Ralph Breaks The Internet - Political Posturing?
Quick Thoughts: Ralph Breaks The Internet (2018)
Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope venture into the internet to find a world of incitement and tension.
Ralph Breaks The Internet is simultaneously one of Disney's most firm and deconstructed narratives. I can't say I'm sold by it. The facade of the film, its premise, is inane and rather uninteresting to me. Its characterlogical explorations, however, are provoking. Like no Disney film before it, this very literally tells kids to let go for good and get over hopes for close (true?) friendship. I believe this assumes we identify more with Vanellope, and so may be trying to simply emphasise the importance of freedom and being allowed to do as one wishes. There is virtue in this; this is a very hard lesson in life; one of acceptance and loss; of blinding oneself to a brighter alternative as to sustain what another wants. A hard lesson indeed - maybe too simply presented. Maybe.
That said, whilst there is good comedy to be found in this film's disavowal of Disney's filmic history, I don't care for its snarkiness. Ralph Breaks The Internet presupposes that Wreck-It Ralph was about a princess being saved by a hero (even though the two so clearly save each other). It highlights this with the appearance of all the Disney princesses who all claim that they were just saved by men in their narratives. This deeply cynical view of Disney films is so readily accepted today, and such honestly unsettles me to my core. Why do we accept this? The feminist problematising of Disney narratives has come to be perceived as axiomatically and singularly valid. Indeed, Disney narratives can be called into question from a political perspective, but this political perspective does not represent the foundations of narrative at all wholly. Furthermore, its problematising can so often be moronic. True, for instance, Disney princesses wear dresses and come to embody something of a feminine ideal. This serves narrative purposes that can be explored symbolically. Why should Disney princesses be required to be you, to be me, to be normal; a mundane ideal? Such commentary is provided with the criticism of the princesses dresses. As comedy, this works - as political posturing, I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth. The best joke in this section of the film is the heart of the political mess that Ralph Breaks The Internet, to some degree, is. Merida is the Disney princess that pretty much defies all of the basic, inane political comments made by the writers. However, her accent is thickened, her dialect is made alien; her voice, in effect, is taken away and she is laughed at; made, very literally, other: 'that princess from the other studio'. How hypocritical it is that the only princess that holds up under the superficial political problematising that the film postures with is asided so harshly. Again: I laughed at the joke, perceiving comedy above all else. But seen as political, this comment is shameful.
This sequence reflects much about the political subtext of Ralph Breaks The Internet's general narrative. Dissatisfied with the hero narrative in the first film, seemingly repulsed by it, this constructs its characters in such a way that the traditional Princess narrative is entirely reversed; the princess escapes unity with the masculine. I am not so cynical myself to think that this is merely political propaganda that means to do damage to the Disney narrative. There is a real and tangible characterlogical conflict present in this film. Heroism leads to attachment, and attachment may lead to one becoming possessed by an ideal and wanting to possess that which represents it (a friend for instance). The lesson this provides is hard, but pertinent and truthful. However, its framing is just shaky in my opinion. I leave this with you. What are your thoughts on Ralph Breaks The Internet?
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The House That Jack Built - Can Art Be Destructive?
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End Of The Week Shorts #92
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amazon.com/author/danielslack
Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope venture into the internet to find a world of incitement and tension.
Ralph Breaks The Internet is simultaneously one of Disney's most firm and deconstructed narratives. I can't say I'm sold by it. The facade of the film, its premise, is inane and rather uninteresting to me. Its characterlogical explorations, however, are provoking. Like no Disney film before it, this very literally tells kids to let go for good and get over hopes for close (true?) friendship. I believe this assumes we identify more with Vanellope, and so may be trying to simply emphasise the importance of freedom and being allowed to do as one wishes. There is virtue in this; this is a very hard lesson in life; one of acceptance and loss; of blinding oneself to a brighter alternative as to sustain what another wants. A hard lesson indeed - maybe too simply presented. Maybe.
That said, whilst there is good comedy to be found in this film's disavowal of Disney's filmic history, I don't care for its snarkiness. Ralph Breaks The Internet presupposes that Wreck-It Ralph was about a princess being saved by a hero (even though the two so clearly save each other). It highlights this with the appearance of all the Disney princesses who all claim that they were just saved by men in their narratives. This deeply cynical view of Disney films is so readily accepted today, and such honestly unsettles me to my core. Why do we accept this? The feminist problematising of Disney narratives has come to be perceived as axiomatically and singularly valid. Indeed, Disney narratives can be called into question from a political perspective, but this political perspective does not represent the foundations of narrative at all wholly. Furthermore, its problematising can so often be moronic. True, for instance, Disney princesses wear dresses and come to embody something of a feminine ideal. This serves narrative purposes that can be explored symbolically. Why should Disney princesses be required to be you, to be me, to be normal; a mundane ideal? Such commentary is provided with the criticism of the princesses dresses. As comedy, this works - as political posturing, I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth. The best joke in this section of the film is the heart of the political mess that Ralph Breaks The Internet, to some degree, is. Merida is the Disney princess that pretty much defies all of the basic, inane political comments made by the writers. However, her accent is thickened, her dialect is made alien; her voice, in effect, is taken away and she is laughed at; made, very literally, other: 'that princess from the other studio'. How hypocritical it is that the only princess that holds up under the superficial political problematising that the film postures with is asided so harshly. Again: I laughed at the joke, perceiving comedy above all else. But seen as political, this comment is shameful.
This sequence reflects much about the political subtext of Ralph Breaks The Internet's general narrative. Dissatisfied with the hero narrative in the first film, seemingly repulsed by it, this constructs its characters in such a way that the traditional Princess narrative is entirely reversed; the princess escapes unity with the masculine. I am not so cynical myself to think that this is merely political propaganda that means to do damage to the Disney narrative. There is a real and tangible characterlogical conflict present in this film. Heroism leads to attachment, and attachment may lead to one becoming possessed by an ideal and wanting to possess that which represents it (a friend for instance). The lesson this provides is hard, but pertinent and truthful. However, its framing is just shaky in my opinion. I leave this with you. What are your thoughts on Ralph Breaks The Internet?
Previous post:
The House That Jack Built - Can Art Be Destructive?
Next post:
End Of The Week Shorts #92
More from me:
amazon.com/author/danielslack
