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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1999)
'he Battalion O PINION Page 5 • Wednesday, July 21, 1999 inner for he mixed-up world of Disney ^cent animated films distort original fairy tales, sacrifice story quality for merchandising 1 Chastain, Cup T-il 'rman^+B 111610 were no ' making! ; jlk , in ? Pf a ' Reels in Ara- ■Neither ani- dn' the ralk nor Scurr,Me' ' of the laids turn into ?a foam when Chris HUFFINES ■ rzn die - And in ;;; tal life, nobody V npnv PRonls to specific demographics, 'times I tlie normal P e °P le of tl ie goalkee may wel1 aware these roSEg’ that awareness is being erased ■ the minds of America’s chil- 1 team’s ren. And they aren’t even being sub- New Yoi elbout it. ictorv oveJ They ” are ’ of course > Disne y- tch Ther® 8 ri 8 htj the biggest animation l e | as( „ Mse in America, the bastion of gay “■ts and family values, is doing the | Hdren of America an enormous dis- ■ice. By cookie-cutting out “Ani- i lajed Classics” (like I said, not even Htle), Disney is destroying fairy ®es for America’s children, and it T'TTIM t0 St °P‘ pi /iwhe current crop of Disney films, CJudlncluding its most recent release, ftan, follow a very simple formula, o win iiJJ’kere is the hero. The hero has a 1 th e WesitMantic interest, who is usually go- lere hefo:B t0 g e somehow helpful in fixing t0 t ' ie : «hero’s almost-fatal flaw. Run, Pa. Sphere is the bad guy, who is going erve abci*h W art the hero, usually in some ? ei ^!"'T a Y relating to the romantic interest. ?atpackenK hero tries to do the right thing 6 InP I s rebuffed. At this point, the nin ' ero, with the aid of the cartoonish Ml! ’ idt?kicks, saves the romantic interest ng bat' Tom t |-,e villain, and the villain is de- dcing i eal;ecL out ’ ™ J Brhe villain’s sidekicks and fatal said. w hich is usually arrogance or ■underestimation of his enemies, are important here. indfo5ti| They a11 live happily ever after, irport, ng io n ; ' /ell as tel” uni e. “Reader criticizes Older Disney films, like Bambi, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella, never bothered with a formula. They realized the structure of the fairy tale would work well enough without talking parakeets, dancing gargoyles, apes with Brooklyn ac cents or the other straws Disney has heaped on the back of this camel. Older Disney films really were Ani mated Classics. Recent Disney movies are tired leftovers. And then there is the next cardinal sin: adding characters to appeal to children. In every Disney film, there are the silly little sidekicks whose sole pur pose is to appeal to children. They do not really do anything that cannot be done by other characters. The only purpose for these kinds of ploys was identified by Mel Brooks: “Merchan dising. Where the real money from the movie is made. ” As if that were not enough, the fine folks at Disney are also ruining the messages of the films they are making into “Animated Classics.” Take Beauty and the Beast, for ex ample. What is the purpose of the fairy tale? Quite simply, it says that appear ances are only skin deep. But what do the children remem ber? They remember Gaston, the ob noxious bully. They remember Lu- miere, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth and Chip, the most lovable servants- turned-household goods. They re member songs like “Be Our Guest” and “Gaston.” In fact, no song (which are the most powerful points in a modern musical) in the entire score of Beauty and the Beast is centered around not judging the Beast because of his ap pearance. The closest is “Something There,” which is more a statement of the Beast becoming more human, not Belle seeing him for who he really is. It seems the real purpose of Beau ty and the Beast is to say the Beast may not human, but he can be if he really tries. The same message ap plies to the servants. That’s right — beasts, clocks, teapots and candles are people, too. Well, that’s not too bad. After all, it is not like Disney is teaching chil dren bad things, just different good things, right? But if that is the case, then would someone please answer why it is that, in Beauty and the Beast, Belle is an object for the men to possess? That’s right, Gaston wants a trophy wife. Maurice, Belle’s father, basical ly wants her so he can remember her mother. And the Beast and his ser vants just want to be human again, for which they need Belle to break the spell. Nobody wants her for who she is. And so Disney is ruining the plots of poignant fairy tales, tacking in a few cheesy sidekicks to make some money, then ruining the message of the original fairy tale. What’s the harm in that? The harm is that America’s chil dren, and increasingly, the world’s children, are turning to Disney to learn what they used to learn from a book at bedtime. They are learning these mangled stories, these vacant shells of what used to be true and telling. They are being spoon-fed inadequacy from the same mouse their parents think are teaching them things that are good, right and true. Maybe they should make an ani mated movie about that. Without the mistakes. Chris Huffines is a senior speech communication major. Mark McPherson/The Battalion MAIL CALL jioff: ; • portion column added. n res P° n se to Tom Owens’ me invol ^ 20 column. wayorrf- win, winf' 1 was shocked and ap- staystha(P 8iled by Owens’ call for e process. l B vert “war” against abor- |ibn clinics. ■ This is an example of the mston Religious Right’s willingness I deceive and bend the law at makio:J| get their own perverted ifiers las Way. ed the # Well, the end does not justify the means. g d il Let’s, just for a second, e s , ' || nsider what would hap- mily, nl0 »n if abortion were made et up to illegal. I L Several doctors who 3n a ’ i Seated women for wounds d it tlieP 5171 se| f-inflicted abortion u ?L 0 iiil terri Pt s in the ’50s and idr seasf'jr s will tell you grim sto- 1 Ips about permanent muti- ||tion, death from infection and destroyed sexual func tions. I People will always seek abortions as long as people Spntinue to get pregnant. I If abortion is made ille- n zulle^ 91 ’ the Portion industry n'to the Wlil continue to exist and in the Wl11 be much more danger ous to the woman involved. igainst ersity age 3 If Owens really thinks the government is a “terror to good works,” then he should refuse police help, ambulance care and drop out of Texas A&M. Why do you think tuition is not as much as it is at, say, Baylor or Rice? Ben Braly Class of '99 Officers do not need to show ID In response to Scott McCrosky’s July 19 mail call. This is just to correct a little advice to fellow Ag gies. According to the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, a peace officer (all police of ficers are peace officers) must only state that he or she is a police officer and display his or her badge of office, whether in uniform or plain clothes. A peace officer is not re quired to show picture ID to prove that he or she is a peace officer. So, the next time a po lice officer asks for your dri ver’s license, it is in your best interest to go ahead and show it to him or her. Not doing so could land you in the Brazos County Jail for “failure to identify,” a Class B Misdemeanor. I would hate for fellow Aggies to take McCrosky’s advice and end up facing up to 6 months in jail and up to a $2,000 fine. Besides, if there are peo ple out there impersonating police officers with $4 badges, I will be the first to tell them they will be caught and charged with a third-de gree felony. Celebrity death prompts reflection A Caleb MCDANIEL Peter Schulte Class of 2000 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and ac curacy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com 11 official re ports now .seem unani mous. John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and her sister are still missing but presumed dead. As a result, one can also presume that media coverage will continue on the recovery opera tions in New England and tributes to the victims of the crash for weeks if not months. The long litany of Kennedy misfortunes will be once again paraded before a captive national audience. This media and mourning blitz is al ready being roundly criticized by some who question the newsworthiness of the accident. The justification for devot ing hours to news on the search even when there are no new developments will be questioned. Others will rightly point out that lay ing tons of bouquets in front of Kennedy’s apartment will neither bring him back nor advance the causes he advocated in life. Such critics certainly make some valid points. If Kennedy was the hum ble, admirable and media-sheltered man he is reported to have been, he would blush at the thought of his death receiving so much coverage. And if Kennedy was the social bene factor some believe he was becoming, he would surely wonder whether ex pensive outpourings of grief in the form of flowers is the best way to benefit so ciety’s needs. However, we must be careful. Critics of the way in which the nation is re sponding to the tragedy make some valid points. But there are another breed of critics who are in the wrong. They are the cynics who argue the crash is not worth responding to at all. Unfortunately, this latter group is probably more extensive than the first. You have probably met some already. They usually begin by sounding the criticisms of the first variety about the media or the mourners, but they usual ly end up by saying something to the ef fect that it does not matter if a wealthy son of a president dies. Their watch word is a question: “Who cares?” Apparently, they do not. And as ex aggerated as the response to the crash may be, it is much worse not to care about the deaths at all — to pessimisti cally attribute the accident to the pilot’s stupidity and treat his demise as a re duction to the surplus population. Excessive mourning is not as dis tasteful as this kind of extreme misan- thropism. The nation may be chastised for grieving in the wrong way, but they should not be scolded for grieving be cause feeling and expressing sorrow over celebrity deaths accomplishes two worthy goods. First, mourning JFK Jr.’s death is a natural and healthy human impulse. If the Kennedys .were a family at the bottom of society, their losses would be no less staggeringly tragic. And society is in trouble when people are cynically chided for seeing tragedy for what it is. Humanity cannot become so hard ened that it treats the death of a human being with unflinching coldness — whether that human being was a celebrity or not. It matters little whether the victims were great people. They were people, and that alone should vali date mourning them. Secondly, JFK Jr.’s death reminds us of our own impending deaths. We sometimes forget they are impending, but they are. And whether we are wealthy and well-liked, as JFK Jr. was, or poor and forgotten, we have the Great Equalizer in common — the brevity of life. Reflecting on that sober truth is valu able because it places our plans and our possessions in perspective. JFK Jr.’s celebrity status in life can matter little to him now. What matters now to him — and what should matter to us — is how lives should be lived. So if for no other reason, disregard those who say JFK Jr.’s death does not matter. Death matters. Consequently, giving it our attention is valuable. The writer of the Old Testa ment book of Ecclesiastes was right: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart.” Caleb McDaniel is a junior history major. oard of Regents should keep Joe Routt open to campus traffic ne shop- n . P in g a u is enough College tation. All of [°e Routt oulevard Ma™®! Should remain Marc pen to cars. GRETHER Two weeks 8 g°. the Student Senate passed a ^solution supporting the closure pi the portion of Joe Routt be tween Houston Street and Well- porn Road to non-bus vehicular traffic. This closure would be used to E[ ea t ea “mall” environment by f hmiting traffic to pedestrians, bi- pycles, and University buses.” Stu- aont Body President Will Hurd Us expressed his support for this 3r oposal. An even more restrictive plan ^hich would exclude buses from the area has been proposed. These are unnecessary, un wanted and unwise ideas. Why should the road be closed? The Senate resolution of fers no reasons for the support of the measure. Hurd suggested that the road closure would improve bus ser vices through the area. How ex actly would this be accomplished? The area in front of the Memorial Student Center (MSG) is one of the best areas on campus in terms of bus traffic. In my experience, foot or bicycle traffic, not car or truck traffic, causes most of the slow downs in the area. The mall proposal would compound the problem, not fix it. Moreover, if that section of road is closed, more car traffic would likely head down the road behind the MSG. Because that area is a major loading area for buses, the mall proposal could wROAD ^-^CLOSED have the unintended consequence of seriously slowing down bus traffic behind the MSG. And what happens if portions of Wellborn, George Bush Drive or University Drive around campus are ever closed for construction, as Texas Avenue recently was? Traffic will have no where else to go. The sections of Joe Routt un der consideration for closure are needed for travel on several routes through campus that would be vi tal if these roads were closed. Leaving all of Joe Routt open is necessary for good traffic flow. The only area on campus with bad traffic problems that are easi ly solvable has already been fixed. Just because closing Ross Street in front of the Chemistry building made traffic better does not mean every road closure will improve traffic patterns. Closing Joe Routt would also adversely affect visitors to Texas A&M. Currently, visitors can drive all the way around campus to see sights or get a feel for where their sons, daughters or grandchildren will be attending college. Of course a walking tour is bet ter, but A&M’s size prohibits many people from walking through campus. Do we really want to limit these people's ac cess? Few Aggies outside of Student Government want the road closed. People often drive through the area to drop off friends or simply to take another route through campus. They would like to con tinue to do so. Perhaps other students do not see the necessity in closing Joe Routt because they spend time on other parts of campus. The area around the MSG and Koldus al ready has a large number of green spaces, fountains, art and other non-academic amenities. Few oth er parts of campus have this much development. No other area of campus has a mall. Joe Routt should not be closed to further de velop this already well-developed part of campus. The closure of Lubbock Street in front of the commons has pre cluded access to too much of cam pus already. One can only hope that the Board of Regents will not make the problem worse by sup porting the closure of Joe Routt in front of the MSG. Keep Joe Routt open for cars. Marc Grether is a mathematics graduate student.