Decoding Disney

One year when we went to Disney, I had a strange infatuation with the villains. As we journeyed around to meet all of the different Disney characters, I couldn't care less about the princesses and heroes. All I cared about was meeting each and every one of the villains. I think my obsession for villains sprouted from my desire to be just like my older brother. If he didn't like princesses then I didn't like princesses. Looking back, it is pretty funny seeing pictures of my young and innocent self, having the time of my life surrounded by the villains from my favorite Disney movies.

For the past 18 years of my life I have been blinded by the power that gender plays in our society. As a white, upper-middle class American I never faced many difficulties in getting what I wanted. I never felt oppressed by my race or gender. I never felt as though I was incapable of doing the things that I desired to do. I was blinded, but now I am beginning to see. While growing up, I always found myself surrounded by boys and sports. Being wedged between two boys will do that to you. I was competitive and energetic, always trying to keep up with my older brother and his friends. In my mind, they never took it easy on me just because I was a girl. If they wanted to play tackle football, I wanted to be tackled too. If they wanted to race, I wanted to race without a head start too. I fit right in, or at least I thought. Looking back I realize that I was playing with kids that were three years older than me and were boys. They were taller, faster, and stronger. I was not actually e

When I was about 7 years old my family went to Disney World during the summer.  I was infatuated with every aspect of Disney. My favorite part about being in Disney that year, was being able to meet  the different characters from my favorite movies. One afternoon we went to the big parade, where all of the characters could be seen at once. It was exhilarating screaming and waving at everyone. I was having the time of my life but I was not prepared for what was going to happen next. Cruella de Vil was walking by when I made eye contact with her and waved. The next thing I knew she began to approach me. My stomach was in knots and I didn't know if I should smile, or be afraid. She came up to me and started running her fingers through my hair and told me how much she loved it and that it looked just like (half) of hers. I stood there speechless. Once she walked away I turned around to my parents and just starred at them with my mouth wide open. I could not believe what had just happ

Everyone loves breakfast and everyone loves Disney, right? Why not combine the two? Here is the recipe to some super yummy and super cute Minnie Tsum Tsum pancakes!! Ingredients • PANCAKES: 1 cup self-rising flour 1/3 cup cocoa 1 tbsp baker’s sugar (super fine) 1 egg 3/4 cup milk Butter  DECORATIONS: Melted chocolate Zip-top bag Scissors Strawberry Whipping cream Pink gel icing Directions 1. In a bowl, sift in flour and cocoa, combine with sugar. 2. Gradually whisk in the eggs and milk. Mix until you get a batter. 3. Heat a pan over medium heat and brush with melted butter. 4. Use a ladle to scoop up mixture into the pan. This will be for Minnie’s face. 5. Use a tablespoon to scoop up mixture into the pan. This will be for Minnie’s ears. Repeat to make the other ear. 6. Use melted milk chocolate to draw Minnie’s features. Place the chocolate in a zip-top bag, cut a small hole, pipe on parchment paper, leave in fridge to harden, and then peel of

My name is Kincey Smith and I am a freshmen here at Duke University. I took Decoding Disney as my writing course because I had heard about it from several of my teammates. I was also drawn to the idea of watching Disney movies for class. I had been told that it was not an extremely difficult writing course but that it was very interesting. I am planning on being a psychology major, so I figured that many of the skills used to decode Disney might go hand in hand with many concepts in psychology/sociology. Personally I grew up watching Disney movies and loving them. However, I was never the biggest fan of the princess movies. This may have been due to the fact that I grew up with an older and a younger brother. My favorite Disney princess is Pocahontas because of her love for nature and her free spirit. I always fantasized over how cool it would be to run around in the forest all day, talk to animals and trees, and jump off huge cliffs. Pocahontas is a real bad a** in my opinion. I am in