Sunday, March 6, 2011

Cartoon Crushes?

I grew up in the era when Disney had a ton of new animated movies come out, such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King. I was eight years old when The Little Mermaid came out and I remember how all my friends and I gushed about how hot Eric was. He was one of my first crushes. How could he not be, he was a prince! Not only was he a prince, but he was tall, dark and handsome with bright blue eyes. Of course that was not all. While he was a handsome prince, he was down to earth for the most part. He played the flute, loved his dog and enjoyed sailing. I mean a friendly, kind prince with cool hobbies was awesome.

Aladdin also had his attributes. He was also tall, dark and handsome. He was smart and loyal. After all he stole bread to feed himself and Abu, but gave it to two orphan children after almost being caught with it. He also loved animals, which was shown by his friendship with his cute, vest wearing monkey. Not to mention his moves on a first date with a magic carpet ride and passing her the apple with is elbow. That's pretty suave.

On the other hand, the beast was well a beast. He had a huge gothic castle, loyal servants in the form of inanimate objects, albeit a beastly temper. However, I would put up with that just to get into that library! My one issue was that when the made him human, he was well, nothing spectacular.

Then years went by and I grew up, went to high school and no other animated prince ever appealed to me again, that was until Dmitri from Anastasia. I was a junior in high school and it was a Sunday night. Seven girls and I piled into a van and drove to the nearest movie theater. Since it was a late show on a Sunday night there were two other people in the theater besides us girls, who were all juniors or seniors. I will never forget when Dmitri appeared on the screen my friend leaned over and said, “Damn!” I wholeheartedly agreed, with a,”Yeah, too bad he is fictional and a cartoon”

While all of these princes/heroes were animated, they definitely impacted my impression of what a hero should be. Not just what he should look like, but what kind of inner qualities he should have, how he should treat his princess, and how finding the woman he loves can change him.

Have you ever found a cartoon character appealing? Why or why not?

18 comments:

  1. Yes I was/am pretty much a fan of all the cartoon heart throbs! That's what makes them bearable to sit through all over again with my little people!
    Great post :-)

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  2. Kasey - I was in high school when the movie The Little Mermaid came out and even then, I thought Eric was a heartthrob. Shows you how sad my love life was at the time! LOL However, when I met my boyfriend, all of my high school friends had seen the movie and every one of us knew the song "Kiss the Girl", and when he and I were alone at a party we had our friends sing the song for us! LOL I'll never forget that, and I'm sure he won't either. He ended up being my husband and even though our fairy tale is currently changing, special moments like that make the best memories and it's something to hold onto.

    My current favorite hero is the one from Tangled. At the moment, I can't remember his name (I'm sure it will come to me 3 hours from now), but when I took the kids to see it at Christmas time I remember wishing he would come alive climb up my balcony! :)

    Oh and the hero from Princess and the Frog wasn't bad to look at while I sat through the movie multiple times with the kids! I agree with Romina - those cute cartoon heroes make watching those kinds of movies multiple times totally worth it!

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  3. Kellie, that is a cute story about the song "Kiss the Girl," which is my favorite song from that movie too.

    I haven't seen tangled yet, but I want to. It looks like such a cute movie.

    Like Romina said, it is easy to rewatch those movies years later.

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  4. Wonderful post, Kasey! It's no wonder our first loves are usually cartoon characters since they're our first encounters with the opposite sex which doesn't include being teased or bullied.

    Awwww, I have to say Prince Phillip from 'Sleeping Beauty' was probably my first and favorite. Aladdin and Eric rank pretty high as well. I will say that the rabbit, Thumper, from 'Bambi' always made me giddy every time I saw him as well but that's another issue.

    I loved the topic, Kasey. Thanks for another job well done.

    HUGS,
    JD :)

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  5. JD, I forgot all about Prince Phillip, but you are right he was a great one as well. I love the dancing scene in the forest.

    By the way, Thumper was awfully cute and so was "Flower."

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  6. I loved all of those above but I just cannot forget TARZAN, and how he reached out for Jane's hand and placed it on his chest and said, "Me, Tarzan..."

    Ah...SWOON!!!!!

    Might have to re watch that one!

    HUGS
    Trish

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  7. I actually wasn't much for the Disney dudes until recently. Maybe it's was just a disinterest in the uber-good guys...I'm more of a redemptive anti-hero kind of girl. >.> Has anyone seen Tangled yet? I had an absolute fit over Flynn (Eugene). I think it was his eyebrows that got me. No, seriously...how adorable is this?!
    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wPq7VvphHOY/TQcYb3pP13I/AAAAAAAAAT8/Cer7T4Zus6E/s1600/Tangled-Rapunzel-disney-disneys-rapunzel-13075826-1285-724.jpg


    ~Angela Blount

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  9. Thanks for the link, Angela! I took my girls to see Tangled and I agree that Flynn was handsome. Like I said earlier, I wanted him to pop off the screen and climb my tower! lol

    JD - I totally agree with you about not being teased by the characters. Our first foray into daydreaming of what might be! tee-hee...

    Trish - Loved Tarzan! Can't believe I forgot about that as my oldest daughter and I watched it a bazillion times when she was younger!

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  10. I don't know how I forgot Tarzan...that is a great example too!

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  11. Great Post, Kasey! Eric from The Little Mermaid was my first cartoon crush, so much so that I named my son after him. Demitri was also a favorite along with the cartoon Batman. I'd stay up late to watch him.

    Cartoon heroes are just like any other hero. They have characteristics and cuteness, that make us love them the same.

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  12. Eric, yes and Aladdin. But there was something SO intriguing about the Beast and when he changed to human - Watch out! Guess I've always had a thing for emotionally wounded heroes. HA

    Very cool post, Kasey!

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  13. I know he's crazy, now. But Mel Gibson's voice as John Smith, Pocahontas. I loved that movie! And if you want to go back even further, the animated Disney movie Robin Hood, when Peter Straus' voice was Robin Hood, but he was a fox or something, wasn't he? I'm goin to have to check on that.

    Anyway, good post kasey!

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  14. Correction...Peter Strauss was the voice of Justin in the Secret of NIMH. But John Smith, and Tarzan...yeah, definitely Tarzan.

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  15. Aladdin has always been one of my favorites! I wanted to let you know I'm offering another critique contest if you're interested: http://writinginwonderland.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-critique-contest.html

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  16. What a super post, Kasey. Prince Phillip was an early one of mine. Loved Tarzan, too, and Flynn in Tangled was pretty cute. But I did love Beast. And like you all, I was a little disappointed in him as a guy. My granddaughter, Margaret, was young when it first came out, and the first time she saw it, when the spell was broken and Beast disappeared, she cried--I had to agree with her. I missed him, too :)

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  17. Hey we forgot all about Shrek! Now there's a flawed hero. Green, flatulent, and totally into gross things - there's no manlier man. But then he falls for the Princess and loves her no matter what form she's in. I loved all the Shrek movies and the 4th and final instalment was no exception. My favorite line from that movie was when Shrek said to Fiona, "The best part of this day was falling in love with you all over again." *sigh*

    Thanks for the heads up on the critique contest, Sylvia!

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  18. Yes, I missed Beast too after he was human, for some reason his human form disappointed me. I think I was expecting him to be more manly in human form. I am not sure what it was, but he just wasn't quite right.

    Yes, Shrek was definitely a hero with a great personality, and he was very manly and green (after all, it is my favorite color). :)

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