#wish hate

No. no. No I don't.

"I'm a Star" is New Age garbage. It's this idea that you're everything and everything's you and you're powerful enough, there's nothing that stars have that you don't have—the power is in you—

—see but the problem with that is that then the stars aren't a higher power anymore. They're not higher than you. They're not able to pick up the slack when you fail or fall. Why would they need to? You never fail or fall. You're a powerful star yourself.

Which destroys faith. Faith is focusing on a set of truths instead of focusing on what you can't control, and then acting on that set of truths. If you are a star, or have the power to manifest whatever you want, then you basically, generally DO have some control over everything. And when you have control over everything, there's no need to have faith.

And when there's no need to have faith, there's no magic. (Disney Magic. Fairytale eucatastrophe SYMBOLIC Magic. Not real-world witchcraft-sorcery.)

Magic is just a symbolic superpower used in fairytale fiction to come in and save the day when it seems like the hero is done for and has nothing left to give. But if you're a powerful star, you never reach that low point. You have Magic, so your failure was all in your head, and no failure at all. And since Magic is in you, it was never special. "Specialness" comes from outside of yourself—otherwise it's not special.

There's a reason Cinderella's dress transformation creates that sense of wonder. It's because she couldn't do that herself. It's magic.

So no. No Disney song should have ever been about "the power in you." Not "I'm a Star." And not "Show Yourself." I don't care. I said it.

Also, "I'm a Star" is musical crap. It's not catchy, it's not fun to sing. It's sung by background characters with generic "nameless theater choir" voices that nobody cares about. None of them have unique or funny inflection, unlike the trolls who sing "Fixer Upper" in Frozen. The story did not build up to a moment where that song was exactly what Asha needed to hear (unlike "Dig a Little Deeper" being exactly what Tiana and Naveen needed to hear after the story built their characters toward it in Princess and the Frog.)

There's no need for it, there's nothing good about it, and I'm tired of people pretending that there is.

And I’ve already made posts about how that’s already kind of lame, because the movie doesn’t give you a good look at the citizens of Rosas really “suffering” because of Magnifico. They’re not all dull, or diffident, or zombies or anything. So she’s not really rescuing them from anything too bad, in that sense.

But that’s not the point of this post.

The point of this post is that Asha believes all the wishes in Rosas deserve the chance to come true, because she believes that all the intentions of the people in Rosas are basically good…she believes they’re all basically good people.

All their wishes are, therefore, good, harmless wishes.

But that’s so boring. And untrue. Not all wishes are good! Very few of the things we choose to wish for are the best things we could choose to wish for. And even less of the things people wish for are what they actually need.

Wish makes a lame attempt at the end, with the clunky Peter-Pan background character, to suggest that what the people of Rosas were missing was a work ethic to achieve their dreams, and collaborate with others, themselves. But it’s lame. And still not compelling. Because not everybody has good wishes. In fact, almost ALL of Disney’s best stories are about a character wishing for something that isn’t completely good for them. I already made a post that was kind of about this, but seriously. Having characters who want something, then discover that something is not so good for them, or something else would be even better, is one of Disney’s trademark tools for making compelling characters and adventures.

Flynn, in Tangled, just wanted to live a life of ease where nobody could bother him or take anything from him. And you know, he’s an orphan. They explained why he has that bad wish, because of his life and the circumstances that made him how he is—so we understand. We don’t hate him for having a bad wish. We get it. But then it’s wonderful to watch him learn to wish for something better! That’s a big chunk of the story! Just like how Rapunzel wished to see the floating lights, because it meant exploring and understanding the world. Not a bad wish, but not everything she could’ve had. Love, with Flynn, was an even better wish.

You could do this with villains, too, as the opposite. You can say,

Gaston had a bad wish. He wished to have Belle, simply because she was the most beautiful girl in town and he felt like he “deserved” her as the most beautiful man in town—and didn’t want to settle for second-best. And he has plenty of evidence to look at in order to recognize that his wish is bad, it’s not good for anyone including him—he has Belle’s selfless love for her father, the Beast’s refusal to fight back, and other adoring girls who would love to have him. But he won’t let it go. He won’t give up his wish or change it to something good—because he won’t acknowledge that it’s bad. So you have a great villain.

You get lots of great villains that way. Having bad wishes, but refusing to give them up. I mean, every Disney villain has a dream too, you guys realize that? And Disney had no problem saying “some wishes are bad” then. So they had strong characters with believable motivations/performances and a gripping story. Plus, actual impactful morals.

Stitch realizing his wish to destroy is bad, and changing it to a wish for family, like what Lilo and Nani have.

Clayton wishing he could “conquer” Africa, right down to selling its most fearsome creatures, right down to refusing to give up in a fight with Tarzan and winding up getting killed for it.

Hercules changing his wish from being a god to being on earth with Meg, because that’s a better fulfillment of his previous wish, which was just to find where he belongs.

Cruella refusing to change or give up her bad wish for a fur-skinned coat made from the pelts of the pets of the friends who insulted her.

The fairies continually giving up their wishes to do what’s best for Aurora and the kingdom—they give up their magic when it fails to undo Maleficent’s curse, then they give Aurora herself back to her real parents even though they’ve loved her, then they put the whole kingdom full of their friends to sleep to spare them the heartbreak of losing Aurora.

I mean, you could think of this as Part II of my earlier post, but what I’m saying is, Wish doesn’t acknowledge one of the most fundamental things about Disney stories: wishes aren’t always good, and they’re not always good for the people making them.

I get that Magnifico was taking away the chance for Rosas to find that out for themselves. No character in Rosas gets to go on their own journey of “is my wish worth getting.” But basing a movie off of that set them up for a boring movie. The whole concept of forgetting the wish you have, but it was probably good/harmless, makes the characters stop being characters, and the story super bland.

What Wish proves is that "the formula" only works when you know why the ingredients are in it, and you use them the correct way.

The Princess Character is meant to wish for only half of the movie's message, and go through an adventure that teaches her what the other half is; what her dream was missing. Ariel dreamed of understanding but she was missing love. Tiana dreamed of achieving her goals but she was missing faith. Jasmine dreamed of freedom but she was missing trust. Belle dreamed of adventure but she was missing being understood.

The Villain is meant to highlight the opposite of the movie's message. Jafar gets what he wants through trickery and manipulation; that's the opposite of Aladdin's "truth will set you free" message, and he gets imprisoned in a lamp. Scar thinks being a King is having his way all the time and can't learn from his past of living in Mufasa's shadow; that's the opposite of The Lion King's "Let the past remind you of your responsibility to selflessness." Gaston loves only himself and is always obsessed with appearances; that's the opposite of Beauty & the Beast's "true love is found within a heart of self-sacrifice." That's what makes them such good villains. (and that clear direction is what drives good villain songs, since Magnifico's is what everyone is talking about)

The sidekick is supposed to compare/contrast with the main character's qualities. Abu is a greedy thief, which is what everyone in Agrabah thinks Aladdin is; when he scolds Abu and teaches him selflessness, it shows us who Aladdin actually is. Flounder is easily frightened and looks at the glass half-full; when Ariel coaxes him and leads by example, we see her bravery and positivity reflected in Flounder's tiny character arc. Timon & Pumbaa do whatever they want all day just like young Simba always dreamed of; when Simba goes to live with them, he finds that "getting his way all the time" makes him forget who he really is and feel empty.

The setting is supposed to show off the characters and highlight the movie's message. Rapunzel's tower is designed to be pretty on the inside because of her influence; if it were too dark and prison-shaped, we'd wonder why she didn't work up the courage to leave sooner. Just like how Quasimodo has made his corner of the bell-tower beautiful, too; they're taught the world is cruel and they're not strong enough for it, but they make their own worlds beautiful enough to hint that that's wrong right from the start. Ariel's grotto is shaped like a tower with no roof so that she only has one window to the forbidden Surface, and it's the light that comes from that forbidden world into her dark grotto which literally makes her able to see human things differently. Tiana's apartment has no interesting features except her father's picture, a perfectly made bed, a drawer with no extra outfits but stuffed with tip money, and only two dresses; both of which are for work.

None of that is happening in Wish, because they didn't know why the formula ingredients are there. Disney needs to understand and return to the formula the right way; forgetting it was what got them here.