By: Lizzie Nieves
This started as a movie review. Then it turned into “The Movies that Made Us.” I wanted to focus on the movies in the Disney Renaissance. You know the ones; The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Hercules, The Rescuers Down Under – you know, the movies that have a special place in all of our little 90s babies hearts. The movies that taught us not to judge a book by its cover, the movies that taught us the power of personal sacrifice, the movies that taught us that the villain isn’t always who we think it is. But of course, my twisted 22-year-old self didn’t want to focus on all of these positive and wonderful messages Disney movies brought to its viewers. No, I became hysterically enamored with the hidden dirty jokes, references, and images in these beloved films.
Now you may be saying one of two things: “I’ve seen all of these before,” or “Oh, please don’t ruin my childhood.” If you’ve never seen a dirty joke/reference in a Disney movie, you are either kidding yourself or have extreme willpower when a Buzzfeed article pops up on your Facebook dash. But you have to be here for a reason. You must be at least a little bit curious. For those of you saying that you’ve seen it all before, if you’re a Disney fanatic like me, you might have! If not, I might just surprise you.
Beauty and the Beast
No one is like Gaston. Girls, admit that you were oddly attracted to those animated muscles once upon a time. Boys, admit that some deep down part of you wanted to be Gaston. Well, while Gaston is fully enamored with himself and bragging to the whole town about how wonderful he is, he notes that every last inch of him is covered with hair. One would immediately think of his chest, arms, legs, you know, the innocent places. It is the noticeable wink after this statement that lets you know, as an adult, what he was really talking about.
Aladdin: The King of Thieves
I am gonna need you to keep your opinions to yourself about sequels in Disney movies to yourself for a minute . . . because King of Thieves was awesome. Regardless of how you feel about this sequel, you do have to admit that the Genie is a character that will go down in history. While he does have lots of inappropriate one-liners, this is the first one I noticed myself as a child. When he is marrying Jasmine and Aladdin, the ground starts to shake. Then comes Genie’s one liner “I thought the Earth wasn’t supposed to move until the honeymoon . . .” If you still don’t get it, find a friend and they’ll tell you.
Toy Story
Now this one isn’t so much a joke as a visual reference. When Buzz and Woody are in Sid’s room, all of the mangled toys come out to see what is going on. We then see a fishing rod with what could only be Barbie legs – the reference being that she is supposed to be a hooker. Not all are genius, but it makes you recognize the creativity.
A Bug’s Life
While this movie may not be at the top of your “My Favorite Disney Movies” list, A Bug’s Life deserves some credit. For our purposes, though, it deserves a spot for a pretty blatant bug sex joke. In one scene these two hooker bugs are flirting with the ladybug and ask, “Do you want to pollinate with a real bug?” We know enough to know that that is very clearly a sex joke.
So, what do you think? Did I ruin your childhood? Did I make you more curious? There are lots of lists compiling these jokes, references, and hidden images, so go see them for yourself. And don’t let this change the way you look at Disney movies, maybe just let them make re-watching them more enjoyable!