It never fails to amaze to amaze me that sometimes I forget that I can be an adult and even more so that I slip into watching the cheesiness that is Disney. and for some odd reason, this week I have decided to indulge (if you can even call it that). I mean.. most days I can’t even stand the stuff.
I normally tend to do better with Disney movies because have you watched Lemonade Mouth, Radio Rebel, or Cloud 9 (which I’ll admit is pushing it on the cheesiness)? Those movies are seriously awesome and I don’t mind watching them time after time. However, I finally got to watch the newest one, Zapped, earlier this week. and I was thinking “no no no no no… this was made for CHILDREN?” I know that Disney is almost known for making it’s shows/movies relatively clean. But this… not so much. Or it didn’t feel like it. Instead of the normally inspired movies, it was dumb. The characters felt unrealistic. I was not a fan of how they tried to amp up the dancing to make it like a Step Up movie, therefore making the teens more adultish and less child friendly.
The second part of this comes as I finally got around to seeing to seeing the Girl meets World premiere. Was I a big fan of it’s predecessor? Not Exactly. But I wanted to see how badly Disney could screw this up. I was almost right. It’s cheesy. Of course it’s cheesy. I can’t believe Corey runs his classroom like that because I don’t remember Feeny ever let that kind of stuff go down. The nice touch was Mr. Feeny at the end – even if he was only a part of Corey’s imagination for a few seconds. I probably won’t be watching much more of this show, and that’s okay. Others can have Corey and Topanga’s daughter taking on the world. It just isn’t for me.
Lastly, but most importantly, I do have a Disney show that I’m for the most part, okay with. That show happens to be Liv and Maddie. I like it because it’s an eclectic family all living together. Mr. and Mrs Rooney are kind of adorable, if not overly touch feely cute (gag me) together. Sometimes it’s a bit much. But my surprise comes from their kids. Liv and Maddie are so overly different. Obviously. Joey may be an awkward social outcast at school, but that doesn’t stop Maddie’s love interest Diggie from being friends with him and treating him like an actual human. I find it charming that Diggie didn’t even go for a cheerleader, he went for Maddie. All around it’s a great show that I can actually stand to watch.
But then… then I watch how Disney dresses their female characters and I suddenly can’t stand it. I don’t care which show it is, or whether the characters are meant to be dressed fashionably. They aren’t (to me) being dressed respectfully, or teaching young girls to be dressed respectfully. As I watched the newest episode of Liv and Maddie, I couldn’t help but notice that way Liv’s friend South was dressed. and just… no. A skirt like that (decently short body hugging leopard print) shouldn’t be put on someone playing a 16 year old on a show for youngsters. Although, I think part of the problem was just the fact that it was leopard print. Plus, South’s attitude about boys/guys/whatever seemed to take a step away from the clean Disney that I’m used to.
Are guys okay to chase? Duhhh. Disney’s done it time and time again. But this… this did not seem like the Disney that I’ve watched for years and don’t like much anymore. Then again, the way I was raised I was taught to be decently conservative in my clothing choices, so it might just be me being uncomfortable with today’s fashion for teens.
Of course, I’m only a soon to be college senior that happens to like childish things every once in awhile, so what do I know? Thoughts? concerns? Am I off my rocker at such a young age? let me know in the comments!
hamartia 