If you were anything like four-year-old me, the one thing you wished to be when you were older was a Disney princess. Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, are a few princesses that little girls aspire to be when they’re 16. Speaking to animals, meeting their 25-year-old 'Prince Charming' (although it is, in fact, illegal), and living happily ever after. The ideal ending to a little girl’s dream! But do the princesses truly lead a happy life with no issues forever? Doesn’t seem very practical. But, Disney wouldn’t lie to us, right? Disney wouldn’t deliberately plant the idea of “finding a hunky, strong man solves all of your issues” into young, impressionable girls’ minds…right? Youtuber Jon Cozart seems to think that’s the case. So much so that he rewrote Disney princess melodies and exposed a more practical ending to their happily ever afters. After Ever After by Jon Cozart utilizes parody, wit, and hyperbole to satirize the unrealistic happy ending Disney princesses gain in each movie. Ruining our childhoods one song at a time. A princess Cozart unravels in After Ever After is Pocahontas, a Native American who falls in love with the tall, blonde, and handsome John Smith. Unlike the other princesses, Pocahontas was a real young woman in the 16th century. While Disney creates a positive, happy ending for her and her village, the real-life story is anything but sparkles and happiness. By incorporating the melody of Disney’s “Colors of the Wind”, Cozart parodies the song by intertwining Disney’s narrative with the cruel reality of what Native American’s faced in North America. Cozart turns an empowering tune, into a grim, bleak ballad that Disney completely disregards. The reason Cozart's parody works so well is because of his constant clever wordplay. Cozart flawlessly blends wit into his dark lyrics, tugging on the heartstrings of broken-hearted Disney fans. By changing the original lyrics of "paint with all the colors of the wind" to "paint with the red colors in these men", Cozart plays on the fact that if the movie had been realistic, Pocahontas would’ve been quite brutal to the foreigners. Cozart does this again with the lyric "they greeted us with guns, and germs, and steel", switching the tone of happiness at the beginning of the phrase to the reality of what was happening in the 16th century. The true star of the video is Cozart’s exemplary use of hyperbole. Hyperbole is what shifts the tone from interesting to “mom, I’m scared” in the blink of an eye. While Cozart over-exaggerates the movie and Pocahontas as a whole, he does it all while staying true to Native American history. Lyrics such as “…I’m far more liberal with a weapon when I separate their bodies from their heads”, “…Bit the beating hearts of Spanish men”, and “I can murder if I please…”, Cozart over-exaggerates Pocahontas’ experiences to make her seem like a savage when that wasn’t the case in the film nor in real life. The eeriness of the exaggeration is what ties up this satire beautifully. Who knows what Jon Cozart was thinking when he created this sick, twisted jewel After Ever After but I’m glad he did. Although he might’ve destroyed my childhood for good, his satirization made me realize I’ve dodged a bullet by not becoming a Disney princess. So, if you ever wonder why, Disney tales all end in lies, here’s the satire in Pocahontas’ dreams coming true.
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In the year 2006, Disney aired a heinous television show that was contaminated with the message that lying to and blind-siding those closest to you is ok. Not to mention how the main character’s father fueled her lies too! Plotting her next move, how to get her out of messes, and even going as far as lying with her. If I were a parent during that time, I wouldn’t want my child to be influenced to lie straight through their teeth. Luckily for Disney fans, the show came to an abrupt end in 2011, the show I hated as a child finally reaching its final destination: the Disney trash can. Surprisingly enough, this show parodies one of Oscar Wilde’s greatest comedies, The Importance of Being Ernest, a play meant to explain the importance of being truthful. However, this disgusting show did anything but that. The poor excuse for a kid’s show, Hannah Montana, and the marvelous comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest, both follow the lives of protagonists leading a double life, teaching those both young and old the satire in the truth. Hannah Montana, having an audience of young girls who were most likely being taught that lying isn’t ok, ironically implemented from early on that lying was in fact ok, as long as you don’t get caught. Miley Stewart, the main character of the show, was repeatedly encouraged by her father to lie to her friends about her secret pop sensation alter ego, Hannah Montana because the truth would only bring issues. But this message only left the show’s young viewers wondering “shouldn’t the truth be good”? Well, if we take a look at The Importance of Being Earnest the main male leads believed in the same ideal: that ironically, lying is better than telling the truth. Jack and Algernon, the two leading men, both have no issue with lying and go as far as creating two alter egos themselves: Ernest and Bunbury. Miley, Jack, and Algernon all created stock characters that they could hide behind when they deemed necessary; Hannah was a stereotypical happy, bubbly pop star by night; Ernest was a stereotypical wealthy bachelor in the city; and Bunbury was a fragile, weak “friend” of Algernon who was always conveniently sick. Each alter-ego is so absurdly different from the true human behind the mask that it's almost laughable. They all poke fun at what it means to be a true version of oneself. The only time all three of these characters have an issue with lying is when their lies catch up to them, and those around them finally unmask the lies they were consumed in. Both of these stories spread the valuable message that white lies which don’t harm anyone are ok, as long as you don’t get caught. I still hate Hannah Montana for being a knock-off of the heavenly creation that is The Importance of Being Earnest but who knows, maybe that will change. Or maybe I’ve been lying to you this entire time just like Hannah Montana taught me; because it’s ok for me to lie, as long as I don’t get caught. In Jonathan Swift's outlandish essay, A Modest Proposal, Swift proposes an arbitrary solution to aid the impoverished Irish in the 1700s. Swift suggests the 'modest' idea of simply eating and making clothes out of children, aka cannibalism. Yummy! By mixing ¼ cup of irony, adding a dash of sarcasm, folding in ¾ cup of logic, and topping it off 1 tablespoon of hyperbole, Swift created a delicious satirical essay. As harsh and vile as this proposal sounds, this is what Juvenalian satire is supposed to do, and Swift sure did a hell of a job. Like all satires, Swift was trying to make a point and get through to something, and that something is quite obvious. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift satirizes the bleak ways of politicians handling major issues. Throughout the essay, Swift swiftly (see what I did there) defends the benefits of slaughtering infants at the ripe age of one, the perfect age when instead of mooching off of their parents for the basic necessities, their parents can do the same to them. It's quite literally, "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out". While it is an extremely bizarre proposal, Swift applies this method to mock how the British politicians at the time handled situations by enforcing mundane logic to fix substantial issues. We can see the same thing happen today too. Politicians of today use their logic and their way of thinking to fix issues they've created. Instead of doing the morally correct thing, they implement what they think is correct without involving emotions. Yet, funnily enough, when Swift did the same exact thing and even went as far as calculating that "one male will be sufficient to serve four females" (Swift 625), a line has been crossed. Despite the endless amount of befits he details-children will taste good, population goes down, families can profit, childbearing will no longer be a burden-it makes total, but it isn't fathomable. It seems crazy, but can't the same thing be said today? Glaring at today's American politicians, there are a plethora of instances where logic has outweighed morals. Trapping children in cages because it 'makes sense but not thinking about the trauma they may face; opening the country so quickly despite the thousands dying every day; saying empty phrases like black lives matter but not discussing the black lives that don't die in the hands of police. All these things make sense to politicians logically but lack morale. Though they're not as extreme what Swift's proposal, they follow the exact same guideline of lacking a moral compass. I adore Swift's proposal. Not because I partake in cannibalism and agree with slaughtering any living being, but because it shifts the focus on the higher-ups and demonstrates how monotone and heartless their policies sound. So next time you hear a proposal from a politician think to yourself: "I wonder if this proposal would taste as good as it sounds?". |
AuthorHi! I'm La'Kennya Huggins and I'm currently a senior in high school. This blog is primarily for my college course. Archives
November 2021
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