Disneyland on 1.29.10

A few random pictures taken on Natalie's Disney birthday trip. Thought I'd share.

Yay for bad lighting!

Yup, so that's it.

Analyzing Disney Love: The Prince and Princess Snow White

Artwork by Cory Jensen. Used with permission. (Click here to see his page!)

"Once there was a princess -"

"Was the princess you?"

"And she fell in love."

"Was it hard to do?"

"It was very easy! Anyone could see that the prince was charming - the only one for me."

"Was he strong and handsome?"

"Was he big and tall?"

"There's nobody like him - anywhere at all."

"Did he say he loved ya?"

"Did he steal a kiss?"

"He was so romantic, I could not resist..."

from Walt Disney's animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

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There's no denying that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a classic; it was Walt's first full-length animated feature, and it stars the first Disney princess. But, just because it's a classic, doesn't mean that this example of Disney love is what we should aim for.

As we first see Snow White, she's cleaning the steps of the castle. She moves over to the Wishing Well and begins to wish (in song, of course) that "the one I love will find me today." As the Prince overhears this, he climbs over the wall and into her property. Moments after this, she runs inside, though the Prince continues singing a love song to her. In less than three minutes, she's head-over-heels. To make matters worse, to the best of my knowledge, Snow White is merely fourteen in this version (correct me if I'm wrong).

Snow White knows nothing about the boy, except that he is, indeed, a prince. Once she finds shelter with the dwarfs, she tells them a story, beginning with the quote above. Snow White goes on to say that someday her prince will come, "and away to his castle, we'll go. To be happy forever, I know." Before being poisoned by the apple, her wish is that they will live happily ever after.

Once Snow White is poisoned, she's still beautiful after death. The dwarfs place her in a glass coffin to still admire her beauty. The Prince hears of this, and comes to see her, and he sings his wonderful love song again.

After his song, he kisses Snow White's lips and she wakes up to see the Prince there for her. Without a word, he carries her away to his horse. After giving the dwarfs a kiss and a goodbye, they're off, riding into the sunset.

So, overall, The Prince eavesdrops her singing, enters her property uninvited, and kisses a corpse; yet, he manages to steal her heart.  And, better yet, she thinks of him as "romantic."

Remember, although poor Snow White is a "scullery maid," she is, indeed, a princess. This begs me to ask the question, where is this "charming" prince from? He is riding on horseback around the castle, so is he from another kingdom? This is never specified.

Intro into Analyzing Disney Love

It's that time of year again: love is in the air, the birds are chirping, Disney movies are coming out on DVD...oh, wait, forget that last one.

This got me and my friend to talking about the Disney princes and princess, and how there love is unnatural and rushed. Most people just look at the fantasy side of it, and fun little love story of a prince and princess, but I'll be looking at it in a new light.

I'll be analyzing the love stories of all human, adult Disney couples, of which we see meet on screen - sorry to Bambi and Faline, and Peter and Wendy - they're not included. Stay tuned!

How to Make Rainbow Cupcakes

That's right, rainbow cupcakes.

I didn't make this recipe myself, but I found it HERE and decided to try it out. So, here's their recipe, with my lovely pictures.

To make it easier on yourself, buy cake mix and use that to make the batter. It will make more cupcakes, too.
Recipe I used is italicized; the regular font is things I wanted to add.

Makes 12 Cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated white sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk

food coloring

 

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

 

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Divide mixture evenly into bowls. In to however many color you want. Color the mixture with the food coloring.

I happened to have a cute assistant helping me with the mixing....

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the color batters.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Once your cupcakes have cooled, you can ice them. I didn't frost them this time, but they still got great reviews!