Watching movies as a kid means that there’s a lot that goes over your head. Sexual references? Check. Politics and religion? Forget about it!
Despite being a Disney movie, a lot of these things appeared very heavily in The Hunchback of Notre Dame . And it’s only once we rewatch the movie as adults that we discover it.
Ready for a serious wake-up call? Here are 10+ reasons why this movie really isn’t for kids, after all.
Everyone knows that Disney is good at making movies that people love.
Sure, we might all have opinions on what exactly is the best movie, but all in all, it’s understood that they make some of the best.
And while all their movies have a certain charm, some of them actually came from some pretty dark fairy tales.
Seriously, do some research ; some of them are quite nasty.
But probably the most terrifying movie of all is *The Hunchback Of Notre Dame*.
Don’t believe me? Well, let me explain why.
1. The overall plot is really, really dark.
The movie is about a corrupt judge who raises a deformed gypsy child in an attic, all the while trying to rid the city of gypsies.
2. That sounds bad enough *before* you add in the fact that he burns down Paris over his obsession with a gypsy named Esmeralda.
Yeah, not exactly kid-friendly.
3. The first scene sets the stage for all of this, as Frollo kills a woman who was just trying to protect her baby.
This baby is Quasimodo, the hunchback.
He kicks her in the head and she even dies on the steps of the church.
4. There are a lot of sexual lyrics in “Hellfire.”
When Frollo sang “Hellfire,” there were images of Esmeralda dancing in the smoke and fire.
Then, he sings, “This fire in my skin, this burning desire is turning me to sin” and “Let her taste the fires of Hell! Or else let her be mine and mine alone.”
One word: sexual.
5. There’s a goat smoking a pipe.
Doesn’t Disney know that kids are impressionable??
6. The Gargoyles made Quasi’s heartbreak over Esmeralda even worse.
I mean, they sang a whole song about how she likes him. Meanwhile, she was falling for Phoebus.
This totally teaches kids all about being friend-zoned.
7. Speaking of heartache, there’s one scene where Esmeralda and Phoebus make out in front of him.
Um, how inappropriate AND rude!!
Most Disney movies are all about the two main characters falling in love and having their Happily Ever After in the end.
8. There’s a lot of religious symbolism.
In addition to the Notre Dame being a church, there’s a lot of talk about God and sin.
There are even songs dedicated to religion, such as “God Help the Outcasts,” which Esmeralda sings.
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9. Esmeralda basically gets bribed with sex.
When she’s about to be burned alive in the end, Frollo does a last-ditch attempt to get her.
“Choose me or the fire,” he says, which basically means what your dirty mind is thinking.
10. There are a lot of violent scenes.
For one, there’s the tragic death of Quasimodo’s mother at the beginning.
Plus, the fact that Frollo almost killed Quasimodo as a baby.
Then, Frollo terrorizes the townspeople and even tries to murder a family by locking them inside their house and setting it on fire.
What is this, Game of Thrones ?
11. Frollo is a master of emotional manipulation.
He makes Quasimodo afraid of the world by telling him he’s a monster, he convinces him that his mother, a gypsy, abandoned him, and that gypsies are evil.
Then, to top it all off, he tries to convince Quasi that he *should* be grateful to have him!
Talk about a rough go!
This is the kind of stuff that lands people in therapy.
12. Frollo’s death is terrifying.
Kids get scarred easily, so watching Frollo plummet to his death hell would definitely be cause for nightmares!
13. The “peasant festival.”
I’m pretty sure that as children, we all thought that it was just a bunch of people having a good time and dancing all together.
While that is true to a degree, these people also got wildly drunk.
Oh, and they severely tortured Quasimodo when he came out.
So not okay.
14. We are given a look into the life of a criminal through lashings.
During one of the scenes where Phoebus goes to see Frollo, you can hear the previous captain of the guard getting lashings.
Could you think of anything else that is super dark about this classic Disney movie?
If you can, let us know down below in the comments!