MJ x Hakuna Matata x Let it Go!

Michael Jackson as Captain EO

Disneyland's Tomorrowland is the first spot my brother and I run to inside the park. Its the home of Space Mountain and Captain EO! Some of the children I work with told me they checked out Captain EO with their parents. Many of their parents, also Michael Jackson fans, said they were glad their child got to see "Beat it Michael." 

When I look through multiple music videos and interviews from actors and music artists, I see and hear influences MJ has left on the lives of us all - whether music video, blogging and even online reviews of music and games can be traced to what MJ brought to artistic visual - creative expression through music.

There is also a change going on with Disney music in animated films. More children are singing along to their favorite songs at school. Home culture is appearing in the classroom through their favorite cartoons, movies and musical artists. When I was a child, Hakuna Matata, Under the Sea and A World New World were the melodies my classmates and I hummed in my classroom. I do not recall teachers or children singing or humming Disney songs quietly to themselves or with us. But teachers always sang Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Prince and Queen songs in the classroom. Notice the rock and soul trend the teachers were interested in back then?

  

In today's classroom, some of the children sing their version of songs they hear on their parents' radio in the car, Pandora and iheartRadio apps from Imagine Dragons,  Katy Perry,  Adele, Beyonce and Rihanna. One boy in one of my Pre - K classes, wants to become a singer. He always says Adele is his idol and can sing all of her songs verbatim. He prefers to use the classroom CD or iPod for melody but will sing "Rolling in the Deep" in acapella if you make a respect during outside time. He prefers a large audience of teachers and children watching rather than singing for only one person.

Since January, this boy has recently gotten into singing Frozen's Let it Go and Do you wanna build a Snowman? He and his classmates sing the song together repeatedly throughout the day. One change I have noticed over the past two months are children adding in Elsa's exact movements to Let it Go - They ask me to tie their jackets or sweaters around their body like a shawl and they rip it off and smile while singing the line, "Let the storm rage on, the cold never bothered me anyway." 

While singing Anna's, Do you wanna to build a snowman? The children jump around the room and then lay on the floor watching the clock like Anna, while singing, "I think some company is overdue I've started talking to the pictures on the walls- (Hang in there, Joan!) It gets a little lonely All these empty rooms, Just watching the hours tick by- (Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock)"

Sometimes the children leading the songs will stop the children and make them start from the beginning if the song is inaudible or the words are out of order. Even if the child mixes up or omits lyrics, the children stay in sync with the rhythm of the characters voices and their verbal and non verbal language throughout the song.

From The Little Mermaid, I do hear children singing Ariel's "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh" to give their voice to Ursula or the child who deems herself as a powerful witch.

When the children in my Pre K class are happy they sing:
Hatuna Makata - What a wonderful day!!

They are quickly corrected by the Adele singing child," No no start again that's wrong!"

The children giggle and sing even louder

It means no worries for rest of your daaaaays its our problem beees papeepeee!

He interjects, "NOOOOO nonono! Like this!" He puts his hands up to conduct and sings:

Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase, Hakuna Matata Aint no passing craze, It means no worries for the rest of your daaaaays. Its our problem free philosophy Hakuna Matata! He leads the other children and prances around the room just as Timon, Pumbaa and Simba do in the sequence when Simba is growing up. 

While many teachers whose classrooms I work in tell me, "We have too much Disney in our lives so no more singing!" As I reflect on all the Disney moments mentioned in this post that children have chosen to emulate and experience sorrow, joy, pain and growing up. These Disney songs provided children with opportunities to role play and embody the qualities of their beloved characters they admire. It is more than a child just having too much Disney or too much of anything they love, it is about children understanding how their lives intersect with what they are interested in and knowledge they need to learn as they grow older. Through media, their popular culture artifacts and their imagination, children can extend the adventures of their favorite characters and create new adventures for themselves continuing the journey with that character. 

More Disney Diversity (Parades)

Usually I travel to Disneyland twice a year. In Fall 2013, I decided to purchase my first annual pass which was a great decision. There are so many things to discover between Downtown Disney, California Adventures and Disneyland that twice a year was not enough anymore. One of my Disney influenced hobbies, pin trading, is a very social event. Before my January trip, I only purchased the pins at shops. However, my Disney friends told me I could trade with any Disney Cast Member with lanyards and look at the store collections available for trade to find the rare Hidden Mickey Pins! What?? Of course when I told my mother and brother they already knew about this. I probably was not listening when they told me. Ah well!

For the majority of my Disney trips I travel solo unless my mother decides to come and that has not happened since Winter 2011. January was the first time I met friends at Disneyland since High School Grad Night. So much fun thank you!! Since my family was interested in the parades, I filmed them to be watched when I returned home after each trip. 

Disney Sensation Parade: I filmed this parade in Fall 2013 and there is quite a bit of diversity shown. What do you think? There was a two year old next to me that was perfectly copying the princess procession! Many of us stopped and watched how she remembered the choreography perfectly! As for Disney Princesses, I have had many of my classmates ask me, "Which Disney Princess are you?" Of course my answer is ".....!" I am not and will not ever be a Disney Princess. Princess Tiana and Princess Jasmine are from two of my three top Disney films so when the Disney Designer Princess Dolls came out with all the madness at the Disney store, I did stand in line to get my doll. Actually, I got the last Jasmine which is a whole other story! If you are interested I could add those pictures to a future post.

Three Kings Celebration January 2014: Donald and The Caballeros celebrate The New Year representing Brazil and Mexico. This was a new parade that displays the diversity of these countries through the performers featured. I am sure they will bring this event back. The entire cove in California Adventures dedicated to this event had awesome Mariachi bands, a salsa lesson, arts and crafts and The Three Kings display. I missed out on the Lunar New Year celebration in late January/early February but I am sure the parade would have been just as interactive and appropriate.

If you have not been to Disneyland or you have been and you never watched a parade they are very interactive. I received funny faces from a few of the performers in The Lion King march and a wave from Tiana. Yes, they interact with adults and children which makes the experience a lot of fun. Even when you line up to take pictures with the characters, no matter your age the characters will either give you a hard time like Daisy did me when I had tons of Donald pins on my lanyard but zero Daisy...Sorry Daisy I do have one now! Or do what Goofy did to me and left his leg up to pass gas. Yes, yes I have witnesses! These entertaining acts did transpire! Overall, Disney fun is what you make of it, what and who you can relate to and of course remember to see Genie at the Aladdin show in California Adventures. His jokes stem from every bit of pop culture, vary slighty every performance and are very humorous! Currently, he goes on about twerking. Enough said!

Update: I recently found clips from Disney's Chinese Lunar New Year parade on YouTube. While I was not present for these celebration, I found the parades lacked a special something the other parades had. Perhaps an element of fun? Authenticity? Please share your thoughts. Check out Hong Kong Disneyland celebration from 2009... Do you find any similarities or major differences?

 

Disney's Growing Diversity

When you think of Disney you might think of the infamous mouse or his father Walt Disney. You might even think of their homes at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Either way when Disney is mentioned, multiple images of characters, adventures and magic might bring warm smiles to your soul and you may start Tigger bouncing with happiness. Non Disney fans might remain unaffected by Disney but become curious observers of those Tigger bouncing. Others lacking of interest in Disney may originate from unacceptable images of Disney's past. 

Henry Giroux (1997) wrote about Disney's past in his article Are Disney Movies Good for your Kids? ''Racial Stereotyping is another major issue that surfaces in many of the recent Disney animated films. But the legacy of racism does not begin with the films produced since 1989; on the contrary, a long history of racism associated with Disney's work can be traced back to denigrating images of people of color in films such as Song of the South, released in 1946, and The Jungle Book, which appeared in 1967. Moreover racist representations of Native Americans as violent "redskins" were featured in Frontierland in the 1950s. In addition, the main restaurant in Frontierland featured the real-life figure of a former slave, Aunt Jemima, who would sign autographs for the tourists outside of her "Pancake House." Eventually the exhibits and the Native Americans running them were eliminated by Disney executives because the "Indian" canoe guides wanted to unionize. They were displaced by robotic dancing bears. Complaints from civil rights groups got rid of the degrading Aunt Jemima spectacle."

I know many Disney fans who are shocked when learning Disney's history and want to keep it "light and fun" and ride every ride but there is more...

Like Giroux, another author Gabriel Gutierrez (2000) wrote an article Deconstructing Disney: Chicano/a Children and Critical Race Theory. This article presents quite a thorough history of Disney's marketing child centered merchandise in both the United States and Spanish speaking countries; "Disney's inflated prices for Spanish-language videocassettes are not surprising when understood in context of Disney's historical relationship with Spanish-speaking communities throughout the western hemisphere...Disney's relationship with the Spanish-speaking community has always been questionable at best." Another passage that caught my attention was that of The Mouseketeers of 1955. While many of us who watched The Mickey Mouse Club during our childhood through adolescence may remember when Christina Aquilera, Britney Spears and J.T. (Justin Timberlake), Keri Russell, J.C. Chasez and Ryan Gosling were Mouseketeers, Gutierrez states, ''The Mouseketeers (1955) presented a caucasian child culture in happy settings with catchy songs. These children, with white names emblazoned across their shirts and mouse ears, were identifiable as mainstream American, while children of color were excluded from such exposure. The overt display of happiness hid real problems. For instance, in a 1991 television interview, former - Mouseketeer Annette Funicello reveals that every time a Mouseketeer lost a pair of ears, "Disney took $50 out of the kid's next paycheck (Smoodin 1994, 1).

Yikes...Who would have known unless these secrets were exposed right?

So now, eighteen years later after Giroux's article and fourteen years after Gutierrez's work, Disney has made steps toward revising their adventures to recapture more accurate images of culture both domestic and internationally. As Disney is continually creating new stories for children and adults awaiting a new adventure, Disney tales are becoming more culturally accurate with better themes, dilemmas and character development. In 2011, I came across Mickey's Dance Crew at Disney's California Adventure. Actually my mother found it while waiting for me. I had just exited the Aladdin show and when I called to find her she was fairly close. Located where the Tron party took place during the evenings (currently The Mad Hatter Party in 2014),  I quickly followed the beat and found my mother and a very hip mouse. When I saw the dance crew members, I was reminded of the Step Up movie franchise and MTV's  ABDC (America's Best Dance Crew) television series. While the 1980's movie Beat Street is similar with B - boys - breakdancers trying to find their break, movies of the 2000's like Honey, You Got Served reveal the dedication and perseverance needed to continue their life's passion, dancing, amid their daily life obstacles. Contestant interviews in ABDC gave viewers a look into the contestant's very complicated lives. The lighter side of ABDC showed viewers how diverse the dances are around The United States. Also, the legendary "Tut" is not restricted to just one's arms! Finger Tutting and full body Tutting is also possible!

Here is a clip of the Jabbawockeez ABDC Season 1 Winners and Wayne Brady! Wayne Brady has so many talents so check this out! As for the Jabba's , if you're interested in seeing their show, they are residents at Luxor in their featured show Prism in Las Vegas!

This episode of the ABDC Season 1 Finale features dance battles to compare to the idea creators of Mickey's Dance Crew had when designing the show.