"Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried"

They are everywhere now aren't they! Disney princesses are back in fashion again and you would have to be a hermit on a mountain not to notice. Without internet. So this is clearly not that place. 

One of my sons favourite films now is Frozen and it got me thinking..what moments stuck with me from my Disney watching? For girls it's pretty clear who you should be identifying with (the princess/girl/maincharacter..and for boys NO ONE because yeah..more on that later.) I never identified with any of the characters really but there were defining moments that I can still say shaped my little girls brain..

1. Belle

This was the first film I saw on cinema..mostly because it had a 5 year age limit and this was 1991. But as the girl who sat by the roadside wanting nothing more than to start walking this was a revelation..

Now, in hindsight, Belle just went to the woods and married the first brute she could find and "changed him with love" and I'm glad that bit wasn't the one that stuck!

2. Next up is what always made my heart jump, Aladdin.

This is not really meant in a romantic way (although I totally would have, haha) but more in that this is who I identified with at the time. It just turns out when there are no food snatching girls around Aladdin does just fine.

3. Now this one I have to say probably stuck because of childhood traumas. My life changed dramatically over a few years and to this day I have trouble remembering much of my life. Here's Anastasia.

4. For a change, this is not a song! but this is THE moment for me when it comes to the Disney of my childhood. Esmeralda is still my favourite character and probably the one I would pick if I had to be a "Disney princess".

I think in a way this was the kind of female role model I wished I had had in real life really. I was no stranger to injustice and poverty and independence..and I was always jealous that I didn't inherit my dads black hair.. :) (he did get me the Notre dame playset though so..fair enough!) So I suppose this is who grown up me tried to recreate. Much like other girls recreate Cinderella or Belle.

5. Now, by this time I'm already grown up and the only reason I even heard this is because it is, as I said, Lus favourite film...but it fits in better life-wise in this place so I'll put it here. Because I wish I could have had this as my inspiration too. Here's Elsa.

6. Lastly, this is just my favourite Disney song..more now than before. For obvious reasons... 

..at least to me. 

So there! I want to say that just because you watch Disney as a child you don't necessarily turn out to expect a prince on a horse or believe in happily ever after. What you take from what you see is entirely personal, if somewhat led. You don't have to be a princess in your own story to be something. I'd pick "Justice!" .

Better late then never!

 "Remember remember the 5th of November"

Being slightly cheeky on bonfire night never killed anyone. Hopefully.

Ending it with our Victorian witches.

Now Halloween is over. Faded lights, candy papers and fake spider webs everywhere. From pumpkins and pizzas to the long Sunday hungover it was..glorious.

After the candy and booze hedonism that weekend we spent the rest of it staring at Halloweeny movies and eating lam (mmm!). One of the films we watched was Hocus pocus and..I came to think of a thing. 

Every time you see witches portrayed in popular culture they have one thing in-common: they all look distinctly Victorian. Any time you see witches as they would have been thought of at the time when people actually believed in witches it will be a historical drama/crime about the suffering of the innocent, which is undoubtedly the most accurate portrayal of a witch, but not a "real" witch. In comedies/horror/family films where they have power and such they all look very Victorian, if not modern. And I can't help but wonder.. is this another bi-product of the fact that we are essentially still only living at the end of the era that started with the Victorians?

There are many things that suggest that, especially here in England. Many words are still just a development of a Victorian word (like bus or front room). We still live in their houses and live by their social values (like free market and nuclear families ).. and I know for a fact that you can pass for eccentric in Victorian clothes but take it just 20 years further back and you're in fancy dress!

So when I once heard that we may still just be living at the end of their era it totally made sense..and we have more in-common with them now than since then as well which is probably why they are so popular!

But back to the witches. 

We still think of witches the way the Victorians made them. And I want to embrace that. There was nothing funny about the fear of women that sparked the fires of the 1600's.. but I find the Victorian witches very funny! Instead of being victims that get burned they are just the kind of witch I would like to be: powerful, self confident and a snappy dresser! 

Taking out my stripy tights now... where's my broomstick!?

¤