Christmas: The Best Whos in Whoville

Screenshot from “How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ (2000) starring Christine Baranski and Jim Carrey. Copyright goes to Imagine Entertainment and Universal Pictures.

Hi! It’s Annie!

December means that it is officially Christmas time (though that doesn’t mean I wasn’t celebrating before) and I can officially celebrate with my favorite Christmas movie. If you read my last post you might have caught a reference to this movie. I don’t know exactly what it is about this live action adaptation of the classic Dr. Seuss book, but it’s probably a mix of the wholesomeness and the comedy that makes this film so amazing. You also have to give credit to all of those actors in the fake noses that were probably nightmares to breathe in. But one of the things I love most about this movie, besides Jim Carrey as the Grinch, are all the loveable Whos down in Whoville. This is one of the only adaptations that give so many of them personalities besides Cindy Lou Who. So I thought I’d compile a list of my favorite Whos in this movie. Obviously I am not going to include Mayor Augustus May Who because he’s a jerk. All right! Let’s get on with the list!

7. Officer Wholihan

The chief of police in Whoville admittedly doesn’t do much. I mean, there’s not really any crime in Whoville. Until the Grinch shows up, that is. But he’s shown to be a pretty forgiving and merry man despite his job being extremely boring. When the Mayor orders him to arrest the Grinch after the Grinch brings back all the presents he’s stolen, Officer Wholihan refuses. The Grinch bringing back all the presents and apologizing is enough for him. He’s a pretty cool guy if you ask me.

6. Clarnella and Rose Who

Are they still living? In a pretty progressive move on the movie’s part, the Grinch actually has two adoptive mothers. We have no idea about the nature of their relationship as it is never confirmed or really mentioned, but I think it’s safe to assume they are a couple. These two are only ever seen together, but we know that they are both extremely kindhearted. When the Grinch quite literally lands on their doorstep as a baby, they take him in almost instantly. Though they are startled when they discover that their new child would rather eat plates than cookies, they still do their best to raise him. They are delighted when he finally shows passion for something as a child, though they don’t know what it is, and absolutely support him smashing their personal objects to make something for his crush. When the Grinch comes back to accept his award, they welcome him with open arms. Though he isn’t exactly excited to see them, it is clear that they missed their son. Though I do seriously question them not climbing up Mt. Crumpet to at least check to see if he was ok. So maybe they weren’t the best parents, but at least they tried. Could have tried a little harder though.

5. Stu and Drew Lou Who

Cindy Lou Who’s older brothers are absolutely pure chaos and I love it. From the looks of it, Whoville could do with some chaos. Stu and Drew make the very ill-advised decision to climb up Mt. Crumpet with their girlfriends at the beginning of this movie and then draw the ire of the town by mentioning the Grinch. But really, anyone who makes the Mayor angry is a winner in my book. Stu and Drew are a bit bumbling, but at least they don’t seem as brainwashed as the rest of the town is. Though they really need to stop doing stupid stuff to impress their girlfriends. I can’t imagine the Grinch appreciated their antics much either.

4. Martha May Whovier

Martha May starts out kind of like the Grinch does in her own way. She is well-liked by the town, but she isn’t really a likeable person. Betty Lou Who is definitely poorer than Martha May, but still tries her best every year to win the Christmas Lights competition. Not only does Martha May eventually wrongfully win because of the Mayor’s interest in her, she brags about her lights to Betty while she’s decorating her house. Martha May doesn’t really realize she’s on the wrong path until the Grinch comes back and the Mayor asks her to marry him. When she realizes that she likes the gifts the Mayor has given her but doesn’t actually like the Mayor, she begins to value the other Whos around her more. She eventually helps stop the Grinch’s out of control sleigh, makes up with Betty, and declares her love for the Grinch. The idea of a love interest for the Grinch admittedly sounds absolutely ridiculous; but this movie somehow makes it work.

3. Betty Lou Who

Betty can sometimes neglect her children, but she strikes me as someone who’s going through a mid-life crisis. She knows she’s good at certain things, but she just can’t win no matter what she does. You really feel sorry for her, especially because she’s trying so hard. She, like many of the Whos in Whoville, doesn’t necessarily have her priorities straight when it comes to valuing material things over other Whos. But at the end of the movie she is the first to jump to try to stop the out of control sleigh once she notices that Cindy is on it. Really, the Lou Who’s are a really wholesome family, and they’re all there for each other when it matters most.

2. Lou Lou Who

Lou is the best Dad. He’s really sweet from the beginning and steps up to protect his family from the ire of the Mayor when he can. Though he’s originally a bit cowardly and soft-spoken, he becomes one of the bravest characters in the film. When the Mayor attacks Cindy after the presents go missing on Christmas day, Lou immediately refutes him and claims that he’s proud of his daughter. He even states that he’s glad the presents are gone. He gets it! He later flings himself in front of the sleigh to stop it, which is quite possibly the most dangerous thing he could have done in that situation. You just can’t help but love him. Also, if you meet him at Universal Studios for Grinchmas he’s just as sweet. On a day when I wasn’t feeling super well, he came over and warmed my hands in his gloves and talked about Christmas cookies with me to distract me. A true wholesome Dad.

1. Cindy Lou Who

Obviously. No other person could take this slot. Cindy is adorable and understands the true meaning of Christmas, and really morality in general, better than the other Whos in Whoville. The other Whos are so scared of the Grinch that they become terrified without him having to do anything. The Grinch jumped around screaming “Danger!” over and over in front of her and she stood there and laughed. A true badass. When everyone else gives up on the Grinch, she doesn’t. Her ability to see the good in other people is admirable. She definitely gets some of that wholesomeness from her Dad.

The Whos in general are adorable. I’ve always loved their design, but I do have to admit I gained a new appreciation for their characters after attending Grinchmas at Universal Studios Hollywood. Stu and Drew go around on stilts and will crack jokes to you all day if you stand around that long to talk to them. Lou is, once again, just as wholesome as he is in the movie. If you haven’t seen anything of these characters, I would look up a couple videos. The Whos never fail to make anyone smile. Though The Grinch is definitely the star and stand out of his own movie, as he should be, don’t make the mistake of overlooking the Whos.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Disney: ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ is the Perfect Christmas Movie

Screenshot from Henry Selick’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’. Copyright goes to Touchstone Pictures, Skellington Productions, and Walt Disney Productions.

Hey! Hallie here!

This movie’s focus on two different holidays has led to a very large debate about when you should watch it. Is it a Halloween movie, or is it a Christmas movie? Back in October I wrote a post about why you should watch this movie during Halloween. But I did say I also believed this movie was a Christmas movie. This movie definitely follows it’s Halloween characters more. You spend much more time in Halloweentown than you do in Christmastown. So what makes this movie so important to the Christmas season? What about this movie will make you want to turn it on to get into the Christmas spirit? I’m going to cover all of the things about this movie that turns the focus away from Halloween and toward Christmas. I’m also going to talk a bit about the things you can enjoy all year because, let’s be honest, it’d be a crime to only watch this movie twice a year.

The Main Plot: This is definitely a very easy thing to love, but I point it out mainly because the plot revolves around the Christmas season. The movie starts out on Halloween day where Jack completes yet another successful Halloween without being satisfied with it. From there, the entire movie turns it’s attention to Christmas. Jack falls into Christmastown immediately after he laments about his frustrations, sings an entire song while surrounded by snow and elves, and then begins to research Christmas. Eventually he decides that he’ll do Christmas himself. His creation of his own version of Christmas, and the repercussions of that, are the major points of the film. While the film does take place in Halloweentown, it takes place in Halloweentown while it’s citizens are making Christmas. It is only through Jack’s attempt at taking over Christmas that he realizes his self worth and becomes happy with who he is. This movie doesn’t have to do much to prove that it’s meant to be watched during the holidays.

The Music: Danny Elfman is known for his creepy soundtracks. He’s known mainly for his work with Tim Burton, after all. Here, though, he strikes a really nice balance between the opposite feelings of each holiday. Through the use of distorted Christmas melodies and generally whimsical scoring, he’s able to remind the audience that both Halloween and Christmas are playing a part in the movie’s events. Whenever Jack is contemplating Christmas in Halloweentown, there’s always a brightness and hopefulness to the melodies being used. Similarly, whenever Jack is immersed in his creation of Christmas, there’s always a darker theme to remind you that Jack is perhaps out of his depth, given the fact that he’s a skeleton. “What’s This” is also an essential song to any Christmas playlist. It’s the most energetic and exciting of all the songs on the soundtrack. It highlights the curiosities of Christmas through the eyes of someone who has never seen it before, while it just so slightly warns the audience of what’s probably going to go wrong. Danny Elfman can do no wrong when it comes to movie scoring, and ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ proves it.

The Use of Santa: I’ve noticed that, as I watch new Christmas movies every year, I’m very picky about the use of Santa as a character. Sometimes writers don’t realize that they have to fully flesh out his personality if they’re going to use this character in their movie. This too often results in a character with no personality, or multiple personalities that are inconsistent throughout the movie. And, let’s be honest, there are a lot of movies where Santa’s entire appearance is just a bit too cheesy to enjoy. This movie is not one of those. The writers decided on a grumpy Santa, which isn’t an entirely new take, but it’s consistent throughout the entire movie. He keeps his morals, even brings Christmas to Jack because he likes it so much, but he doesn’t pull his punches. He calls Halloweentown an “insane asylum” and is very obviously livid with Jack for taking over his holiday. He’s very sensible when he argues with Oogie Boogie, but even when his life is on the line he doesn’t stop scolding him. He’s a good guy, but you know by the end of the movie not to mess with him. It’s really one of the only badass interpretations of Santa I’ve seen on screen. Plus, on the soundtrack, he’s voiced by Sir Patrick Stewart. Enough said.

The Themes: As I said above, it’s through Christmas that Jack learns to be happy with who he is. That’s really the main point of the movie. Jack Skellington gets to a point where he’s never satisfied with what he’s accomplished, and while he knows he’s skilled, he’s convinced that he’s incapable of coming up with anything new that will make Halloween interesting. This is why he falls in love with Christmastown. It’s so different from what he knows, that he’s convinced that if he molds himself to this new image, he’ll become more imaginative and interesting. He entirely loses his sense of self doing so, too. He goes so far as to break a picture of himself over his knee, replacing it with a picture of himself dressed as Santa, or Sandy Claws. And while he believes his grand new ideas all come from the things he learned in Christmastown, it becomes pretty clear to the viewer, and to Sally, that he isn’t really sticking to any actual Christmas ideas. He tends to create, and enjoy creating, creepier things. Unfortunately, Jack doesn’t realize this until he’s shot down by the military. It’s a necessary lesson for him, and one that viewers can definitely learn from, too. A movie telling audiences to love themselves for who they are is one thing, but this movie takes it a step farther. Jack takes pride in his mistakes and notes that they made him a better person. While Christmas was necessary for him to learn these things, they’re important to hear all year long.


And that’s it! I’m always up for watching this movie, so it’s no surprise that I’m advocating for everyone to watch it during both Halloween and Christmas. But, honestly, I think it’s a good movie to watch for both holidays. Labeling this movie as only for October or only for December is doing it a disservice. It does so much work to blend both holidays together, it deserves to be appreciated during both times of the year. So there’s really nothing stopping you from adding it to your watch list for Christmas! It’s better to watch ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ during the holidays than it is to let December pass and regret not including it in your Christmas traditions later.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Twins in Media: Janice and Jessica vs Sumire and Kasumi

Screenshot from “The Suite Life on Deck” episode “Model Behavior” starring Camilla Rosso, Rebecca Rosso, Cole Sprouse, and Debby Ryan. Copyright goes to It’s a Laugh Productions and Disney Channel.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I know, I know. Generally we post these on Tuesday, but because we took Thanksgiving as a holiday, it’s today because it’s my twins in media week. Because it’s my week for these ‘versus’ posts, I decided to take the pairs of twins I have probably roasted the most and pit them against each other. Janice and Jessica from ‘Suite Life on Deck’ against Kasumi and Sumire from ‘Persona 5: Royal’. Just know going in that I absolutely despise both of these media representations and to declare any one of them a winner feels wrong. It’s quite possibly inevitable that whoever passes this round will get absolutely slaughtered in the next. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s take a look at which of these truly bad twin representations is the worst.

Tropes:

  • Janice and Jessica. Oh god, where do I start? First, let’s tackle the ones that are slightly smaller in comparison to the trope I absolutely despise. Though I hate these ones too. These two are a perfect example of the synchronized twins trope; a trope that is often used to paint twins as more like aliens than actual human beings. It’s almost like they’re part of an alien race that has a hive mind. They think the exact same thing and talk at the exact same time. When they aren’t talking at the exact same time they are perfectly finishing each other’s sentences. Not only is this absolutely unrealistic for anyone, as a twin you are often commanded to do these things for someone else’s amusement. My sister and I have been told to talk at the same time on command several times, almost like dogs being ordered to do a trick. This has always ended in my sister and I calmly explaining that talking at the same time would be a little difficult and that we can’t read each other’s minds. We do not share a brain. Please stop asking for us to do this. On top of that, Janice and Jessica are treated like the same person. They have the same style, they talk the same, they have no distinguishable personality traits, and it is seen as pretty ok for them to date the same person. No twins are exactly the same; we are two different people with different minds and different tastes. This also leads me into the absolutely awful twin fetishization. Because people see us as the same, some people have somehow gotten it into their heads that it is absolutely ok to ask both twins out instead of one. Worse than this has been on so many television shows and I would look at my original post on these two if you want a list of recent television shows that have done this as a joke. If you’re interested in both of us, you can be absolutely certain that neither of us is interested in you. Neither of us have ever even been interested in the same guy because we’re…wait for it…two different people! Wow!
  • Sumire and Kasumi. Once again…oh god, where to start. Let’s first talk about the unhealthy grieving. A lot of people assume that all twins are extremely close. Just like any siblings, we can be, but not necessarily. My sister and I are best friends, but we aren’t any closer than any siblings who really get along would be. The twin closeness assumption can cause people to think that twins are “unnaturally” close or closer than any other siblings would be. Which is absolutely stupid and proof that those people have probably never met a pair of twins in their lives. My sister and I were once accosted by a class mate who “warned” us that if we got too close we’d become reliant on each other for survival. Her sanity concerned me more than the relationship between myself and my sister. That mentality is clearly present in ‘Persona 5: Royal’. Sumire becomes so distraught over the death of her twin sister that she decides to become her twin sister rather than grieve properly. I don’t think I really have to explain how disturbing that is. Grieving over the death of a family member has no model of how it should look like. But this is more than unhealthy and portraying twins this way is far from normal. We have two different personalities that would be impossible for either of us to replicate. We also each have a completely different sense of self. Our separate senses of self have never been and never will be somehow connected. This also leads into this twin tope that is used too much that I hate. One twin must die has plagued me since I was little and I really want it to stop. I hate the jokes people make about it and I hate how much I see it still. We are not interchangeable and one of us is not expendable because “there are two of them”. Nope. There is one of me and one of her. Regular siblings get to survive, but for some reason twins are different. I’m so sick of this.

Winner: Not in this category. How do you pit twin fetishization and the constant killing off of twin characters in media against each other? How do you pit the hive mind mentality against the mentality of twins having some sort of unnatural bond? You really can’t. All of it is incredibly harmful and absolutely ridiculous. All of it has somehow affected how my sister and I were treated at one point of our lives. These tropes are probably the worst of the worst and all of them need to go. I declare this category a tie because neither could possibly be declared a winner here.

Differences and Similarities:

  • Janice and Jessica. There are no differences between these two whatsoever. None to be found. The writers thought they could get away with writing the same exact character twice and, unfortunately, for the most part, they did get away with it. I didn’t hear anyone but twins complain about it. There are no personality differences between Janice and Jessica written in and they didn’t even deign to give them different love interests until later. Even when they did, they still weren’t distinguishable. The only difference they have going for them is that they are actually played by two different actresses.
  • Sumire and Kasumi. Sumire and Kasumi are not alike at all. Kasumi is a bright, kind, and extroverted girl who loves to throw herself into volunteer work. Sumire keeps more to herself, is introverted, and prefers cooking. Though they both love gymnastics, only Kasumi is shown to have an initial talent for it. This is what inspires Sumire’s jealousy. They could definitely be seen as opposites in some ways which isn’t great, but at least they do have some similarities. A lot of siblings have similar interests because they grew up with the same things; but they still have different personalities despite this. A lot of the good is negated, however, when Sumire adopts Kasumi’s personality, but at least they get out of that storyline at some point in the game. And at least they make a point to make sure the audience knows that Sumire and Kasumi are actually different people. This sounds pretty good until you realize that this is yet another example of one person playing both twin roles. How difficult is it to get two separate voice actresses for two separate roles?

Winner: Sumire and Kasumi. They actually have personalities and surprisingly, they were both written with some differences. The game points out that they are different people, which is about the only nice thing it does for twin representation. Janice and Jessica don’t have anything, especially not personality. The only thing they have going for them is two actresses, which Sumire and Kasumi could have easily had.

Relationship:

  • Janice and Jessica. Janice and Jessica seem to have a close relationship. I mean, they’re always together so one could only assume. But I’m not sure they actually have much of a relationship. They don’t talk to each other as much as with each other and they only like the same things. There are no differences between them so there’s not much they really have to get along over. They’re close, but not realistic, so it’s pretty difficult to determine how good their relationship actually is.
  • Sumire and Kasumi. They also have a really confusing relationship. The game pushes the narrative that they were unnaturally close, but they didn’t actually get along. Points for them having different personalities, but they didn’t overcome their differences in any way. Kasumi constantly dismisses Sumire’s depressive feelings. Dismissing anyone’s depressive feelings is awful and definitely makes you a pretty bad sister. Sumire is too busy being jealous of her sister’s success to actually be happy for her and get over her own selfishness. Neither of them were great to each other, which sucks because we really need to see more examples of close siblings in media. Siblings hating each other for drama and not actually being supportive of one another is getting really tired. But at least they have a distinguishable relationship.

Winner: Sumire and Kasumi. Though, once again, both of these depictions are pretty bad, at least Sumire and Kasumi are treated like two different people who have some form of a relationship rather than just the same person. Sometimes it feels like the writers of Janice and Jessica gave up on their character development. At least the writers of Sumire and Kasumi tried, even though it was still really bad. No character development is still bad character development.

Plot:

  • Janice and Jessica. Do they really have a plot? These two are treated more like objects than actual characters. First they are both love interests for switching singular characters and then they come back, this time actually having different love interests, to test the bonds of the boys’ new relationships (which is an awful female trope in general). They have no personality and are used for stereotypical drama. They are given no character development.
  • Sumire and Kasumi. Though you don’t see Kasumi much for obvious reasons, Sumire is a well developed character. Even if much of her character is really bad. Kasumi dies to further her sister’s story (hate, hate, double hate, loathe entirely), but Sumire does grow past this part of the story to focus on her own development as a different person. Once Sumire stops pretending to be Kasumi and they drop the twin story in favor of a “get-to-know Sumire” storyline, it gets a lot better. But both of them aren’t necessarily focused on in the plot because of, you know, one-twin-must-die.

Winner: Sumire and Kasumi once again take it by default. At least they have a plot. At least the writers tried, even if it was mostly bad. Janice and Jessica are barely characters and what little plot they’re given either sucks for twins or sucks for women in general. Women’s lives don’t revolve around men. At least Sumire and Kasumi don’t have that issue.

Final Result:

It feels so wrong to declare either a winner; but Sumire and Kasumi have to take it. Both of these representations are awful and they both deserve a giant loss for the tropes alone. The only reason why Sumire and Kasumi scrape by is because the writers actually made an attempt to treat them like different people and like actual human beings in general. Even if that meant that they didn’t get separate voice actresses. Seriously, giving twin roles two actresses even if they aren’t related needs to be more normalized. No twins look exactly the same anyways, and it should be even less of a problem in a video game with voice acting. Janice and Jessica feel more like objects than characters, so there’s absolutely no way they would have won this. But really, we need a whole lot less of all of these tropes and this kind of twin representation in general.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Disney: The Story That Connects (Almost) All the Parks

Artist rendering of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. Debuted at Mystic Manor in 2013. Copyright goes to the Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

Disney really likes storytelling in their parks. Usually, though, each of their storylines are confined to one ride or show. It isn’t like you can connect something like Space Mountain to It’s a Small World. Not that you’d want to. Surprisingly, there are several attractions you can connect. These aren’t just attractions located in one of the Disney parks, either. Several attractions from most Disney locations are involved in this huge storyline. I’m talking about the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, or SEA. This society was officially brought to light when Mystic Manor appeared in Hong Kong in 2013. There, a photo of some of the societies most memorable members was put up. After that, these characters began to play major roles in some of Disney’s most classic rides. Let’s go through some of this societies members and the rides they’re attached to.

Lord Henry Mystic (and Albert, of course):

Lord Henry Mystic is the owner of Mystic Manor. He is a famous adventurer, known for his collection of 7000 mysterious artifacts he’s collected from all over the world. He also encountered a monkey caught in a spider’s web during his travels and adopted him, naming him Albert after his uncle. Henry appears in Mystic Manor of course, though Albert is the star of the show there, but signs of him can be found in various other areas. Letters he wrote about his artifacts appear in one of Hong Kong Disneyland’s restaurants, the Explorer’s Club, and a quote of his condemning an antagonist of Hong Kong’s Jungle River Cruise attraction, Garrett Reed, can be found in the newsletter handed out for the Halloween overlay of the ride. He also donated an expedition paddle to the Tropical Hideaway in Disneyland. In the photograph above he can be seen sitting in the armchair with Albert on his shoulder.

Harrison Hightower III:

Harrison Hightower III is the owner of the Tower of Terror in Tokyo Disneysea. Just like Henry Mystic, Hightower was also an adventurer who would collect artifacts from around the world. However, he would often exploit friendly natives and plunder items in order to bring them into his collection. He also proved not to be very knowledgeable about the artifacts he possessed, because he stole a cursed idol named Shiriki Utundu. This idol was owned by a tribe who viewed it as a protective entity and placed it atop an altar in their village. Hightower stole the idol and brought it back to his hotel, where he celebrated his find lavishly and refused to show the idol any respect. At the end of the night he walked into the hotel elevator with the idol in hand, hoping to find it a place amongst his collection. Inside the elevator, the idol electrocuted him with green lightening and sent the elevator plummeting down the shaft, killing him. Harrison Hightower’s ghost can be found inside the Tower of Terror and some notes written by him can be found in the Skipper Canteen restaurant in the Magic Kingdom in Florida. He can be seen above on the far left, holding the Shiriki Utundu.

Captain Mary Oceaneer:

Mary Oceaneer is the owner of the ship M.S. Salty IV, which can be found shipwrecked in Typhoon Lagoon in Florida. This shipwreck is the centerpiece of the water-slide attraction, Miss Adventure Falls. She is also the developer of the Disney Cruise Line’s Oceaneer Lab. Oceaneer was another treasure hunting adventurer, though most of her adventures were had at sea. She was especially famous for her knowledge of Atlantis. During one of her treasure searches her ship was hit by a hurricane, leaving her stranded in Florida. Mary has an entire section of the Disney Cruise Line dedicated to her where her collection can be found, as well as information on her pet parrot, Salty. More of her collection, and her other parrot Duncan, can be found in Typhoon Lagoon. At the Skipper Canteen several notes, including a map she drew, can be seen displayed. She also donated an expedition paddle to the Tropical Hideaway in Disneyland. She can be seen second from the right above, the only woman pictured in the SEA photograph.

Barnabas T. Bullion:

Barnabus T. Bullion is the founder and president of the Big Thunder Mining company, occupying Big Thunder Mountain in the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Bullion believed his destiny was to obtain large amounts of gold and he also believed that he would strike gold inside Big Thunder Mountain. However, locals warned him that the mountain was protective of it’s gold. The mountain was considered haunted given it’s regular natural disasters. Runaway trains were also a common sight on the mountain. Barnabas T. Bullion remained at the site until his death, and various letters can be seen around it revealing him to be part of SEA. He also donated an expedition paddle to the Tropical Hideaway in Disneyland. Unfortunately, he died before the photograph above was taken.

Dr. Albert Falls:

This is a name most people will recognize. Albert Falls, of course, discovered and named the famous Schweitzer Falls, as well as the Shir Lee Temple, all of which can be found in The Jungle Cruise. He established the Jungle Navigation Company, hoping to make transporting cargo over jungle rivers more efficient. The headquarters of this company was used as both his home and as a secret meeting space for SEA. Books he wrote can be found in the Skipper Canteen and his portrait can be seen in the Bengal Barbeque in Disneyland. He also donated an expedition paddle to the Tropical Hideaway. It seems he will be at least briefly referenced in the upcoming “Jungle Cruise” film, as well! Though the photograph above was likely taken in his home, it doesn’t appear as if he’s present in it.

Camellia Falco:

Camellia Falco is the host of Soaring: Fantastic Flight in Tokyo Disneysea. She was the first woman inducted into SEA, although she isn’t pictured above. She was the daughter of the two founders of the Museum of Fantastic Flight, which she inherited upon their death. She often traveled by hot air balloon and was so interested in flight that she created the Dream Flyer, or the gliders featured on Soaring: Fantastic Flight. Eventually she died, but her spirit lingers in the Museum of Fantastic Flight to host guests. All of her SEA documents can be found in the ride, and she also donated an expedition paddle to the Tropical Hideaway.

These are the most present members of SEA in the parks, but there are definitely more. Disney hasn’t even given stories to the majority of the characters featured in the photograph in Mystic Manor. So far we’ve only seen bits and pieces of these characters around the parks, but their story just keeps getting bigger. New additions to the parks seem to bring more references to this society. Hopefully this storyline will grow detailed enough that we can more easily recognize these characters. Until then, I’m hoping Disneyland Paris and Shanghai Disneyland will get to add their own adventurer to this promising lineup.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Video Games: Everything New about ‘Overwatch 2’

Promotional image of new character designs for ‘Overwatch 2’. Copyright goes to Blizzard Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Not too long ago I wrote specifically about the ‘Overwatch’ character development we received in the shorts uploaded to Youtube. Because the shorts are amazing. Seriously, if you haven’t looked them up do yourself a favor and watch them. Disney movie quality right there. In that post, I may have mentioned how I really really want to see more story for most, if not all, of the Overwatch characters or maybe even a movie. At that point I was aware that ‘Overwatch 2’ would eventually be coming out, but I hadn’t really looked that far into it. I really should have looked into it sooner, because it seems like this game is going to make all of our storytelling dreams come true on top of maintaining all of the Overwatch gameplay we all love or love to watch. This game has no release date as of yet, but we have heard some information about it, so let’s jump into what we actually do know.

New Heroes:

It has been announced that there will be a group of new heroes, but we haven’t seen anything of most of them yet. We do have some information on two in particular. Echo is a character specifically for the new game that you might have recognized from McCree’s short among other hints here and there. We have also been introduced to Sojourn, who definitely looks badass but we don’t really have a whole lot of information about. I’m really excited to see both of these characters in action, especially Echo. Her design is great and the game developers haven’t been able to stop talking about how “game-changing” her powers will be. But I’m also looking forward to see what other heroes are on the way and just how many we’ll get. Overwatch never seems to stop with the heroes. I mean look at how recently characters like Brigitte came out! So we could see an entire army of new heroes! Hopefully they won’t give every single one of them character development unless they’re looking to make a really long game. But I’m up for that! It might make game development last longer though, which isn’t ideal.

Old Heroes:

It seems like you’ll be able to play as all of the old heroes from the original game in some form, but whether or not the story will follow all of the characters from the first game is another question entirely. Hopefully we’ll see as many of them in the story as possible. So far promotional images have shown Tracer, Winston, Mercy, Mei, Reinhardt, Brigitte, Genji, Lucio and Echo in particular so I assume we’ll see them in the actual storyline. I’d be surprised if we didn’t see some of the villains, especially Reaper, as well. But so far we don’t have any definitive information on what characters will be focused on. All we do know is that the characters most focused on from this game will be from the last game. They aren’t going to push our favorite characters aside for a bunch of new ones.

Story Mode:

And this is what we were all talking about! ‘Overwatch’ will finally be getting a story mode. Of course, that won’t be the entire game. Competition is and has always been a giant part of ‘Overwatch’, so don’t say goodbye to the old game just yet. The story mode is more of an addition than anything else. We have no idea what the story will be just yet, all we know is that they are looking to take inspiration from and extend the shorts they have already come out with. Many speculate that this game will take place immediately after Winston was attacked by Reaper and called back the old team. I think that’s a good bet considering they are calling all of their shorts from Youtube “The story so far”. If they are looking to build up on the shorts they’ve already created, I would say that any character they particularly focused an animated short on will get some sort of spotlight in the story part of the game. But also know that I say that in a biased and very hopeful way because I’m a giant D.Va fan. I can’t imagine they won’t focus on any of the fan favorites though, so I wouldn’t worry too much if your favorite character is well-loved but hasn’t featured in any teasers for ‘Overwatch 2’ yet. Most people have speculated that this game might be an ‘Avengers’ style team up, with a focus on specific characters and their individual storylines and then a battle at the end. Some say the story will be more linear than that and will center more on tracking down Reaper. Either way, any character development is good character development. Especially with the little bits of story we’ve already gotten that were all good story within themselves.

New Look:

As most sequel video games, the ‘Overwatch 2’ team at Blizzard Entertainment is looking to make the graphics better. This means that there’s a new animation design for all of the characters as well as a new world design for the environments in the game. The picture above is an example of those new graphics and it looks amazing. I really can’t wait to see all of the old characters in the new animation style!

These are all on top of new maps, the new co-op mode, as well as their improvements to levelling up characters. We also know that much more about this game will be coming out sooner rather than later as Blizzcon will be taking place in February. We’re only a couple months away! Who knows? We might even get a game release rather than just a release date! But that might just be wishful thinking. Still, according to a “leak” that may or may not be true, that could be exactly what happens. Don’t we all wish. I’m just hoping for plenty more character content, especially for D.Va, and more exciting gameplay to watch the Esports world compete with. I love everything about the announcement for this game, but I’m absolutely in love with the idea of more character content. Can February come any faster?

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Studio Ghibli: Characters That Deserve More Love

Screenshot from ‘When Marnie Was There’ (2014). Copyright goes to Studio Ghibli.

Hey! Hallie here!

Studio Ghibli has created some of my favorite characters of all time. They’re just really good at crafting character arcs. Most Ghibli films have pretty well recognized characters, but there are some that I wish would get more recognition overall. There’s too many good ones I don’t see anyone mentioning. For this list, I’m going to count any characters I feel aren’t as focused on when Ghibli characters are brought up. This goes for both side characters and main characters. If they have widely distributed merch lines, you can probably guess they won’t appear here. Sorry Totoro. Let’s get started! Some spoilers ahead!

  • Anna Sasaki. Anna is the protagonist of ‘When Marnie Was There’. ‘When Marnie was There’ is one of the Ghibli movies that’s pretty slept on in general. Even when I do hear this movie being mentioned, Marnie’s name is thrown around much more that Anna’s. She is the title character after all. But Anna is one of the most endearing protagonists in any Studio Ghibli movie. Anna is pretty closed off and awkward at the beginning of the movie. She lost her parents when she was very young, and though her grandmother briefly adopted her, it wasn’t long before she lost her grandmother, too. Though she was quickly adopted, she was slow to warm to her adoptive parents. It only made matters worse when she learned her adoptive parents received money from the government for taking care of her. Fearing that her parents only cared about the money, she distanced herself so much that they sent her to the countryside to live with her adoptive mother’s relatives to deal with her general anxiety and reclusiveness. Her awkwardness is relatable, however, and you can’t help but feel her pain when she accidentally lashes out at a girl she’s meant to befriend. Her kindness towards Marnie reveal her true colors, however. Anna is understanding of Marnie, and is even willing to protect her when she hears Marnie’s parents care very little for her. She always attempts to be there for Marnie and grows because Marnie is there for her. By the end of the movie she isn’t “cured” of her anxiety, but she does learn how to deal with it. You can’t help but cheer for her when she finally is able to be happy and accept affection without doubting herself.
  • Fio Piccolo. Fio is the female protagonist of ‘Porco Rosso’. It’s so rare that I hear her name mentioned among the list of Studio Ghibli’s capable female protagonists, because Fio is so badass. Fio meets Porco, or Marco Pagot, when she’s already working for her grandfather’s company repairing planes. Her grandfather suggests her work to Marco, who turns her down because she’s a seventeen year-old girl. Her grandfather insists that he gives Fio a chance, so Marco reluctantly agrees. Of course, she blows him away with her design capabilities and becomes the personal repair-woman of his plane. She also gets to tag along with him in aerial combat and becomes an overall reliable partner and friend to Marco. Fio is compassionate and caring, but she isn’t to be underestimated. There’s a reason why a gang of air pirates quickly proclaimed their respect for her after only one fight.
  • Prince Justin. Prince Justin is more easily recognized as Turnip-Head from ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. When he first appears, he frightens Sophie after she tries to use him as a walking stick. Attempting to dislodge the stick from a bush, she accidentally rights the scarecrow he has turned into. He’s grateful for her help and decides to follow her. He helps her at various points throughout the movie despite the fact that he’s not allowed into Howl’s castle because of the strength of the curse placed on him. After everything he does for Sophie, she places a kiss on his cheek at the very end of the movie. And he turns into a prince. It turns out that a kiss of true love breaks the spell. Obviously, despite Sophie’s gratefulness, she’s in love with Howl and not Justin. Justin doesn’t get angry. He doesn’t even ask her to explain herself. He thanks her for freeing him, and leaves her to her happiness. In the cinematic world, and in the real world as well, men too often expect repayment for helping women they’re interested in. Prince Justin does none of this and for that I’ll forever respect him.
  • Lisa. Lisa is considered the tritagonist of ‘Ponyo’, but let’s be honest, most people give their full attention to Ponyo and Sosuke. Lisa is Sosuke’s mother and she often finds herself raising Sosuke alone while his father’s at sea. She doesn’t complain about this predicament, aside from a few choice words to her husband over morse code. She works full time at a retirement home while Sosuke’s in kindergarten, which she’s often late for, causing a few insane driving practices. Despite her quirks she has an excellent relationship with her son. So excellent that she takes in Ponyo without question when he asks, even deciding not to question her when Ponyo attempts to explain that her father is an evil sorcerer. She takes care of Sosuke and Ponyo throughout a giant storm that causes their seaside home to nearly go underwater. She even turn the blackout into an enjoyable game for them by giving them easy tasks to do together. Lisa, however, rushes off for the retirement home as soon as she can to check on it’s residents. Later, she agrees with Ponyo’s mother to take care of Ponyo and speaks on behalf of her son in order to keep the two together. Lisa is caring of everyone around her. She’s responsible and understanding. She’s an excellent mother and easily one of the strongest women in Studio Ghibli’s movies.

Those are just a handful of Ghibli’s underrated characters. I’ll probably turn this into a series just to get to all of the characters I want to talk about. I love Ghibli and I always find myself attached to the majority of the characters in every movie. Each movie character feels so real. None of them are perfect. They all have flaws and make mistakes they have to learn from. Their strength in learning from those mistakes and proving their worth are what always stick with me. Ghibli characters teach viewers to be kind, brave, and unashamed of who they are. I always want to highlight the characters that made me realize I am more than I realize. I’d even dare to say the characters here, especially the female representation, has touched me more than any Disney princess ever has. I can never talk about these characters enough.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-pop and K-dramas: BTS and the Grammy’s

Members of BTS during a photoshoot. (From left) Jeon Jungkook (Jungkook), Min Yoongi (SUGA), Kim Seokjin (Jin), Kim Namjoon(RM), Kim Taehyung (V), Jung Hoseok (J-Hope), and Park Jimin (Jimin). Copyright of Hong Jang Hyun for Variety.

Hi! It’s Annie!

It’s been a really big past couple of weeks for BTS and I’m extremely happy to be getting all of this new content. Early yesterday, many of us woke up to the news that BTS had FINALLY been nominated for a Grammy. Obviously, celebrations ensued. The entire band, but especially Yoongi, have been talking about how much getting a Grammy would mean to them. It was difficult to not feel the excitement when you saw Jungkook, Namjoon, Jimin, and Tae reacting to the news in their adorable reaction video. I really just wanted to jump up right with them! But- the Grammy’s should be talked about for everything it is. I’m really excited for them and I want them to get the Grammy really badly! But mainly because I know they want it. I’ve been pretty jaded when it comes to the Grammy’s, and other award shows like it, for a long time. We all know that they deserve this award and that, if this is treated fairly, that BTS should and would win the award. The issue is that Grammy’s never treat anything fairly. And neither do award shows like the Oscars or the Tony’s. Let’s break down why!

  • Select voters. The people who vote for the winners in the Grammy’s aren’t necessarily well-known music aficionados and they certainly aren’t regular people. For the most part, they are rich white people. Generally older than the demographic that actually regularly listens to the type of music nominated for these awards. You might think that this sounds ridiculous and that’s because you are absolutely right. The people selected to vote for the Grammy’s as well as which artist wins a Grammy, is all political. These people generally vote for an artist based off of the rich connections this artist or people connected to this artist might have. So, don’t hold your breath for BTS to be chosen. This is the same for all similar award shows. Every once in a great while somebody unexpected will be chosen. For example, ‘Parasite’ winning at the Oscars. This rarely happens though. These award shows want to make you think that this is a fair and important process, but this is generally more about behind the scenes relations than it is actually about what song or artist is better. If you want more information on this topic, Eminem has been really outspoken about all of this and I highly recommend looking up one of his interviews on this topic.
  • Racism and xenophobia. These award shows have all been criticized for this and sexism on top of it, but sexism doesn’t really apply to BTS. Nobody knows about the racism of the Grammy’s more than Black artists and their fans. The amount of Black artists nominated versus white artists is ridiculous, and the gap between winners is even worse. No one knows any of this better than fans of Beyoncé. For years she wasn’t nominated for anything, then went into being nominated and never winning for several more years, until she finally actually started winning some awards. Her most popular album won nothing at the Grammy’s. The Grammy voters being predominantly white definitely has a large part to do with this. We have to be honest with ourselves; just like in Hollywood, the music industry is still pretty racist. That’s because we have a bunch of people running these industries who are old white rich men and because our society is still pretty racist. These award shows are no different. It’s awful and hopefully more bands from other countries coming in like BTS and artists of color continuing to speak out against the Grammy’s will help phase things like this out. But at the same time, none of that is their job. We all need to do our part in listening to them and spreading the word.
  • Popular vs artistic. Have you ever looked at the list of Oscar winning movies and not recognized a single name? Or looked at a winner of the Grammy’s and had maybe only heard one song by that artist? Again, this is partly because of politics but also partly because these award shows are trying to distinguish between art that’s “dignified” and art that’s just popular. Which is absolutely ridiculous. Obviously, if something is popular it has to have some merit. Why does anyone get to state definitively if a piece of art is dignified rather than popular? Why is there a difference? Why can’t popular music also be dignified? Art is made to be enjoyed and interpreted differently by everyone. Still, this is what these shows often do. Just look at things like Marvel and Star Wars never being nominated for Oscars. The Grammys are, again, no different. These shows treat movies and music like the people voting for the winner have a more dignified palate than the general public. Which is again, ridiculous. No one group of people should have a say over what art is important and what art isn’t. If you want a more accurate look at what is actually most liked, look at award shows that use the people’s choice. Is it a coincidence that BTS wins all of their awards on shows like that? Nope.
  • How the Grammy’s have treated BTS in the past. Horribly. Most ARMY’s know this from a recent behind the scenes 2019 Grammy’s video BTS released on their Twitter. In 2019 they practiced their English, including answering interview questions, and were barely stopped on the red carpet. They didn’t get to use any of the English they practiced for interviews. They were given few accommodations in comparison to other artists, and weren’t even allowed to perform their own music. The Grammy’s instead decided to pat themselves on the back by making them the first K-pop stars to present awards at the Grammy’s. Wow. It was obvious to us all that the Grammy’s had invited them in order to get the large numbers of ARMY watching, as many award shows have done. Just the regular exploitation of these amazing boys who do not deserve this. Watching the Grammy’s turn around like this not only feels slimy, but it also feels like they’ll pull something like patting themselves on the back just for nominating them in the first place and use that as an excuse to give them nothing. I mean, just look at how many nominations they got. One. If this was fair, they would have gotten much more than that and this wouldn’t have been the first time they were nominated.

I do want BTS to win, but I want them to win because they want to win. I don’t care about the Grammy’s specifically. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t important and isn’t a cause for celebration. If it’s important enough to them, then it is to me too. But don’t get your hopes up about them winning and don’t feel like it says anything profound if they don’t win. BTS is bigger than the Grammy’s have ever been and probably ever will be considering over the years the numbers for award shows like this have been decreasing. We’re at this point where everyone listens to or watches what they want, and that’s really good! If you do want to watch BTS at the Grammy’s though, I would highly recommend watching an unofficial stream or watching unofficial videos after the fact. Don’t give the Grammy’s your views. BTS is worth so much more than a Grammy or any award you could ever put to their name. I just hope that more and more people will begin to see how messed up award shows like this are, so we can fix them or have award shows that will celebrate all artists instead of certain ones (mostly white ones). All art has value and everyone is entitled to their own opinions of it. Whether they win or not, all of ARMY will still be there for them.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Twins in Media: Sharon and Susie (1961) vs Hallie and Annie (1998)

Screenshot of Lindsay Lohan from ‘The Parent Trap’ (1998). Copyright goes to Walt Disney Pictures.

Hey! Hallie here!

For Twins in Media this week, I thought we’d go back to the twins this blog is based off of. Most of the references on our blog have something to do with the 1998 ‘Parent Trap’. But Hallie and Annie weren’t the first twins to try to trick their parents into getting back together. Enter Sharon and Susie, the twins from 1961’s ‘Parent Trap’. Even though these twins are placed in the same story, there’s some pretty big differences. Let’s look into these differences and see which twins are better twin representation. As usual, I’ll be judging them based off of tropes, differences and similarities, relationship, and plot. So which pair is more realistic?

Tropes:

  • Sharon and Susie. There are a few obvious tropes that both sets of twins are going to fall into. One is the ‘Separated at Birth’ trope. This trope is just not realistic, and it tends to be used in order to give each twin a different personality. The theory here seems to be that, if the twins come from two different upbringings, they will act completely differently and won’t confuse the audience. Putting aside the fact that separating these two was a questionable parenting choice at best, it’s important to note that all twins have different personalities, including the ones that grew up in the same household. If the worry is that audiences won’t be able to tell the twins apart if they’re from the same place, you’ve already failed at understanding that each twin is just as unique as any human being. These two also fall under the ‘Mischievous Twins’ trope. That’s kind of the point of the entire movie. The issue with Sharon and Susie here is that they’re pushed to the background during the second half of their movie to give their parents more screen time. That means the only time they’re on screen, they’re playing some kind of prank. Another trope these two fall in that their 1998 counterparts don’t share, is the ‘Psychic Connection’ trope. This only happens once, but Sharon does share early on in the movie that her mother thinks Sharon’s psychic because she gets goosebumps when something big is about to happen. She says this just before Sharon and Susie discover they’re twins, at which point both characters get goosebumps. No. Just no.
  • Hallie and Annie. There’s a lot of similarities here. The ‘Separated at Birth’ trope is pretty much exactly the same for these two. The ‘Mischievous Twins’ trope is slightly different, though. Hallie and Annie, unlike Sharon and Susie, aren’t pushed into the background during the second half of their film. This lets the film spend more time on their personalities and a little less time on labeling them as “mischievous”. That doesn’t mean they escape this trope entirely, though. The idea that twins like to switch places is a common one, and most of the pranks they play have to do with this idea. In my experience, though, most twins would rather others be able to tell the difference between them. My sister and I get mistaken for each other enough without having to pretend to be one another. We’d rather you learn which one is which than keep calling each of us by the wrong name.

Winner: Hallie and Annie. Hallie and Annie get a bit more time in their movie to establish their personalities without entirely relying on “They play pranks!” as personality traits. They also managed to dodge that embarrassing psychic connection situation. They share a lot of tropes with Sharon and Susie, but maybe the time gap between these movies did some good.

Differences and Similarities:

  • Sharon and Susie. Sharon and Susie are introduced as being very different. Sharon is very proper and polite. She has good posture and her vocabulary is slightly larger than Susie’s. Meanwhile, Susie is more laid back. She uses slang when she speaks and she has a tendency to bite her nails. These differences would be nice if not for the fact that they’re dropped during the last half of the movie. Part of the problem is that they’re played by the same actress. That means that when they’re sitting side by side, wearing the same outfit, it’s impossible to tell them apart. Even identical twins have different appearances, so it’s kind of jarring when I can’t tell a pair of “twins” apart. At one point I thought I knew which one was which because one of them started biting their nails, but then someone called her Sharon. Susie was the one who bit her nails at the beginning of the movie. Needless to say, I was confused. Hayley Mills, the actress for both characters, also has a tendency to bite and lick her bottom lip while playing both Sharon AND Susie. These two had a good start, but by the end of the movie they didn’t do so well.
  • Hallie and Annie. Hallie and Annie have a good amount of similarities and differences. They’re presented as pretty different when they first come on screen. Hallie makes friends easily and can be very sarcastic. Meanwhile Annie is proper and responsible with a bit of an anxious streak. They start out with different appearances as well, just as Sharon and Susie do. Hallie and Annie also have some similarities, but the movie does a good job of relating these without making them the same character. Both Hallie and Annie get in a fencing fight when they meet each other. They’re both very good, but Annie is clearly more skilled and wins the battle. In another instance they play poker against each other. They’re both shown to be good at it, but Hallie is better and wins the poker game. The main issue here is, once again, they have the same actress. Lindsay Lohan isn’t the most disguisable actress, and they didn’t do much to differentiate her appearance in each role aside from the wardrobe.

Winner: Hallie and Annie win it again! They have more consistent differences. Lindsay Lohan does a better job at making sure each character feels different when she’s playing each role. The script also does a good job of making them both similar and different without going to extremes.

Relationship:

  • Sharon and Susie. These two have a pretty realistic relationship development, but, once again, they get a little less once the movie gets going. They don’t get along at first. Their differences cause them to make some pretty harsh judgements about each other. This results in an all out prank war and quite a few fights when they’re in camp. Once they get over this however, they become pretty fast friends. They’re close, but there’s no indication of a realistic relationship, either. They stay together constantly and don’t show much of a difference in opinion, nor do they do anything overly thoughtful for one another. They’re just…there.
  • Hallie and Annie. They have pretty much the same story as Sharon and Susie. They fight in camp, refuse to get along, and get over it all once they realize they’re twins. The difference is that their relationship is extended beyond this. They have a few chats over the phone that result in arguments, mostly because Hallie is enjoying her time with her mom while Annie is worried her dad will get married. They do come together again once Hallie realizes the situation, and each enjoys spending time together in the attempt to thwart their father’s potential marriage. They get so close, in fact, that both Hallie AND her father make the decision to go after Annie and their mom when they decide to part ways again. Hallie and Annie have many disagreements, but by the end of the movie it’s obvious how much they care for each other.

Winner: Surprise! It’s Hallie and Annie. A lot of the relationship dynamic is the same, but Hallie and Annie have the advantage of being more explored as characters. Their relationship is stronger for the extra screen time they receive.

Plot:

Sharon and Susie: What’s nice about every ‘Parent Trap’ is that the twin characters share some of the storyline, but they also spend a good chunk of the movie separated in order to switch places. This separation tends to be used to introduce the audience to the parents and family friends, but it’s nice to see Sharon attempt to figure out her relationship with her father while Susie is having completely different problems on her end. They interact with different family members, start different relationships with these family members than their sister had, and overall get a nice amount of story to themselves without having to be together.

Hallie and Annie: I’d say this is pretty much the same. They get separate storylines at the same points in the movie. Their storylines converge at the same points as well. Even though they get slightly more screen time, I’d say it serves the same purpose when it comes to the overall plot.

Winner: Tie. There are some differences between the movies, but the overall plot is the same.

Final Result:

There’s a pretty obvious winner here and it’s Hallie and Annie. I think most of their advantages have to do with the fact that their movie was a remake of a version that came out several decades beforehand. Not only is the 1998 movie longer, it also mastered the storyline of the original. The movie was better paced, spent more time on characters the original didn’t seem to have time for, and didn’t push our main characters to the background once the romance plot started becoming important. Hallie and Annie have more personality to them. They have clearly defined traits that aren’t exactly the opposite of one other, allowing them to bond over their similarities without having the same personality. They were both written as individual characters at all times. Lindsay Lohan was able to play them with differences too, despite the fact that both characters look exactly the same because they share an actress. There’s definitely some downsides to Hallie and Annie, but there’s a reason why so many twins connect to these two.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Disney: ‘The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast’ in Tokyo Disneyland

Press explore the inside of ‘The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast’ on Sept. 25, 2020. Courtesy of Kyodo and Tokyo Disneyland.

Hi! It’s Annie!

This is definitely not the first time I’ve posted about ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and it definitely won’t be the last. What can I say, I’ve always strongly related to Belle with her love of books. This movie is also just gorgeous. My love for this movie that has now spanned over years has now given me the reputation for being the Belle girl in my family. I also am a California native who grew up going to Disneyland until somewhat recently when the tickets got so ridiculously expensive that my family couldn’t afford it anymore. I’ve also been to Disney World a few times. Though Disneyland has admittedly fallen behind somewhat with immersive experiences in comparison to some of their competition (ahem Universal Studios), they generally still have the same magic. And I had high expectations for this ride considering their recent successes with ‘Rise of the Resistance’ in Galaxy’s Edge. My expectations only skyrocketed when they released footage of some of their animatronics. And then I watched footage of this ride and I don’t think my opinion would change seeing it in person. I’m going to come out and say it- this ride completely falls flat for me. Me. The person who loves ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and doesn’t think that Disney has come out with a truly bad ride (for the most part at least). I wanted to talk a little bit about why this was so disappointing to me. And also the few things that I did like!

Pros:

  • The animatronics. They’re beautiful. They feel lifelike and transport you into the story. There’s also plenty of animatronics in this ride to look at, so that’s always good. I’m a sucker for some good practical effects. Also, did you see that Belle with the lantern? She’s so pretty and real-looking!
  • The castle and surrounding village. The castle is really pretty and the inside is just as impressive. Walking through the castle you see giant suits of armor adorning the richly draped halls, some familiar characters, and the grand entrance hall looking just as it does in the movie. If you haven’t watched a walk-through of the surrounding village yet, you should. There are explosions coming out of Maurice’s house and several props from the movie you might recognize. Like a specific hat display in one of the shops. It really does make their guests feel like they are walking in Belle’s footsteps.
  • The opening show. The opening to the ride takes place part-way through the line in the grand hall of Beast’s castle. Here you watch part of the story through a beautiful stained glass window, just like the movie, and then the amazing Belle animatronic with the lantern and Beast are shown to the audience on the top of the stairway. I know I’ve already said this a million times, but it does feel as if you’re in the movie now. It’s gorgeous and well-detailed.
  • The Beast’s Transformation. More than half-way through the ride you get to the pivotal moment in the movie where the Beast transforms into a human. I have no idea how they did it, but they were actually able to pull this off with actual animatronics in this ride. You see an animatronic of the Beast turn into an animatronic of him as a human. It’s unreal.

Cons:

  • The opening show. I really do like this opening, but it did leave me with a few questions. Firstly, the stained glass window looks pretty small. Secondly, I’m not quite sure why they stuck the best animatronic in the entire experience in the pre-show rather than actually putting her in the ride. You only see this Belle for a couple seconds before the pre-show ends. None of the animatronics in the ride even match up to this Belle and you’re often stuck for ages in rooms with these animatronics, but I’ll get more into that later. If more animatronics were like this first Belle it would have made the ride much more interesting. I understand also that this Belle is one-of-a-kind and a difficult feat. Which makes me wonder even more why they put her in the pre-show rather than actually showing her off in the ride. You barely see her, especially because they stick her so far in a corner. It makes you wonder if there’s some issues with the animatronic.
  • Four rooms. I’m pretty sure I’ve counted that correctly. And yes, this ride has a total of four rooms that you spend time in forever. They almost play full songs while you spin around these pretty small rooms. They also didn’t actually put a whole lot in these rooms, so you get acclimated to everything pretty quickly. It makes this feel more like a showcase or an art show than an actual Disney ride. You don’t feel like you’re going anywhere or really doing anything. They stick you in one room for a while and then you go to the next for a while until the ride is over. They also didn’t do a whole lot of screens for the outside or detailing, so it feels a little claustrophobic in these rooms on top of everything else.
  • Sparse detailing. Like I said before, for being stuck in these rooms for several minutes, there’s really not that much to see. They skimped out a lot on the detailing. Every room seems to have one big event that they assume will draw everyone’s eye. But the issue with being in those rooms for so long is that eventually everyone will start looking at other things. Especially because you made the tea cups spin, so they kind of have to look at other things too. For example, in the ‘Be Our Guest’ room, you really only have a small room with Lumiere, a table, and Belle. There’s not anything else in the room. And the table is pretty bare until half-way through the song when things begin to appear on the table. So you’re there for a really long time looking at a tablecloth and Belle smiling unnaturally. Not to mention that this Lumiere animatronic is worse than any of the ones they’ve made before, like in the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ experience in Disney World for example. This is actually the worst in the ‘Something There’ room. There’s Beast in a tower and then all the way on the other side of the room Belle stands with Philippe under a tree. The rest of this room is completely bare aside from some fake snow. And they put you in there for what feels like the longest of any room. Because the tea cups spin, you aren’t always by the Beast or Belle, so there are times where all there is to see is fake snow.
  • No Gaston. Yup. They claim to take you through the entire movie and Gaston appears once as a shadow. I know they were trying to keep it to inside the castle, but I’m not asking for Gaston’s tavern. You can see Gaston’s tavern in the village. It would have been so cool to see the Beast and Gaston fighting outside of a window before the transformation scene. It would have been much better than showing us the backsides of two more Belle and Beast animatronics in what is supposed to be a cute scene but feels like the guests caught them at the wrong time. Even the ‘Little Mermaid’ ride has Ursula, though I do think the ‘Little Mermaid’ ride is much better than this one.
  • The “main event”. They want the main part of the ride to be the ending when Belle and the Beast are dancing. But these aren’t the most impressive animatronics in the ride and this is another room that feels a little empty. Some more windows at least might have been nice. But you’re just there for a while watching Belle and Beast in the middle of the room do the same little dance thing over and over. You can’t help but compare this room to the similar dining room for the dining experience in Disney World. It feels a little small and pathetic. And trust me, just from videos I like Tokyo Disney a bit more than I like what they’ve done with Disney World. I want to go very badly. It feels weird to me that the park got something that’s worse than Disney World.

I was really excited to watch the ride-through of the ride and probably hyped myself up too much for it. At first I thought a lot of my disappointment came from me hyping myself up, so I showed other members of my family to get their opinions. And we all came out saying the same things. My Mom and I even watching the ride-through for ‘Mickeys’ Runaway Railway’ and wondered at how we thought that one seemed fun considering we generally like practical effects better. I guess I’m now of the opinion that both doesn’t hurt. You don’t have to go all screens or all practical effects. Maybe a screen or two would have given the guests more to see in this ride. I guess I’ll have to give all my attention in Tokyo Disney back to Ariel’s Grotto (because I do love Ariel almost just as much as Belle). But at least it’s not all bad and there’s still plenty more to see and love in Disney parks. Even though I’m seriously considering never giving them my money again because of the giant fit the company is currently throwing. I just hope none of this becomes a trend.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Books: An Honest Look at the Hogwarts Houses

Screenshot of Hogwarts castle from ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone'(2001). Copyright goes to Warner Bros. Pictures, Heyday Films, and 1492 Pictures.

Hey! Hallie here!

Sorting Hat quizzes definitely haven’t gone down in popularity since the entire ‘Harry Potter’ controversy happened. Recently a friend of mine sent me another Sorting Hat quiz, which isn’t a surprise, but what did catch me off guard was how differently everyone seems to view each of the Hogwarts houses. There’s always different ideas about what the houses represent or don’t represent. So I decided to look at the various sources the books, official websites, and fans have provided to see what the houses are about, and what people see them as now that the fans have pretty much taken them over. This will detail what each of the Hogwarts houses represent, but I in no way claim to know everything there is to know about each house. I would also like to point out that no test can pigeonhole your personality into one box. With that out of the way, let’s look at the houses.

Gryffindor: This house is known for their bravery. The traits the Sorting Hat gives Gryffindor specifically are brave, daring, and chivalrous. Let’s break this down a bit because all of these look like the same exact thing. In most instances they are used interchangeably. Bravery isn’t hard to understand. It’s the ability to face something that might bring you pain or discomfort. Daring is generally used more to describe someone who is adventurous. Chivalry refers to the knights code. This code can basically be summed up to: Stand up for those who can’t defend themselves. In other words, Gryffindor is a house of heroes. Gryffindor is about doing things that might make you nervous and trying things you’ve never tried and putting others needs before your own. This is why all of the main characters are in Gryffindor. Somewhere along the line, Gryffindor house became known in the fandom as the house of jocks. Because of the emphasis put on Gryffindors success in Quidditch in the books, and the tendency of both Harry and Ron to leap before they look, the fandom referred to this house as the sporty house where common sense isn’t so common. The fandom was content with that for a while, but after a few years there was a reemergence of the idea that every house is important and perhaps the more mean interpretations weren’t so accurate. After all, Hermione was in Gryffindor as well. Here we had the more widely known interpretation of Gryffindor. Gryffindors are brave and will stand up for what’s right at any cost. Sometimes this will cause them to neglect or offend those they’re close to who happen to disagree with them. But they tend to care for people and have a desire to protect them.

Hufflepuff: What the hell is a Hufflepuff? Well, Hufflepuff is the house that prioritizes, justness, loyalty, honesty, and hard work. This is easier to break down than Gryffindor. Justness describes the ability to be able to tell what is morally right. Loyalty is unwavering support of someone or something. Honesty comes out of the Sorting Hat describing Hufflepuffs as “true”. In general it is simply telling the truth. Hardworking is the last trait, which is described by the Sorting Hat as being “unafraid of toil”. Hufflepuffs are a combination of very desirable traits. They know what is right, are fierce supporters of their friends, try to be truthful in everything they do, and prioritize hard work. The books also gave Hufflepuff the unfortunate reputation of being dumb because of an offhanded remark by Hagrid, but the fandom found this more offensive than telling. Instead, the fandom gave Hufflepuff the reputation of being the nice house. While Helga Hufflepuff is described as “sweet” by the Sorting Hat, there really is no indication that a Hufflepuff must be nice to meet all of the above requirements. Which fans also seemed to notice because Hufflepuffs also began to get the reputation of being secretly violent as part of the “loyalty” trait. Hufflepuffs still have quite a bit of this representation, but more recently fans have started to put more of the hardworking aspect into the definition of Hufflepuff. Hufflepuffs are now known for being supportive with a strong moral compass, and an equally strong work ethic towards projects that would lead to the betterment of those they care about. This can cause them to neglect themselves, and they aren’t all people of the community, but they do at least have a bubble of people they work to make happy.

Ravenclaw: Ravenclaws are described as wise, witty, and knowledge-hungry. Wisdom can be broken down as the appearance of having experience or good judgement. Wit is described as keen intelligence. Being hungry for knowledge is described by the books as a desire to learn. Essentially, Ravenclaws were written to be sensical, generally smart, and willing to explore all different kinds of information. This house was written to be a house of very smart students who were more prone to studying than the other houses. The fans took this description and went a bit overboard with it. Ravenclaws were portrayed by the fandom as nerds who spent all their time obsessing over grades or reading. There was, and still is, also a reputation of being emotionless robots. I was surprised to find this specific trait in one of the more recent “good” Sorting Hat quizzes I took. When a more broad definition was accepted to include all of the people that had been sorted who weren’t like this, it’s reputation changed somewhat. Now Ravenclaws are seen as old souls who have either had a lot of life experience, or seem to have a lot of life experience. This is because they view the world in such a broad and imaginative way. They’re also known for being hyper-interested in specific subjects, but that doesn’t mean they’re interested in all subjects. Ravenclaws can be caught up in their heads fairly often, but their imaginations are enviable.

Slytherin: This is the house the fandom took over the most. The traits the books gave Slytherin’s were cunning and ambition. Cunning describes achieving what one wants by deceit. Yes, that is correct. The definition of cunning uses the word “deceit”. Ambition describes a strong desire to achieve success. The Sorting Hat speaks of Slytherins using any means to achieve that success, which considering the definition of cunning, doesn’t necessarily imply the best methods. Slytherin was written as the evil house. Plain and simple. Slytherins were bad mouthed throughout all the books for being willing to step over other people to get power. All of the Slytherins were locked in the dungeons by McGonagall during the Battle of Hogwarts, implying none of them fought in it. The fandom took this a few ways. First the fandom embraced Slytherins evil and many fans of the villainous characters placed themselves in Slytherin because of their love of those characters. Then the fandom, while seeing the positives in the other houses, decided to see more positives in Slytherin. Slytherins started to be correlated with the desire to work hard for your dreams. To lessen the blow of their seemingly selfish ideals, fans started to extend loyalty into Slytherin. Slytherin ended up adopting a lot of Hufflepuff traits, if you look at it. Slytherins now have the reputation of being big dreamers who work hard to make those dreams realities. They’re also known for being protective over those they care about, but the amount of people they care about tend to be a small group. They can be closed off, but they’re pretty warm once they let you in.

There’s something very important I want to leave you with before I sign off. No matter what house you’re in, or even if you think you’re in a different house than you were when I started, you are more than just the traits I described. You probably exhibit all of the traits from all of the houses, and more. Many people have noticed this. This is why there are so many theories on why the Sorting Hat chooses what house suits which person best. The point is, all of us are very similar and equally important. The books made the mistake of making the houses divided with several different rivalries. It also put forward a system where like-minded kids are kept in a group without exploring other mentalities. But as a fandom, we have grown past that. We have has conversations about our different mindsets and what we value and why we’re in the houses we’re in. We are all more than our house and there’s a lot more to explore about yourself to find your true personality. And you will know what that is better than any Sorting Hat.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie