dis-"Enchanted" -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 13:49:35 04/03/08 Thu
Author: Shannon
Subject: dis-"Enchanted"

Yes, this is a post on the recent Disney film, Enchanted. Surprisingly enough, the film is a criticism on the Romantic myth of spontatious "love at first sight". Granted, its answer is only the same myth with more time, but the film itself is full of mimetic desire.

Gisele is the typical Disney princess, beginning the movie with a song on "True Love's Kiss" while she attempts to create a statue of her one true as seen in a dream. As the song, and the subsequent meeting of said love, reveal, Gisele is enamored with the Romantic Ideal which thus meidates her relationship with Prince Edward--similar to the plots of many chivalric romances.

Then enter, of course, the wicked queen who in reverse manner appropriates her desire for power on to innocent Gisele, making the sweet princess her apparent rival. So, she embarks on a deepening cycle of violence inorder to rid herself of this threat.

In New York, Gisele meets Robert (who "surprisingly" looks a lot like Prince Edward). Robert's attitude toward Gisele is first mediated by his daughter's friendship with her, then the admiration of the strangers in the city, and ultimately by her admiration of Prince Edmund. Fittingly, both Gisele and Robert "realize" their love for eachother while Robert tries to convince her that Edward (his rival) is not coming, is not what she believes he is.

The ending is simply perfect. The two men, Robert and Edward, look almost identical. Nancy, Gisele's rival for Robert's affections, now looks like the fairy-princess. In a dance, that is typical of the Romantic myth, the two couples mediate eachother's relationships as Robert dances with Gisele and Edward with Nancy. Finally, the two women completely switch places: Nancy returns to fairyland with Edward and is married in a dress identical to Gisele's at the start of the movie. Gisele takes Nancy's place in the real world, marrying Robert and even taking over Nancy's buisness.

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