Derek Deliberates

Happiness is a multifaceted concept— on one hand, happiness is an emotion activated when neurochemicals interact with our body; on the other, it is a social construct (but don't get me wrong; I don't mean to come off as overly pessimistic when I say this.)  Happiness is an intangible concept that's been ingrained in our heads from a young age: Sleeping Beauty experienced it when she found her Prince Charming; I experienced it when I streamed the illustrious Harry Styles album Fine Line  for the very first time; we all experienced it when we opened our Duke admissions decisions. In that manner, it's impossible to separate happiness from our own perspectives and our own biases– at root, what makes us happy besides the things that society tell us lead to a happy ending?  As a child, I was under the perception that my life trajectory would be simple. My Asian immigrant parents echoed in me the very hallmarks of a happy life: I would attend a prestigious college, I would ...

Hi— I'm Derek, and this is my blog for Writing 101: Decoding Disney. The basics: I'm a freshman at Duke studying public policy ( no , I don't know what public policy really is, but it looks cute on a resume); I'm from Los Angeles ( yes , I do run into celebrities on the occasion); you can always talk to me about skincare, makeup, TikTok, or marketing.  Growing up, I was surrounded by distinctively vibrant forms of media – most of them in some way related to the Disney multiverse — that have shaped my current identity today: Hannah Montana  depicted a simplistic tweenage tug-of-war between fame, fortune and pubescence, which I heavily related to as a queer tween constantly code-switching to accommodate family and classroom expectations; Mulan  presented a nuanced portrayal of Chinese cultural customs, which I struggled with as an Asian-American; and more traditional narratives like Snow White  and Sleeping Beauty  ingrained in my head age-old hetero-patriarchal b...