As much as we love Disney movies, we all know by now that they don’t always teach the best lessons to little kids (i.e., girls should only aspire to get married). We also know that they tend to rely on stereotypes (read: black crows in “Dumbo”). Well, now we’ve got a whole ‘nother list of weird things for you to consider in our favorite Disney flicks.
1. “Frozen”
A lot of people loved this movie because it doesn’t spin the same old Disney princess story where a damsel in distress finds romantic love and it fixes all her problems. On the contrary, it’s about sisterly love. Neither sister is married at the end, either.
What you might be missing, though, is the movie’s connection to mental health issues. The character Elsa has isolated herself from the public for the majority of her life because she’s afraid she will be shunned or hurt others with her powers. Many people say this is similar to how it feels to deal with a mental illness. When Elsa sings, “Let it Go,” it is believed to be like finally letting go of the stigmas against your illness.
2. “Pocahontas”
In the classic cartoon, Pocahontas is quite the, ahem, mature-looking girl. In real life, though, she was only 10 years old and Captain John Smith was 27.
The men also took her back to England with them, which obviously was inappropriate, and she died of an illness that her body wasn’t accustomed to enduring.
Disney even threw in a sequel about her fight for peace in England but conveniently fails to mention that she died.
3. “The Princess and the Frog”
In the cartoon movie, Disney puts a bit of twist on the original story. When the princess kisses the frog, she herself turns into a frog. You might think that would discourage little girls from kissing frogs, but it turns out it doesn’t.
The reason this is problematic is because frogs are very susceptible to carrying salmonella, which makes us super sick. Since 2010 there have been at least 50 cases of young girls contracting salmonella after kissing frogs.
4. “The Incredibles”
In the movie “The Incredibles,” we see that while Mr. Incredible sneaking around doing superhero stuff, his wife believes that he’s cheating on her.
But could Mr. Incredible be doing the type of sneaking that his wife suspects? The woman who brings him back into the superhero field is a slinky, mysterious, and sexy woman named Mirage and the tension between the two is palpable.
5. “Aladdin”
“Aladdin” is a really fun story about a beggar boy wishing to become a prince so he could be near Prince Jasmine. Although the place it’s set in — Agrabah — is fictional, Disney makes it clear that it’s supposed to be an Arabian city.
The strange part is that much of the culture in the movie derives from India. For example, there are Indian turbans, Indian street performances, and Jasmine’s pet is a tiger.
