Browse: Home / Disney Byways: “Donald’s Diary”

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Writer's Blocks
  • Lunch Links: MOOMIN
  • Film on the Internet: BASKET CASE
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray
Check out those perfume names!

Disney Byways: “Donald’s Diary”

Posted By Gillianren on March 10, 2023 in Features | Leave a response

Okay, so “canon” is a weird concept at the best of times when it comes to Disney shorts. Does anyone actually care if Donald’s nephews are children or teenagers from one short to the next? (Answer: Yes. Some people care intensely.) That said, this—the last Golden Age appearance of Huey, Dewey, and Louie, the penultimate Golden Age appearance of Daisy—simply cannot be canon. There’s just no way. Never mind that the whole of it is narrated in the mellifluous tones of Leslie Denison claiming to be Donald; we do hear Clarence Nash in the role in what we actually see happen. Denison’s the unreliable narrator, and we’ll get into that in a bit. But what we see makes it simply impossible for this to be any kind of “truth” for Donald and Dasiy.

Indeed Donald writes the whole story in his diary. We see Daisy lay a trap, quite literally, for him to catch his attention. They court. He meets her family—he seems to have none. The one day, it seems clear to the pair that Donald will be proposing. However, Daisy just needs to “powder her nose,” by which she means “she is just getting into the shower.” Donald is waiting for her so long that he falls asleep, and he dreams of what their life will be when they marry. It’s awful. Daisy lets herself go immediately, and her family is even worse than they were already seen to be.

Look, let’s get this out of the way right now—this is a pretty appalling short. The bit about how Daisy’s literally laying traps to get Donald to notice her because he’s just too oblivious is fine, I guess. But when Donald walks in the door, Daisy’s mother seems to look him up in Dun & Bradstreet. Her “brothers,” played here by Donald’s nephews, take money from Donald. In the dream sequence, so does Daisy. She sets a trap for him so she can live an easy life on his money. She’s seen as pretty and full of feminine wiles—until she’s married, at which point she’s shown first thing in the morning with her . . . feathers in curlers? I think that’s what that’s supposed to be. And she’s smoking, which we’d never seen her do. But mostly, it’s the money thing.

What’s more, Donald is so persuaded by what we must remember is a literal dream sequence that he runs away from Daisy—and joins the French Foreign Legion, which will take him away from all women. Sure, he seems to have been happy as a bachelor (in what appears to be San Francisco, and that’s a whole other conversation), and he gets in the relationship because Daisy trapped him, but he does get in the relationship. Willingly. And he seems mostly happy.

It’s hard to say anything in particular about the “reality” of this short, because we’re getting this out of Donald’s diary. Leslie Denison is telling us an idealized version of the events. Is that closer to the truth? Is the version we see the truth? Does it matter? It’s a freakin’ Donald Duck cartoon. And I have to say, I like the choice of going with an unreliable narrator in a Donald Duck cartoon. There’s a lot of opportunities for fun there. This short isn’t it.

It wouldn’t be stealing your entire wallet to give me a buck or two on Patreon or Ko-fi, would it?

Posted in Features | Tagged Animated, Disney Byways, Donald's Diary

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

My face on seeing the "recently added"Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+→

The most recent animated flopDisney Byways: Animated Flops→

Always off to the sideDisney Byways: Minnie Mouse→

Of course he couldn't kill it!Disney Byways: “Little Hiawatha”→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    33861 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    27453 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    25068 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    20099 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • Yvonne, or: CASABLANCA In One Character and Three Scenes

    11142 views / Posted August 21, 2014
  • My face on seeing the "recently added"

    Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+

    March 24, 2023 / Gillianren
  • Oh, to have the straight line just hovering over your shoulder for when you need it.

    The Friday Article Roundup: Writer’s Blocks

    March 24, 2023 / The Ploughman
  • This was a tough one to find a properly formatted header image for.

    Lunch Links: MOOMIN

    March 23, 2023 / The Ploughman
  • Film on the Internet: BASKET CASE

    March 22, 2023 / ZoeZ
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    March 21, 2023 / Greta Taylor

Last Tweets

  • Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+ - https://t.co/NNBet9OWrd, 11 hours ago
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Writer’s Blocks - https://t.co/3a4Sy0roVA, 23 hours ago
  • The witty and bittersweet short film MOOMIN doesn't require a smartphone to watch, but it helps. https://t.co/gMMYZWtxgb, Mar 23

©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!