Which Disney movie portrays the best morals/standards?

[SpringHeelJack]

Morals...

Never eat apples.

Foxes are bad news. So are cats, but only when they walk on their hind feet.

Don't invest in "Fantasia" and hope to recoup.

...and so on.

[Disney's Divinity]

Morals...

Never eat apples.

Foxes are bad news. So are cats, but only when they walk on their hind feet.

Don't invest in "Fantasia" and hope to recoup.

...and so on.

Looking back a few hours later, that was more spazzed out than I thought at the time.

I actually like Triton as a character even though he's a bad parent. When I said the movie showed adults were flawed, that wasn't necessarily to put him down. It shows children that, even when their parents make mistakes and go on crazy, xenophobic outbursts, they're still basically good people.

But, really, I don't follow this system where every parent = perfect and every child should obey. And if they don't follow that script, they're automatically labeled a "spoiled brat." Labels are an easy way to dehumanize people.

[Goliath]

I DO recall posting the following about 5 years ago:

I am probably in the minority here, but I felt that The Little Mermaid was a bad departure from the earlier Disney movies.

Ariel is pretty disobedient, and ends up happy in spite of (or even because of) that disobedience. There really aren't any consequences for disobeying. [...]

That's funny, because in that exact same thread I made some really long-ass replies to 'counter' that point of view. I especially like the explanation of Disney's Divinity, about how the movie teaches children to critically question authority. A lesson more *adults* should take to heart.

[Lazario]

Since Ariel nearly gets killed and have her father become another addition to Ursula's "garden" I'd say consequences and regret do get shown in that movie.

Another thing, Ariel made an agreement with Ursula, then wanted to go back on that. Her father then made an agreement with Ursula to save his daughter, but Ariel and Eric "in essence" broke that agreement by attacking Ursula..."

Yeah- that's true. And I thought Ariel was pretty brave to do that. If anything, I find it refreshing that the good guys for once fight dirty if they need to. Of course, Ursula started it- she used magic to lure Eric away from whatever was developing between him and Ariel. Unfair advantage. She tainted the playing field.

[Atlantica]

Bar a few Disney movies, I would say they all have a foundation based upon morals, and what is right and wrong. Hunchback is I suppose makes the greatest display of them; going below the surface of everyone to find who we are inside, acceptance, and kindness.

Or it could possibly be Alice in Wonderland, where we are taught to listen to very good advice, and to FOLLOW it .... or we may end up tripping out and falling down a rabbit hole ....

[SleepingBeautyAurora]

ok, so which Disney movie do you think shows the most emphasis on teamwork and friendship?

[BellesPrince]

Off the top of my head, probably The Jungle Book.

The Lion King.

Maybe 101 Dalmatians. Lady and the Tramp perhaps.

It's funny how the one's which immediately spring to mind are the animal films. Probably because the Princess or human films tend to focus more on two romantic leads, with a strong villain / sidekick team and a supporting cast for comic relief.

[Sky Syndrome]

ok, so which Disney movie do you think shows the most emphasis on teamwork and friendship?

I'll answer with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

[Goliath]

ok, so which Disney movie do you think shows the most emphasis on teamwork and friendship?

All good answers, but what about Oliver & Company?

[DisneyAnimation88]

I would agree with all of the films mentioned so far, other possible inclusions could the The Aristocats and The Rescuers?

[Wonderlicious]

ok, so which Disney movie do you think shows the most emphasis on teamwork and friendship?

I'm surprised nobody has said Mulan, as they all have to work as a team in that film. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get down to business to defeat THE HUNS.

[pinkrenata]

ok, so which Disney movie do you think shows the most emphasis on teamwork and friendship?

I'm surprised nobody has said Mulan, as they all have to work as a team in that film. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get down to business to defeat THE HUNS.

Nah, that's just about manliness. Men don't need to work as a team.

[BellesPrince]

I think in most, if not all of the Disney films, teamwork and friendship play a large part. I think the animal films just spring to mind more because of the dynamics of the human based films, as I said, being centred around two romantic leads, a strong villain / sidekick combo and a collection of comic relief sidekicks.

[SleepingBeautyAurora]

I can't believe The Fox and the Hound hasn't been mentioned, isn't friendship a central theme in that movie?

[Lazario]

I can't believe The Fox and the Hound hasn't been mentioned, isn't friendship a central theme in that movie?

Sort of. But more like: selling out your personal beliefs for the sake of conformity. So Copper saved Todd's life once. What about all the other animals he killed on the hunting trips with Amos and Chief? Didn't they have lives too? Oh, that's right- he wasn't friends with them. So it's okay to murder cute animals, so long as they were never your friends.

[Rapunzel]

I always thought Aladdin had a good lesson: Bee yourself.

It doesn't really matter if you are a pauper or a prince. Tell the truth about who you are and just be yourself. Jasmine falls in love with the real Aladdin, not the man he pretends to be.

As for teamwork, how about Snow White? The dwarfs work together in the mine and to chase the evil Queen.

[carolinakid]

I'd say Pollyanna.
If you look for the good in people you'll find it, and of course, vice versa....

[Disney Duster]

I really like the moral/character of Cinderella, that if you keep believing in yourself, good things will happen to you. I also love that Disney shows that big fat meanies never win (I intended to use that word!)

I'm very glad at this! I, too, see it as the idea you need to believe in yourself to do great things for yourself.

But as for the Blue Fairy...how is her whole deal not pretty clearly religious? She comes from the heavens, looks like an angel, creates life, and tells that life to obey her or he won't get his reward and he may instead recieve horrible consequences, pain or even death.

Can you believe she said "I'll help you this time" to Pinocchio in the cage, which means that next time, she would let him stay in the cage and get worked to death and treated miserably and eventually chopped into firewood? This film seems more and more rotten the more I think about it.

[DisneyAnimation88]

The whole point of the character of Pinocchio in the film is to learn what it is to be a real boy, to understand that there are consequences for our actions. It might sound harsh but that's the moral of that particular story.

Is the Blue Fairy any different to the Fairy Godmother? Not in the religious aspect but in regards to them both offering someone in need one chance to better themselves, or a glimpse of what their lives could be one day? I haven't seen Cinderella for a while so I'm not clear about what exactly the Fairy Godmother says but I've always felt that there is a similarity between her and the Blue Fairy.

[Wonderlicious]

But as for the Blue Fairy...how is her whole deal not pretty clearly religious? She comes from the heavens, looks like an angel, creates life, and tells that life to obey her or he won't get his reward and he may instead recieve horrible consequences, pain or even death.

This concerns the original novel and not so much Disney's version, but I think Collodi had every intention to make the Blue Fairy a sort of allegory to the Virgin Mary. It was (and perhaps still is amongst religious people) a very strong tradition in Italy for people to pray to the Virgin Mary when in need of help. The links between the Blue Fairy and the Virgin Mary are easy to see, in particular the heavenly, guardian-angel like quality and the associations with the colour blue.

Anyway, here's my opinion on the sort of morality in Pinocchio. It is among my favourites, but I can understand why people find it unsettling, as it does tap in to an unnerving fear many people have of making fatal errors over one little slip, especially during the Pleasure Island segment. But the fact that such disturbing moments happen ultimately make the film a truer allegory of our world, for all the film's fantastic and hyperbolic nature. The film isn't set in a utopia, such as with Sleeping Beauty or Snow White (as two examples), where a perfect world is intruded by an external villain and then restored to glory by the evil-doer's removal. The world of Pinocchio does has its attractive parts - pretty, star-lit skies, whimsical Alpine villages, old men who make cute toys - but it ultimately shows that the world can be brutal and unforgiving, full of temptation and many seemingly fine yet ultimately wrong paths. The story concerns the coming-of-age of a character, where the protagonist must become self-sufficient and mature in order to survive and gain a confident identity; simply expecting a good fairy to help, and more importantly not having good personal judgement of others or potential situations, will simply get one nowhere. And yet equally one can potentially rise above previous mistakes to be a stronger person.

The fact that the villains also get away with their deeds, and that they would probably continue to do so, also says a lot about the world; crime and cruelty seems to always exist alongside virtue and kindness, no matter what anybody says or does. You can't necessarily expect to see the bad fall off a cliff by fate, or to have the brave alpha-male fling a sword through the heart of the villain (now that's a populist attitude if I ever saw one ), and sometimes simply ratting them in won't do any good either; you've got to try and stay on the straight and narrow path and rise above the evils in society.

Now, I'm not against trying to say that loving the idea of utopia is wrong. The desire for it taps into our collective wishes for perfection and happiness, and we all wish that life could be a perfect fairy tale where we'd all obtain financial security and domestic bliss easily just as the words "and they lived happily ever after" seemed to pop up. But nobody should ever expect utopia to exist in this world, as life is too complicated and still too full of problems to completely sort out. A film like Pinocchio to me speaks volumes as it shows that good things can come around in a world full of ongoing injustice and peril (Bambi is another example of such a film, as well, but that's another story).