The deep, mature connection of two canines in Lady and the Tramp truly makes it the most romantic Disney movie. Support ScreenPrism on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=7792695
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00:02
This scene of Lady and Tramp
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tenderly sharing a plate of spaghetti
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is the quintessential moment of Disney romance —
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one of the most iconic moments of cinema romance, period,
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up there with Casablanca.
00:13
“What about us?”
00:15
“We’ll always have Paris.”
00:18
And it’s no wonder that one of Disney’s most recognizable
00:20
expressions of love is from this 1955 movie.
00:24
Lady and the Tramp’s romance doesn’t happen
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in the typical Disney love-at-first-sight whirlwind.
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It takes its time.
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Lady and Tramp form a nuanced bond
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where they learn a lot from each other,
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and become more self-actualized through their mutual love.
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So these two canines can teach us a lot
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about what a good relationship looks like.
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“Oh, say no more.
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I get the whole picture.”
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We might find this surprising because we tend to
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think of nuanced love stories as a human thing,
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but Lady’s and Tramp’s deep, mature connection
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truly makes this the most romantic Disney movie.
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“Aw, come on, Pidge.
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Open up your eyes.”
01:00
“Open my eyes?”
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“To what a dog’s life can really be!”
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Lots of Disney movies are known for their love stories,
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and lots of those love stories are wonderful.
01:15
But none of them quite captures the depth of feeling
01:18
present in Lady and Tramp’s relationship.
01:20
In the typical princess movie,
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or in any romantic movie, really,
01:24
the love story often feels fast
01:26
because of the constraints of the format.
01:27
There’s a limited amount of time to establish the rapport
01:31
between the characters,
01:32
so romances can take on a grand, exaggerated, idealistic quality
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that feels very separate from our reality.
01:38
But Lady and the Tramp portrays a growing relationship
01:41
in a real way.
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We actually see the couple go on a series of dates,
01:45
which is very unusual for Disney.
01:47
And the progression of those dates feels true to life:
01:50
when they spend the day at the zoo together,
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they do so as friends.
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“We can’t go in.”
01:55
“Why not?”
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“Well, the sign says –”
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“Yeah but, that’s — that’s the angle.”
02:00
“Angle?”
02:01
But they take a walk afterwards and get to know each other
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“Come on — I’ll show you what I mean.”
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before sharing a romantic dinner
02:10
and eventually spending the night together.
02:15
You wouldn’t say that Belle and the Beast,
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or Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder,
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or Aurora and Prince Philip were ever “dating”
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before they fell in love.
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You could argue that a few Disney movies
02:26
show their protagonists going on dates,
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but these instances are pretty compressed.
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They usually take place over the course of a song or a montage,
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and are almost always accompanied by a heightened scenario,
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not a casual trip to the zoo and dinner.
02:39
In a lot of these movies, there’s a larger-than-life conflict
02:42
that needs to be solved,
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so the couples have to bond in less traditional ways:
02:46
through defeating evil or trying to lift a curse,
02:49
or journeying on a quest.
02:51
But all of this is why Lady and the Tramp stands out:
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it shows us a relationship that’s not magical
02:55
or part of a fantasy world —
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apart from the fact that we can understand the dogs talking.
03:00
“Tony, Dog’s don’ta talk!”
03:01
“He’s-a talking to me!”
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The romance here is real, and familiar, and deeply sweet.
03:07
Another reason that Lady and Tramp’s love story is so striking
03:10
is that the two are really able to better each other
03:13
through their love.
03:14
Throughout the film, Lady has a lot of insecurity
03:17
that her family will stop loving her.
03:19
“Aye, tell us, lassie.
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If somebody’s been mistreating you…”
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“Oh, no, Jock.
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It’s something I’ve done, I guess.”
03:27
With a new baby on the way, the family dog starts receiving
03:30
less and less attention from her parents.
03:32
“Alone here all day, and walking that dog.”
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And she feels even more abandoned when they leave her
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in the care of her neglectful, dog-hating aunt.
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But Tramp helps Lady overcome her doubts
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and become more self-reliant.
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Before her relationship with him,
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Lady’s life was so sheltered and comfortable
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that she never had any reason to look inward
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to solve her problems.
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“Just for tonight.”
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Everything’s provided for her by her family,
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or her very paternal friends Jock and Trusty
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So when the attention and validation she’s used to
04:14
starts to slip away,
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she doesn’t have the emotional resources to deal with it.
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When Tramp helps Lady get the muzzle off,
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or shows her the world outside her neighborhood,
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“There’s a great big hunk of world out there
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with no fence around it!”
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or tells her that she doesn’t have to be tied to one family
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“Aunts, cats, muzzles.
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Well, that’s what comes with
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tying yourself down to one family.”
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“Haven’t you a family?”
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“One for every day of the week.
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Point is, none of them have me.”
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he’s showing her that she already possesses within herself
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everything she needs to be happy.
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Personal fulfillment can be supplemented by loved ones,
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but Lady doesn’t have to be defined by relationships.
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Even if her parents aren’t always around to protect her,
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she doesn’t have to passively accept injustice,
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or wait around for someone to come to her rescue.
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And we start to see Lady put these lessons from Tramp
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into effect.
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When she gets upset with him for seeing other girls,
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she tells him with certainty that she doesn’t need him
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in her life.
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“I don’t need you to shelter and protect me!”
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Even though this is a low point in their relationship,
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this is evidence that Lady has grown,
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and now she knows that even when she can’t rely on others,
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she can always depend on herself.
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Tramp’s life at the start is the opposite
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of Lady’s sheltered existence.
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He has no close ties to anyone,
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and he thinks he’s happy that way.
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“Everybody knows a dog’s best friend is his human.”
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“[Laughs], oh, come on, fellas.
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You haven’t fallen for that old lie now, have you?”
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But his relationship with Lady changes his perspective.
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Lady values her loved ones above all else.
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She strives to understand them
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“What is a Baby anyway?”
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and protect them and do right by them.
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Tramp learns from Lady that close, intimate relationships
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are sometimes worth giving up a piece
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of your independence for.
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He invites Lady to run away with him,
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making it clear that he feels a genuine connection with her,
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and thinks that being with Lady is better than
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having no ties at all.
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But running away will never be a possibility for Lady,
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whose family will always be her first priority.
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“It sounds wonderful.”
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“But?”
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“But who would watch over the baby?”
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“You win.
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Come on, I’ll take you home.”
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And because Tramp’s not used to
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cultivating closeness with others,
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he doesn’t understand at first how his behavior
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can negatively affect his newfound love.
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“Who is Trixie?”
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“Trixie?”
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“And Lulu?
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And Phiphi?
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And Rosita, Chiquita,
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ww-whatever her name is?”
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He realizes that his thrill-seeking can be selfish and reckless
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when Lady ends up in the pound because of him.
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By the end of the movie, the committed bachelor recognizes
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that his love for Lady has become more important to him
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than his long treasured independence.
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The happiness he thought he had previously was superficial —
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his life lacked the depth and substance of caring about anything
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besides his own pleasure.
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He starts to defend Lady’s family as if they were his own,
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“What’s wrong, Pidge?”
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“A rat!”
07:12
“Where?”
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“Upstairs, in the baby’s room!”
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“How do I get in?”
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“The little door on the porch!”
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which shows how far he’s come from the baby-hating mutt
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we met at the beginning.
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“Homewreckers, that’s what they are!”
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So Tramp learns from Lady just how much fulfillment
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can come from interpersonal, or inter-canine, relationships.
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He realizes that family can be a positive thing
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not just a ball and chain.
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The final scene leaves us with an image of Tramp domesticated
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with a collar and a license,
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contentedly settled as a part of Lady’s family,
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and far happier than he ever was as a carefree bachelor.
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Over sixty years later, this still looks like
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one of the healthiest marriages in cinema.
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Their love story isn’t one to pine for and dream about —
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it’s one we can learn from as a model
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for how to build a positive, wholesome relationship.
08:10
It’s Debra.
08:11
And Susannah.
08:12
You’re watching ScreenPrism.
08:13
Thank you guys so much for watching.
08:15
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08:18
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This post was previously published on Youtube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video