The Case for Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Hunchback is the metaphorical Quasimodo of the disney animated feature film canon--weird, hidden away, and relegated to its master's hairshirt. Some common and consistent criticisms of the film have cropped up over the years, but they often miss crucial context and the original goal of Victor Hugo's dark tale of human brutality.
But don't worry everyone. We're here to fix colonialism, y'all.
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Sources:
1. Callow, Simon. "Laughton as Quasimodo: Epic Agony." Editorial. The New York Times [New York] 14 May 1988: n. pag. 14 May 1988. Web.
2. Dretzka, Gary. "`Hunchback' For The '90s." Tribune Digital. Chicago Tribune, 16 June 1996. Web.
3. Hugo, Victor. Notre-Dame De Paris. N.p.: Gosselin, 1831. Print. www.bartleby.com/ebook/adobe/3...
4. Hugo, Victor. "War on the Demolishers!" Editorial. Oeuvres Complètes De Victor Hugo 1825: n. pag. Print. courseworks2.columbia.edu/cou...
5. "`Hunchback' For The '90s." Tribune Digital. Chicago Tribune, 16 June 1996. Web.
6. King, Susan. "The Hunchback From Hope." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 1997. Web.
7. Rebello, Stephen. The Art of The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Disney Miniature. N.p.: Hyperion, 1997. Print.
8. ""U" Making "Notre Dame"." The Film Daily 12 Aug. 1922: 1. Print. archive.org/stream/filmdaily2...
9. Animation Guild. "The Animation Guild Interviews: Gary Trousdale" 23 Oct. 2012 • TAGInterview GaryTrous...
10. Karger, Dave, and Anne Thompson. “Disney's ''Hunchback'' Has Murder, Lust, and Corruption.” EW.com, Time Inc, 21 June 1996, ew.com/article/1996/06/21/disneys-hunchback-has-murder-lust-and-corruption/

[@christinaify]

Frollo saw Esmeralda as a demon, Quasi saw her as an angel, and Phoebus saw her as a woman. Her ending up with Phoebus made sense.

[@creatingpulsars9979]

I can never get over how gutsy it was to make the villain's song a literal prayer

[@indigothecat]

Was just thinking, the fact that Quazimodo gets over it that he "didn't" get the girl" and still values her friendship anyways is what separates him from the InCel community, or the sub-category of the "Nice Guy InCel" community.

[@DrCorndog1]

Now 1.8 million people know where the coccaine is hidden.

[@FirstLast-le2rf]

"Notre Dame Cathedral might not even be there today" That aged interestingly.

[@musicalwithfangs]

the random guy stashing what appears to be a bag of cocaine is still just. the funniest thing.

[@Galadrielle532]

I like how the French version of "I'm losing to a bird" is an actual good joke that became kind of cult over time. I'm glad to know that sometimes, the translation can actually better the original product! For those who speak French he says "Je me fais pigeonner". It's a standard expression which roughly translates to "I'm getting scammed" or "he's making me lose a great deal of money" but with the word "pigeon" in it. So it's a pun that actually works in context.

[@StandardGoose]

When Lindsay said the phrase "getting a sexy lamp as a reward" my wife in the next room yelled "It's a major award!".

[@MiuXiu]

I LOVE how much you HATE that losing to a bird scene.

[@marykatherinebunn5893]

"Literacy killed the architect star."

[@B4K4xNi]

That's me in the corner

[@acorns-r-us]

Hellfire, to this day, will be the most bone-chilling villain song ever produced. Ever.

[@hummus_exual]

I think what sets apart Esmeralda being sexualised compared to Pocahontas or Jasmine is that the latter were sexualised for no real reason. They just wanted some babes thrown in there to appeal the masses.

[@Bluecho4]

I want to highlight something that someone else pointed out to me about the Hellfire scene.

[@xandermin]

Anyone wanna hear a sob story?

[@broadwaybrook2319]

"You're not like other gypsies! They're...evil."

[@PONR2006]

The whole "gypsy female protagonist turns out to be a white stolen baby" is actually a very common trope in European literature, going as far as the XV century at last. It banks on the idea that nobility is something you're born with, that where you're born in terms of family dictates your personality and beauty (because outer beauty was a reflection of inner beauty). That's why Cinderella grows up as a noblewoman with a genteel disposition even though she lives as a servant from infancy, for example. It's the mark of a estates society where people do not move socially, so to speak, but rather are born where they are MEANT to be and stay, by the will of God.

[@briargray2355]

Ya know something I like about both Esmerelda and Jasmine is that while both of them were the "brown sexy lady" archetype, both of them were very up front about when they found those pursuing them distasteful. Both of them reciprocated the affections of the men they were attracted to and were quick to enforce their boundaries when someone they weren't attracted to (Jafar and Frollo) made advances on them, and both were really good about standing up for themselves.

[@TheCultureshock101]

Funny how this was such a dark Disney movie (and one of my favorites!), yet Frollo's horse is canonically named "Snowball." Yes, you read that right. A black Friesian horse named Snowball. Guess a horse was the one thing Frollo loved the most.

[@auv_guavs]

Just realized two of the gargoyles were named