Let down your hair

Hair can say a lot about one’s personality and through tangled we see her different hairstyles can be based around her changing and experiencing new things throughout her life. Tangled is a Disney animated movie based on the German fairytale Rapunzel by The Grim Brothers. In this movie Rapunzel has magical hair that allows her to heal and make the old young when she sings “Flower, gleam and glow, Let your power shine, Make the clock reverse, Bring back what once was mine, Heal what has been hurt, Change the fate's design, Save what had been lost, Bring back what once was mine, What once was mine.” This power was obtained through the magical golden flower that was said to have grown when a single drop of sunlight from the heavens fell. When the queen was pregnant with Rapunzel she fell ill and almost died, it was only due to this flower that she drank that she lived and that is where Rapunzel got

her powers from. The trouble was that Mother Gothel had hidden this flower from everyone for hundreds of year to keep her youth. When the flower was taken from her hidden spot she then went to go take a piece of Rapunzels hair in order to keep her youth. However, when she cut her hair the power died from it. This is when Mather Gothel took Rapunzel from the castle and locked her in a tower so that she could stay young forever.

We see Rapunzel trapped in the tower for the first 18 years of her life. She had a routine of painting, baking and reading the same books over and over again. The long hair that Rapunzel had could be seen as holding her down. One good imagery part of the movie is when Rapunzel has to lift her mother up the tower each day with her hair. Her mother is the one person that weighs

her down from being the person that she truly wants to be. This all changes when Flynn Rider, also known as Eugene Fitzherbert, shows up in the tower to get away from the kingdom police because he stole the lost princesses crown. When Rapunzel see’s Flynn for the first time (after she freaks out in fear) she demands that he takes her to see the “lights in the sky” also known as floating lanterns. This is where the true adventure begins. When their journey begins Rapunzel has this new found view on the world, just like a child seeing things for the first time. When Rapunzel begins to get into her first accouter in danger is when her secret is revealed to Flynn. This is

an important time in the movie because her true identity is revealed to Flynn and they are finally truthful with each other. As they go into the kingdom we see Rapunzel experiencing parties and celebrations for the first time. This is where her hair changes to more of a child hairstyle. Four little girls braid her hair with flowers intertwined in them like they had their own hair styled. The next change in hair is when she is released from her mother’s burden when Flynn cuts off all of her hair. Rapunzel’s hair loses all power and turns brown and the mother dies. This is when she begins to experience her life as it should have been with her real family. She is reunited with the king and queen and they live happily ever after.

There are many cases in the real world where we can see that hair truly can change a personality. One drastic transformation in celebrities can be found when we look at Miley Cyrus. She has gone from the good girl on Hanna Montana, to the stage where she was dating Liam, to her current unknown stage. Each stage can easily identified as a new stage in her life, her current stage is what she says she has always been hiding. Hair tells a lot about a person, it can show there mood or the personality of a person. Rapunzel changed as her hair evolved, she became herself once she found just the right style.

Ethical Questions:

                -Does the style of one’s hair truly affect their mood and personality?

                -Can a person actually tell who a person is through their hair style?

Little Red Riding Hood: When Did We Become Posers, Too?

We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood... Red is on her way to her Granny's house when she strays from the path and meets a wolf. The wolf asks where she is going and she tells him that she is going to her Granny's house. The wolf, sneakily planning to eat Red and her basket of treats for her Granny, runs to the Granny's house before Red gets there. The wolf eats Granny and dresses himself in her clothes and pretends to be Granny to trick Red. STOP.
The wolf, a made up character in a children's tale from hundreds of years ago, is dressing like someone else to get something that they want? Where have I seen this before?
People do this all of the time. I am guilty of it, too. We see something that we like or want, perhaps it's a celebrity or a picture in a magazine, that person looks good in something, and we want to be just like them, so we adopt their clothing and their attitude to become what we want.
In Identities Through Fashion, Maria Teresa Russo agrees, saying that that "individual relies more on appearing than on being and combats the fear of invisibility through the creation of a reflected image of oneself. The result is almost a confirmation of one's own real existence, framed in the simulacra sent by the media and by fashion. At this point, it becomes difficult to distinguish between reality and appearance" (pg 192).
When the wolf does it, it's bad, it's wrong, it's lying, it's evil. The wolf is portrayed as the antagonist for taking on Granny's identity and leading Red to think that he is really her Granny. It is not until Red takes a closer look at her "Granny" that she notices the bigger teeth, the eyes, the ears, and she realizes that her "Granny" is an impostor, a poser.
If it is so frowned upon that the wolf be posing as someone else, then why is it okay for society to do it? In that matter, is it actually okay for society to take on different fronts and dress to be like someone else? Has it become the norm? It seems as though no one is actually an individual. With websites like Pinterest where people can look on a fashion board and see what other people are "pinning", and Polyvore, where people also can create their "own" looks and share them on Pinterest, and TheHunt, the website that informs people of where to buy a certain garment or something similar to it, is anyone really unique? Even magazines show pictures of celebrities and then tell the readers where they can go to purchase the similar look, and they even tell the reader how much they can buy it for.

"Why is no one here to see how
beautiful I look when I wake up?"

It is no secret that we are inspired by what we see, and we should not be punished or ridiculed for that. But at what point do we stop being who we truly are, and become posers like the wolf? We put on fronts, just like him everyday. Women, by putting on make up, some women don't even take their make up to go to sleep! Are humans that vain and that worried about how we appear to others that we even need to look our best while we are asleep?
Each of our fronts show the world something different about us: We have the professional front, where we dress for work, men shave, and women wear hose and heels. We have the casual front, which can vary depending on the activity for that day. Am I going to see anyone important today? Should I wear a push-up bra, should I wear cologne? We have the social front, where we try to look our absolute best in the hottest clothing, some people even wear less clothing than is socially acceptable, but it's all for the sake of who sees us right? As long as we look like the person that we want people to think we are, like the wolf, then we have succeeded. 


My question is, when do we stop dressing to get what we want and to please others, and start dressing for the sake of dressing? Is it when others start to notice how big our eyes, teeth, and ears really are that we are exposed for who we really are?






Sources
Russo, M.T. (2012). Identities Through Fashion. Strong Fashion and Weak Identity: A Necessary Association? A. M. Gonzalez, L. Bovone (Ed.). New York, NY: Berg Publishers.

Beauty and the Beast: Why judge the Beast for being Beastly?

There are many different renditions of the tale of Beauty and the Beast from all around the world.  The one that we all know best is from Walt Disney, based on the fairytale “La belle et la Bête” by Jeanne- Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Think back to your childhood, do you recall singing along to “Be Our Guest”? Be Our Guest 

The film tells the story of a prince who is transformed into a beast because an old woman beggar offers a selfish, spoiled prince a rose in exchange for a night’s shelter from the cold.  He turns her away because he’s repulsed by her old and unattractive appearance and he doesn’t appreciate her simple gift: a rose.  She then gets her revenge on him as she turns around and casts a spell on him, which turns him into the ugly beast; she did it to show he had no heart or emotion.  The Beast is given a magic mirror and a rose that will continue to bloom until his 21^st birthday.  Beast imprisons Maurice (the inventors) daughter named Belle in his castle.  Her father went to claim the prettiest rose to bring home for his daughter, but instead Belle sacrificed herself for her father’s freedom. To become a prince again, the Beast must love Belle and gain her love and respect in return, or he will remain a Beast forever.  In the end, the Beast has a sudden change of heart as he comes to Belle’s rescue after she tried to escape and was attacked by wolves.  She tended to his wounds and they become friends.  His true love for her is shown when he lets Belle go help her sick father. Even though time is running out of time to transform back to a prince.  Like most fairytales, there is ALWAYS a perfect ending.  Belle falls for him and he transforms just in time from the Beast to the handsome prince he once was. 



Belle reading to the Beast and friends

     The Beast’s clothing includes wearing a white shirt, purple cape, and torn black/ blue pants.  The color purple may refer to the social class of being “royalty”/ wealthy.  The Beast’s is portrayed as grotesque because of his physical traits like, being strong, heavy fur, and sharp white fangs.  But remember the saying; “never judge a book by its cover.” After the Beast rescues Belle, his dress style changes to be more refined.  He becomes more disciplined and dresses in his ballroom outfit; which consists of black dress pants trimmed with gold, golden vest over a white dress shirt with a white handkerchief, a navy blue ballroom tail coat also trimmed with gold.  This accent to his clothing shows that he is of a high social class. The colors he wears shows that he comes from a wealthier background.  After all, he’s the prince.

Serena and Dan formal outting

Teapot Transformation 

     

 I feel that in this fairytale, Belle didn’t try to change her appearance to make the Beast fall for her.  Belle has long hair, is slender, big eyes, and the ability to sing.  She wore the same outfits, and didn’t act as if she was pretending to be someone of a different social class.  The same night the Beast dressed up, Belle wore a yellow dress, and the color symbolizes their growing love that was inextinguishable and strong.  The dress was a typical long gown, with a corset body, as I see it, perfectly French.

Belle and the Beast dancing the night away

In the essay, Fashion, Identity, and Social Actors, author Laura Bovone, talks about “Fashion and Clothing”.  In fairytales, I’m used to the girl being scared of how they look.  But in this case, the Beast (male) was intimidated by his looks.  He defies gender roles/ norms in society because that’s generally known to be a female norm in society.  The Beast dressed nicer because his clothing clearly shows that he came from a higher social class. The teapot and candlestick will end up representing the working class through their clothing items after being transformed.  In today’s society, people dress in designer clothing rather than identify by using colors to represent a social class.  The clothing that women wear now are not as conservative, because women want to show off their bodies more.  They dress to get attention. As for formal attire, men wear suits, with formal shoes, and women wear dresses of all different lengths, colors, and materials.  

Blair, Serena, Nate, high society formal wear

            I’ve come to realize that people need to learn to get to know someone before making their judgments simply based on their appearance.  For instance, once the prince realized that the old woman was actually beautiful, he quickly tried to take back what he said.  Why are we so quick to judge someone based on his or her appearance and fashion choices?  How do you believe colors represent social class in today’s societies?  Should social class be considered in making your final judgment about a person?  

Transformation of the Prince

Belle Meets the Beast

Mulan: Defining an Identity

Mulan isn't your typical Disney princess like most expect from a Disney movie...she is quite the opposite actually, as she later disguises herself as a man. 
The beginning of the film explains to us that Mulan's destiny has been set for her by her parents and society. She is being put into the process of becoming a Geisha. This process is suppose to present her to society as a perfect woman that will entertain men by acting and dressing the part of a Geisha.
In order to play her role of a Geisha, Mulan must paint her face white and add color to her cheeks, lips, and eyes, wear her hair up in a graceful bun tied with silk, put on earrings, and squeeze her waist in tight and wear a long elegant dress called a Kimono. Each of these details that make her appearance label Mulan as a Geisha; a graceful, smart, and beautiful woman ready to entertain. 
Without all of the makeup, jewelry, and clothing, Mulan can not become a Geisha. It is these accessories and clothing items that create this image to the world. In her society she will not be viewed as this graceful and beautiful woman if she does not dress up with these details.

However the life of a Geisha is not what Mulan sees as her destiny. Mulan decides to go into war to take her fathers place who is too old to fight. In order to fight, she must disguise herself as a man. Not only must Mulan have to learn to act like a man, but she must completely change her physical appearance. In order for her to create this opposite image of a man, she must touch on all of the same details and accessories but in the opposite manner. The
transformation involves cutting her hair off, taking off all of her makeup, taping back her chest, and dressing in a man's solider uniform. Society will only view her as a man if she changes all of these details in her appearance. 
These accessories and details that create Mulan's two different identities are necessary in order for her to be recognized and accepted by society as either a woman or a man. If Mulan does not wear clothing which extenuates her waist or put on makeup, she will not be accepted by society as a woman. As a man, if Mulan does not have her hair cut short or wear a mans uniform she is not recognized as man to society.  It seems like its things like pieces of clothing and hair and make up which defines you as a man or a woman in society.


Is that right? Or should it depend on whether you were physically born as a man or a woman? Is it ok to define someone based on how they present themselves through their clothing and accessories? Does clothing, hair, and makeup define our sex? 

Making a Man Out of You

       As kids we sang along with the catchy, empowering songs of Mulan and laughed when ever Mushu said something witty.  Looking back on the story of Mulan, she was totally awesome!  The Disney animation we know and love is based of the Chinese legend Hau Mulan.   The legend described Hau Mulan taking her fathers place in the army and ultimately fought for twelve years.  In that time she gained high ranks within the army, but refused any awards and retired to her hometown.  Aside from fighting off the Huns, the more notable act is her transformation from a young Chinese girl to a brave warrior.  In the beginning of the film, Mulan is late to see her "match maker" in which dozens of girls are dressed in traditional garb to hopefully be chosen by the hideous match maker woman.  Ultimately, Chinese society, along with her family expects her to assume the role of a bride-to-be and take on the duties of running a home.
       When Mulan's visit with the match maker goes completely awry, she struggles with her identity, which is portrayed through the song  Reflection.  The lyrics include lines such as, "I may never pass for a perfect bride, or a perfect daughter," "they want a docile lamb, no-one knows who I am.." and "when will my reflection show, who I am, inside?"  This really sets the frame work for her stark transformation to become a man, to become a warrior.  When Mulan's father is asked to fight in the Imperial Army, she speaks out due to his age and his failing health.  Again, shaming her family, Mulan makes the bold decision to take her fathers place.  She takes his sword and cuts her hair short, to resemble a mans.  Dawns her fathers army uniform, and replaces the Army notice with her flowered comb.  She has taken on a new identity, and has left the old one behind.

      But has she really taken on a new identity?  In the essay Fashion, Identity, and Social Actors, by Laura Bovone, she details a section on "Identity and Appearance."  Bovone states that she "can only approach another person and his/her identity through appearance - words, actions, glances, dress..." Thus, Bovone would see the identity of Mulan through her appearance.  She would see her as a potential bride, but would her horrible experience show that maybe she isn't quiet ready to be a bride?  Would the determination of Mulan during training show Bovone that maybe her true identity is to be a warrior?  Mulan's choice to take her fathers place is both liberating and inhibiting, but overall shaping her identity.  She believes she is doing whats best for her family and her actions express her deeply rooted values.  However, this liberation comes at a cost by transforming into a man.  She takes on the name "Ping" and tries to act like man - which if you have seen the movie, she doesn't succeed at first.  When that power ballad of "I'll Make a Man Out of You" comes on you know its time to get down to business!
     

This transformation of a traditional Chinese woman, to a Imperial Army solider shows that our actions do speak louder then our words.  I think her experience of fighting for her country and for her loved ones established more of who she is.  This can be contrasted from the beginning of the film when she wasn't confident in her identity.  I believe some women embody the changes that Mulan exhibits in her change.  She cuts off her hair, in which some women attribute this a time for a fresh start, or to make a "new" them.  Even the changing of the clothes can bring on a new identity to women.  It is evident that Mulan gives you hope and leaves a lasting impression on the people of China.

Ethical Questions:
  - Should women in all parts of the world have the ability to express who they are against societal expectations?
  - Would accepting a new identity be beneficial in establishing your values and beliefs?
  - Since this is a Disney film, does this cross of gender roles provide a good image to young viewers?
  - Do most people have an internal struggle with identity - which is brought on through a life-event?