The "Disneyization" Thread

A while back I saw this article:

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=disn&date=19970627&query=Disney+Macbeth

Which inspired a thread on another site’s boards where I challenged other posters to “Disneyfy” classic literature (or history, or classic movies, etc.) and it was fairly well recieved and generated some really fun ideas.

Here’s an example of my own:

** Disney Presents: Upton Sinclaire’s The Jungle**

The Main Character: Jurgis, a young immigrant come to America to seek his fortune.

The Love Interest: In the book Jurgis was married, but you need a romatic subplot, so here goes . . . Ona (who was Jurgis’ wife in the book) and her rich family have left Lithuania to live in America, Chicago. Rejected by Ona’s family because of his lack of money, he follows them to America. Unfortunately, becoming rich in America isn’t the easy task he was lead to believe and he soon finds himself working at the Sinclaire Slaughterhouse.

The Comic Relief: Bertha, Bossy and Lulubelle, a trio of talking cows to stupid to realize the trouble they’re in, whom Jurgis must fight to save from slaughter.

The Villain(s): Edgar Sinclaire, owner of the Sinclaire slaughterhouse, who forces his workers to operate in filthy unsafe conditions and his idiot son Roger, who has his eye on Ona. Edgar manages to talk Ona’s family into arranging for the two to be married.

The Villain’s Demise: After a mad chase through the abandoned and burning - after a worker rebellion - slaughterhouse, Edgar goes tumbling down the meat processing chute and is chopped up by his own machinery.

And another . . .
Disney’s The Raven

The Main Character: Edgar Allen Poe, a young writer from Boston who has moved to Baltimore, where he has secured a job as editor of a literaty journal, The Southern Literary Messenger. Of course, his dream is to be a writer, and he believes working as an editor will allow him to achieve this dream. Arriving in Baltimore, he moves in with his kindly widowed Aunt Maria and Cousin Virgina.

The Love Interest: Aunt Maria employs a maid, Lenore Sturbridge, a bright and spirited young woman despite her troubled past. Her mother is dead. Her father, is a notorious thief sensationalized in the local press as “The Raven” and is serving a lengthy prison term. Though Maria’s husband, a policeman, died bringing The Raven to justice, Maria took pity on Lenore and regards her as a second daughter. Edgar takes an immediate interest in Lenore and the two soon fall in love.

The Comic Relief: Edgar’s cute, hyperactive cousin Virginia, aged nine. Virginia is a Tomboyish motormouth who’s always getting into trouble. Virginia has an obsession with ghost stories and tales of the macabre that her mother deems, “Quite unbecoming a lady.” She is constantly pestering her Cousin Edgar (Or “Eddie Baby” as she precosiously insists on calling him.) to make his stories scarier, to put more monsters and blood in them.

The Villain(s): Percival Sturbridge, A.K.A. The Raven and his henchman . . . err . . . bird, Nevermore, named for the only word he’ll dare speak in mixed company, though he’s quite talkative indeed when alone with the boss. Thanks to Nevermore’s spying, Percival learns of Edgar and Lenore’s romance. Vowing that he’d rather see his daughter dead than in the arms of the nephew of the man who put him in prison, he stages a daring escape and kidnaps Lenore.

The Villain’s Demise: Edgar faces off against Percival in his hideout, and abandoned warehouse inhabited by hundreds of ravens. Having a special affinity with his namesakes Percival has the birds attacking Edgar, keeping him off guard even as he stalks closer, dagger in hand, to deliver the killing blow. By this time Nevermore has switched sides, having befriended young Virginia, and swoops in to save Edgar’s life. Percival strikes out at the traitor, seemingly killing him. Seeing this, the ravens turn on Percival, attacking him en mass. Edgar scoops up Nevermore and he and Lenore flee, the sound of Percival’s tortured screams chasing them out into the stormy night. Nevermore survives of course, nursed back to health by Virginia. Inspired by how he felt when he thought Lenore was dead, Edgar writes a poem, The Raven, that is a huge success. He’s finally realized his dream to be a famous writer by Virginia, still thinks his writing isn’t gory enough and says so, much to everyone’s amusement. Everyone laughs, fade to black, roll credits.

So, anyone else here up to the challenge of “Disneyfying” the classics?