Things Only Adults Notice About Disney Villains

everyone loves a good villain and disney's baddies are among the most beloved and feared in all of cinema but while their hideous scales and evil plans are more than enough to scare the kids there are a few aspects to these villains that only adults will pick up on it's hard to forget ursula the big bad of 1989's the little mermaid with her particularly deceitful scheme her eel henchmen and her instantly iconic music number poor unfortunate souls ursula has easily become one of the most distinct members of the disney villain canon but something else sets ursula apart from her fellow disney baddies and that's her real life inspiration of all people ursula had her design based on the famous drag queen and actor divine so just how did the star of raunchy john waters movies like pink flamingos and multiple maniacs come to inspire the villain of a g-rated disney musical well animator rob minkoff drew up a design of ursula that ended up bearing a strong resemblance to divine little mermaid composer howard ashman a major fan of both john waters and divine strongly endorsed the design choice disney's other animators took further visual influence from divine by giving ursula a hairstyle similar to the one done by the drag queen in pink flamingos the connection between the two only grew as ashman committed to channeling divine's uber-confident persona into ursula's performance during poor unfortunate souls the hunchback of notre dame broke down many barriers in the world of disney animation for one thing this 1996 adaptation of victor hugo's novel explicitly tackled the subject of religion which no other film in the studio's canon has done for another it gave a truly adult motivation to its antagonist claude frollo as in hugo's original novel frollo is a studious justice minister who frowns upon anything sexual in nature however the character of esmeralda a person frollo publicly refers to as disgusting filth stirs up feelings of passion inside frollo's heart his internal conflict over these forbidden emotions becomes so great that his villain musical number hellfire is fixated on him begging for forgiveness from god for feeling such intense lust where other disney villains are motivated by greed or revenge frollo's crisis is dictated entirely by his sexuality this is unexpectedly bold storytelling territory from disney a studio that spent the 1990s releasing more explicit kitty fare like this earthwormy goodness indeed upon its initial release the los angeles times reported letters from parents questioning the movie's darker material including frollo's internal conflict were too adult for a kid's movie nonetheless by daring to give its villains such a complex and mature motivation the hunchback of notre dame was able to solidify itself as one of the more unique and underrated disney animations over the years everyone from claude reigns to oscar isaac has portrayed robin hood's greedy nemesis prince john so when it was time for disney to take on the story of robin hood it was inevitable that the filmmakers were going to create their own unique version of the character and in disney's 1973 animated classic john is portrayed as a cowardly thumb sucking lion voiced by two-time academy award winner peter yustanov disney's prince john quickly became one of the most iconic versions of the character and for obvious reasons one of the silliest and most cartoonish too so much so in fact that it can be easy to forget that prince john was in fact a real historical figure long before the release of disney's film king john ruled over england for 17 years between 1199 and 1216. sadly there's little historical evidence connecting jon and the semi-mythical figure of robin hood in the real world however the frequently antagonistic depiction of jon in pop culture stems from how he has been commonly regarded as one of england's worst kings as far as kings go jon didn't have a lot going for him he lost critical lands in france sent england into financial ruin and most famously of all was forced to sign the magna carta after facing a revolt from his own barons john quickly cultivated a toxic reputation amongst contemporaries one that survives to this day in stories like robin hood so while children will appreciate disney's take on prince john as a particularly silly entry into the pantheon of disney villains the grown-ups will be more than aware of the real man who presented an equally real danger to his own people unlike most animated disney movies pocahontas is actually based on a true story however its deviations from reality have inspired a decent amount of criticism over the years including the lack of evidence for there having been a romantic relationship between john smith and pocahontas and one of the more significant changes in the movie's plot can be found in the fate of its villain john ratcliffe in disney's pocahontas ratcliffe is depicted as a gold hungry captain who puts his own selfish interests above all else including the safety of the indigenous americans and with his love of money power and flamboyant fashion sense radcliffe fits nicely alongside his fellow disney villains unlike most disney villains however ratcliffe is based on an actual person the real ratcliffe was an early settler to america who eventually became the second president of the jamestown colony whereas pocahontas depicts ratcliffe being tied up and taken back to england to pay for his crimes however the actual ratcliffe was killed by powoton indians of course pocahontas is a film more interested in using the details of america's settlement as a springboard for its own story rather than adhering to the specific factual details of the era and although it's nice to see a little dash of reality in a story like this it's probably best not to go looking to disney movies for historical accuracy one of the most striking segments in the 1940 film fantasia is entitled night on bald mountain set to the piece of music of the same name the short depicts a gigantic monstrous being awakening an assortment of spirits eventually the spirits and the beasts are held at bay at the sound of the peeling bells and a chorus of monks singing ave maria though never given a name in fantasia itself the beast at the center of night on bald mountain is named chernabog adult viewers well-versed in ancient mythology will recognize chernabog's name as one derived from the world of slavic myths specifically chernabog's name means black god and he's also known as the lord of evil a creature whose deeds were too wicked to be told in classic mythology interestingly another ancient being also seems to have played a part in inspiring chernabog in fantasia the host deems taylor refers to chernabog as satan bald mountain according to tradition is the gathering place of satan and his followers though the character is officially named chernabog design similarities between fantasia's chanabog and the traditional depiction of satan are apparent particularly in their horned heads and while night on bald mountain turned out to be a distinctive enough endeavor to ensure that chernabog could stand on its own two demonic feet grown-up viewers should be able to appreciate the terrifying nature of chernabog's true origins some disney villains yearn for world domination some want revenge others are motivated by prophecies dictated by magic mirrors cruella deville however is one disney villain who keeps her aims much simpler all she wants is to take 99 dalmatian puppies and turn them into a fur coat and sure the scheme concocted by 101 dalmatians puppy fixated antagonists aren't exactly ripped from reality but the disney version of author dodie smith's legendary villain did take cues from reality through real life actress tallulah bankhead in a 1985 piece for the los angeles times animator mark davis revealed that tallulah bankhead an actress known for playing intimidating women was one of the key inspirations for designing cruella deville bankhead's influence didn't stop there though in the same los angeles times piece cruella's voice actor betty lou gerson reflected that in the first recording session they told me to see what i could come up with the first voice i tried sounded a bit like tallulah bankhead everybody said that's it don't change it clearly disney's iconic take on the character of cruella deville owes a massive tip of the hat to bankhead and it's nice to know that the inimitable movie star is still terrifying kids to this day even if they have no idea who she is the 2008 pixar classic wall-e wears its homages to classic cinema on its sleeve and one of wally's more explicit references to the movies can be found in the principal villain one who film fans will be sure to recognize auto may be designed to look like a steering wheel but the robot's gigantic glowing red circle makes it perfectly apparent that it's supposed to evoke hal 9000 the villainous computer from 2001 a space odyssey the two carry similar designs as well as a shared determination to enact their own agendas over the well-being of their human superiors otto's connection to 2001 becomes even more explicit in the climactic showdown between the captain and auto which employs the richard strauss composition also sprach zarathustra that strauss piece of course was also used to immensely memorable effect in 2001 a space odyssey otto does however depart from hal in one aspect hal was voiced by douglas rayne and was meant to carry a more human quality than even the movie's flesh and blood characters open the pod bay doors hal i'm sorry dave i'm afraid i can't do that conversely auto is voiced by macintok apple's text to voice software this gives auto the most lifeless voice out of all of wally's cast giving auto unique qualities compared to hal ensures that this wall-e villain can work as a stand-alone entity for younger viewers and in the process make the character more than just a meaningless parody of 2001 the alien antagonists in 2005's chicken little are fluffy teardrop shaped critters who look pretty much tailor made to be sold at your local disney store however these aliens don't reveal their true forms until chicken little's final moments up until that point these otherworldly visitors lurk inside large robots that move around on long mechanical legs older viewers of course will take one look at these machines and realize they have more than a passing resemblance to the antagonists of h.g wells the war of the worlds in wells seminal work the alien invaders move around in giant machines known as tripods in the book wells describes the tripods as higher than many houses striding over the young pine trees a walking engine of glittering metal striding now across the heather articulate ropes of steel dangling from it the same description pretty much matches chicken little's own mechanical aliens this homage proved timely for chicken little too given that steven spielberg's war of the worlds also debuted in 2005 placing the tripods firmly back in the public consciousness the lion king's villain scar doesn't exactly hide the fact that he's evil his contempt for simba is palpable in their earliest conversations and he relishes the chance to throw his own brother mufasa off a ledge to his death but in case anyone in the audience doesn't quite understand the full extent of scar's cruelty the lion king offers up a few visual cues to cement his nefarious nature during scar's big be prepared musical number the animators of the lion king made sure to bask scar in visual parallels to contemporary nazi propaganda nazi imagery is rife throughout the entirety of be prepared including scar's hyena henchmen marching in a goose step formation while scar looms above them an arrangement echoing how adolf hitler would appear at military parades and rallies the beams of light surrounding scar during be prepared also evoke the lighting devices used at nazi rallies thus creating a very creepy image of a feline fury the idea to tie scar into nazi imagery came about incidentally through an animator doodling scar as hitler this throwaway picture inspired the visual team behind the lion king to create nazi-related visual parallels all throughout the be prepared sequence the result was a sequence that easily reaffirmed the character's evil nature while also creating some of the movie's most striking imagery check out one of our newest videos right here plus even more looper videos about your favorite movies are coming soon subscribe to our youtube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one

Channel: Looper

Views: 344,946

Rating: 4.8921118 out of 5

Keywords: looper, looper movies, disney movies, disney references, things only adults notice, disney villains, disney villain references, The Little Mermaid, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Robin Hood, Pocahontas, Fantasia, 101 Dalmatians, WALL-E, Chicken Little, Lion King, cartoon hidden meaning, cartoon easter eggs, cartoon untold truth, cartoon hidden themes, cartoon facts, ursula, frollo, prince hohn, john ratcliffe, chernobog, chicken little aliens, lion king scar, disney easter eggs

Id: KThjPAvtM0U

Length: 14min 13sec (853 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 17 2020