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Pandemic Probs Got You Down? It's Disney and Mary Blair to the Rescue!

What better thing is there to do during a pandemic than bury yourself in the animated films of your early childhood? This is what I've found myself doing lately as the weather has turned darker and wetter, and I've turned more bitter and dismal as well. There's something so light, inspirational, and glorious about revisiting these old Disney movies that left me with an endless sense of wonder, as well as some ill-advised ideas about gender roles and relationships.

Ahem, anyway. It recently came to my attention that some of the aspects of the old Disney films I loved most — things like bold colour and style of backgrounds or scenery like in Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, or Cinderella — were all either Mary Blair's concept design or colour styling. And if it wasn't a Disney film she actually touched herself, it's a safe bet she influenced it. 

A short rundown on Mary Blair according to wikipedia: she was an American artist who started her animation career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and then was snapped up by Walt Disney in 1940. She worked on a bunch of films like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Dumbo, The Three Caballeros, and so forth. At some point she decided it was time to move on from working with Walt, but she later returned to work as a major designer involved in creating the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland. That ride is such a quintessential example of her signature style. Go have a google (or better yet, watch this) and tell me you don't see it, too. Sadly, she died relatively young at 66, likely due to complications of alcoholism. 

Now that I've learned about her work, I can't help but just love her. Her unprecious, bold art and colour work makes me just ridiculously joyful inside. I have been so delighted by this discovery that I bought a children's book version of Cinderella that she illustrated, and I don't regret it one bit. I mean, get a load of how gorgeous this castle is:


There's something about that blue-green glowy vibe, and the bright white castle with pink light inside that makes my toes curl with happiness. Now, check out this dance scene which I'm sure you'll remember as well:


It looks like they are dancing on ice! Or at least sparkles, anyway. And you can tell as the story text says, they are definitely, definitely never actually talking to each other, because we all know that is the best way to fall in love. Once the talking starts, you may as well just say sayonara right there.

And now to cap things off, here's a short list of the Disney movies I've blasted through so far:

  • Cinderella
  • Aladdin
  • Bambi
  • Pinocchio
  • Peter Pan (yikes at the problematic race issues)
  • 101 Dalmatians
  • Lilo & Stitch
  • Moana
  • Beauty and the Beast (the original, none of this live-action bs for me, thanks)
  • Fantasia
  • The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • Zootopia

Unrelated, though related to my last post, I was delighted to see this morning that Roxane Gay is having a similar spending experience through the pandemic as I have in her latest article Pandemic Dread Has Me Instagram-Shopping Nonstop. Go give it a read.


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