The Depth of Disney: How Songs Reach Our Souls
Some of my favorite pieces of music are those that Disney composed.
Embarrassing, I know.
I’m an adult with three kids. I confess that when my sweet little ones beg to listen to Disney princess songs, I am okay with it. Except Moana 2. (Four times a day is HARD).
Have you listened to the lyrics of so many of their songs? Often, especially in the last decade, the Disney protagonists are struggling with complex emotions. Films like Zootopia, Encanto, Yes, Moana (sigh), and Frozen embody struggles with grief, trauma, and resilience. They deal with feelings of never being good enough, fears of failing, and the resilience we learn when we are given agency to make our own choices.
Trauma causes a person to turn inward where the focus becomes the prevention of harm. We leave the joy of childhood behind and decide that the world is complex. It’s too much. It’s easier to quit, to forget, to stop trying. How humiliating will it be when we finally do fail?
Some lyrics that encourage me on days when I wrestle with all those fears:
“I won’t give up, I won’t give in until I reach the end, and then I’ll start again” – Zootopia
“I’m never going back. The past is in the past” - Frozen
“You’re all that’s stopping you” – Moana 2
“Don’t you know that there’s a part of me that longs to go into the unknown?” – Frozen 2
“I want to try, even though I could fail” – Zootopia
These songs remind me that I’m not the only one who is afraid. They remind me that sometimes it’s just deciding not to quit, when everything is stacked against you. It reminds me that because I follow Christ, I am made new. The old ways for doing things are gone. The new has come – it brings the hope that we can begin the journey to turn outward and move forward.
Encanto’s “Surface Pressure” is a song about the endless weight of trying so hard.
Just too much pressure. Disney songwriter Lin-Manual Miranda did a phenomenal job creating a song to embody a minor character; she is silently falling despite how physically strong she is. She is dying by a thousand cuts. There is someone in my life who has felt like that. No matter how much she did, it was never enough for anyone. Burdens were piled on her. Expectations that, of course, she can manage it. And she did. Until she couldn’t anymore.
“I take what I’m handed, I break what’s demanded, but under the surface, I feel berserk as a tightrope walker in a three-ring circus….It’s pressure like a drip, drip, drip, that’ll never stop…who am I if I don’t have what it takes?”
Do you ever feel like that? Rigidity is a common relational struggle for survivors of trauma. They will often create strong expectations for others and themselves. They also experience a continual lack of power or agency over their lives. They endure significant loneliness as they conduct themselves in this way.
I wonder if Disney songs and the “magic” of Disney are successful because they capture universal longings or embody emotions that we are feeling. Unlike other children’s films, Disney artists like the Sherman Brothers or Lin-Manual Miranda purposefully incorporate truthfulness into their music. They capture the spirit of the times, a longing for acceptance and a desire to be understood of where we are at.
If you are experiencing that right now, know you’re not alone. There is hope. If you know someone who seems so strong all the time, they might be feeling precisely this. An encouraging word, a meal brought in, or a surprise coffee dropped off can often make all the difference.
What songs encourage you or bring about empathy to others?