Foxxfur, our neighbor over at Passport to Dreams has agreed to participate in our Meet Our Neighbor series. She had one condition, though.
For those of you not familiar with Foxx’s writings, she writes a very academically themed blog looking at Walt Disney World from a design perspective. Sort of.
It is devoted to the serious documentation, study and discussion of facets of the unique methodology of themed “space” as practiced by the Walt Disney company, and the elevation of intelligent thought thereof.
She is also actively pursuing a Ph.D in Disney Studies from any university that will giver her one!
- Jeff Pepper from 2179 Hyperion,
- Ray from Grumpy’s Hollow and
- My eight year-old son.
If you have read any of Foxx’s work, you know she suffers no dearth of words or clever phrasing. In that same style, she has responded to so many of our 505 questions, that we need to break the Meet Our Neighbor post into several posts.
On with the show!
> What is your earliest Disney memory?
Goodness… probably watching sundry Disney shorts and films in the basement den of my parents’ first house… I know I watched Sleeping Beauty over and over in that room since my parents eventually had to start putting on other tapes once I began reciting the dialogue in perfect synch with the film, facing away from the screen, playing with blocks. This was apparently very creepy, and I believe them.
I think the finest thing ever built is Disneyland’s Pirates of the
> What is your favorite Disney and non-Disney movie?
Ha. Um..
Well as much as I appreciate Walt’s late 30’s/early40’s work for its’ skill and artistry – I recently watched ‘Snow White’ as research for a piece on Snow White’s Adventures and found myself utterly swept away by the emotional paces of the film, a rarity for me – I think Disney films turned out best without Walt breathing down everyone’s neck and as such the film which is nearest my understanding of what a film can be is ‘The Three Caballeros’. It’s sexy, funny, fun, surreal, subversive, and beautiful – I doubt there’s anything better in the Disney canon.
I don’t really have a favorite single film anymore, but I will venture to say that I find ‘The Night of the Hunter’ to be the finest American film ever made.
I think part of what constitutes a reliable barometer for this kind of question is what’s the stuff I steal from most in my own films, and that would be:
– F. W. Murnau’s ‘Faust’ and ‘
– Orson Welles’ ‘F for Fake’
– Fritz Lang, especially ‘M’ and the Dr. Mabuse cycle
– early John Ford
– Lindsay Anderson’s ‘If….’
> What is your least favorite park?
Animal Kingdom, which I find irritatingly didactic and emotionally hollow. It is, sadly, beautifully executed, so I cannot totally dismiss it. My problem with MGM-Studios is the opposite: the disjointed theming grates my nerves but the park offers me more to do than That Animal Park.
I don’t have favorite parks, despite my ongoing love of
–
–
– World Showcase
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– The
– inside Grizzly Hall
– The Polynesian
– Wilderness Lodge
– Downtown Disney (Marketplace, please)
> Who is your favorite Disney character?
Despite the fact that my Blogger avatar identifies me as a Maid-Marian-In-Waiting (and I do love her deeply), I find myself moved most by Minnie Mouse. I’m not sure why, but I created a strong emotional identification with her at an early age. It may be because she’s literally the female embodiment of the amorphous idea known as Disney, but drawing her has gotten me through many a rough spot in my life. She speaks to me and my sense of self very deeply.
Marian and Minnie are kind of my role models. =)
> What is your favorite Disney song?
Jeez… does “Baia” from Three Caballeros count? If it does, than that’s it. Outside of that I say “Whale Of A Tale”, “A Pirate’s Life For Me”, perhaps “How Do You Do”. If the whole of “Johnny Appleseed” counts as a kind of mini musical, that always makes me cry.
> What is you’re must eat food at WDW?
Well I’m a local now so I don’t really have this kind of relationship to WDW food and beverage anymore. I do, however, have certain things I tend to get depending where I am:
EPCOT: Yakitori House Shogun combination: shredded beef, teriyaki chicken, rice. Most filling thing I’ve found there. I LOVE the quality and the price of the stuff at
MGM: Not here enough to have an opinion.
Animal Kingdom: Be sure to stop by the tea stand outside Everest to try a good loose leaf tea. Prices are good and they have some VERY nice stuff.
Downtown Disney: Earl of
> Favorite place to stay at WDW?
Wilderness Lodge. <3
Chapter Two coming soon!
Passport to Dreams Recommended Reading List, Part One:
Don’t forget to stop by her site and leave her some Disney Geek love. (In other words…leave comments. Us bloggers love them!)
http://www.imaginerding.com
Wow!
Another blogger who has a greater association with a different Disney Character than the one their Blogging moniker seems to indicate.