Table Of ContentHandsome Heroes &
Vile Villains
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Handsome Heroes &
Vile Villains
Men in Disney’s Feature
Animation
Amy M. Davis
HANDSOMEHEROES&VILEVILLAINS
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Handsome Heroes&VileVillains:MeninDisney’sFeatureAnimation
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ISBN: 0861967049(Paperbackedition)
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iv
Contents
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:6)
Acknowledgements vi
Introduction 1
Chapter1 OnWoodenBoysandAssistantPig-Keepers 19
Chapter2 DashingHeroes 95
Chapter3 HandsomePrinces 147
Chapter4 EvilVillains 187
Conclusion 247
AppendixA ListofFilmsinthisStudy 255
AppendixB ListofDisneyAnimatedFeatureFilmstoDate 257
Bibliography 259
Filmography 265
Index 271
v
HANDSOMEHEROES&VILEVILLAINS
Acknowledgements
Thoughthisbookmayhaveasingleauthor,undoubtedlytherehasbeen
ateamofpeoplewhohavebeenofhelpandsupportatvariouspoints
during the book’s creation. I cannot name individually everyonewho
hasbeenthereformeduringthisprocess,butifyouplayedapartand
youknowit,Ithankyoufromthebottomofmyheart.Specialmention
mustgotosomewhohelpedinenormousways,oftenaboveandbeyond
thecallofduty.Theyaremymother,KathleenDavis,mygrandmother,
BettyErwin,andmybrother,BrianDavis,whoboughtmemanyofthe
dvds(andsomeofthebooks)thatweretoplayapartoftheresearchfor
thisproject,talkedDisneywithme,andkeptmegoing;specialthanks
to my mother for reading drafts and giving detailed feedback, too!
Likewise,Imustthankcolleagues(manyofwhomarealsofriends)past
andpresentfortheirgivingmespaceandencouragement,andforletting
mebounceideasoffofthemfromtimetotime(nottomentionletting
me complain when I realised just how useless Prince Charming is!).
SpecialmentionmustgotoMáireMessenger-Davies,DavidEldridge,
andJamesZborowski,whodiscussedideasandthemesatvariousstages
oftheprocess.ImustalsothankJohnLibbey,thepublisherofthisbook,
forhisunendingpatiencewhenteaching,administrative,andlifecom-
mitmentsmeantthatthemanuscript’ssubmission“deadline”hadtobe
changedagainandagain.Ipromisenevertomentionanothernewbook
toyoubeforeitisatleastnintypercentcompleted(ifnotactuallydone)!
Also,averyspecialthankyoumustgotomystudents,pastandpresent,
whostudiedonmyAmericanAnimationHistorymoduleandmyDisney
Studiesmodule.Onmorethanoneoccasion,ourclassroomdiscussions
helpedmetoworkthroughideas,sometimesseethingsinanewlight,
orremindmeofsomethingI’dforgottenbecauseIfirstthoughtabout
it or readabout itquite sometime ago, andithad since slipped away
frommypoor,tiredbrain.Oneofthegreatestjoysofteaching–apart
fromsharingwithothersasubjectyoulove–isthat,invariably,youlearn
fromyourstudentsthemselves,aswellasfromtheprocessofexplaining
things to your students. For that, know that you have my sincere
appreciation;Ihopethatyou,too,havebenefitedfromourtimetogether.
Thereare,ofcourse,others(colleaguesand/orfriends)whodeserveto
be singled out for thanks for discussing (formally and informally) all
sortsofthingsabouttheworldofDisney(films,parks,andmerchandise),
gender roles, handsome princes, animation, bad guys, the process of
academic writing, andthe like. Inno particular order,Iwouldliketo
thankRachaelKelly,DoreneKoehler,IrisKleinecke-Bates,JamesAston,
Jemma Gilboy Alexander Ornella, Georgina Waterhouse, Charlotte
Waterhouse,andEmmaWaterhouse(andCara&Rob,too!).
My most sincere thanks to each and every one of you whom I’ve
mentionedhere,whetherornotI’velistedyoubyname.Withoutyou,
astheysay,itwouldnothavebeenpossible.
vi
Introduction
(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:9)(cid:15)(cid:11)(cid:8)
“Story-wise,wesharpenthedecisivetriumphofgoodoverevilwith
ourvaliantknights–theissueswhichrepresentourmoralideals.We
doitinaromanticfashion,easilycomprehendedbychildren.Inthis
respect, moving pictures are more potent than volumes of familiar
wordsinbooks.”
–WaltDisney.1
W
hen many people think of the Disney studio’s ani-
matedfeature films,theythinkofprincesses.Andon
thesurface,it’snowonder.Thefilmswhichwerekey
financial,critical,andpopularsuccessesforDisney–SnowWhite
andtheSevenDwarfs(1937),Cinderella(1950),TheLittleMermaid
(1989),BeautyandtheBeast(1991),Aladdin(1992),Tangled(2010)
–aswellasturningpointsinthestudio’shistory,allfeatureyoung
women who are either born or become princesses. The young
womenaroundwhomthesestoriescentrearecharismatic,beau-
tiful,interesting, andbesetwithmonumental problems,and so
they have what it takes to capture much of our interest. The
problems theyface, byand large, in most of the examplescited
above,2 are caused by equally-compelling women: evil to the
pointofmonstrous,theirdetermination,jealousy,anddynamism
nearly steal the show from the heroines who are the targets of
1 JeffKurtti,TheArt
ofTangled(San theiranimosity.
Francisco:
ChronicleBooks But what about the men? The young boys who go on amazing
LLC,2010),p.104.
adventures? The princes and heroes who win the hearts of the
2 BeautyandtheBeast
andAladdinarethe princesses and heroines and who, we just know by the ends of
exceptions,andin the films, will go on to live in love and romantic unity happily
bothofthesecases,
theyarescene- everafter?Thefriendsandcompanionswhoassistedthemalong
stealingmen, the way? Villains who bring danger – and in most cases excite-
villainswhohave
bothgreatcomic ment–tothestory?Yes,they’rerememberedbythepublic,toa
timingand degree.Beingabletonameallsevenofthedwarfsissomething
genuineaurasof
menaceanddanger. ofatriviagameinsomequarters(Doc,Happy,Bashful,Sleepy,
1
HANDSOMEHEROES&VILEVILLAINS
Sneezy,Grumpy,andDopey,incaseyoucan’tquiteremember).
Characters such as Snow White’s Prince, Cinderella’s Prince
Charming, and other royal suitors comes up (though many
would have trouble naming character traits for any of them).
Those whoare that bitmore “into”Disneywillrememberthat 3 SaturdayNightLive,
Season37,Episode
the prince with whom Ariel falls in love has an actual name,
16,OriginalUS
Prince Eric, but he is not the most memorable character in the AirDate3March
2012.
story,eventhoughwewouldneverhavethestoryatallifhehad
4 Notallofthe
not been there for Ariel to rescue and fall head-over-heels for
charactersinthe
(onceshegotherlegs,anyway). “Princess
Collection”are
Certainly,the DisneyCompanyhas recognisedthis:theirmar- princessesintheir
films.Mulan,for
ketingstrategiesincludetheincredibly-successful“PrincessCol-
example,isnotof
lection”which,in-and-ofitself,hasspawnednumerousparodies royalbirth,nor
doesshemarrya
andreferences(mypersonalfavouriteisthe2012SaturdayNight
prince.Theyoung
Live sketch featuring LindsayLohan, “The Real Housewives of manwhoislikely
Disney”3), and the memorable Disney Villains Collection, an tobecomeher
husbandsomeday,
ideawhichhas becomeassociatedwithHalloweeninparticular Shang,isnota
prince;soeven
but, in some circles, is popular all year round. But there is no
uponmarriageto
official Disney Princes Collection, or Disney Boys Collection. him,Mulanwould
continuetobeof
Whenheroesaremerchandisedandmarketed,itisalmostalways
thesamesocial
as counter-parts to the heroines and notas agroupworth cele- rankasthatwhich
sheheldatthe
brating.
startofthefilm.
But why have the “princesses”4 come to dominate the public’s Likewise,some
princesses–to
imagination?Itisnotdowntomarketingassuch:whenCinder- includecharacters
whoareprincesses
ellawasreinventedasaDisneyheroineinthe1950film,shewas
intheirownright
perceived in the popular press – and presumably by many –havebeenleft
outofthePrincess
amongstthegeneralpublic–asbeingatypicalDisneyprincess,
Collection
despite the fact that she is preceded by only one other Disney entirely,suchas
PrincessKidafrom
princess – Snow White. Indeed, the princesses were outnum-
Atlantis,2001.By
beredbythe commonersthroughoutthehistoryofDisneyfea- theendofAtlantis,
Kida’sfatherhas
tureanimation,somuchsothatnotevenallofthecharacterswho
diedandshehas
comprisetheofficial“DisneyPrincessCollection”marketingare inheritedthe
throneofAtlantis
actually princesses. Mulan, for example, is from a high-status
inherownright,
family,buttheyarebynomeansroyalty.Therehavebeenagreat therebybecoming
theonlyoneofthe
manymoreprincessestojointheDisneycharacterfamilybegin-
Disneyprincesses
ning with Arielin 1989, butthisseems tohavebecome atrend tobecomea
reigningqueen
inDisneyanimatedfeaturefilmssimplybecausetheideaofthe
beforeherfilm’s
Disneyprincesshadsocapturedthepublicimagination.Ariel,in end.
fact,isthefifthprincess,5butisfollowed(asofthetimeofwriting 5 Thepreviousfour
areSnowWhite,
this)byanotherseven:Belle,Jasmine,Pocahontas,Kida,Tiana,
Cinderella,Aurora
RapunzelandVanellope. (fromSleeping
Beauty,1959),and
And princes? Where do theyfigureintoallofthis? Whatabout Eilonwy(fromThe
BlackCauldron,
male heroes generally? Looking at the list of the twenty-eight 1985).
filmsanalysedinthisstudy,6nineareactuallynamedafteramale 6 SeeAppendixA.
2
Introduction
character;onlyfivearenamedforasinglefemalecharacter,three
makereferencetoboththemaleandfemaleleadsinthetitle,and
elevenare genderneutral.When you includeallfifty-twofilms
todate,7thenumberofmaletofemaledesignatedtitlesisineven
sharper contrast: twenty-one films are named solely for their
male leads, six for their female leads, five titles make explicit
reference to having both a male and a female lead, and twenty
titlesaregenderneutral.Allofthefilmswithafemalecharacter’s
name as the title are humans (if you count Ariel, the Little
Mermaid, as human; for our purposes here, since she spends
mostofherfilmhumanandishumanattheendofthestory,I
consider her human). Titles which name only the male lead,
however, have a mix of species: humans, an elephant, a deer,
severalbears,alion,achicken,andadog.Asofthetimeofwriting
thisbook,titleswhichare eithermaleorgenderneutralarethe
overwhelming majority: forty-one. While this does not always
reflecttheimportanceofleadcharacters–forexample,Wendyis
asimportantasPeterinPeterPan(1953),justasJasmineisvital
toAladdin(1992)–onthesurface,itappearsthatmalecharacters
are more important to titles than females, and possiblymale or
neutral namesaresaferforattractingaudiences. Thelikelihood
is that this trend against featuring a female character as the
single-namedcharacterinafilmlookslikelytocontinue,too.In
aLosAngelesTimesarticlepublishedon9March2010,thearticle’s
authorsmaketheargument–whichtheysupportbyquotesfrom
people like Ed Catmull (at that time president of the Pixar and
7 SeeAppendixB. DisneyAnimationStudios)andRoyConli(theproducerforthe
8 Chmielewski, 2010filmTangled)–thatthereasonthatTangledwaschosenasa
DawnC.,and
title instead of Rapunzel (the film’s original title) was precisely
ClaudiaEller,
“DisneyRestyles becauseitwasnotagirl’sname,andtheperceptionwasthatboys
‘Rapunzel’to
wouldnotwanttoseeafilmwhichfeaturedafemalenameinits
AppealtoBoys”,
fromTheLos title. Even the article treats this revelation with a disdainful
AngelesTimes,9
attitudeofmockshock:“Aftertheless-than-fairytaleresultsfor
March2010;
foundat: itsmostrecentanimatedrelease,ThePrincessandtheFrog,execu-
http://articles.latime
tivesattheBurbankstudiobelievetheyknowwhytheacclaimed
s.com/2010/mar/09/
business/la-fi-ct- moviecameupshortattheboxoffice.Braceyourself:Boysdidn’t
disney9-2010mar09 wanttoseeamoviewith‘princess’inthetitle.”8Thearticlegoes
9 Chmielewskiand
ontoquoteCatmull’sclaimthat,“Basedupontheresponsefrom
Eller,“Disney
Restyles fans and critics, we believe it [The Princess and the Frog] would
‘Rapunzel’to
havebeenhigher[initsboxofficetakings]ifitwasn’tprejudged
AppealtoBoys”,
LTonline. by its title”.9 Mentioning that, at that time, the planned movie
10 Infact,thefilm– based on “The Snow Queen” had been shelved because the
underthegender
studiohad concludedthat“ithad toomanyanimatedgirlflicks
neutraltitleFrozen
–issettobe initslineup[sic]”,10thearticleconcludeswitharatherinteresting
releasedin
claim:
November2013.
3
