Blog Conclusion

As the semester comes to a conclusion, so will my writing class. It is now time to reflect back on what I have learned throughout the journey.

First, I learned that some villains are able to draw sympathy from the audience. This is one of the reasons why the villains of films tend to have a following just like the heroes (if not larger sometimes). This occurs a lot when the audience is able to relate to the villain. Almost everybody is able to relate to wanting status, wealth, and having so much jealousy that people will go to crazy conditions to get them. Although people in real life most likely will not murder, kidnap, or steal to get these desires, people are able to understand villains when they do just that. Take, for instance, Jafar from Aladdin (1992). Jafar has been stuck taking orders from the Sultan for years, and he is tired of having to follow orders from him. The audience is sympathetic because most of them would rather have the status and power of being sultan than holding Jafar’s position. As a result of this and Jafar’s cool sorcerer powers, Jafar has a large following of fans.

Next, I learned that there is not always one clear villain in every film. Often, the villains in films are simply the face of a larger, overarching theme of a movie. For example, in WALL-E (2008), AUTO is displayed as the villain of the film because he tries to keep everyone from returning back to Earth; however, AUTO is just following his programming that man made so that there would be no return. Earth was believed to be uninhabitable forever. In this film, AUTO is not truly the main villain, but man is. Man has made Earth unfit to live on through production and manufacturing. Man has become obese and relies on technology too heavily for every day functions. Man programmed AUTO not to allow the ship to return to Earth. AUTO is simply the face of man as a villain throughout this movie.

In this course, I learned that evil and villainy are not always associated with those portrayed as “bad guys.” Different groups of people often see characters throughout the film as evil. For example, feminists see the new wave of Disney princesses as villains. Although the princesses have more freedom, power, and have a stronger voice, the feminists see these as useless if the ultimate goal of the princess is to find love and get married, because the princesses lose all of the power they once had in order to become bound to their princes. The illustration of these characters as reliant on men causes the feminist leaders to see these princesses as villains.

Perhaps the most important message that I have taken from this course is the impact that villains and Disney can have on young children through developing assumptions in young minds that are able to be imprinted on. I have constantly talked about this in my posts throughout the semester, so I will not make you read all of that again.

All in all, I believe that I have gained much knowledge about evil and villainy throughout this course. As I have stated before, coming into this course, I had limited knowledge about Disney or any of their villains. Now, my knowledge of Disney improved as well as my understanding of evil.  

Wreck-It Ralph Response

Wreck-It Ralph is one of the first movies that Disney used to begin their recent trend of having villains or “bad guys” as protagonists in movies. The protagonist in this movie is, of course, Ralph, the bad guy who climbs up the building, destroys it, and throws bricks from the top at Felix in the arcade game “Fix-It Felix, Jr.” If the player is able to control Felix to fix the building and climb to the top, Ralph is thrown from the top of the building into the mud.

Living life as a villain is not very easy. The other characters in the game make Ralph live in the junkyard, where he sleeps on a mountain of bricks, and uses some as blankets too. Also, the other characters throw a party to celebrate the thirty-year anniversary with Felix, but Ralph is the only character in the game to not be invited. Ralph lives in a lonely world, where no one appreciates the work he does as the villain, and since this life has been his for thirty-years, one can only picture how he must feel.

Throughout the movie, Ralph travels to another game trying to earn a medal. While he is at a bar called “Tapper’s,” which is also a game, Ralph hears there is a medal at the end of the game “Hero’s Duty.” When Ralph enters the game, it is clear that he is no match for what he is up against; however, he is able to run ahead and climb the tower to get the medal that is inside. He accidentally steps on one of the robotic bug’s eggs, gets attacked, and leaves (with the bug) with an escape pod that blasts him into yet another game. Ralph does not want the medal so he can have the glory. Instead, he sees earning a medal as the only way to be able to make friends and have a better life.

Wreck-It Ralph brings a new prospective to use when watching villains. This movie goes very well with the topic of villains who deserve sympathy versus villains who do not. While Ralph is technically the villain of his game, he does not want to be a villain. He wants to have friends, acceptance, and appreciation just like any other person or, in this case, video game character. Since Ralph displays such human desires, the audience grows sympathy for him.

However, on the same note, the movie also depicts that there are villains who are not so humane and do not deserve sympathy. When Ralph lands in the escape pod, he is inside of a game called “Sugar Rush.” This is a racing game in a candy-based world. In this game, Ralph discovers that King Candy, apparently the ruler of the kingdom when Ralph shows up, is really a character from another game that got broken and shut down. The character, Turbo, came into this one and hacked the programming so that the former princess would appear as a glitch. Then, when the game is under attack by the robotic bugs, Turbo is going to let this game world get destroyed, rather than helping by trying to reset the game to get rid of the bugs. If he resets the game, he dies. He would much rather have everyone in the game he took over leave and die than do that himself. This is a villain that has no concerns other than himself and he does not earn any sympathy from the audience. This is showing that there are such things as true villains as well, and not every villain will be a good guy if you look from their point of view.

Since Ralph winds up saving the entire videogame, he manages to become the hero and the villain at the same time. He is able to get the appreciation and acceptance that he deserves from the people in his own game and others.

Response to Anderson

Recently, I have read a text named “Post-Apocalyptic Nostalgia: WALL-E, Garbage, and American Ambivalence toward Manufactured Goods,” by Christopher Todd Anderson. In this article, Anderson discusses the paradoxical views of consumerism that are presented throughout the movie. On one hand, consumerism is illustrated as the cause for the apocalyptic wasteland that Earth has become, mainly due to a company called “Buy N Large.” However, on the other hand, the pleasure that comes with consumerism is displayed through the nostalgia that accompanies many of the items that WALL-E finds and collects while he is turning trash into cubes. Overall, I thought that the Anderson did not always connect his ideas in the best order. Much of this article felt repetitive because Anderson would re-explain an idea later in his paper to expand on it, rather than just expanding on it when he was already discussing it. For example, his discussion of nostalgia and irony was brought up multiple times, with Anderson basically repeating information that was brought up earlier each time the topic arose.  

In addition, I felt like Anderson is unclear when he talks about the environmental message present in the film. In the beginning, Anderson states that “the message is clear: present-day patterns of consumption and wastefulness are suffocating the planet and making it uninhabitable.” However, throughout his paper he makes the argument that the nostalgia related to consumerism complicates the message about protecting the environment. The nostalgia in the film makes people realize how important material possessions are in their lives by recalling positive emotions associated with each of the objects that WALL-E collects. A large purpose in including these items is to make people realize that the goods that they cherish will eventually lose their value and be thrown away. This brings the environmental cost of consumption into consideration, because the audience becomes aware that all of the damage to the environment that is caused by manufacturing is only for short term happiness. So, while Anderson tries to display WALL-E’s message about the environment as both clear and complicated, I believe that the nostalgic objects only enhance the message. (That is, if there is an environmental message. Somehow the film’s director claims that the movie is only a love story with no environmental message at all).

I have suspicion about the claim that there is no intended message about protecting our environment from destruction as a result of consumerism. First of all, the message is just so potent throughout the entire movie to be unintentionally included. The apocalyptic state of Earth and the emotions that come with it is the primary focus of the first thirty-five minutes of the movie. Second, Pixar displayed a self-awareness in the movie when you could see different Pixar items in the piles of trash. Now, this could simply just be something that Pixar used to get a few laughs; however, Anderson notes that the planting of Pixar items in the trash piles means that Pixar has, to some degree, acknowledged the fact that they are a large part in the world of consumerism and are contributing to the degradation of Earth.

All in all, Anderson made some very strong arguments in this article by expanding on points that other authors did not dedicate as much time to.

Trump Added to Hall of Presidents

Disney appears to be helping the United States with the smooth and peaceful president transition that current President Barrack Obama desperately wants and this country desperately needs. Although many are angry and fearful about the new president-elect, Donald Trump, it will be important to maintain unity as a country to overcome whatever obstacles present themselves, rather than let them tear us apart. Disney is treating this president-elect like any other, closing to renovate the Hall of Presidents and add him to the attraction. I mean, had they delayed adding him, then this could have threatened the peaceful transition. The thought of Donald Trump in the Hall of Presidents is saddening to many (as shown in this article), as currently there has not been much positive to say about his views and campaign to become president. However, there is always hope that he will change his demeanor now that the campaign is over. Disney is displaying its American support by helping with this smooth transition; however, one has to wonder what they will display for Donald Trump that is "child-friendly" and positive.

Tarzan Response

I watched Tarzan for the first time. Honestly, I had not realized the depth behind the story of Tarzan before I watched the movie. Previously, I had thought it was just a man living in the jungle who learned how to become a part of human society. Now, being able to understand the multiple messages and the villain after watching the movie, I understand why Tarzan is such a popular movie.

Basically, the story begins with Tarzan's parents being stuck at sea during a storm, but then washing up to shore and building a tree house. Tarzan's parents are killed, and Tarzan is found by a gorilla who just recently lost her baby. The gorilla's adopt Tarzan and raise him, although he struggles to keep up with the gorillas much of the time. Tarzan winds up saving Jane's life from baboons, and then realizing that she is the same type of creature as he is. He takes her back to the campsite where the gorillas are creating a mess by using her, her father's, and Clayton's belongings as instruments. After Jane realizes that Tarzan is like one of the gorillas, her crew begins to teach Tarzan how to speak English and she teaches him about the human world. One day, while trying to make Jane stay longer when she is about to leave, Tarzan makes the mistake of bringing Jane's crew to where the gorilla nesting site is. Tarzan is not aware that Clayton is trying to shoot the gorillas, capture them, and sell them off. When Kerchak, a gorilla from his troop, attacks Clayton because he has a gun, Tarzan saves Clayton's life, showing disrespect to his troop. At this point, Tarzan is torn between the ape world and the human world. When Clayton's gang raids the apes at night, however, Tarzan battles Clayton and saves the troop. As a result, Tarzan is fully accepted back into the troop and Jane lives with Tarzan and the apes in a romantic ending. 

A strong message sent through this story is that family is not necessarily defined by those who are similar to you genetically or exactly like you. Family, instead, is defined by those around who care about you and those who you care about, regardless of genetics. Tarzan ends up figuring out that his real family is the ape family he grew up with, not the humans that he is genetically similar to. 

Another message is sent through having the villain portrayed as man in this movie. Clayton and his gang raid the apes to try to capture and sell them for substantial profit. The apes have great characterization in this movie and they are seen as humane creatures that the audience can sympathize with. When the apes, portrayed as Tarzan's family, are unjustifiably attacked and Clayton turns to attempting to kill Tarzan, the movie calls to attention the cruelty that accompanies the capturing of wildlife and the damages that ensue. In essence, Tarzan provides another example of humans versus the environment in order to persuade man to take better care of wildlife and the environment instead of destroying it. 

Wall-E Response

The other day, I watched WALL-E for the first time in years. I had forgotten how incredible this movie is, or maybe now I believe it is amazing because I can understand more of what is happening in the film. Either way, the movie is magnificent. I mean, who does not love the classic robot love story? Okay, so maybe it isn't classic, but that's beside the point. This film has a relevant message blatantly portrayed throughout its entirety, and the message is that we must pay more attention to the environment before we destroy it.

This movie is not like your stereotypical Disney or Pixar movie. Although there is a personified (machinified?) villain in AUTO, he is not the main evil that the film focuses on. In the movie, WALL-E is the only robot left on an uninhabitable Earth, left picking up trash left behind from Buy N Large, the company that made Earth unfit to live on, and turning the trash into cubes. While WALL-E is cleaning, he finds a flower. When a robot named EVE is sent to see if Earth if habitable again, WALL-E develops a crush on her and gives her the flower. EVE probes, and she and WALL-E are brought on board the ship. AUTO steals the flower from EVE while she is probed so that the ship will not set course to return to Earth. WALL-E and EVE must steal it back so that they can make the ship go back to Earth.

AUTO is not the actual villain in this movie. While he is the physical entity that steals the flower and complicates the path back home, he only does this because man commanded him to never return to Earth because it would be forever inhabitable. In this movie, there are only two true villains: man and technology.

In the film, man has been overcome by greed and creates an uninhabitable environment as a result of not regulating Buy N Large and presumably other companies as well. Pollution eventually destroyed much of the planet's atmosphere. In this movie, man is the villain because man is the only reason why WALL-E and EVE must exist to do their jobs, and then WALL-E and EVE are almost unable to do their jobs due to an order given to AUTO by man.

One of the undervalued villains in this film is technology (which could also be attributed to the villainy of man, since man built the technology). Technology has been advanced so far in WALL-E that people do not have to do anything for themselves. The people in WALL-E do not have to walk, make their own food, or really accomplish anything. They have reached a new level of laziness compared to modern day people (which is saying something). As a result, everyone aboard the ship is extremely overweight and literally can't do even the simplest tasks without the help of a machine.

Ultimately, I believe that WALL-E sends two messages:
1) We need to take care of the environment and think of our actions before we are stuck with the same uninhabitable as displayed in the film.
2) There is a point when technology becomes too advanced. Humans must maintain a strong layer of independence from machinery.

Disney Drone Entertainment

It is not uncommon for Disney to attempt to stay ahead of the competition by using the newest technological advances to grab everyone's attention. From the initial design of EPCOT (if you did not know, the acronym stands for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) to the futuristic appeal of Tomorrowland, Disney has always shown an interest in the proceeding of technology in the world.

For this reason, it should not be shocking that Disney has decided to create a holiday show at Disney Springs using drones. Disney has already gone through the approval process with the Federal Aviation Administration and everything is ready to go. In fact, there is knowledge that Disney will have also be showcasing Intel's newest design, the Shooting Star, that has not even been marketed to the public yet. The shooting star is a quadcopter with an LED light (Watch a video of the dazzling Intel Shooting Star Light Show).

According to The Orlando Sentinel, Disney sees this as a method to get people to go to Disney Springs, a site that is not as popular as the main parks. The hope is that many families will be Christmas shopping here during the holiday season. As soon as the traffic through Disney Springs is increased, it is believed that Disney will move the drone show to another part of the park that is less popular. This is a brilliant marketing strategy, because the American public is easily caught up in the marvels of new and futuristic technology and there will be a high volume of people trying to see the drones. The ideal is to eventually expand the drone shows to include all of the parks.

This is another example of Disney trying to create a perfect and magical atmosphere. One of the magical elements associated with Disney is wishing upon a star, and the light show created by the drones will make it seem as if the stars themselves are dancing. However, one could only imagine how difficult it will be to see one of these shows when the drones are only permitted to travel 150 feet above ground level. I feel as though it will be hard to get an angle that allows you to immerse yourself in the entire experience of this show.

Just as usual, Disney's technological leap could set the bar and inspire other uses of drones. The use of Intel's Shooting Star is greatly increasing its publicity, inspiring the discussion of its further implications. One such implication is the possibility of using the technology to begin the implementation of flying billboards(as discussed in this article). Although flying billboards are not essential to the advance of our society, it is an interesting prospect to consider. Flying billboards are commonly displayed in movies that take place in the future, and seeing that we have the possibility to create flying billboards shows that our society is advancing towards the ideal society that used to only be dreamed of and drawn up.

I believe that everything involving the drones and their implication just proves how powerful of an influence Disney has on the world. Not only does Disney influence the world through the messages sent to audiences through movies, but also in other essential parts of society that must be progressed. Truly, Disney is working as a catalyst for the development of future technology. Due to the popularity of Disney, the new technology will become publicized and expanded upon. Disney, as usual, will inspire people to follow their dreams with this technology and help expand and find new uses for the technology.

In addition, these drones could present a change to a major aspect of Disney soon. One of the most memorable and notable elements of the Disney experience is the giant fireworks show that is displayed at the park late in the night at the park. The fireworks are truly dazzling, a terrific display of color and explosion, exactly as you would expect. However, these LED drones are being viewed as a possible replacement of fireworks because they are healthier for the environment. Disney, being the image drive company that it is, may decide to get rid of the fireworks show for the LED drones in order to prevent environmental concerns raised by individuals who recognize this alternative use of the drones. While the drones would not have the bang or the sparkle, the LED drones could still put on a very beautiful display, as shown in the link to the Intel Shooting Star Light show above.

The incorporation of drones by Disney could influence a wide array of technological aspects throughout society.