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A review by briaroche
The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt
3.0
This was an interesting read. As someone who loves art and grew up on Disney, it was nice to learn about the women in the industry who, unsurprisingly, went unnoticed and uncredited throughout their careers at the studio. One thing to note if you, like me, were excited to dive into the work done during the Disney Renaissance, there really isn’t much there. More than the half of the book spends its time in the early years of the studio, between Snow White and Sleeping Beauty (roughly between the 1930’s and 1960’s).
The chapters afterwards detailing the Disney Renaissance films which feature most of the studios first female characters of color with modernized attitudes, was rushed in comparison to princesses from the earlier days.
While I understand in the context of “Female firsts” in the Disney story, the narrative largely focuses on the some of the first women to break grounds at the studio during its early years, it was still disappointing to see the female characters of my era essentially disregarded. Princess Tiana, was literally only mentioned in one sentence in the book, ironically, it was a sentence in which the movie received backlash for its “throw away” depiction of the studio’s first (and only) African American Princess. The narrative flies through all of this and stops on Frozen, a film that was deemed a feminist victory for its depiction of two (white) heroines and their sisterly bond, rather than their love lives. Of course, I am not shocked by the focus the film received, but I felt the author did a disservice to women of all identities by disregarding the few heroines, however flawed, made outside of the companies blanket of whiteness.
The chapters afterwards detailing the Disney Renaissance films which feature most of the studios first female characters of color with modernized attitudes, was rushed in comparison to princesses from the earlier days.
While I understand in the context of “Female firsts” in the Disney story, the narrative largely focuses on the some of the first women to break grounds at the studio during its early years, it was still disappointing to see the female characters of my era essentially disregarded. Princess Tiana, was literally only mentioned in one sentence in the book, ironically, it was a sentence in which the movie received backlash for its “throw away” depiction of the studio’s first (and only) African American Princess. The narrative flies through all of this and stops on Frozen, a film that was deemed a feminist victory for its depiction of two (white) heroines and their sisterly bond, rather than their love lives. Of course, I am not shocked by the focus the film received, but I felt the author did a disservice to women of all identities by disregarding the few heroines, however flawed, made outside of the companies blanket of whiteness.