I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen The Phantom of The Opera. I’m talking about the stage version, mind you, not the 2004 movie version in which you basically had to squint in order to discern the Phantom’s facial deformity thereby negating the entire point of the story. (Sorry, but that really wasn’t … Continue reading What The Phantom Learns — And Can Teach Us Too — About Love vs. Lust →

This week I’m debuting a new series called “Princess Origin Stories.” These special episodes will delve into the fairy tales behind the Disney princess movies and examine how and why they differ. I’ll explore the symbolism of the original fairy tales and talk about how it affects — or doesn’t affect — the movies we … Continue reading Introducing “Princess Origin Stories” A Special Episode Of Princess State Of Mind →

It’s hard to explain why I love Downton Abbey so much. Objectively, I see that the show was basically a glorified soap opera and that, by the third season or so, it wasn’t even a good one. I see how ridiculous some of the plot lines were and how blatantly anachronistic some of the attitudes … Continue reading Why We Love Downton Abbey — And What That Says About The Culture →

Don’t go into the woods. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t eat things if you don’t know where they came from. Don’t touch sharp objects. Don’t get lost. Don’t leave the path. Don’t trust people you don’t know. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. If you didn’t know better, it would be easy to read fairy tales as a … Continue reading What Fairy Tales Teach Us About Growing Up And Letting Go →

“I don’t want to!”  As a mom of a four-year-old, this is a statement I hear pretty much every day. Multiple times a day — sometimes multiple times a minute. Kids frequently “don’t want to” and they have no problem telling us. It’s their way of trying to exert some control in a world in … Continue reading You Don’t Have To Want To, You Just Have To Do It: How To Achieve Your Dreams, Disney Princess Style →

Something happened to me recently and I’m not sure what to make of it. To be honest, I’m a little shaken. I never thought this would happen to me but … well … here I am. See what you think. I was lying in bed feeling under the weather so I turned on a movie … Continue reading Why Jo Can’t Marry Laurie — My Surprising Revelation About ‘Little Women’ →

Earlier this month, an article in The Washington Post tried to claim that The Lion King — both the 1994 original and the new “photorealistic” version — promotes fascism. The film, according to Dan Hassler-Forest who wrote the article, “introduces us to a society where the weak have learned to worship at the feet of … Continue reading Man Up, Simba! The Surprising Lesson of The Lion King →

Earlier this week, popular comic book writer Gail Simone asked people on Twitter to share their first cartoon crushes. Almost immediately, #1stCartoonCrush began trending. https://twitter.com/GailSimone/status/1130873782468354048 People’s cartoon crushes were as varied and as interesting as people’s real life romantic choices. Everyone from Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) to Daphne (Scooby-Doo), and from Optimus Prime … Continue reading People Are Revealing Their #1stCartoon Crush — And That’s A Good Thing →

There aren’t too many mothers in Disney princess movies. In fact, there are far more evil “mother” figures than there are good moms (think Snow White’s Evil Queen, Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother, or Rapunzel’s Mother Gothel). The princesses’ actual mothers tend to be either dead, or (like Aurora’s and Rapunzel’s mothers) somehow estranged from their daughters. … Continue reading Disney Mothers Choose Life! →

I recently re-watched the movie Titanic while on an airplane. In retrospect this was probably not the best idea given that I’m a nervous flyer and the movie is about a bunch of people dying a horrible death on board a large ocean-crossing vehicle. But we made it through — well, I made it through, … Continue reading What ‘Titanic’ Tells Us About Feminism (Yes, Really) →