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