I was looking at this article that studied the motif of "The wizard versus the witch" in Disney movies. They listed the "Disney wizards" and alongside Merlin from the Sword in the Stone and villainous sorcerers like Jafar or Doctor Facilier they had... King Triton. I was quite surprised but he IS one of the "Disney wizards". Elderly man with a big white beard, using magical powers thanks to wielding his magical staff - I mean, his magical trident... Later takes on Disney's Little Mermaid even made him the direct brother and rival of Ursula the Sea Witch (with this whole thing that the trident is Triton's magical item opposed by Ursula's shell). So yes, he IS one of those.
Looking at this article also made me realize that, despite what the person who wrote it tried to claim, in terms of magic users, the "wizard versus witch" motif is NOT actually a prevalent or strong Disney trope... There isn't much a gendered dichotomy when it comes to magic helpers and influences. Out of my mind there are only three of those "gendered magical fights" across the Disney movies and they are set far and wide apart (The Sword in the Stone, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog).
Since its early days Disney has been favorizing a conflict between same-gender outside of influences. Cinderella has the Fairy Godmother versus the witch-like Lady Tremaine. Sleeping Beauty has Maleficent versus the three Good Fairies. Aladdin, to take a more recent example, is the Genie versus Jafar.
Exception made for the very first Disney movie where the Evil Queen's influence is countered by the seven dwarves, who are not truly "wizard", though they are still men with white beards... In fact I realize now it is quite fascinating how Disney kind of had a vague age-positivity motif in its early days? The white-bearded seven dwarves are the good guys against the fake old/obsessed with youth queen ; all their good fairy godmothers are powerful little old ladies... And while yes there are good and bad old folks, the important thing is that there is a LOT of old folks, and very often in position of power (royalty or magic). Especially when you look at more recent Disney movies where you see less and less characters with gray beards or white hair... It might be just me but I get the feeling there was much more elderly characters in old Disney movies than today. (Of course I am looking at fairytale centered movies ; Cinderella versus Frozen, Sleeping Beauty versus Tangled, all that stuff)
I don't know, this is just a post where I scrambled ideas and throw them on a wall and call it "modern art".
