Film & TV Reviews

Review: Disney’s Frozen, A tale of two princesses

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The Disney princess paradigm is defined by a system of American ideological and aesthetic codes that are known to the Disney artists and their viewers. The heroine is recognized when she stands on a balcony letting her long hair blow in the breeze, when she sings in the forest, or when she wishes for that which is beyond her grasp…The attributes are visual, narrative, and musical.  Although the specifics have been updated, revised, and reformulated to conform to contemporary ideology, the essence of the Disney princess formula has remained intact.  As Walt put it, we always root for ‘Cinderella and the Prince.’
I wrote that in 1998 after completing an extensive two-year study on nine of Disney’s animated heroines. Now let’s flash forward 15 years to 2013. Disney has released the latest edition to its Princess Collection: Frozen.  How has the princess formula been “updated to conform to contemporary ideology”?

Paganism

Reflections on Service, Theology, Oppression, and Love

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I was just about to get on my bike when I looked in the basket and saw the note. “When you’re done finding Jesus, come by the shop and say hi.”
It made me laugh, and yet it also immediately brought me back to something I had been thinking about a lot lately. Indeed, my bike, which is well-known downtown and easily recognizable, had been locked up outside First Christian Church for the past two hours while I was inside for a meeting with a small group that included the church’s pastor. The author of the note was a Pagan friend of mine who worked around the corner from the church, and I sensed that the mood behind the note was both joking and curious at the same time. And while I hadn’t found Jesus in the previous two hours, I realized in that moment that I had been finding Jesus popping up constantly in my work over the past few years.

News

Syracuse University Builds Sacred Stone Circle for Pagan Students

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In 2010 Syracuse University’s Henricks Chapel formally appointed a Pagan Chaplain, making Syracuse the second American university to appoint such a position.  The University of Southern Maine (UME) set the precedent way back in 2002.  Syracuse was next in 2010 followed by the Air Force Academy (USAFA) in 2011.  More than three years have passed since Syracuse welcomed Pagan Chaplain, Mary Hudson.  In that time she has accomplished much; most recently, the installation of a dedicated  sacred stone circle in the campus’ main quad. Prior to 2010 Syracuse had already taken steps to advocate for religious plurality and tolerance.

News

The Philippines: looking beyond Haiyan

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PHILIPPINES — On November 8, Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda* slammed into the Philippines islands leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake. According to the BBC, the Philippine government is calling Haiyan/Yolanda one of the worst storms on record with an official death toll of 3631.  As reported on NPR “U.S. Navy/Air Force’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Haiyan produced sustained wind speeds of around 190 or 195 mph at its peak and… gusts up to 230 mph, which is as fast as a speeding race car.”

Because of its location the Philippines is accustomed to strong storms – even typhoons that would equate to a category 4 or 5 hurricane in the United States. The country is an archipelago made up of over 7,000 islands which sits in a highly vulnerable geographic location. To the north rests Taiwan; to the South, Indonesia and to the West, Vietnam.  In the east, there is nothing but warm Pacific Ocean making the Philippines a very easy target for storms.

Historically speaking this location also made the Philippines a popular stopping point for maritime travelers.  Waves of ancient peoples made their home on these islands as they navigated the South Seas; including the Austronesian tribes and those from the ancient Hindu and early Islamic worlds. In the 16th century Spain colonized the archipelago, naming it after King Philip II (1527-1568.) The Spanish remained in control until the Spanish-American war in 1898.

Culture

Column: American Horror Story: Coven, Witches, Television, and Diversity

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“Television has been credited with providing the most influential interpretations of social reality of all the mass media” – Richard L. Allen. Media outlets covering minority groups in truthful and positive ways has long been a concern of many communities. The Pagan community is not immune to these concerns about the media, and there is often a lot of apprehension with the type of coverage we have gotten. There has also been a lot of scrutiny about the lack of media coverage that ethnic people, specifically African American, have had in mainstream television; this is not limited to television, and also extends to print and movies. People of Color in the Craft have not been represented equally in television or movies unless looking at something that is specifically VooDoo inspired.