The new Renaissance of Disney

When the world you live in consists of a new Disney masterpiece every few years, it can be easy to think of Disney as a consistent creator of animated classics. They have been the most consistent source of animated films worthy of praise yet this material has not been constant. Disney, like all companies and artists, has suffered its own slumps.

During the most recent slump, which started as early as Pocahontas or as late as Tarzan, depending on your taste, has gotten worse until the seemingly final traditionally animated feature, Home on the Range, was released. The film is surely one of the worst that Disney has made and was the final nail in the coffin of traditional Disney. For the next few years, Disney attempted to make CGI films similar to those of their property, Pixar. Some were successful (Bolt), some were decent (Meet The Robinsons) and some are best forgotten (Chicken Little). After a lot of changes in the power at Disney, they tried to bring back traditional animation with The Princess and the Frog. This was still not their best effort and many had begun to lose hope in Disney once again after the new hope had been found.

However, this was not the moment to lose hope. For in 2010, Disney finally found what it had lost in Tangled, a movie that had suffered through a lot of development pains, which made me wary of whether it would be worth even seeing. I am so pleased that I did though, because it is truly the beginning of a new Renaissance for Disney. But what makes Tangled such a perfect film for Disney?

It’s common knowledge that Disney’s favorite characters tend to be princesses. Rapunzel, the star of Tangled, is no different. It’s a fairy tale that most people have heard of and are familiar with to a degree. It’s the tale of a girl who is trapped in a tower and is waiting to be freed. At its core, Tangled is a romance between Rapunzel and the action hero created for the film, Flynn Rider. They create a romance that is the core of many other Disney classics, most easily linked to Beauty and the Beast, for they both see each other in a different light than the rest of the world and find a deep understanding for each other, which nobody else can see.

However, Tangled also has the comedy elements of past Disney fare, including sidekicks, Pascale the chameleon and Maximus the horse. The film manages to not feel trapped in another era by combining the comedy sensibilities of past Disney features with the modern self-awareness of films, like Shrek. Yet it doesn’t veer too far off the track of what Disney is known for and keeps with the feel of a proper Disney film.

The true backbone of the movie that defines it all is the music, which is true for any Disney musical. From the opening number of When Will My Life Begin that clearly defines the wants and needs of the heroin and shows us where the plot will lead to Mother Knows Best, a villain song that recalls Poor Unfortunate Souls. The songs also take a comedic turn in I’ve Got A Dream that mixes the comedy with a wistful feel of the hope found at the soul of Disney.

The clear musical highlight of the film is I See The Light. The song is the classic romantic theme found in Disney features throughout the years from A Whole New World to Something There and many other songs that show the blossoming romance between the two leads. The song is classically beautiful and the sequence that accompanies it in the film is so beautiful and heartbreaking that I dare you to not be touched.

Although you expect this to be the emotional peak of the movie, it keeps you hanging for another 20 minutes or so and continues the action and emotion to bring you to the happy ending that everybody expects in a Disney movie. They manage to keep it interesting by employing story points that I believe originate in the fairy tale but are not as familiar to us that we get bored with them.

Tangled is exactly the film that Disney needed at this point in time to bring them back to their prime. It’s a comedy, a musical, an action adventure and a movie that is full of heart. Each character fits perfectly into the plot and feels familiar without feeling overused. The soundtrack is one of the best that Disney has used since their Golden Ages of the past. If Disney continues on this path, animated features will be filled with the happiness and heart that they were in the early 90’s and back in the days where Walt was alive.

Snooki: The Modern Heroine

Ever since the debut of MTV back in the 80’s, it has had a strong hold on the youth and captured the essence of their culture countless times. From making and breaking the musical heroes of modern teenagers to creating the now inescapable reality television phenomena, they’ve done it all. Every couple years, they truly strike gold as they did last year with Jersey Shore, which is arguably the trashiest show to grace their airwaves. A show that revolves around eight twentysomethings who live in a beach house together by the Jersey Shore for the summer.
The overall values presented on the show are something to be found in the nightmares of most parents. Their lives revolve around tanning, having sex and partying with lots of alcohol. They fight, they fuck, they do everything that shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager fight against. Yet this is a better reflection on the lives of today’s young people. While MTV is a network that aims mainly at a teenage audience, the cast of the show is mostly in their twenties. These young people have been judged harshly by many critics. Some love their crazy antics for the trashy factor while others find them to be a bad example for today’s youth. But are their antics really an issue to concern ourselves over or are they just another example of harmless fun in the media?
The show has created many stars of its cast. The most famous by a large margin has been Nicole Polizzi, known as Snooki. She’s influenced fashion with her hairstyle that vaguely recalls the obsession with Amy Winehouse’s train wreck hairstyle a few years ago. She’s had many sound bites that have gotten play throughout the media and are now staples in the daily lives of today’s youth. Her influence on Western culture is enormous and not limited to the teen market unlike that of past MTV celebrities like Lauren Conrad.
Her fame comes mostly from the ridiculous antics displayed on her show yet through all the crazyness, she comes out seeming to be a hero of sorts. The show has its douchebag guys, strong women (aka psycho bitches) and dramatic couple, all of which are essential elements for a popular reality show. However, Snooki comes out of all this as the odd woman out. She’s hopeless in love and is cast as the outsider in the first episode, where she has too much to drink and indulges in the behaviour we expect of these people yet is judged harshly for trying to be herself and make a good expression. This is relatable to the youth. She’s the one we’re supposed to sympathize with. She’s just an average, fun girl who got caught in a sticky situation. Everybody loves the underdog.
As the season progresses, we root for her as she gains friends within the house, such as her confidant and partner in crime, JWow, whose selling points seem to be her no-nonsense approach to drama for girls and her large breasts for guys. After she has established herself as a normal human being within the house and has been accepted by the rest of the cast, she begins her second story-arch that draws in the viewer.
Snooki has a specific type of man which she loves to adorn with names like gorilla and juicehead, which are codenames for men who are addicted to working out and steroids because of the horrific standard that the media places upon men. Snooki’s obsession with this type of men does not help the role of men within society and does not allow them to move past this gender stereotype. However, her inability to find a man that will stick with her past a night of casual sex forces the viewer to gravitate toward her longing with sympathy. The hopeless romantic within her comes out and keeps her in the heart of the audience as the poor girl who just can’t catch a break. As the first season finishes her quest for love seems like it will never end.
This all changes in the second season which starts with Snooki and her boyfriend, who will have to continue working on their relationship as Snooki goes off to Miami to party but must resist the temptation of hooking up with anybody who is more than 90% muscle. This temptation does not turn out to be the danger but this storyline is used to further the idea of men being driven only by their genitals as her boyfriend ruins their relationship because he can’t keep it in his pants. While this storyline had been previously explored in both seasons with JWow and her boyfriend, Tom, Snooki brings a sort of first love experience and heartbreak to it that leads the audience to have a newfound sympathy for this played out storyline.
Things seem to be rocky in the third season for Snooki’s love life as she tries to find romance with cast mate Vinny but his penis leads him to hook up with all of Snooki’s friends which leads to further heartbreak. This storyline will surely be played out throughout the season as Snooki’s quest for love is always a big seller with the viewers. This season she will also come into trouble with the law, which seems to be related to her alcohol addiction from the gossip stories of her arrest within the summer. It will be interesting to see how our heroin deals with the bad guys sent by the man to stop her fun.
This isn’t the first time that Snooki’s drinking has lead her to trouble with violence. In the first season, Snooki was punched in the face by a man at a bar over shots that he stole from Snooki and friends. This plotline was surely a surprise for the people behind the show but clearly a delight as it added to Snooki’s role as the poor girl we have sympathy for as it presents the clear value that it is wrong for a man to hit a woman. This standard of violence in society is so deeply assumed yet to make sure we understand how wrong this crime is, each cast member, with emphasis on the males, weighs in on how crazy this situation is. 
Men are not the only gender to be demonized so that we sympathize with poor Snooki. Sammi, who claims to be a sweetheart but whose behaviour suggests anything but that, is blind to the behaviour of her boyfriend, Ronnie, who cheats on her constantly then crawls back to her without revealing any of his escapades. Snooki and her sidekick, JWow, decide to do something about this by writing Sammi a note to tell her all the bad things that her boyfriend is doing to get her to gain strength and become a heroine in her own sense. However, she’s not the hero of the show and Snooki is much better at playing the victim to an evil bitch than she is being the friend who helped get a girl out of a bad relationship. Therefore, the story takes a turn for the worst as Sammi lashes out against the two other girls and they become the victims of the show once again.
While Snooki may not be the best role model for young girls, it is easy to see why they love her so much. She’s victimized in each episode for many different reasons yet through all the adversity she faces, she still manages to have fun and be obnoxious enough for us to love her. Season 3 will clearly bring more pity for Snooki from the audience and cement her place as the modern heroine of the internet age.

The new superhero

I don’t hate it.

Awkward Boy

Hello Beautiful. I hope you will be winning the big awards on Oscar night.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Technorati Tags: Reviews,Exit Through The Gift Shop

I’m not a regular viewer of documentaries but I do enjoy them. It’s just that in the same way as non-fiction books, the actual story has to interest me or there’s really no point. I decided to watch this documentary, Exit Through The Gift Shop, without any real knowledge of the subject except that it was about art. As a lover of anything artistic, this obviously peaked my interest.
The movie is the story of Thierry Guetta, a director turned artist, under the name, Mr. Brainwash. His fascination with street art leads him to meet many famous street artists like Banksy, who directed this film, and Shepard Fairey. His obsession turns him toward attempting the art and gaining a lot of success.
Thierry’s success raises a bunch of questions about art. Most films concentrated on street art would probably focus on the question of whether street art is considered real art or not. While this question is addressed through many art collectors who have Banksy pieces in the same way they would Picassos or Warhols, the more important question is what it takes to be an artist. Thierry has a very successful show after barely any time in the art world and his quick success, that the film argues is based off nothing more than hype, shows how easy it is to be successful. But does this success lead to true artistry?
The question can be lead to even the direction of the film. The movie has hype surrounding it because Banksy is directing it, however the majority of camera work for at least the first half of the film is done by Thierry and his vision is mostly seen on screen. He’s shown as the talented director. Yet it’s Banksy that has the vision to carry out the film and edit it all together and give it hype. That strategy raises the question of whether it’s about the skill or the vision.
Thierry’s art is based purely on a vision as he creates none of it himself however, street artists do tend to borrow from other’s ideas heavily. Thierry’s true talent is in directing however his success is in his visual art.
The film raises all these heavy questions about art while being entertaining and fast-paced to prevent the viewer from ever getting bored of it. It’s the kind of topical, thought-provoking, interesting and unique documentary that audiences should continue to encourage.
9/10

Recently Viewed: A New Year

Black Swan (Second Viewing) - The last fifteen minutes are absolute perfection and make up for any potential flaws in the rest. Still amazing. 10/10
Tron: Legacy – Garrett Hedlund’s beauty and the soundtrack were strong points. Visual effects were impressive if not overwhelming. Plot was nonsense and pointless. 6.5/10
Mulan (Viewed Countless Times Before): Mulan is a fascinating character, somewhat funny with decent songs. Reflection is a classic. 9/10
The Social Network (Second Viewing): It never gets old. So witty, so perfectly acted and a perfect introduction to the beautiful Andrew Garfield. 10/10
The Fighter: Amazingly acted and surprisingly good for a movie that I wasn’t expecting to like. Works mostly on the strength of Bale, Leo and Adams. 10/10
Exit Through The Gift Shop: Fascinating doc about a subject I was foreign to but am now super interested in. Informative yet still entertaining and thought provoking. 9/10
Mildred Pierce: Joan Crawford gives a flawless performance in a fabulous dramatic movie that is prompted by every other fabulous element. Perfection. 10/10
127 Hours: Really strong performance by James Franco and the direction by Danny Boyle is fabulous. Really moving film although a tad slow and dragged out. 9/10
The Fabulous Baker Boys: Fabulous performance by Michelle Pfeiffer and an entertaining film with a feeling that I absolutely love. 10/10