10 Times Disney low key taught us to defy our parents

As I have been careening into parenthood, one pattern I have started to observe is how Disney consistently encourages us to disregard anything our parents have set into place for us.

Think about it.

There is a mention of newer Disney movies, so there will be spoilers.

Mulan straight up went to war to get her parents attention

Don't come at me for this one. There had to be literally any other way to get your parents to listen to you and bring your family honor than run off to war. I know there was a bunch of underlying cultural things happening but WAR?

She ends up saving the entire country which is pretty heroic but cmon now.

Ariel went and became a whole a** human and got married at 16

Where to even begin with this one.

I didn't realize how bat s*** crazy Ariel is until I watched this with my own daughter. Let's start with how she's friends with a seagull who clearly is the crazy guy on the street you typically avoid, and she almost gets her friend eaten by a shark in the beginning. Then, she has a whole cavern of lost human "treasures" which if we're gonna be as dramatic as Disney is we could assume that the human treasures could be paraphanelia of some sort! What is she really hiding in there? (drop your best ideas in the DMs)

Then let's skip to her falling in love with a human, then she visits her crazy aunt who thinks she's a witch (we all have one of those don't we?) and runs away to dry land for three days for this guy she saw almost die on a ship.

Should I mention again that she's 16? No wonder King Triton was gray already. He has seven daughters and one of them decided to give you the ultimate tidal wave of a F U by becoming human, marrying a human and SPOILER ALERT: she builds a giant a** wall in the sequel to completely block out her past life.

Moana sailed away to save the island even though no one goes beyond the reef.

Again, don't come at me. This girl literally had one rule: no one goes beyond the reef. What does this chick do? Goes beyond the reef.

I know she saves the day and she's trying to save people but at the end of the day did she listen to her father? Nope. She didn't even know how to sail either. I loved your gramma too Moana, but she literally admitted to being the village crazy lady. That's the lady you're going to take advice from?

That being said, I'm super excited for the sequel.

Simba deliberately disobeyed Mufasa by going to the elephant graveyard

I couldn't use any other photo but this one. Did you also hear James Earl Jones' voice saying "you deliberately disobeyed me" or was that just me?

The more you think about it, Simba was kind of a punk at the beginning because he knew he was going to be king someday. He goes to the elephant graveyard, and then runs away when things get hard, the opposite of what Mufasa said to him. Then, he basically writes off Zazu for good by bringing Timon & Pumbaa in as new advisors. Maybe that was his hidden plan all along. Maybe he's more like Scar than any of us realized.

Hercules basically gives his parents the finger for Megara

Hercules is easily one of my favorite disney movies of all time, but watching this recently, I realized just how ungrateful he was at the end of the movie. He gets kidnapped, taken in by two outrageously patient people who still accept and love him after he demolishes an entire town, and then bails on them to find his true purpose. Then, he gets all hunky and heroic, proves himself to his real father, but because he met a girl, he gives up the pearly gates for her.

There's a few things wrong with this. First of all, name one guy who would literally give up endless power and parties and an incredible life for a girl.

The real problem is he clearly has zero regard for his parents, or anyone in that position.

Sleeping Beauty not only leaves the cottage when she wasn't supposed to, but then also touches the spinner

Aurora loved to not listen to whoever was in charge of her. She didn't listen to the three fairies when they told her not to wander off into the woods (which every single fairy tale has taught us. You NEVER go into the woods alone. No, I haven't seen the musical, and I'm starting to think that this is why...) and then once she meets the prince, Maleficent finds her and she pricks her finger, another thing thing she was told not to do. We aren't going to touch on the Prince kissing her without her consent though. That's for a different blog.

Belle switches spots with her father when he gets imprisoned

Let's be real, yes this kind of worked out for Belle, she got a whole ass kingdom out of it. But at the same time, girlie, Papa was probably in his last few good years. Were you THAT desperate to get away from Gaston? Then again, yeah I would be too.

Okay maybe this one doesn't count because she had to get outta that town. They made up an entire song about how weird she is because she liked to read. That's straight up toxic.

Jasmine sneaking into the city and going on the magic carpet ride

There's nothing like a nice Disney movie to teach you how to lie and deceive. I was going to just focus on Jasmine but literally every character besides the Sultan and Genie lie or deceive someone.

Jasmine sneaks into the city against her father's wishes.

Aladdin steals food (yes he gives to kids but its stolen food nonetheless) and trains his pet monkey to do the same.

Abu steals everything.

Jafar is literally a snake.

Aladdin then commits identity fraud.

Jasmine sneaks out AGAIN, then lies and pretends she isn't attracted to him because he lied.

The whole thing is a lesson on how to lie to get what you want. No I will not listen to logic on this topic thank you very much.

Merida: "the girl tells her mom to fuck off in a scottish accent"

I'm gonna be honest with y'all, I haven't seen this movie yet. I know the gist of the plot is Merida doesn't want to be married off, so she fights for her own hand in marriage, but then gets cursed or something and I think her brother turns into a bear or some crap like that and she probably learns the Dominic Toretto lesson that nothin's better than family.

This was submitted by one of my very good freinds and I couldn't not put her exact quote as the bullet point.

The entire plot of Coco

This movie is hands down one of my favorites of the newer Disney generation of movies, but god damn Miguel you are a punk.

I'm a musician myself, and trust me I understand feeling like you have an supportive family when it comes to your love of music (I'm making that sound so dramatic, my parents just didn't let me play my electric after 8pm and I truly thought that was the stupidest rule ever but I now understand) but breaking into someone's mausoleum to steal their guitar? That's just messed up my guy.

Then, when he goes into the world of the dead, he tries to lie to his great-great grandmother by telling her that he would give up music when he goes back. Finessing your ancestors doesn't seem like the best way to get their blessing for anything, let alone saving your life.

So the next time your family member asks you why you are the way you are, just tell them that this is how Disney raised you and you can't change that.

This was honestly a really fun post to write up, and I want to thank Bree, Lindsay, Nicole, Kat for sending in some help!

If you have any ideas for me to write about, please feel free to send them in! Email

lbc@lizwadmanphotography.com with the subject "Blog Idea" :)