If you see me studying anywhere with my laptop, the first thing you will notice is that the apple on my Mac is adorned with Mickey Mouse Ears. Underneath it you will see the quote, “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them,” said by Walt Disney, of course. I have never been one to hide my obsession with Disney. At 20 years old, one might think that this is the time for Disney to become less relevant to me. But in reality, just the opposite has happened. I think I have learned how to appreciate Disney even more as I have gotten older. Because really, the older you get, the more you realize that Disney can teach you a lot about life.
Some may think Disney is just for kids because it is filled with talking animals, princesses, princes, fairies and pixie dust. I think all of these things are great, but the message Disney sends to people of all ages is much deeper than what is seen on the surface. Disney doesn’t teach us to wait for our prince to come along and save us, and it doesn’t teach us to sit around and wait for our problems to go away. Disney teaches us that no matter the hardships and horrible things you are going through, you can always have hope. You can always dream of a better life. You don’t wait around for that dream to go and happen, you actively seek out how to make your dream come true. When you think about it a lot of the characters in our favorite Disney movies do not have very easy lives. But they work to change them.
Cinderella didn’t set out to meet the prince, she wanted to get out of the house she was trapped in and live her life. Mulan wasn’t looking for love, she was looking for a way to protect her family from harm. Wendy wanted to have a night of magic but she knew it was her responsibility to get her brothers home safe. Belle wasn’t going to settle for the man that wanted her when she didn’t want him, and she found it in her to see the heart of a man when others only saw a beast. Simba was mourning the loss of his father, but when his best friend came and said she needed his help, he went back because he knew that is what his father would have wanted. Pocahontas was in danger of people taking her home but she still looked past the stereotypes that people set for her and learned to love someone others told her she should not.
Disney characters are a lot more relatable then we give them credit for. Once you look past the fact that they may be a lion, a toy, a fish or a queen, you can see that they are going through life and have struggles just like we all do. The stories we see in our favorite Disney characters can inspire us to keep dreaming despite the hurdles we have to go through.
To say Disney is just for kids is to say that as adults, we aren’t allowed to dream, too. We can all learn something from the stories and characters of these movies no matter how old we are. Because like Walt said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
