The Wonder of Disney
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. It’s the reason I go to my happy place when I watch Full House (admit it, so do you), and why a room full of supposedly mature college students can burst into a rendition of “A Whole New World” without a hint of embarrassment. In fact, as I write this, I am watching part 2 of the Harry Potter movie marathon on ABC Family, which my TiVo was thoughtful enough to record for me. The only reason I can tolerate watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, aside from the fact that I get a huge kick out of hearing all the actors’ voices crack, is the nostalgia factor. In 2002, I didn’t care about the fact that none of the kids could act, or that there were gaping holes in the continuity of the plot. All that mattered was that Harry Potter was being played out on the big screen, and I was happy. It’s harder to get that kind of pure enjoyment now.
Enter Enchanted:
It looked mildly entertaining at best (and mind-numbingly stupid at worst), but against all expectation, the film was a tour-de-force in the nostalgia movement. Enchanted’s earnestness took me back to the days when I used to sit with my nose practically touching the television screen, watching and rewatching The Little Mermaid until my mom finally forced me to go to bed. But the movie’s grand feat was not that it took me back to my childhood, but that it made it possible to laugh at those things we took so seriously as kids without demeaning them. Enchanted points out how ridiculous all the stuff we used to love is, but at the same time, maintains the deepest respect for everything we once held dear. And that is the true beauty of nostalgia. Because now that we’ve switched from VHS to DVD and from cartoons to CGI, it’s impossible to think that Danny Tanner is funny, or that real-life fairy tales can exist. But it’s nice to remember a time when we did.
- Jessica Spiegelman