Walt Disney Characters
I grew up Disney, hell most of us have. But few of us remember when Disney wasn’t not the huge power house it was in the 1990s. Prior 1990 Disney was going through a slump, The Black Caldron was a major failure and lead animator, Don Bluth left to form a rival animation company that made such great animated films as The Secret of NiMH, An American Tale, and my personal favorite The Land Before Time 
Sven and Olaf from Frozen
Disney is still going on the princess angle though with its 3-D movies. In 2010 Disney made Tangled
The Swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard
Here is my point, when I saw concept art for Tangled and Frozen I thought “Wow cool.” Tangled was said to take an art style from the Rocco painting “The Swing.” I kind of imagined the film would emulate that painting more. But Nope, Tangled looks fairly genetic 3-D movie. I really only seen the influence in the leaves.
Frozen Concept Art
And now that feeling of genericness is justified in Frozen. The concept art I saw was really cool, it has an unearthly look to the Snow Queen. Now she just looks more like the blue fairy.
Anna (Frozen) & Rapunzel (Tangled))
But the main thing is Rapunzel and Anna (Frozen’s Heroine ) look alike. The animators can the changes colors all they want, the viewing public is not that stupid. They have the same eye shape, lips, nose, cheeks, hell they even both have freckles. Really, they could be characters in the same movie. Lush leaves and snow do not constitute a distinct style and feel for a movie. But then again made they are meant to take place in the same world. However if Disney continues with this style it going to get boring. Oh Wait, it’s already boring!
A Side-by-Side Comaparsion of teh styles of Hunchback of Notre Dame and Beauty and the Beast
The great thing about Disney’s hand-drawn films is that they had different styles to complement the story. The Little Mermaid doesn’t look like Mulan. Even Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame which take place in the same Country and were done by the same directors look stylistically different. (Fun Fact – when Frozen was being development, at one point Hunchback and Beauty and Beast Directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale were recruited to direct the film but the project was put on hold.)
Walt Disney drawing Steamboat Willie
You have to wonder is the ease of computers robbing Disney of its style when it comes to the look and feel of its films? Given Tangled and Frozen, I would say yes. Most of the 3-D fair movie look plastic and devoid of personality. But perhaps Disney can pioneer the 3-D art to have give it a whole new look. Or better yet GO BACK TO THE HAND-DRAWN FILMS!!!!!!!!!!
Question; Why does Disney act like Hunchback of Notre Dame never happened?
To be fair, there is another Disney film Disney ignores more famously than The Hunchback of Notre Dame and that would be The Black Cauldron
The Hunchback of Notre Dame Blu-Ray Cover
The Hunchback of Notre Dame received mostly positive reviews from critics and actually was a box-office success as its budget was $100 million and its gross revenue was $325.5 million, although it did barely only broke-even domestically. So with this info why does Disney ignore The Hunchback of Notre Dame? The Hunchback doesn’t have the levels of products as a lot of the other films in the Disney pantheon and looking at Disney’s presence on Zazzle, they don’t have a single Hunchback product but they do have stuff for Treasure Planet, which bombed at the box-office. Then you have the blu-ray of Hunchback
Disney Princess Kitchen Set
(Does anyone else think this is Hilarious?)
I would theorize that the reason why Disney ignores the Hunchback stems from they don’t know who to market this movie to. The film didn’t really appeal to children which is Disney’s primary demographic. The film’s darker tones and the more heavy subject matter more likely distances children for it. If the film has done better with their key demographic we would more than likely see Esmeralda* in the Disney Princess Brand and her face would grace the likes of blenders, bed sheets, bikes, shoes, baby dolls, chairs, ect. (They make a lot stuff for that brand). *Before you say Esmerald can’t be part of the Princess Brand as she is not a Princess, Mulan is not a Princess nor does she marry a Prince and yet she is part of the Brand, here is a Muan Baby Doll
The Art of the Hunchback of Notre Dame
As a company Disney is not going to put money in developing products for a film that didn’t appeal to its core demographic after its initial release. As Hunchback is part of the Disney family it did get it’s entitled blu-ray treatment but Disney did extended any extra effort into the extras which would have cost them. More then likely when Hercules‘ blu-ray comes out it will get extras because had more appeal to children. Plus it would seem that Hunchback’s popular is recent so if starts to gain a big enough following Disney will start showing it love. But It’s a two-street, Disney may think the Hunchback blu-ray failed because people dislike the movie and not because there no real incentive to buy it when the DVD has extras and blu ray doesn’t.
I think the question is why doesn’t the Hunchback of Notre Dame really appeal as much to children and who is does this movie appeal to? Maybe if Disney has a demographic to target they would show Hunchback a little more love.
This week Fanart is by Britan. It’s a rendering of Esmeralda in her red dress against a background that features Notre Dame and rose windows in red tones. It’s very beautiful.
Esmarelda by Britan
http://britan.deviantart.com/art/Esmeralda-384020028
Checkout more by Britan by clicking here
The Bechdel test is a litmus test used to identify gender bias in fiction but its main application is for movies. The test was named after Alison Bechdel for her 1985 comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out for. Passing or failing the Bechdel test does not indicate the quality of the movie, a great movie will fail and a terrible movie will pass.
To pass the Bechdel test a work needs to meet 3 criteria; 1) It has to have at least two named female characters, 2) That talk to each other 3) About something other than a male. Though some people thinks the duration of the conversation should be at least a minute. Most movies fail the Bechdel test.
Esmeralda and Sister Gudule by Benjamin Lacombe from Notre Dame de Paris Tome 2
Most versions of the Hunchback fail the Bechdel test because there is typically only one to three named women in the movie; Esmeralda, Fleur de Lys, and Madame de Gondelaurier (given name Aloyse) and they never speak to one another in a conversion. Interestingly enough the novel passes as Esmeralda and her mother, Sister Gudule, (a.k.a Paquette Guybertaut, a.k.a. “La Chantefleurie” {talk about being named}) have a conversation about their identities. .
Gudule (Gladys Brockwell) Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923
With exclusion of Sister Gudule’s character the story loses its overall female presence. Only three works maintain Gudule (or the mother figure) has a character; the 1923 version, the awful Enchanted tales version, and the abysmal Dingo version.
Marie; Queen of the Gypsies (Eulalie Jenson) Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923
The 1923 version, out of all the Hunchback versions has the biggest female presence as it has five named females; Esmeralda, Madame de Gondelaurier, Fleur de Lys, Sister Gudule and Marie. Esmeralda, Marie and Sister Gudule have a scene where they sort of converse and Esmeralda and Marie have a conversation in another scene but it’s very unclear what it’s about. Fleur de Lys and Madame de Gondelaurier are always in scenes with Phoebus and they never really converse with other. But the scene with Marie, Esmeralda and Gudule would give it a pass for Bechdel test.
Genevieve with the Annoying Instruments, Enchanted Tales Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Enchanted tales version has Melody (Esmeralda) and her mother, Genevieve but they don’t have an conversation with each other plus those annoying instruments are in the way. So it doesn’t pass.
Esmeralda and her mother, Dingo Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Dingo version for all its badness does have Esmeralda and Sister Gudule speaking to each other about who there are so it sort of gets a pass and sort of fails because Sister Gudule isn’t referred to by name it only if you make the connection to the book that you know her name. Though this could be an oversight in the dub.
Helene Whitney as Fleur de Lys, 1939 Hunchback of Notre Dame
The other Hunchback movies fail. In the 1939 version it’s really only Esmeralda. Fleur de Lys is a featured extra that is mentioned by name but they share no dialogue with other.
Danielle Dumont as Fleur de Lys, 1956 Hunchback of Notre dame
In the 1956 version there is Esmeralda, Aloyse de Gondelaurier, and Fleur de Lys. Aloyse de Gondelaurier, and Fleur de Lys only shared dialogue is about Phoebus and Madame de Gondelaurier’s husband.
Hetty Baynes as Fleur de Lys, Ruth Goring as Madame de Gondelaurier, and Richard Morant as Phoebus, 1977 Hunchback of Notre Dame
The 1977 has Fleur de Lys and Madame Gondelaurier but Phoebus is in all their scenes.
Lesley-Anne Down as Esmeralda, 1982 Hunchback of Notre Dame
Salma Hayek as Esmeralda, 1997 Hunchback of Notre Dame
The 1982 and the 1997 version only really have Esmeralda as the only female character.
Esmeralda, Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Laverne Guy like you Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Madeline Hunchback of Notre Dame II Disney
The Disney version has two named females; Esmeralda and Laverne and they never speak to each other. This goes for Der Glöckner von Notre Dame as well. As for the Disney sequel we get three females with the addition of Madeline. However none of these characters speak to each other. 3 Fails.
Juie Zenatti as Fleur de Lys & Helene Segara as Esmeralda, Notre Dame de Paris Original Cast
The musical Notre Dame de Paris has Esmeralda and Fleur de Lys and while they share a song Beau Comme Le Soleil it’s clear that they singing isolation and it’s very much about Phoebus. So it fails.
Mélanie Thierry as Esmeralda/Agnes and Axelle Abbadie as Mme Le Gouverneur, Quasimodo d’el Paris
The parody version Quasimodo d’El Paris has a few named females characters Esmeralda/Agnes, Mme Le Gouverneur (if that counts as a name), Gudule, and Mme Jackson. They don’t really have a conversation with each other. Esmeralda and Mme Le Gouverneur exchange a line of dialogue before it shifts to a man. Fail
Illustration Sister Gudule and Esmeralda by Luc Oliver Merson
The point of The Bechdel test isn’t to pass or fail, its point is to show the overall presence of females in media and how integral they are to the story but it mainly shows gender bias. The Hunchback is at a core a story of how one women impacts men, so by its very concept it has to have more males. However even though it’s a story that center around a women it’s still a male driven story. With Sister Gudule there is a more female presence and the exclusion of character from the majority of the retellings does pretty much kills female presence in the story.
The making of the Disney version of Hunchback. It was a special feature on the DVD
(I think Disney thought the Gargoyles were going to go over better)
Disney characters Cosplay is a major presence at Fan Conventions (Anime, Gaming, Video Game, Comic etc). Groups of with these classic characters are big attention grabber but a group can deviate from it the characters traditional to make their both fun and a stand-out.
Here are some Ideas of what you can do to jazz up any Disney Princess/Heroine group. Some have been done before and some haven’t.
– Princesses to Extreme
Yaya Han as Mulan
Basically, you take basic design of the Disney Princesses & Heroines dresses and make them even more opulent. You can use beading, fancy fabric anything you want to push it in to super ultra fancy.
– Bollywood
Rework the costumes into a chiffon sari. Don’t forget the bangles, tika and lots of kohl.
– Steampunk
Put a Victorian spin of the costumes and then add a leather corset and googles.
– Zombies
Zombie Disney Princesses
Shred the costumes, add blood and ghoulish make up.
– Hipster
Hipster Jasmine, Ariel, Alice and Snow White ComicCon2012
Modernize the costumes, add big black framed glasses and a clever phase about how you were ahead of the mainstream or just cooler in general.
– Can Can
Can-Can dancers’ costume are all about the skirt that is covered with colorful ruffles on the inside. It’s a costume that is both fun and sexy.
– FFX-2 Dress Sphere
Disney in Final Fantasy X-2 Dress Sphere inspired costume
The Dress Sphere was the Battle System in Final Fanatsy X-2. Basically the main characters change their clothes and they have a different set of abilities. The group was based of Fan-art by Skirtzzz but given the variety of Disney Characters and Dress spheres the options are endless. What would a songstress Esmeralda look like?
– Mermaids
Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into mermaids like Ariel. Tails would match skirts, So, for explain, Esmeralda would have a purple skirt (if based on her normal look) and a white top. But how would you add her corset? There is a lot of creativity with the details with this idea.
– Warriors
Instead of dainty and pretty costume toughen up the Disney Princesses & Heroines into ass-kicking ladies.
– Superheroes
Superhero Disney Princesses by Heykannaya
Like the Warriors idea the Disney Princesses & Heroines would be more Kick ass looking but with capes and masks.
– Sexy
Sexy Disney Princesses
Shorten the hems and drop the neckline and you can sex up the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes.
– Haute Couture
Designer Disney Princess Cosplay Collection by Street Angel
Instead of big poofy gowns rework the costume is sleek and elegant fashion inspired creations. http://street-angel.deviantart.com/art/Designer-Disney-Princess-Cosplay-Collection-335017438
– Gender benders
Tinkerbell in more boyish clothes
Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into male-ish costumes.
– Magic Girls/ Sailor Scouts
Manon Yapari did a Fan-art of the Disney Princesses & Heroines as Sailor Scouts (from Sailor Moon), this would be an attention grabber at any Anime Con but you could take the classic Magic Girl Costume tropes and apply them to Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes.
–Wedding
Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into wedding gowns. I know Disney has dolls of the Disney Princesses in wedding gowns but pending of you own style you can make an amazing gown for the princesses and/or the heroines What would Esmeralda wedding gown look like?
– Ballerinas
Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into Ballerinas. You can design wo get a pancake tutu, a classic or a bell. This would a great group for those who can stand on pointe or just fans of ballet.
If you do any of these ideas with or without Esmeralda send them to me ^^.
