Negative Receptions of being a Disney Fan

[disneyboy20022]

This is a thread for all of us who love Disney, however sometimes it can get a negative reaction from friends, family, peers, strangers, teachers, adults.

When I was in Junior High & High School I was teasted for liking Disney stuff, rather than drugs, certain magazine which I won't name, or beer or eveing driving.

I held my own pretty good. Sometimes though it did get to me, but I refused to do the other stuff kids my age did. Because of my Disney Fandom in me, I didn't have a lot of friends. Also some of my friends I did have just liked me for my stuff and stole from me behind my back. Some so called friends wanted me to try things which I won't go into detail. One thing that most of my peers were into I didn't listen because of the morals in Disney Movies like waiting for true love, don't be prejudice, don't lie, don't run away from your problems etc etc.


For me, getting teased was tough, but I never once considered quitting Disney to do things like my peers did and throw my life away.

What probably cemented me in from going over to the temptations (though I think I would have avoided them fine) Was in 2003, I met Roy E Disney on a Make A wish Trip. Ever since then if someone says I'm too old for Disney, I'll say that there is no age limit to Disney. Someone did ending up doing a prnak call saying we won tickets to Disney world and I knew it was a prank call and hung up. The phone rang again and said Don't bleep bleep want your bleepin bleep tickets this is bleep Disney don't you want go to bleepin Disney World This is Bleepin Disney. That was rude and I told them if this really was Disney, I need to talk to your manager and I don't think this is Disney because they wouldn't be using this kind of language. They called back and we didn't answer, but we let the answering machine get it, and it had the same response so we called a police officer also the second time they called they forgot to disguise the phone number, so a police officer had a little chat with them. Still that really hurt my feelings.

Last week I was a card shop playing Yu-Gi-OH and a guy walked up to me and said Disney sucks .and I said bite your tongue jokeingly These movies aren't just for kids, and when I mentioned that I had ordered Season 2 Volume 2 of Gargoyles, a bunch of guys heard that and said yeah that was a great show, I told them it was on DVD and they went crazy about it. I might bring Season one with me today to show them what it looks like.


So what are your stories of Disney, Positively and Negatively


Also here's an article about my trip to Meet Roy E Disney

EDIT I HAD THE WRONG LINK HERE IS THE CORRECT ONE

http://fromscreentotheme.com/ThursdayTr ... isney.aspx

[Disney's Divinity]

I didn't have too much issue in high school because most of the people grew up loving Disney just like I did (I remember having a Disney Villain fan club in elementary school. ). My closest friends I have e went with me to see Tangled. But my high school class was probably a special case, because most everybody liked each other. There wasn't really a hatred between high school "types" like you see in movies (or like my sister experienced in high school before I got there. ). But our Senior class was 50 people at the most, so... I remember people talking about seeing and liking Brother Bear, which came out at the time, and then reminiscing about Mulan, TLK, The Fox and the Hound, etc. I guess that was the one benefit of not being in a more urban school.

As for in general, I usually don't talk about personal things (like music, politics, etc.) except with people who actually enter my house/personal space. Not that I would be embarrassed to talk about it, but it never really comes up. I don't really have any Disney fan or KH/FF fan friends in real life (as far as looking forward to new releases/re-releases/merchandise, etc.) to talk about those things, which is why I started posting here and a few other forums to talk about those things.

[AlasmineLover:)]

I don't post on here a lot, but I saw this topic and had to reply. I'm fifteen and I'll be a high school junior in September. I got into Disney when I was 13. Growing up, my mom had a Disney VHS collection, and I would love to take my favorite tape and play it over and over again. I'm young, but I realized that I would want my children to have that same opportunity, so I started collecting Disney blu-rays (yes, I am aware that the format may be outdated by then, but I like to collect and I'm taking the chance). It started as collecting just to collect, and then I started getting into the movies, and I became a Disney fanatic. This has done wonders for me, but also hurt me. I get teased for it. I am now into all kinds of animation, and I want to be an animation historian when I'm older. I tell this to my family passionately, but they always respond jokingly. My brother tells me I watch baby movies (to make it worse, he's older than I am) and he has talks with my mother making bets over how long it will take me to get over this "phase." I don't think it is a phase. I didn't know who I was before I liked Disney. Now I have a purpose and a passion, and I know what I want to do with my life. I may get teased, but I won't give up, because Disney has done so much for me. You don't give up on something like that, and you don't outgrow something that changed your life. The worst thing that's ever happened to me because of Disney happened the last day of classes before spring break. I was in the computer lab with my Spanish class, and I had taken the first seat I saw, although it wasn't in the area where I usually sit. We have no assigned seats in the computer lab, and sit wherever we want. I had been working for a few minutes, had my notebook out, and was about to start taking notes. Then, this girl came in the room. She had given me trouble before. She walked right up to me and said, "this is my seat. Move." I said no, and that I was working. She kept insisting that I get up saying she wanted to sit with her friends, and was so rude that she put her stuff down on the desk I was using. We had a substitute that day, and she kept going in and out of the room. The room was full of my classmates, but not one of them looked up to help me. Finally, I moved over a seat because if the substitute were to see it she would've yelled at me thinking I actually took this girl's assigned seat. By now I was humiliated and wanted to be left alone. That didn't happen. This girl very loudly "whispered" to her friend, "She's such a weirdo. She's just naturally like that." I turned around and said I pitied her when she got a job and threw a hissy over a seat. She turned around and said, "I have a job. What do you do? Watch movies all day?" I wanted to give up then, but my happiness isn't worth a rank on some messed up social ladder. I want to be someone's inspiration, and if going through that can help someone be his or her self, I'd do it all over again. I remember telling this to my whole religion class and afterward a girl went up to me and said, "You are my inspiration," so yeah, I love Disney and I don't care what anyone says.

[RyGuy]

I am 39 and have loved Disney stuff passionately since I was 11 (on and off before that). I was teased and called homophobic names (I.e., the other F word). I didn't care. I embraced being my own person as a badge of honor. Ironically, I was in high school when The Little Mermaid came out and all of a sudden, Disney was cool for a few years.

I have been married for 13 years to a woman who has grown to love Disney and we have three small children who love it too (my 4 year old announced yesterday that BRAVE is no longer her favorite movie because Frozen is . . . If she could read, I'm sure she'd be an avid UD reader).

All of that to say, who cares whether other people get it or approve of it. You only have one life, and its your life. Do/enjoy/like what makes you happy. If other people don't get it, that's their problem.

Even if those people are related to you

[disneyftw1]

Yes I grew up with Disney and still like classic Disney... yet some of my family members and friends grew up with them yet never revisit them. So I try not to bring it up (unless someone brings it up or shows a classic Disney film) and watch/follow what everyone else is watching/doing. Basically, trying to socialize better. Not saying that talking about or being crazy about Disney is wrong, but where I live, these types of conversations may not be tolerable (especially the whole "Brony" scenario... which I would not discuss with anyone I know nor will I discuss it further. ... okay, I'm not that crazy about MLP:FIM (good show, by the way). Just FYI. I just find the fandom a bit too ridiculous.)

In high school, probably when I was senior, the only Disney-related thing that happened was a class I was in that showed "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". We saw it due to a subject that we had to study for a film class. Regardless, it was okay at the time. The teacher pointed out the best scene that was her personal favorite (which is, of course, everyone else's best scene: the dwarfs and Snow White having a dance after we seen the wicked queen turn to a old lady). At the end of the film, only one clapped... wasn't from me though. I was just following everyone else's reactions. (no fear: I had good control) Guess the teacher wasn't okay with how the story ended, which to be fair, the Dwarfs should've got something from all of their troubles when the prince which didn't create a lot of character, ended up getting the girl... sorry, sorry, just a little pet-peeve of mine in regards to the ending, but that's another story.
Another funny scenario at high school. In a social studies class, the teacher brought up that "Snow White" is one of the best animated films. Without thinking about it, I ended up saying "no it's not." Not saying it's bad, but it's not one of the best in my opinion. No punishment, no mockery from my friends neither, thankfully. But hey: I didn't do anything embarrassing.

Today, while I do still watch classic Disney (buying some on Blu-ray. Heyo!) I don't watch it all the time, nor do I see some of the newer Disney films... 'cause I got one life and I got to see many of the films/shows before I die. Plus, I try to be up-to-date with watch people I know watch. (Got into Boardwalk Empire after a relative of mine was talking about it a lot on how good it was.)

Last week I was a card shop playing Yu-Gi-OH and a guy walked up to me and said Disney sucks .and I said bite your tongue jokeingly These movies aren't just for kids, and when I mentioned that I had ordered Season 2 Volume 2 of Gargoyles, a bunch of guys heard that and said yeah that was a great show, I told them it was on DVD and they went crazy about it. I might bring Season one with me today to show them what it looks like.

Yeah, couldn't be helped that Disney is no longer what they used to be. Other than what Pixar makes and a few Disney flicks (like Wreck-it-Ralph and Tangled), Disney tends to focus more on the modern-generation kids.
Glad they still appreciate Gargoyles!

[TsWade2]

I remember back at High School, a lot of stupid guys keep telling me that Mickey Mouse is dead. It was frustrating.

[ProfessorRatigan]

I grew up in the 90s when Disney movies were dominating the box-office, merchandise was everywhere and the VHS releases of the classics were first rolling out, so, it wasn't all that 'weird' for a little boy to like things like Aladdin or The Lion King or even The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules. But my mom, I remember, had people make comments that she let her son watch Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and The Little Mermaid. "Those are for little girls. They'll turn your boy into a sissy." She said she'd chew whoever made the comment out over it, but, now that I'm grown and gay, I have to wonder if maybe mom was wrong. I kid. I kid.

I, thankfully, went through my adolescent "I'm too cool for that Disney crap!" years around 2003-2009. It was pretty much my late middle school through high school years. I was more into comics, anime, stand-up comedy. Things like that. Then Princess and the Frog came out and, I admit, it did rejuvenate a lot of interest in the old films I had grown up with. I started buying Blu-rays and I realized I didn't OWN most of the DACs on DVD and I began buying them up around the time of Snow White's Diamond release. Since that time, I've gotten back into animation and have been a Disney fanatic since. So, most of my 'negative receptions' have been in regards to being a 21 year old male in the South into animation, period. You get dirty looks like you wouldn't believe from adults. "You're not a kid." And? I usually just respond with, "But who makes those films that keep your kids entertained? Other adults!" or "What if I want to make cartoons or be involved in making them?"

My mom gives me the, "You need to GROW UP and focus on MORE IMPORTANT things" speech ALL the time. Especially if I ever happen to get overly excited about a piece of merchandise (like the recent Gaston doll, for example).

I was over at a friend's house the other day. She lives with her boyfriend's step-parents. They were in the living room with us and we were debating the Evil Queen vs. Maleficent, who was the better villain. And, of course, I'm very theatrical and get into those discussions, so, I was reciting some of the Evil Queen's dialogue. "THIRSTY!? HA HA! Here, have a drink!" And the step-mother looked at me in the most confused way and she said, "A grown man, acting like that over a KID'S movie." So, yeah. Here, it always comes back to the 'it is for kids' line of thinking.

But all of my friends know and most (the majority my female friends) are also into Disney, so, it isn't a big deal with them. I collect Villain merch, so, whenever someone new comes over I have to give them my, "Yes. I'm into Disney Villains if you couldn't tell from the big framed picture of Ursula the Sea-Witch on my wall."

[Vlad]

I'm 23, I love Disney passionately, and I enjoy collecting Disney movies on DVD and Blu-ray. I never got teased for this; in fact, in high school, I used to draw Disney characters, and I got a lot of requests from my classmates.

[Cheshire_Cat]

I actually don't think it's that big of a deal to be young and like Disney stuff. A lot of young adults are nostalgic for things they enjoyed as children, and for current young adults, that would be anything Renaissance-era Disney, which was a great time to be a kid. I remember a lot of my peers on Facebook posting about how excited they were to see The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast in 3D at the theaters.

In spite of what I just said, I rarely bring that stuff up with potential dates, but that's a different issue.

[Disney Guru]

I collect movie posters, and in my office at work I have 2 framed posters on my wall for 2 of my favorite Disney films The Waltz King (1963) and Bon Voyage! (1962) whenever people come in my office they generally comment on them never anything unkind. They know I'm a film aficionado so they always ask about them. When your younger like in junior high/high school I can see how people sometimes could make cracks about it but as you get older it's just not that big of a deal, there are a lot of movie buff/film collectors who are outstanding members of society.

[milojthatch]

I don't think I was ever teased for liking Disney per say so much as cartoons period once I got to high school. Some kids and adults in my life firmly believed that such things were just for kids. I never did, but I've also had a love affair with the animation art form for as long as I can remember and I think under the guise of "it's my future job," most would let it go.

I think honestly, I was teased far more for being such a big Star Trek nerd.

[pap64]

To be honest, I have yet to encounter anyone that had mocked or criticized me for being a Disney fan. A lot of my friends know that I am a Disney fan and leave it at that. I think the reason why is because as much as I love Disney with all my heart, I try to not shove it in everyone's faces like some fans tend to do. You know, the kind that say that they are proud Disney fans that make the world much better because Disney exists, the kind that make a huge deal over the parks and become all elitist about it. The "worst" I had gotten was that my best friend's fiance thought it was funny that I had watched a Disney Princess make up tutorial, simply because it had a stunning rendition of "A Whole New World".

But to be frank, I chose to be the more reserved kind of Disney fan, especially now more than ever. My time on forums like this one, Facebook and Tumblr have taught me that some fans can be extremely obnoxious to the point where you almost hate Disney for it. Seeing that kind of over excessive behavior makes me too self aware of my own love for Disney and decide to be more reserved about it and focus more on other things like travel, philosophy, film, literature and such to make me more balanced. I say this because recently I had an incident with a "friend" whose obsession with Disney was beyond concerning. He started his countdown to Disney 50 days before the actual trip, had a very weird crush/obsession with Lady Tremaine and Mary Poppins, goes on A LOT of park trips and cruises and he can't talk about everything else that isn't Disney. The worst of it is that he became my "friend" because of my Disney related work with my friends. He started obsessing over every detail of my Disney life, from what I did at the parks, what I ate, who I met, how I met them, where did I go, when did I go, what resort did I stay at, and constantly stalking my Facebook for any kind of Disney related posts or picture. It was so bad I had to block him out entirely on ALL venues because his Disney obsession went too far.

It is that kind of behavior that makes me aware that sometimes not everyone is a Disney fan, and you must respect their wishes. I know some fans yell at the top of their lungs that "DISNEY FANS MUST ALWAYS BE PROUD OF THEIR FANDOM AND SHOW IT OFF TO THE WORLD!!", but the truth is that people often don't care what you are into unless you are in a community that embraces it, and when you are constantly showing your fandom off to the world it tends to become annoying and obnoxious. This applies to ALL fandoms, really. You can show off your fandom a tad bit, I think, like having a Vinylmation on your office space, wear a t-shirt every once in a while and such. But to be all in your face about it just gives more negative connotations to the Disney fandom and you have someone like the "friend" I mentioned whose obsession of Disney turned him into a creepy stalker of anyone that was into it.

So in summary, I think no one should be ashamed of being a Disney fan if being one makes their lives more meaningful. But to obsess over it, shove onto people's face it and just claim to be a better person because of it just creates more harm towards the fandom and should be controlled.

[DisneyJedi]

I can't say that I have been badmouthed for being a Disney fan. The closest I have come to that is when some people here (who shall go unnamed for the sake of not pointing fingers) badmouthed Louis the Alligator, listing him as the most unlikable character in The Princess and the Frog, which is kind of a big deal to me because it was frustrating as Hell whenever his character got insulted since not only does that hurt the Louis fan in me, but I also happen to have a humongous crush on the big guy (although I'm in a committed relationship with nachonaco here and outside the Internet).

Oh, and one time, my mom and dad did scold me for "wasting my money" on an iTunes copy of The Little Mermaid in 2007 (we had recently gotten the Platinum Edition DVD and already the had the 1990 VHS).

[Elladorine]

This makes me think of a DJ I heard on the radio the other day, talking about "warning signs" to watch out for when it comes to potential dates. One "issue" on his list was to run away anyone that has Disney pictures plastered all over their facebook page. I can actually sort of understand that mentality due to the average person being repulsed by extreme fandom, but it definitely made me cringe with the way he was reinforcing stereotypes of Disney fans in particular. Not that I even know what those stereotypes encompass, other than it's negative? I don't know, are we supposed to be hyper zealots? Naive simpletons? Overly-idealistic moralists that live in some kind of delusional fantasyland? *shrugs*

I love Disney of course (why else would I be here?), but it's not the only thing in my life, and I don't obnoxiously throw it in people's faces every chance I get (not saying members here do that, but I've met the like before). Back when I was still in school, Disney was in the middle of their DAC renaissance and was actually considered "cool" with the teenage crowd (Aladdin was a popular date movie, for example; one of my old friends saw it on her very first date with the guy that would someday become her husband!).

I can't think of anyone important in my life who found it strange or irritating to realize I'm a Disney fan, although I still occasionally come across people that think Disney and cartoons in general are for babies; those people typically turn their opinion around when they find out that I like to draw (which somehow justifies it to them), and if not, whatever. They're easy to ignore when they're not an important part of my life.

[pap64]

This makes me think of a DJ I heard on the radio the other day, talking about "warning signs" to watch out for when it comes to potential dates. One "issue" on his list was to run away anyone that has Disney pictures plastered all over their facebook page. I can actually sort of understand that mentality due to the average person being repulsed by extreme fandom, but it definitely made me cringe with the way he was reinforcing stereotypes of Disney fans in particular. Not that I even know what those stereotypes encompass, other than it's negative? I don't know, are we supposed to be hyper zealots? Naive simpletons? Overly-idealistic moralists that live in some kind of delusional fantasyland? *shrugs*

I think those are some of the most common stereotypes regarding the fandom. That and the biggest one of all: it's childish. I've heard it say that Disney is "for kids", therefore adults and teenagers who still love Disney even if they are of an older mindset are considered to be "adult children". Obviously, I think that's a lot of crap. Despite Disney being a company that targets itself towards a family audience, they have they have impacted pop culture and society does merit not only admiration but also study and analysis. That's why I am doing Three CommentEARS with Escapay and Disneykid, and have a Disney column about video game: I love to study, analyze and present my thoughts to the Disney community.

I also think the stereotypes also come from how obsessive some fans can get. I mean I thought I was crazy over Disney till I met how some people behaved online (not talking about UD, of course). I've seen people proudly proclaim that they refuse to vacation anywhere else, that they would rather die at Disney than anywhere else, that they would proudly quit their jobs and just vacation at Disney forever, etc. I think because the obsessed fans speak the LOUDEST about the community they create stereotypes that everyone else just overblow and think it is an accurate representation of the fandom. That's why I cringe whenever I think of some of the things I have seen online in the Disney fandom.

[pinkrenata]

Nope. I've more or less always been known as one of those people who does her own thing, no matter what. So, yeah. I'm not saying I was never teased in school, but it usually wasn't because of my Pocahontas and HoND folders. Or was it...

[Super Aurora]

The closest I have come to that is when some people here (who shall go unnamed for the sake of not pointing fingers) badmouthed Louis the Alligator, listing him as the most unlikable character in The Princess and the Frog, which is kind of a big deal to me because it was frustrating as Hell whenever his character got insulted since not only does that hurt the Louis fan in me, but I also happen to have a humongous crush on the big guy (although I'm in a committed relationship with nachonaco here and outside the Internet).

That wasn't me, was it?

[Escapay]

Among my friends, I'm primarily "the Disney one" when it came to assigning arbitrary titles that wasn't "token Asian" or "Little Albert" (a holdover from kindergarten, as my class had another Albert who wast - obviously - taller than me). A few weeks ago, my friend introduced us to her new boyfriend, and we unwittingly gave him a Disney test: basically random questions we'd quiz him on to see how well he knew his Disney. Favorite DACs and why, favorite Disney songs, valid criticisms of the company, etc. Fortunately for her, he passed the test.

In high school, when it came to teasing (about Disney or otherwise), I often shrugged it off. To me it was a sign that they were insecure about their own feelings towards it, so they needed an outlet to let them resolve those feelings. Besides, by the time Senior Trip rolled around, everyone was excited to go to Walt Disney World, see Mickey Mouse, ride Peter Pan's Flight, etc.

The extent of my Disneydom among family and friends have actually resulted in my siblings and I being banned from playing on the same team if a group of friends/family ever decide to play Disney Trivia, Disney Cranium, Disney Charades, or any other Disney-knowledge-based game. We're that... die-hard, for lack of a better word. If we played on the same team, nobody stood a chance, so splitting us up at least allowed for a more level playing field.

Even so, while we're quite a Disney-focused family, it's not to the extent of only eating, sleeping, and breathing Disney. Plenty of other exciting things go on in the world, Disney is just one we like the most.

Albert

[pap64]

The closest I have come to that is when some people here (who shall go unnamed for the sake of not pointing fingers) badmouthed Louis the Alligator, listing him as the most unlikable character in The Princess and the Frog, which is kind of a big deal to me because it was frustrating as Hell whenever his character got insulted since not only does that hurt the Louis fan in me, but I also happen to have a humongous crush on the big guy (although I'm in a committed relationship with nachonaco here and outside the Internet).

That wasn't me, was it?

That sounds like something Goliath might have done...

[Super Aurora]

That sounds like something Goliath might have done...

Actually it was both of us. We both didn't like the character. But I was the one who dubs the term "Louis the FAILigator".