In “Dashing Heroes,” Amy M. Davis talks about the various types of characters male heroes play in Disney animated movies. One such character type is the frenemies; which is what I want to talk about in this blog. Here, Davis says that frenemies are “heroes who find themselves thrown together, linked by a common love interest (which makes them rivals) or a common goal” (130). In the chapter, she talks about three sets of frenemies, including Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones, Quasimodo and Phoebus, and Wreck-it-Ralph and Fix-it-Felix.
The frenemies pair I would like to talk about is Kuzco and Pacha from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000). While these two are not driven apart because they love the same women (Pacha is married and has a family in the movie, while Kuzco is characterized as being incapable of loving anyone but himself), they find themselves working towards a common goal.
Kuzco and Pacha in The Emperor’s New Groove
At the beginning of the film, the pair are established as adversaries. Kuzco indicates to Pacha that he intends to destroy Pacha’s family’s home in order to build a pool and waterslide for himself in a palace he’s calling Kuzco-Topia. Kuzco, being a mean and rotten emperor, gets turned into a llama by his power-hungry and evil advisor, Yzma.
After being turned into a llama, Kuzco finds himself on Pacha’s cart and demands that Pacha take him back to his palace. Pacha does so only when Kuzco agrees that if he helps Kuzco, he will build Kuzco-Topia somewhere else and save Pacha’s land. Kuzco agrees, although completely intending on doing what he wants after getting back to the palace, which means not following through on the deal with Pacha.
However, through their pseudo-alliance, they find themselves with a common adversary, Yzma, and the pair end up bonding throughout the course of the film. At the end of the film, Kuzco becomes more in touch with his humanity and becomes a better person through his friendship with Pacha, and Pacha comes to understand Kuzco. After returning to the palace and after being restored to his human status, Kuzco does honor his agreement with Pacha, and builds Kuzco-Topia on a nearby hill, leaving Pacha’s home untouched.
This pair breaks the chapter’s goals of considering non-aristocratic characters (as Kuzco is an emperor), however the frenemy character type shows up in this film regardless and both characters are changed by their relationship [friendship] with each other.