Disney movies may be aimed at kids, but that doesn’t stop Upper School students and faculty from continuing to find the magic that Disney movies bring. St. Paul Academy and Summit School students still love their favorite Disney movies and love Disney even with the controversial messages they send audiences.

Junior Kennedy Strombeck was confident in her answer to favorite Disney movie. “Obviously The Little Mermaid, Strombeck said.

Sophomore Elena Youngdale had a harder time selecting her favorite Disney film. “Oh that’s hard… I like them all I guess,” Youngdale said.

Freshman Tommy Dicke’s favorite Disney movie is Sky High, a superhero movie released in 2005. He enjoys non-animated movies. “I strict Disney movies [over Disney-Pixars] because Disney-Pixars are all animated,” Dick said. “I don’t watch Disney [animated movies] that much.”

“My favorite Disney princess is Aurora,” senior Ellie Klein said. “But my favorite Disney movie is The Lion King.”

“[My favorite Disney movie] is A Bug’s Life,” junior Deniz Kihtir said.

Upper School science teacher Dan Ertl prefers older Disney movies. “My ultra favorite movie is Treasure Island because the head pirate Long John Silver set the standard for world pirates. [Long John Silver] is better than Jack Sparrow,” Ertl said. “Now the movie with the most profound influence on my childhood was The Battle of Davy Crockett. [Davy Crockett was] a hero to millions of boys in the late 1950s.” The Battle of Davy Crockett was released in 1955 and started the craze for raccoon hats. Ertl’s favorite more recent Disney movie is The Little Mermaid.

While Disney movies are made to entertain audiences, some people find messages sent by Disney movies and Disney princesses offensive, inaccurate, or perfectly fine. For example, some students find the Indian scene in Peter Pan to be racist, untrue representations of First Nations people.

Also, many find the body types of princesses to encourage girls to be super skinny, curvy, and have big eyes if they want to be attractive. Klein finds no problems with Disney princesses. “I honestly think Disney is fine, I just think they’re stories… I guess I can see where [people who don’t like the messages Disney sends] are coming from,” Klein said. Klein accepts Disney movies as just stories that entertain audiences and shouldn’t be thought of as anything other than good stories.

Strombeck reflected on Disney princess messages. “I think [Disney movie messages are] good,” Strombeck said.

Some students and faculty, however, find that Disney does not send the best messages. Youngdale finds Disney movies can be slightly inaccurate, but good overall. “I guess they do [send a good message]. I guess they’re off from what they really are, like Pocahontas was really a young chubby girl. [Disney movies] can be really stereotypical, but it’s easier for kids to understand,” Youngdale said.

Kihtir thinks Disney movies can portray characters in a racist way. “I think that [in] most of Disney movies, when you look back at them you find things that you didn’t notice before,” Kihtir said. She gave the Peter Pan example: kids would not notice that the First Nations people are portrayed in a stereotypical racist way when they watch the movie for the first time as young children.

Ertl does not agree with the messages sent by Disney movies and princesses. “They don’t [send good messages]. Let’s face it — big eyes. There’s something genetic that makes people react positively [to girls with big eyes]. It’s alleged
beauty,” Ertl said.

From the excitement coming from high schoolers and adults about Disney movies they enjoy to this day, it is obvious that Disney movies are for all ages.