the true realities of the world we live in.