My "They're Just Like Me" Characters | Disney Edition

What-ho, all, and how are you doing on this fine November day?  (That is, I hope it's a fine November day when I publish this post.  The chances of my actually checking the weather before doing so are very slim.  I suppose I'll have to take my chances.)

(**Publishing edit:  It is currently Dark of Night™, so who's to say whether the weather is fine or not?  Alas for holiday seasons and work schedules and school deadlines which necessitate these ungodly hours of Past Ten PM™.)

As many of you probably already know, 2023 has been the 100th anniversary year of Walt Disney Animation Studios.  Like so many others, I count Disney movies as some of the most fun and influential media of my childhood, so I wanted to be sure to celebrate a century of the studio in some way before year-end.  (I've also managed to eke out at least one post per month this year, and I'm determined to finish strong with that trend, so here I am, sliding onto home base just under the wire.)

What's a girl to do when she needs to whip up a quick Disney-themed blog post?  Apparently, draw inspiration from those "they're just like me" Instagram prompts and talk about the Disney characters she relates to the most.  Here, then, is a short 'n' sweet snapshot of a few animated Disney characters I find particularly relatable.

⸻

✦ Shanti ✦

The Jungle Book 2

I've always related pretty strongly to Shanti.  I was the "mom friend" child, the risk-averse one, the one who didn't like to rock the boat.  I was the one who developed a reputation as a party-pooper or a tattletale because I had an overactive conscience and neither I nor my peers knew how to recognize or verbalize that.

Even now, though I've changed since childhood, I still see bits of myself in Shanti, and bits of Shanti that I'd like to see in myself.  She has a strong sense of responsibility, she's sassy, and she will not hesitate to beat you over the head with a big stick if you threaten a toddler.

✦ Elsa ✦

Frozen

Harm-based OCD, anyone?

Elsa's arc in the first Frozen movie resonated deeply with me when I first watched it, and I still maintain that it's a masterful cinematic portrayal of anxiety.  Her trajectory in the sequel wasn't as relatable for me, but I still feel a kinship with her in her ongoing struggle with fear, her sense of duty, her caution, and her contentment with/need for solitude.

✦ Piglet ✦

Winnie the Pooh

Gimme an 'A,' gimme an 'N,' gimme an 'X,' gimme an 'I,' gimme an 'E' —

✦ Rabbit ✦

Winnie the Pooh

Rabbit literally just wants some peace and quiet in which to tend his garden and keep his burrow clean and manage his clinically high levels of stress.  Unbelievably relatable.

✦ Claude Frollo ✦

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

LISTEN, LEMME 'SPLAIN. Am I a xenophobic megalomaniacal sexual predator? I hope I can honestly say, no. 😂

But Frollo is the most Enneagram One Disney villain of all Enneagram One Disney villains — and that, I feel. Frollo's religiosity, his legalism, his wannabe asceticism, his Pharisaism, and his phobia of sexuality all hit me where I live. (Or, praise God, where I have lived in the past.)

✦ Violet Parr ✦

The Incredibles

I've said before that Violet and Dash are basically my younger brother and I, and I still think there are some uncanny similarities. 😅  Violet's a bit of a loner and can tend to affect apathy as a defense mechanism, but deep down, despite her occasional annoyance, she loves her family and enjoys being with them. 

(She's also 3000% Over It™, a state of being which becomes more and more personally significant to me with every passing day.)

✦ Mike Yagoobian ✦

Meet the Robinsons

I'm currently seeking damages from Walt Disney Animation Studios for using unauthorized footage of me when designing Goob.  The chronic exhaustion, the melodramatic tendencies, the catastrophizing, the social anxiety, the medically concerning undereye circles — he is I.  I am he.

⸻

To close out this li'l post, here's an excellently made tribute to Disney movies in all their glory.  (Warning:  fanvid contents may cause intense sensations of nostalgia.)  Enjoy. ♥

⸻

Let's celebrate Disney in the comments!

Which character do you relate to the most?

Which is your favorite movie?