Day Two-Sixty - Could I Be a Disney Writer??? Nah....

I read this article yesterday about a right whale that has a nursing calf and has adopted another orphaned calf off the coast of Africa.  I love stuff like this.  Apparently, raising even one right calf is a "monumental task" as the article states.  But this whale has taken a second calf that is not even hers on and it's heartwarming.  Apparently, the two calves are playing with each other and it would seem that her calves contentment with the orphaned calf resulted in the adoption.  It is amazing what a mother will do for her child.

http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2012/12/right-whale-mother-adopts-abandoned-calf-off-south-africa.html

After reading the article I was intrigued and did a little bit of research on right whales.  First of all they are called right whales because they have a great fat content which makes them very buoyant, whale blubber equals dollars in the whaling world and the buoyancy means when the whalers kill them, they have plenty of time to get them onto the boat.  So, the whalers called them right whales because they were the "right" whales to hunt.  They can grow to 59 feet long and are an astonishing 13 - 20 feet long at birth!  Apparently, when the orphaned calf first approached the mother whale and her calf it attempted to nurse and she ran it off, but it refused to go far.  Now in less than a week, it would seem that they are a family and just in time since shortly they will have to make their annual migration to Antarctica and the right whale feeding grounds.  The lifespan of a right whale is not certain.  There was one documented case in which a female was initially spotted in 1935 and seen many times throughout her life.  The last time she was seen was in 1995.  When she was first seen she was an adult with a calf.  She was estimated to have lived for 70 years only dying after being struck by a ships propeller.

So maybe these two calves will be best friends for the next 70 years.  I think it would make a great Disney story.  Maybe in the story the evil Japanese whaling fleet like the ones on Whale Wars will chase their pod down as they head to Antarctica, not this year, but maybe next and they'll be separated from their pod as a result.  They will learn to survive on their own and worry a lot about their mother and the other whales they've known since birth and get into all kinds of whale adventures.  Then maybe one day they will get back with their mom and then the two will find mates of their own and they'll all live happily ever after.

See this is why I could never write for Disney.  A real Disney writer would have had the evil whalers kill the mother leaving them both orphans.  I'm not capable of writing that story.  Who is?!?!?!?  I don't understand how Disney continued to sell movie tickets after killing Bambi's mother off and that was 70 years ago!  Apparently, other people aren't as sensitive as me about things like that.  I can't watch shows where young animals or kids are in distress.

I had a personal ban on Disney movies for a long time.  They are very upsetting!  In Cinderella, that step mother and the step sisters were so mean.  And don't even get me started on Pinocchio!  That was just scary!!!  As a result I have never seen many of the Disney classics.  So, I can't name any of the Disney princesses.  I really think this is one of the reasons I am okay with not having kids.  I could never have taken them to those movies.  Okay, I guess I could have taken them, but when the movie was over I'd be in a fetal position under my chair and the kid would have to coax me out and that just wouldn't be pretty.

So, I've never seen the fish movie where Ellen DeGeneres was the voice of one of the fish (I can't remember the name of it) but I hear it was good.  I never saw Lion King except the musical production and quite frankly I was too distracted by the costumes to pay any real attention to the story.  I never saw the Little Mermaid... wait was that the fish one with Ellen DeGeneres????  Either way, I never saw it.  I also didn't see  Pocahontas, Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast.  I was forced to see a few that I had no wish to see thanks to my niece and my friend Sherie's daughter, Alex.

I kept Alex overnight once and she brought her Tarzan movie with her and insisted that we watch it.  Right off the bat, Tarzan's parents got killed.  Ugh!  I was sobbing and Alex thought I was a freak.  Then as soon as the horrible part was over she went to sleep and I had to watch the rest of the movie to find out what happened. Stupid movie!  I think I was literally shaking I was crying so bad when it finally ended.  Meanwhile the 5 year old was sound asleep on my couch.  (I'll get you for that, Alex!)

When my niece Rebecca was 5 or 6 she gave herself a haircut to end all haircuts with a knife after watching the Disney movie Mulan.  Well, I had to find out what about that movie would result in a small girl taking a knife to her hair so I rented it and watched it by myself one weekend so that no one could ridicule me when the sobbing began.  Honestly, I don't remember crying while I watched it which would have been a first for me in any Disney movie.  I mean let's face it.... this is coming from someone who practically went into convulsions while watching Herbie the Lovebug.  What can I say, it was touching!

I did love That Darn Cat! in the 60's.  I even read the book once I learned how to read.  You really can't go wrong with any movie starring Hayley Mills.  Plus there were no sad parts.  Mary Poppins is my all time favorite Disney movie.  In fact, it might be my all time favorite movie.  Apparently, I can deal with Disney movies that aren't animated much better than the animated variety.  I don't know what that means.....  There is probably something psychological there that should be examined.  I do cry in parts of Mary Poppins, but it isn't one of those heaving, obnoxious cries that I do when something happens to an animal or a kids parents.  I also liked The Parent Trap with Hayley Mills.  Heck, I even liked the remake with Lindsey Lohan and Dennis Quaid.  In fact, that was the last good movie she made.  (What happened to that girl?)

The non-animated Disney movies that I can't watch are the ones featuring animals that are lost.... like Homeward Bound and The Incredible Journey.  My mom took us to see both of those when I was a kid and I was miserable in each one.  I sobbed the entire time and my brothers made fun of me.  I used to hate it when my brothers would say, "It's not real."  Like I couldn't figure that out!!!!  I don't know why I get hysterical when animals are lost in a movie, but I do!  And telling me it's not real doesn't fix that.  Dumb boys!

Anyway, so I think the whale story could be a great Disney movie and if you are inclined to write it, just thank me in the credits or something.  But I don't think I am capable of writing it since I would end up in a fetal position under my desk as soon as the orphaned calf becomes an orphaned calf.... Ugh!