An Interview with the Walt Disney Confessions Mods!
As a Disney Feminism blog, I’ve reblogged many posts from the Walt Disney Confessions tumblr site, which is set up as a submitted collection of anonymous Disney related confessions. People often get into very heated and involved debates over the different topics this site covers, and a lot of the posts have served as a good starting point for discussing how societal issues play out in Disney movies (and with Disney’s fanbase).
I was interested in hearing the mods’ take on everything they spend so much time reading and posting about, so I contacted and invited them for an interview, and I was able to talk with Jen (wingardiumiyazaki), the main mod right now, as well as Jonna (Oom-pah-pah). Thanks again to them for taking the time to reply my questions!
A few notes: the mods only speaks for themselves and not for the other mods, all bolding has been done by me, Mod’s response is the indented (usually unbolded) replies, most of the images included are taken from the Confessions blog, and links were added by me for anyone interested in further reading on the issues she mentions here.
Please imagine that we were sitting in a Beast’s-castle-type-library-setting sipping tea and talking, even though this is definitely not what really happened.
First, a few background questions for our readers:
(Feminist Disney:) How long has this site been running for?
Jenn: The site has been running since August, or Late July, I believe.
Have you made any major changes to it during this time?
Jenn: Major changes: We’ve become narrower in what we accept, everything has to have a reasoning now (no confessions like ‘i love rapunzel’ or ‘ariel is my favorite’ or ‘mulan is my role model’) and no more repeats. It’s a minor detail, but we also have started to try to condense very long confessions or tautological ones- people can be pretty loquacious about their secrets!
What got you into being a Disney confession moderator?
Jen: I saw Harry Potter confessions, thought it was a really cool idea, searched around to see if a Disney one had been made, it hadn’t, so I made it. Then I asked Jonna to join me!
Jonna: Jen and I have been friends for over a year, we used to run this tumblr called “My life is Disney” together and she asked me to be the co mod of WDC, and how could one possibly say no to such an opportunity?
Who is your favorite Disney character, and why?
Jen: I have 2, sort of. Ariel will always mean the most to me and have inspired me the most, but as for my favorite Disney character, that’s John Silver from Treasure Planet. It’s rare to find a Disney character who isn’t clearly on a side of ‘good’ or ‘evil’, and usually you can tell right off the bat which faction they’re going to pick. But John Silver straddles this distinction, and even by the conclusion of the film still hasn’t picked a set side. I find him to be Disney’s most complex character they’ve created, at least in their animated classics. Aside from that, I adore him sacrificing for his dream and trying to reach it no matter the costs- to me, this is a very admirable trait, and why I love Ariel so much too. I love his personality as well, his charm and charisma. I even found a McDonald’s toy of him in my basement and it was one of the happiest moments of my life!
Jonna: Well don’t judge me feminist Disney fans, but it’s Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. The reason is because having gone through depression and being in one right now, I always love characters that makes me happy and laugh, and Gaston does that (seriously he’s one of the funniest characters I’ve seen). I also think he’s a good role model in some ways (and by that I don’t mean he has inspired me that if I want someone, I’ll threaten them to put their father in the mental house) but like having bad self confidence, thinking like him makes you feel a lot better about yourself. He’s also very determined to get what he wants, and I always admire that.
What’s been your favorite part of being a mod? What’s the worst part?
