happy feet

[merchimerch]

So in addition to all the other goodness of today (including presents and the Black Bear Diner's chicken pot pie), my friend Y and I saw _Happy_Feet_ on a whim. Talk about cute overload! Even when you could tell that they were trying to invoke drama or environmental consciousness in the audience, I couldn't help but just feel "squeeeee! look at the cute baby penguins!" It is so cute and sweet and worth seeing if you're willing to indulge in that kind of thing. *Warning - ethnomusicological blather and spoilers below*

It pleases me that this was really a musical, kind of in the disney vein, but without the impossibly thin-waisted buxom heroine whose redemption comes in the form of rescue from a prince. For a musical, it suprised me that there was so little music that was composed specifically for the movie. All the songs were either covers of existing songs or mash-up style blends that went with the notion of emperor penguins depending on sung harmony/a blending of each individual's song in the group for unity and survival. I'm not sure this movie will have longevity because of the very perishable musico-cultural references in the film, and I'm also curious if paying copyrights was cheaper than hiring a composer and studio musicians, or perhaps if the producing company was part of a conglomorate that owned most of the non-public-domain music that was used.

There were two music related topics in the film that really struck me. The first was the societal divisions between the emperor penguins and the other shorter penguins. The emperor penguins were a hierarchacal society that depended on art music to create that hierarchy. The emphasis on the voice and on ceremony had heavy religious connotations in the film as well. These penguins were represented as taller and more spiritual than their shorter brethren which occupied the "low art" part of the binary relationship (and also spoke Spanish, which I thought to be oddly telling). The other penguins were all about embodiment and rhythm - definitely baser and earthier elements. I found it frightening that this kind of binary construction was being so strongly reinforced and then overlayed with Anglo vs. Hispanic cultural overtones.

The other thing I found a bit hard to swallow was the emperor penguins' societal insistance that singing ability/a musical ear is given by God and not taught/learned. I hoped that Mumble would prove the rejoinder to that assertion, which was made at the beginning of the film, but he didn't. He remained just as tone deaf at the end as he did in the beginning. It was decided that it didn't matter, since he had rhythm and was able to appropriate the baser music of the other penguin species and incorporate that into emperor penguin ritual (and through that eventually reach humans and convince them not to over fish Antartic waters). I had hoped two things from the film which didn't happen (and yes I know I'm expecting WAY too much from Hollywood, but I'm just sayin'). First I had hoped that musical ability would be shown as a trait that can be acquired through practice (though there are plenty in our society who believe in the divine gift of music, so I suppose I can't really blame them for accessing that trope - I just wish they hadn't - it doesn't need any help in its perpetuation). Second I wish there had been a way of problematizing the issue of the Anglo emperor penguin usurping and profiting from the other penguin species' music (ironically - the Mambo). This has a huge tie to Euro-American appropriation of Latin music in jazz and popular music and is treated as uncomplicatedly and unremorsefully in this film as it has been in the acutal press. Very few people seem to question the stakes of who profits from world music, and unfortunately this film just reinforces the notion that it's okay to use it so long as you mean well. Yes I know I'm reading a lot into this - and I know it is super dorky intellectual masturbation, but I went to see the film with an ethno buddy and these are the issues it brought to mind.

Anyway - it's an adorable film and it did make me all warm and fuzzy inside even if I wasn't entirely comfortable with that knee-jerk reaction.

Comments

A bit puzzled

[sps.livejournal.com]

So ... it's no longer PC to learn from somebody? Do I have to stop loving Yoko Kanno? What's the status of Jamaican music, is anybody at all allowed to sing it? Should we stop using mathematics (and linguistic theory...) that's developed in Asia?

Please tell me I'm misunderstanding, but it sometimes seems as if the ethno community has jumped into the Microsoft-esque 'it doesn't exist if it isn't owned by someone' boat.

Can't we all just be people together, like I was promised when I was a kid? 'Intellectual appropriation' (i.e. synthesis) is probably the defining characteristic of our species, to my mind.

Re: A bit puzzled

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

No of course it's still acceptable to learn from people and use/incorporate so long as it's done in an ethical way such that the people who originated the material are credited and get a share of the profits (if it is profitable in some manner).

The issue is that the stakes and power relations are so rarely made explicit, and in the real world that has nothing to do with penguins, there are a lot of Euro-Americans profitting from musics that originated in developing countries that could use the resources that royalties and fame provide. The people who have traditionally made whatever music is in question are rarely the ones made famous from it when appropriated by the international record industry. Further, when you frame music as some divine gift in an uncomplicated manner it ignores the very real power relations and profit issues that are wrapped up with it that contribute to people's ability to survive.

[elissali.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the movie, but it sounds very interesting, and I find your analysis to be really fascinating. yaay intellectual masturbation! I think this kind of thing is significant, because movies and TV and the like are such an integral part of our culture, and so it's important that we try to encourage those media to communicate responsibly (one of my biggest beefs with Sex and the City, other than the fact that I just don't really like it much, is that in the episodes I've seen, they never show anyone taking any precautions, and I find that to be almost criminally irresponsible given the show's popularity), so I think your analysis is really nuanced and salient. I think the fact that messages like "we accept you even though you are different" and "it's important to be yourself" and "be more environmentally conscious!" are really good first-order, responsible messages for the media to communicate to everyone, but I think we can always be refining these things, and so subtle things like "hey, the shorter pengiuns are all hispanic and their music is being appropriated by the taller penguins", etc, is still really important to be aware of. So go you. And you did say you enjoyed the movie, so I think it's always fair to say that you enjoyed something, and to say what you liked, but then also to indicate some things that you thought could be improved.

also, I just can't help myself:

but without the impossibly thin-waisted buxom heroine whose redemption comes in the form of rescue from a prince

I just have to say that a lot of more recent Disney movies aren't like that... there have been quite a few where the heroine is not a la Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, and even a few that are more realistically drawn (mostly I'm thinking of Lilo and Stitch here)... anyhow, I love Disney, for all its flaws I still think it's got the spirit of Walt at the core of it, and I just wanted to point that out. For instance, in the park, they're starting to provide healthy alternatives for meals (i.e. salads, vegetables, etc, especially for kids meals)... I just wanted to say a wee bit in Disney's defense, was all. But yes, the traditional Disney heroine is indeed thin-waisted, buxom, and helpless, and I agree that that's no good. But that's why I like some of the later movies. Okay, I also can't help it. I love the Little Mermaid. Even though they completely bastardized the story. I have just always loved mermaids. :)

and now I should really get to work. But I just really loved your analysis of the movie, and now I really would like to go see it. *hugs*!

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

Even though I think we've seen a rise in "strong women" character in Disney movies lately (Mulan and Pocahantas come to mind, but I'm sure there are others), I think almost unfailingly, the heroine is never truly fulfilled until she finds her love interest. That is not the kind of thing I want to reinforce to my hypothetical children.

Also, I don't think I've seen any improvement to the physically impossible figures that Disney heroines cut, though maybe you can prove that one wrong too.

[elissali.livejournal.com]

well, the one I'm thinking of is the older sister in Lilo and Stitch. and Lilo, too, though she's a little girl. Her older sister is somewhat slim, but more realistically curvier than your standard disney princess.

hmm... well, I don't know if this is the best picture to illustrate my point, but you can see at least she does have more realistic thighs, for example...

still shot from the movie on imdb

[elissali.livejournal.com]

I do also know what you mean about the not truly happy until she finds her love interest thing, too... though again, Lilo and Stitch is pretty good that way, because the older sister keeps turning the cute guy (shown in the above still shot) down. Also I think you find at least better variations on the theme, for instance, in Atlantis, the female character is quite strong, and though she sort of needs rescuing at the end and does end up with the male main character, I don't feel like it was an "I'm helpless and I've been kidnapped" sort of thing... well, you should watch these movies and see for yourself and tell me what you think. And I agree about Mulan and Pocahontas (though I don't remember either very well, and the latter not very well at all), I do think I remember Mulan even though she's really strong she does still get all gooey over the guy. Well, anyway. I still like the stories myself and prefer them to some of the other things we could subject our hypothetical children to, but your points are well taken.

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

I think Lilo and Stitch is definitely the exception not the rule with Disney. And that movie is definitely presenting an "other" that has the sterotype of an endomorphic body type - perhaps exoticism trumps the white chick wasting disease in this case. But I've not seen Lilo and Stitch, so I can't really tell - I've only see the press material.

And I think it's really okay to like Disney - everyone makes a negotiation with these issues. I'm sure you'll do a great job of problematizing the stereotypes and media pressures of Disney to your hypotheical children.

[mehitabelmmoss.livejournal.com]

OK - many comments. First off - hooray for intellectual masturbation! It is SO HOTT!!! I love it when my academic friends blather on about stuff, especially when it is interesting to them and their passion for a subject comes through and I can learn about something I have no knowledge of. One of my friends specializes in diaries and autobiogaphies and hearing her talk about how people decide to portray themselves if they think it may or may not be read by others gets fascinating. So thanks for giving me some basis to think about Happy Feet since I will be watching the DVD w/ my kids.

Disney and kids films - seem to me that the other subject is loss of home or parents. My kids were terrified at Fieval getting separated from his family. Both Toy Stories have that theme. Seems to be a big emotional trigger for kids. aristocats and Homeward Bound. etc etc etc

As for the stereotyping it is interesting that even a movie that is pretty blatantly 'liberal' still has a lot of that. Sucks. But at least this movie covers some of it.

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

Wow - I hadn't thought about the abadonment trope in Disney/kids films, but that is huge. I remember crying bitterly at the fieval movies and Homeward Bound. What an odd thing to capitalize on the deep rooted fears of children, but it must work/pull a profit because they keep doing it.