In the Disney character universe, everything is fairly black and white. You have your good guys who are easily identifiable right away, and you have your bad guys who you’d never mistake for having good intentions. If you dig a little deeper, however, you might find that some characters aren’t as good or bad as you once thought. Maybe they are just a little bit misunderstood. Let’s explore the Most Misunderstood Disney Characters.
Captain Hook – Right off the bat, our not-so-fair captain seems like a bad dude. He’s given up pirating to stay in Neverland, forever in wait to kill Peter Pan. I’ll admit, that sounds kind of bad on the surface. If you start to think about the reasons why he wants to kill Peter Pan though, his bad guy status gets a little iffy. Peter Pan is a kid who will never grow up; a constant thorn in the side of a pirate just trying to make a life for himself. Pan constantly belittles Captain Hook for only having one hand, but here’s the thing: Peter Pan cut off Hook’s hand! Not only did he cut his hand off, but to add insult to injury he fed the hand to a crocodile right in front of Hook! How would you feel if one of your neighborhood teenagers knocked on your door, cut your hand off, and fed it to the dog next door? Not very good at all, I don’t think. I have a feeling you’d be out for revenge just like Captain Hook has been forever!
Hades – Here’s the thing: Hades is a pretty fair and honest god. Sure he makes deals that may be a little bit more beneficial for him than the other person, but it takes two to tango. He’s no different than any other guy out there in business these days trying to get ahead. And yes, Hades does attempt to overthrow Zeus and take over Mount Olympus, but let’s look at the facts here. When Hercules was born, Hades came to visit just like every other god and deity did. Everyone got to give Hercules gifts and Zeus was appreciative of every single one of them. Then it was Hades’ turn to give Hercules his gift, and when he tried to present him with a pacifier, the god-baby embarrassed the guy in front of everyone in attendance. What was Hades supposed to do? Pretend it didn’t happen and go on back to his lousy job of running the Underworld? I don’t think so! If Hercules would have just accepted the pacifier (okay, okay, it had spikes on it…so what!) everything would have worked out just fine!
Scar – Imagine this: you are royalty and second in line to become king. Your brother, who is the current king, is in a dangerous position and his number could be called at any time, meaning you have a pretty decent shot at becoming the king one day. Then, your brother goes and meets someone, has a son, and then that son becomes next in line for the throne while your hopes and dreams are crushed all in one fell swoop. Now, can you honestly tell me you wouldn’t be devastated? You were THIS close to being the king and then someone had to go and mess that all up! So what would you do? Sit idly by while your nephew eventually takes over the kingdom that was rightfully yours? No, I think you’d do EXACTLY what Scar does and kill your brother and then try to kill your nephew. Okay, maybe you wouldn’t do that. But I wouldn’t judge you if you did and that’s why we shouldn’t judge Scar so harshly for being human (or a lion, I guess!)
Mother Gothel – Yes, Mother Gothel does try to kill Flynn (don’t call me Eugene) Rider, but before you make your decision on how you feel about her, let me review how she got to that point. See, hundreds of years ago, an old lady version of Mother Gothel found a magical golden flower. She discovered that when she sang to the flower, it would transform her to her previously young, beautiful self. So, like any other person in her shoes would do, she keeps the flower for herself, staying young and beautiful for centuries. Then, when the queen (who is pregnant with Rapunzel) becomes very ill, the king has some of his cronies search for and find the flower, stealing it from Mother Gothel who I would argue is the true and rightful owner. The king has the flower turned into a potion for the queen to drink, she gets better, Rapunzel is born, and Mother Gothel comes by the castle to check the whole scene out. Now, yes, she does kidnap Rapunzel because of her golden, healing and magical hair, but I’d argue she never would have had to resort to committing a felony if someone hadn’t stolen what was hers in the first place! Then Mother Gothel is forced to commit crime after crime, ultimately resulting in the decision to either kill Flynn Rider to keep herself alive, or let him and Rapunzel walk out of the tower while she stays there and slowly dies. What would you do? Thought so!
These Disney characters are just a few of the poorly misunderstood many that have been in films over the years. I didn’t even mention The Sheriff of Nottingham (just trying to keep wealthy animals safe from a thieving fox), King Candy aka Turbo (who just wants to live a quiet life and pursue his love of candy & fast cars), or Kylo Ren (adoring grandson). As long as Disney keeps producing movies, their characters will continue to be misunderstood by millions. If I didn’t mention your favorite misunderstood character, please let me know! Stop by the Facebook page, Tweet me, or email me at phil@eartotheretravel.com. Thank you so much for reading and please enjoy the rest of your stay here at Ear To There Travel!
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*All images ©The Walt Disney Company
