Captain Marvel, Disney Princesses, and Idolatry of the Past

I ran into the following quote in the probably-well-intentioned-but-extremely-problematic book What the Bible Says about Child Training: It is interesting that even with all of the women’s liberation and “politically correct” attack against traditional male and female roles, and although the majority of the boys in this survey expected their wives to work, they still […]

How Disney World Improved My Parenting

This post is the reason I love to have a blog. Because a thought, for me, does not remain in my head unless it is expressed in some way—verbally or written. And because writing out an essay for the sake of making the thought stick, but then throwing the essay away, doesn’t feel quite write. […]

Belated Thoughts: Infinity War (On Thanos)

Ahead there be spoilers… The previous Marvel ensemble movies (The Avengers, Age of Ultron) were actually my least favorites of the franchise (excluding Thor 2, which, upon friends’ warnings, we didn’t bother seeing). With so many characters in play, each needing their allotment of screen time, the plots were thin out of necessity. I couldn’t […]

Moana’s Message: More than Just “Follow Your Heart”

Hopefully, last week’s post showed that Moana has some deeper and more complex concerns than a typical Junior Knows Best, Follow Your Heart kids’ film. By looking at the foils, Maui and Tala, we distilled the theme of approval. Through a close reading of the evil crab’s song, we saw that the film also plays […]

Very Belated Thoughts: Moana

When I first saw Moana, I ranked it as typical Disney. It was better in some ways; Moana’s primary relationship is with family, not a boyfriend, which is a refreshing change, and she is athletic and does stuff. But once I saw the same old “Junior knows best” and “Follow your heart” tropes at play, […]