Disney and
Enlightenment
Disney movies
have always been near and dear to my heart. I grew up pretending to “flip my
fins” like Ariel from The Little Mermaid,
and fly on a “magic carpet” (a.k.a. sitting and singing to myself on old towels),
with Aladdin. The Disney movies of my
childhood were not only sources of entertainment, but they also taught me many
important lessons; like to follow my heart, keep good company, be kind and
loving, that evil does always win, and that I should never make deals with people
who seem like they could be witches (haha but really…). When we read Kant’s, Answer to the Question:What is Enlightenment, I automatically connected his idea of enlightenment to the
many experiences of my childhood Disney heroes and heroines. Kant argues that
those who are enlightened are those who question and challenge the world around
them. He argues that, "mans emergence from his self-imposed immaturity” is what
causes enlightenment, meaning that to become enlightened one must truly be able
to become an independent thinker. It just so happens the journeys of my
childhood heroes and heroines in these films, are indeed journeys of enlightenment in Kant’s definition of the word. Lets look at some examples:
1. Alice – Alice in Wonderland
Alice is, in my opinion, the epitome
of an enlightened character. For those who are unaware of the story, Alice in Wonderland, follows the journey
of a young girl who falls down a rabbit whole while following a white rabbit.
Alice falls into a world where, “everything that seems up is down, and
everything down is up!” She meets many unusual characters on her journey to
discover where the white rabbit is headed such as, The Mad Hatter, The Chesire Cat and the Queen of Hearts. The movie
opens with Alice being read to by her nanny. She is seemingly extremely
uninterested, and questions her nanny as to why they have to read such boring
material. This is the first step to her enlightenment as Alice questions the acts
she is forced to do in everyday life. As Alice continues on her journey she
encounters a great many events that confuse and disorient her. She often asks
others why something is the way it
is, or why something is or isn’t
happening, with little or no response from the other characters. The fact that
she gets no straight answer to her questions, leads her to become enlightened
due to the fact she is forced discover the answers for herself. This although
very bothersome to her, it actually helps her to emerge from her, “self-imposed
immaturity” as an independent thinker.
2. Ariel- The Little Mermaid
My favorite Disney character, Ariel, becomes enlightened through her journey for true love. The story of, The Little Mermaid, follows Ariel, a
mermaid, who is extremely curious about humans. She falls in love with a
sailor, Prince Eric, and after many trials and tribulations, including Ariel
becoming human for a stint, and giving up her voice to an evil sea witch, they
manage to get married. Ariel is always questioning her surroundings. Though it
is unheard of for mermaids to associate with, or learn about, “the human world”
Ariel does so anyway. She collects objects she finds during shipwrecks, and
keeps them in a grotto (see video bellow). Though her father forbids her to be to have anything to
do with humans, she questions why, and continues to collect artifacts and keep in
touch with humans. Kant states, "The
pastor says, "Do not argue, believe!" But on all sides I hear:
"Do not argue!" The officer says, "Do not argue, drill!"
The taxman says, "Do not argue, pay!" The pastor says, "Do not
argue, believe!” This quote reveals how we in society are conditioned to listen
to authority and not question or refute it, for fear of punishment. Ariel falls under the same conditions of authority as her father, King Trident, attempts to keep her from the human world. Ariel becomes enlightened as she
continues to challenge him, and gain her own understanding of the situation at
hand. The fact that Ariel is able to go against all she knows, and question
whether her society is right or wrong in thinking humans are dangerous, allows
her to think independently, and therefore become enlightened.
3. Hercules- Hercules
Hercules
is another exampled of an enlightened Disney character. Hercules is born the
son of Hera and Zeus, he his then kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld,
and turned semi-mortal. Hercules is then taken in by an old couple that cannot
have children. His whole life, Hercules wonders why he is different
than everyone else. He questions why he isn’t allowed to do certain things, and
why children his own age don’t want to associate with him. When he finds out he
is the sun of Zeus he ends up attempting to become a hero so he can rejoin the
Gods. He seeks out Phil, an old trainer. Phil doesn’t believe he can do it, and
tells him it’s hopeless, but Hercules insists, he questions Phil why he can’t
become a hero and continues to fight anyway. Hercules eventually defeats Hades,
brings peace to Greece, gets the girl, and becomes a true god. This is all
seemingly due to the fact that he questions his life, and does something about
the situation he is in. He is not so ardent in his thinking or lost in his
“immaturity” to believe what everyone tells him. He creates his own ideas about
what his life should be, which allows him to really understand the world around
him and give meaning to his true purpose, saving Greece and becoming a god.
Disney has
taught me a great many lessons over the years. Kant’s ideas of enlightenment
shine brightly through the journeys and struggles of my childhood heroes. They set a prescient in todays world, showing
children, that if we question the world around us, and learn to
think independently from those in our lives, whether that be our parents,
friends, or mentors, we can truly can become enlightened.
Samantha,
ReplyDeleteI feel as if you integrated the childhood Disney stories with Immanuel Kant's response very well.
All three of your examples perfectly align with Kant's idea of enlightenment and this post made me reflect on my own favorite Disney movies. Growing up, I loved the Jungle Book and as I think back to the actions of Mowgli, I feel this would be another great example. Mowgli questions Bagheera when, Bagheera, the Black Panther and Mowgli's friend forces him to live in the Man-village where it is much safer. Despite the fact that Mowgli encounters many dangers such as being hypnotized by a python, almost dying at the hands of a Shere Khan and being kidnapped by monkeys, he explores the jungle, which is his home. He leaves behind his protection to question the dangers of the jungle and to ultimately realize for himself the safety that the Man-village can provide for him.
On the contrary however, I feel as if other aspects of Disney fall short of reflecting ideas that promote independent thought; the main story being Cinderella. Cinderella does not leave her relative immaturity behind through independent thought. She is more coerced by a fairy godmother to disobey her stepmother. If she had followed Kant’s reasoning on Enlightenment I feel as if though she wouldn’t have ran away at midnight and would have had the courage to remain in the palace and allow the prince to witness for himself her relative poverty.
This post was insightful and entertaining. I feel as if Disney itself has contradictory messages it sends kids though!
Malini
Samantha,
ReplyDeleteI found your post extremely interesting and relatable. I too grew up watching Disney movies, and there is a common theme to many of them. They teach children the idea of maturity and growth, because in a large amount of them the main character first starts as an innocent, ignorant character, but grows and matures to better understand themselves and the world around them finding their own personality and voice. For most of these movies, maturity of the character happens after enduring and working through a major conflict. Your examples specifically show how conflict forces the characters to mature and think independently to solve their problem. For Alice, her conflict is that she cannot find her way out of the rabbit hole, so maturing and problem solving is necessary to find her way back home. For Ariel, it is her unhappiness in the human world that brings her to solve her problem and return to the ocean with her husband. For Hercules, he must fight to become a god and then protect his fellow gods from Hades wrath.
Kant says that maturity is a struggle and is hard to come by, because it is easy to be immature and not think for yourself, but harder to escape this mindset. He states that, “Rules and formulas, those mechanical aids to the rational use, or rather misuse, of his natural gifts, are the shackles of a permanent immaturity. Whoever threw them off would still make only an uncertain leap over the smallest ditch, since he is unaccustomed to this kind of free movement. Consequently, only a few have succeeded, by cultivating their own minds, in freeing themselves from immaturity and pursuing a secure course.” That small ditch could be anything from Ariel to Hercules’s problem. The problem I represent in each movie is the shackles that Kant writes about.
Along with Disney’s attempt to show children how to think freely, I also believe Disney encourages immaturity. The story of Peter Pan pushes the idea of never growing up on viewers, and spreads the idea of remaining youthful and unknowing for as long as possible. There is a divide between Disney movies meant to be innocent and teach children the beauty of ignorant childhood, as well as the movies that encourage growth and maturity. Great post overall! It was a good connection to Kant’s enlightenment.