[Anaheim, October 29. Image via Getty]

[Anaheim, September 13. Image via Splash.]

(click to enlarge)

Here's what happens: This guy whips out a megaphone and proposes to his girlfriend, Erika, whom he met a year ago at Disneyland. Then he and a cast of thousands launch into a polished and professional musical number involving a really awful original song filled with Disney product placements. Or, as Disney puts it, "A magical moment happens on Main Street, U.S.A. when a young man proposes to his girlfriend on a Summer evening in Disneyland® Resort."

Viewers are sharply divided. Says one romantic on the OC website, "What if the two were or are cast members at Disneyland... and truly met on the job a year ago on MAINSTREET and John talked to the performance department and asked to do the special proposal? Why couldn't it be true? Seriously... quit being so negative. And so what if it was staged... IT WAS DISNEYLAND!!!" YouTube viewers are harsher. Many, in typically scholarly YouTube fashion, declare the guy to be gay. Others point out triumphantly that it must be staged - because how else does everyone know the words?! And some people actually point out reasonable things, like that this coincides suspiciously with Disneyland's new "Summer Nightastic spectacular."

Whether the couple are acting or not - and we hope they are - the video's caught on: in addition to its views, MousePlanet writes that "A cast member tells us that the resort has seen a recent increase in the number of people who call the Guest Relations and Fairy Tale Weddings departments to inquire about staging their own proposal at Disneyland, but, as MousePlanet reader 'MrZombie' discovered when he called, the options are limited."

Update: Since this ran, we've received information from a tipster informing us that the video is a fake: the actress who plays "Erika" has a different boyfriend In Real Life. Which means that this is, indeed, purely for PR, and the Lamest Scam Ever.

Disneyland Musical Marriage Proposal [YouTube]
A Disney Princess Bride-to-Be [The Big Money]
Did Disneyland Try Viral Video Promotion of Summer Nightastic? [OC]

Goldstein's work depicts several of the Disney heroines in depressing scenes straight out of the 21st century. These women wear the costumes of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Princess Jasmine, and Snow White, but they live thoroughly mundane lives devoid of the Disney happy ending. Goldstein says she wants to show the strange and dark history that lies underneath the simplistic narrative of the cartoon versions:

The project was inspired by my observation of three-year-old girls, who were developing an interest in Disney's Fairy tales. As a new mother I have been able to get a close up look at the phenomenon of young girls fascinated with Princesses and their desire to dress up like them. The Disney versions almost always have sad beginning, with an overbearing female villain, and the end is predictably a happy one. The Prince usually saves the day and makes the victimized young beauty into a Princess.

As a young girl, growing up abroad, I was not exposed to Fairy tales. These new discoveries lead to my fascination with the origins of Fairy tales. I explored the original brothers Grimm's stories and found that they have very dark and sometimes gruesome aspects, many of which were changed by Disney. I began to imagine Disney's perfect Princesses juxtaposed with real issues that were affecting women around me, such as illness, addiction and self-image issues.

Goldstein gives the Princesses adult lives that contrast strangely with their Fairy-tale garb. She places Cinderella in a dark bar, Snow White surrounded by kids and a lazy husband, Rapunzel in a chemo ward, and Princess Jasmine in Iraq. Goldstein turns the familiar narrative into something uncanny, and thus calls attention to the formulaic stories of the Disney classics, which bastardize the original fables in order to create something more blandly cheerful. Goldstein views her work as a sort of return to the violence of the original stories, a way of articulating the unpleasant history of the Grimm fairy tales through a modern setting.

In a similar vein, filmmaker A.D. Calvo has announced that he is planning on creating a twisted version of Snow White, which will be released shortly after Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Calvo says Snow White will feature controversial themes like drug abuse and teen suicide.

"Although a fantasy, this is hardly a fairytale," said Calvo. "It's much more about despair than anything else. I'm looking to explore dark romanticism as it relates to modern culture. I realize some might find my interpretation a bit disturbing," he says. "This is not your mother's Snow White."

While neither Goldstein nor Calvo are doing anything particularly new or shocking—after all, both consider their work a return to the darkness of the original tales—there is something refreshing about seeing the ubiquitous image of the beautiful and passive Princess toppled. Maybe it is just the goth teenager in me, but I enjoy seeing the shellacked versions of female perfection thrown into the unhappy reality of modern life. At least it is an improvement over all the self-proclaimed modern "Princesses" walking the streets today.

Fallen Princesses [JPG Magazine]
Snow White Contemplates Suicide - Filmmaker Set to Take Snow White to the Dark Side [Breitbart]

• After nine days in a burn center, Travis Barker has been released from the hospital and is heading back to L.A. By bus. A friend says: "He will never fly again – ever." [People]
• Shanna Moakler is sticking by her ex-husband, because they still love each other. Also: "He's not in good shape," a source says. "It's very serious." He's headed to a hospital in the L.A. area. [People]
• Here's a picture of DJ AM, who left his home yesterday to attend a memorial service for Travis Barker's assistant. AM has clearly visible burns, but seems to be able to walk. [TMZ, People]
• Actress Joely Fisher and husband Chris Duddy have adopted a baby girl from South Central Los Angeles. The infant is an African-American girl they've named Olivia. A family friend says: "Joely and Chris were inspired by Angelina and Madonna's decisions to adopt a baby from Africa. But after looking into the adoption process, they realized there were so many children in the L.A. area who needed homes." Word. [Star]
• What's this? Brad and Angelina looking to adopt a kid from a Latin American country? Two months after having twins? Ay dios mio. [Daily Mail]

• Christina Applegate talked to Oprah about her double mastectomy. She says she didn't cry at first. "And then when I met with my doctor and I told him that was my decision and he brought the surgeon in and it was like the flood gates just opened up and I – I lost it." [People]
• Janet Jackson canceled her concert in Montreal on Monday after she "got suddenly ill." She was rushed to the hospital. Think it was a hangover from Jermaine Dupri's birthday party? As you'll recall, he vomited on her lap. [Yahoo News]
• Robert Redford on his late friend and co-star, Paul Newman: "This was a man who lived a life that really meant something and will for some time to come." ABC News]
• Here's a collection of quips by Paul Newman. [Chicago Sun-Times]
• Miley Cyrus decided to take over Disneyland for her 16th birthday bash, but the date she wants happens to be the Gay Day celebration at the theme park. So: Miley in, gays out. [Perez Hilton]
• Britney may have won an MTV award for her "Piece Of Me" video, but she doesn't even think it's that great. "It's a cool video, but I think by far I've done videos that are way better," she says. "So I was really shocked that ... it got the award." As were we, dear. As were we. [AP]
• Despite what you might have heard, there is no Britney sex tape. Says a source close to Britney. [E!]
• Britney's in New York, btw. [The.Life Files]
• Plug your ears: Jessica Simpson is going to sing on Dancing With The Stars. [UPI]
• Naomi Watts turned 40 on Sunday, and she got a big present from her man, Liev Schreiber: A Mercedes-Benz Bluetec, the new, environmentally friendly luxury SUV. [E!]
• Two people involved in an accident that injured Shia LaBeouf were charged Monday with giving police false information about the wreck. There was a young couple in the other car; apparently the woman said she was driving, but the man was behind the wheel. [Yahoo News]
• Lauren Conrad: Seen making out with My Boys actor Kyle Howard. [E!]
• LC and Audrina are not "Top Friends" on MySpace. But trying to make news out of someone's MySpace mood is dumb. [Perez Hilton]
• All My Sons was the highest-grossing (non-musical) play on Broadway last week. Is Katie Holmes to thank? [AP]
• Ashlee Simpson sleeps with so many teddy bears there's hardly room for Pete Wentz in the bed. [Perez Hilton]
• Eva Longoria continues to wear flowy tops and drink water instead of cocktails; gossipers continue to speculate that she is pregnant. [E!]
• Three words: Katy Perry doll. [NY Mag]
• Madonna's concert at Wembley stadium ran over the time allotted, so she has to pay a £135,000 fine. Pocket change for Her Madgesty! [Guardian]
• David Beckham will be a character in a series of books that will bring children to reading through, um, soccer. [The Sun, Telegraph]
• The "poor" chick on Gossip Girl hangs with high society in real life. [Page Six]
• Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr bring an uplifting movie about a breast-cancer drug to Lifetime. [Village Voice]
• Does Sophia Bush read Jezebel? In Health magazine she says: "It's weird: In our business, I'm a size 2 and considered curvy. It's important to remind young women, 'Listen, even skinny girls have cellulite, even Halle Berry has cellulite, and what you see in photos isn't totally real.'" [People]
• Keira Knightley does not drink, do drugs or smoke (really?) but she does curse up a storm. "I've a foul mouth like my mum," she says. [Mirror]
• Shocker: Black people like singer Robin Thicke even though he is white. [Newser]
• Traci Bingham is bringing a new show to Fox. "It's like America's Next Top Model," she says, "only they'll act, and perform and be athletic, as well." The difference is that Traci won't make fun of the contestants like Tyra does: "Don't you hate that?" [E!]
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck is "really upset" about the election conversations on The View, and Barbara Walters has had to call a powwow with Hasselbeck, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar. Can Babs make the ladies work it out? [Perez Hilton]
• Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers just enrolled as a freshman a the University of Southern California. He'll be studying music, of course. He should have gone to a Catholic school, since Catholic schoolgirls rule. [Perez Hilton]
• Demi Moore is suing a magazine that printed pictures of her and other celebrities at an Oscars party she hosted. [News.com.au]
• Country singer Mindy McCready will surrender to Tennessee authorities on today to start a 60-day jail sentence for violating probation on a previous drug-related charge. [Yahoo News]
• Kevin Costner will release his first album with his country-rock band, not that you give a shit. [People]
• More bad news for Ed McMahon: He's being sued by Merv Griffin's company. [USA Today]
• Ellen Burstyn has joined the cast of Showtime's Possible Side Effects, a drama set inside the world of the pharmaceutical industry. Tim Robbins is writing and directing. Diagnosis: Good! [Variety]
• Sadie Frost has swapped fashion for filmmaking. Her short film is about an evil nanny who terrorizes a single mother and daughter. [Mirror]
• "I've just written my first screenplay. It is pretty incredible to finish it — the first draft. I got somebody to teach me — there’s a programme called Final Draft. I had someone come round my house and teach me how to use it." — Geri Halliwell. [The Sun]
• "Listen, I’m a reasonable human being. If people pay me enough, I’ll stop playing my music." — James Blunt. [The Sun]
• "I convinced myself I was pregnant when I was 13 and I hadn’t even got my period. There are so many rumours and also so much wrong information being passed around, so it is a really important message the World Contraception Day is trying to give out. I am not the kind of person who talks about my sex life, but I am not afraid to talk about contraception. I go three, maybe four times a year to get tested for sexually transmitted infections and most of the time I don’t even need to. I just go for peace of mind." — Kelly Osbourne. [The Sun]
• "I’ve written some really, really deeply sexual things on some of the cards I’ve given him for opening night. But just to wind him up, you know. He’s great. He’s a truly remarkable man. You know, if I was gay or a female I’d, well, just want to marry him." — Daniel Radcliffe on his Equus co-star, Lorenzo Pisoni. [Daily Star]

[Anaheim, California; February 10. Image via Bauer-Griffin]