Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

As this is posted, today would have been Walt Disney’s 123^rd birthday. Whatever you may think of Disney or his work, he was a pioneer in animated film making and he co-created a vast business empire that’s still a powerful force in the entertainment field.

We often think of Disney films as family entertainment – feel-good films. After all, they have magic and happy endings. But crime and mystery find their way into those films, too, so you could even say that Disney films have characteristics of crime stories. There are many examples, so I’ll just share a few.

The movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is, of course, based on the old fairy tale of the beautiful Snow White, whose stepmother is so jealous that she arranges to have Snow White killed. That’s attempted murder, as far as I know. Then, when that plan fails, she takes matters into her own hands and gives Snow White poisoned food – another incidence of attempted murder. In the film, Sow White is revived by a handsome prince who’s fallen in love with her, but someone tried to kill her twice. To me, anyway, that seems like crime fiction.

Cinderella is also based on a fairy tale. Cinderella’s stepmother (what is it about stepparents?) uses her as an unpaid servant (which in itself is a crime in many places). With help from a fairy godmother, she gets to attend a ball at which she meets Prince Charming. At the stroke of midnight, all of the magic wears off, and Cinderella barely escapes, losing one of her elegant shoes in the process. The prince finds the shoe, and now he has a mystery to solve. Whose shoe is it? Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters do everything they can to mislead the prince (another plot point that’s in a lot of crime fiction), but in the end, the mystery is solved. There aren’t murders in this film, but there’s mystery and suspense.

Now, let’s consider The Aristocats. In that film, we have a wealthy older lady, Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, and her beloved cats. She makes a will in which she leaves all of her considerable fortune to the cats for as long as they live. Then, her fortune goes to her butler Edgar. He, of course, is having none of that and makes a plan of his own. See? Can you really trust butlers? Edgar plots to get rid of the cats. That plan goes wrong and the cats escape. After several adventures, they return to their home, and Edgar is exiled. Madame Bonfamille rewrites her will, too, so that her fortune will be used to care for Paris’ stray cats. Now, how many crime novels do you know of where a wealthy person’s will is the focus of the story? I can think of several. And there’s Edgar’s plot to defraud the rightful heirs of this particular fortune. So there’s arguably crime in this film, too.

Beauty and the Beast is a retelling of another fairy tale. In the film, one of the town’s most eligible bachelors, Gaston, has his eye set on beautiful Belle. She wants nothing to do with Gaston, as his appearance is the only positive quality he has. In the meantime, her father Maurice goes off to show his latest invention at a fair. He loses his way, though, and ends up in the clutches of a beast who’s under the spell of an enchantress. The beast imprisons Maurice, but Belle finds out and offers herself in her father’s place. The beast accepts, and now Belle is his prisoner. That seems a lot like false imprisonment, abduction, and possibly other crimes. The story ends happily, and the spell  is broken, but that doesn’t mean there’s no crime in it. And I haven’t even gotten to Gaston’s attempt to kill the beast, as well as his incitement to riot…

If you’re familiar with The Lion King, then you’ll know it’s a sort of retelling of the story from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In the film, a lion named Scar is jealous of his brother Mufasa, who is king of the lions. Mufasa’s just had a son named Simba, so now, Scar won’t inherit the throne. He tries to solve the problem by getting rid of Simba, but Mufasa rescues the cub. Now, Scar hatches another plan. He and some of his confederates incite a stampede which threatens Simba. When Mufasa tries to save his son, Scar steps in and kills Mufasa. So now, we have attempted murder and murder. And that’s not to mention the conspiracy and other related crimes. As you can see, this film also has the characteristics of a crime story.

Disney films are not as dark and gritty as crime fiction can get. But that doesn’t mean that they’re crime-free, either. And you thought Walt Disney was all about magic and happy endings…

ps. Bonus points if you know who the Disney character in the photo is, and why I would have that particular character.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Elton John and Tim Rice’s Be Prepared.