Like many other kids in this class, I grew up watching Disney films.  My parents bought them for me to watch at home, and they were played for us at school and summer camp.  Disney was such a common place word that I began to associate it with all animated feature films.  I always wanted to go to Disney world, and "experience" what is would be like to live in the fictional worlds that I saw on the television screen.  Getting older, there's something about these films that still makes me feel like a 6 year old.  I remember, during my senior year of high school, how excited my class was when the teacher told us we would be watching The Lion King.  As much as we were ready to grow up and go off to college, adapting to a new lifestyle where we were officially becoming adults, Simba and Mufasa had a way of reminding us of our childhoods in a way that very few things can do.

Speaking of The Lion King, it is very interesting to see how much Disney films shaped kids view of the world.  Having traveled to several African countries quite frequently when I was younger, and then moving there later on in my life, I was often asked if Africa was anything like The Lion King.  Because it was, for many, their first time seeing anything related to the continent, it was eye-opening for them to realize that flushing toilets, roads, and hospitals did exist, and that expansive plains with no infrastructure did not envelope all of Africa.  In the same way, my view of other parts of the world or other cultures were also influenced by movies like Mulan and Pocahontas.

Re-watching Disney films as someone who is technically considered an adult, I have realized the subtleties that blew right over my head when I was younger.  The complex plots and intelligent humor have made me realize why my parents say they also enjoyed watching Disney movies with my brother and I.  While they appear very simple and enjoyable on the surface, when you dive into the analogies and metaphors in the films, one realizes how much time and effort the creators put into some of the most popular movies of all time.  I am looking forward to re-watching Disney films from a new perspective while in and after I have taken this class, to see if they have the same effect on me as they did when I was younger.