This AMV is flawless.

DISNEY CHALLENGE DAY #5: Your favorite hero

Man okay this might have to do with my nonstop listening of The Hunchback of Notre Dame soundtrack but…wow, the last few weeks has shown me what a great character Quasimodo is. Damn this movie really is underrated.

I love Quasimodo. I love how he’s presented throughout the entirety of the film. We as an audience feel for him. Whenever I watch “Out There” (and trust me, I’ve watched the scene a lot these past few weeks and I am totally not ashamed), I get this twisted feeling of disgust when I see the way Frollo treats him. Hearing him softly sing “I am a monster” while Frollo emotionally beats him to a pulp, I just feel so disgusted. The emotional abuse this character went through is obvious. If you think Rapunzel had it bad with Gothel, just imagine Quasimodo’s years with Frollo. He was taught that he was ugly, he was taught that he was a monster, it’s horrifying and saddening when you look deeper into it. And when he watches Esmeralda and Phoebus kiss? Oh my G-d if your heart doesn’t break into pieces while you watch him emotionally curl up in a heartbroken ball then you honestly have no soul. The animation on this character is great, the design of him is great. He’s ugly, there’s no doubt about that, but I’m really glad they didn’t make him “scary ugly” as he’s apparently described in the book. Had they made him frightening, he would be a hard character for kids to connect with, and the fact that the creators made us connect with a type of character who doesn’t usually act as the protagonist of a story…I love it, and I love Quasi.

Again, most of the characters I like, are characters with personalities that make them feel real. With Quasimodo, nothing feels forced. Nothing feels out of the ordinary. He feels like a real person with emotions and feelings and fears and beliefs. He’s a character the audience can connect to because I honestly find that there is nothing to hate about him. He is the hero of the story, and the audience cheers him on. He demonstrates moments of weakness, moments of ignorance due to his cruel upbringing, but he learns and overcomes years of mental torture slowly but surely. And of course, that Sanctuary scene? Where he gets over his self doubt and swoops in to save the day? Ugh, it’s such an uplifting scene I can’t I really love this movie too much.

Quasimodo is my favorite Disney hero. I wish he got more recognition as one. Hell, I wish this movie got more recognition. Seeing as they’re re-releasing all these classic Disney movies in 3-D, this is one of them that I can actually see being really impressive on the big screen again. Why slap Beauty and the Beast in 3-D? I mean, yes it’s a great movie but it’s not a big movie. The Lion King is a big movie, so having it return to the big screen makes sense. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is another one, and I feel like audiences who grew up in the “Disney Renaissance” will grow to appreciate this film and its characters more if they see it in theatres again.

But man…yeah…I love Quasimodo. He’s one of the best Disney characters out there.

DISNEY CHALLENGE DAY #3: Your favourite heroine(s)

So I’m going to cheat, add the plural, and say I have two heroines that I like equally and I couldn’t choose just one for the life of me. I like both Esmeralda and Megara equally.

For starters, let’s start with Esmeralda because The Hunchback of Notre Dame has become a recent obsession of mine upon rediscovering it on YouTube. Esmeralda is everything a Disney heroine should strive for in my humble opinion. She’s capable of taking care of herself, and demonstrates her street-smarts extremely well in the movie. She’s flirtatious, fun, witty, and among all those things she’s kind to. But, she’s kind to the right people. She’s not naive and has the potential to be mean, but only as a means of defense. She grew up in a society that wanted nothing to do with her, so she is fully aware of the social injustices committed against both her people and others who are different from the conventional norm. She feels like a genuine character to me, and I just…man, I really like her.

And of course there’s Megara who…well, she isn’t exactly a heroine (I mean, she didn’t exactly save the day and is a certified D.i.D.) but she’s not an official Disney princess and I find her personality and general way of handling herself can be seen as qualities of a heroine. For one thing, I adore her personality. She’s snarky, sarcastic, and isn’t afraid to tell it how it is. Like Esmeralda, Meg is street-smart and insightful of the way humanity works, and I really like that about her. I just really enjoyed her as a character overall, and I loved how meta she was with the whole hero/damsel set-up. I also like how she started on Hades’ side first; it was different from what we normally see.

I won’t tl;dr too long on these two, since they are very popular Disney characters and most people I know like them just as much as I do. But yeah, Esmeralda and Megara and my two favourites, and I don’t care if I cheated.

i’m watching aladdin king of thieves and am marveling at how attractive aladdin’s dad is.

c’mon.

phoebus and flynn are like. the most attractive leading men.

give me my scruff disney.