Disney/Pixar In General

Disneyland’s new nighttime show first look.

The actual projection show looks great, and I’m pretty sure they worked with Paul Rudish’s team at Disney TVA on it, which is always great to see. I love how kinetic it is, especially when projected on the Facade of Small World. The one hestitation I have is the music. It kinda makes me worried that Disney has made the mistake of trying to go “cool and hip” with this, even though they should know better by now.

There will apparently be no fireworks most of the time though, since Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is going under an extensive refurb. (Which probably explains why the ones you can see here are a bit underwhelming by Disney Standards.)

Edited by megaeliz on Jan 17th 2019 at 3:48:17 PM

A live-action Hunchback seems fantastic. My issue with Disney live-action films is that Disney seems to want to remake the entirety of the DAC. I know it's a matter of opinion but I can't imagine many were drooling for an Aladdin or Dumbo remake. Something like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, however, would be fine to adapt as it's a serious work with several live-action adaptations. I'm just curious how they deal with Esmeralda.

I would prefer if all the films were Perspective Flip's ala Maleficent but oh well. I'll just live with A Tale of....

Speaking of new Disney films, weren't they making a Rumpelstiltskin film? I saw it on the Disney Animated Canon page years ago but could never find a source, so it was either fake or it was put into Development Hell.

When it comes to fairy-tales, I want Disney to do a The Marvelous Land of Oz or Glinda of Oz adaptation some day (anything but The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). There's not nearly enough Ozma out there.

They partly did Marvelous Land with Return To Oz - it has Jack Pumpkinhead, the Powder of Life, and the Gump; plus Princess Mombi's name - but that's largely an adaptation of Ozma Of Oz.

There are several factors that probably ensure a movie of that book wouldn't get made nowadays (General Jinjur and the Army of Revolt being a parody of feminism; Ozma being essentially transgender) - so all we have is the anime version and the Barry Mahon so-bad-it's-good film.

Edited by Aldo930 on Jan 17th 2019 at 3:22:47 AM

Ozma being Raised as the Opposite Gender isn't that big a deal. Plenty of characters are that way. If anything, we're more accepting of allegorically trans characters than before.

Return to Oz was nice and it's my favorite Oz adaptation, but I'd like a genuinely Truer to the Text big-budget Oz adaptation. No more stuff riffing off of the MGM adaptation.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Jan 17th 2019 at 3:26:43 AM

Parody of feminism? lolwut.

You do realize that his mother-in-law was one of the original feminists right? His entire series IS feminist. Maybe it hasn't aged well and gets a bit complicated, but I wouldn't say its a parody of feminism.

x5 Why is Sleeping Beauty's Castle being refurbished?

Edited by Karxrida on Jan 17th 2019 at 5:01:17 AM

Yes, it is, even if you take into account that Baum arguably was a feminist. It's a more good-natured parody than other parodies of feminism around that time, and there's more than a few jabs at men too (the women gladly go back to the old ways because they're tired of eating their husbands' cooking)...

If anything, Baum was a feminist with a sense of humor about the whole thing.

Fair. I apologize. I'm a little too used to 'BAH, FEMINISM IS CANCER ON SOCIETY' on the internet. Particuarly after a nasty spat of that in a different thread a few weeks ago.

Yeah, the Anti-SJW movement is getting on my last nerve, too. Those people are such snowflakes. Supposedly Disney has all on its own ruined animation, Star Wars and Marvel by "going SJW".

Never mind that Disney Princess movies have been their most reliable money makers from day one.

Never mind that there was nothing left to ruin regarding Star Wars in the first place, and what doesn't work about it, is mostly bad writing.

Never mind that it has taken until last year for Marvel to have a lead which is not white and we get one which is not male just now.

Apparently the main work on the castle is redoing the roofs, along with the usual paint and touch-ups.

A live-action Hunchback is something I wholeheartedly support, especially if they go into darker territory. They did that with Maleficent and Beauty and the Beast, but it was not very well done since it clashes with the original movies' lighter tones. I think that would be really good for something like Hunchback.

Remember how I said the Buzzy AA was allegedly stolen from the Defunct Wonders of Life Pavilion in EPCOT Center? Apparently this actually got some news coverage.

At least we know someone definitely stole his clothes? I don’t think the rumor that the whole figure was stolen as well has been confirmed, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Edited by megaeliz on Jan 18th 2019 at 12:10:25 PM

So, I came across these:

https://truthout.org/articles/uncle-walts-kingdom-the-fascist-political-economy-of-disney-world/ http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC40folder/LionKing.html

Now, you could argue that it's hardly unusual for big companies to have a few skeletons in their closets. The Ford Motor Company, for example, has had to bear the legacy of their openly anti-Semitic founder for decades. But there's a difference. Ford has openly apologized for the things Henry Ford said and did. Today, the fact that Henry Ford admired Adolf hitler and published an anti-Semitic newspaper is common knowledge.

Disney has never done any such thing, for fear of tarnishing it's founder's oh-so-precious image. Company-authorized biographies of Walt Disney must paint him solely in a flattering light. Anything unpleasant about the man himself is either ignored or outright censored. The company is so eager to downplay its founder's pseudo-fascist political leanings, despite the fact that they made it what it is today, that they tightly control any and all information about him. And consider the original plan for EPCOT: People wouldn't have voting rights, no one owns their land, everyone would be forced to work, unions would be banned.

This ties back into my earlier rant about Disney being so obsessed with its "wholesome, family-friendly" image that it's afraid to branch out into new genres. Disney isn't just obsessed with being family friendly. It's obsessed with being conservative, and that goes back to Walt himself.

I mean, yeah... Its a thing. A thing I don't like. But I also don't know what more to do about it. I think everyone, because of the freedom of information in the digital age, is aware of it, much to Disney's chagrin. I think the current and coming generations will acknowledge it more and more to the point that attempts to hide it will be worth little, but I also doubt it would be through fanfare or some announcement.

I don't think Disney is exactly conservative much these days. They've taken production out of some states over anti-LGBT laws, they regularly support Gay Days at their theme parks, up until about two years ago they had Goth Days too. They've been slowly including more representation on their TV Stations over the years (SLOWLY. It is a known fact that even in the most liberal of communities, children's media has an extremely conservative bend) and its still a matter of WHEN rather than IF they will have a mainstream gay character in their movies. Hell, many of their creatives are openly gay and have been since even the late 80s.

I would expect Disney himself to be kind of horrified by what his company has become these days.

I had thought Adam Warlock in the MCU would be the first gay character in a big budget movie, but with GOTG 3 in the air I don't know what will happen.

Sure, I realize that one could attribute a lot of that to corperate greed (Capitalism wants to make money off as many people as possible!) but I also see few ways that corperations CAN support minorities without someone applying that argument.

I would expect, as the newer generation EVENTUALLY has to come into power within the company, we'll probably see better representation and policies come out.

It might be getting slightly off topic, but honestly, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Often, big Social Change is spurred, at least in part, by economics. It's the same principle that makes things like Boycotts and Sit-Ins during the Civil Rights movement effective.

Edited by megaeliz on Sep 9th 2019 at 4:14:11 AM

I wouldn't bet on this. Walt Disney WAS a man ahead of his time. For all the conservative image the Disney company has, it was always a weird version of conservative progressive...meaning, that it always looked into the future, but moved in the direction in a way which wouldn't scare the general audience.

Ie officially Disney, like every other animation studio, had a policy to hire females as inkers but not as artists. In reality, there were more females working for Disney in high positions than in any other animation studio. More Po Cs too, btw, since Walt Disney truly cared about talent above all else.

The gay stuff might shock Walt Disney, but not more than any other man of his time. And he would most likely get used to it pretty quickly. I am sure he would have adored Ashman.

One always has to keep in mind that a LOT of the accusations levelled against Walt Disney are simply BS, with most of them started AFTER his death, and the sources were people who had a reason to dislike him or to reframe their memories. Those who worked for decades with him have always refuted most of those claims…most. I think the darkest spot is the role he played in the communist witch-hunt.

One has to add that the notion of him being an Anti-Semit is so badly supported, it is most likely not true. The so called "evidence" is circumstantial at best, and on the flipside, you have the Sherman Bros who worked with him for years and who told everyone ready to listen the story about Walt Disney firing a lawyer because he made an Anti-Semitic remark in their presence. But since the media saw it fit to "joke" about Anti-Semitic Walt Disney, most people nowadays think that it is true and that they are in some terrible secret of Walt Disney.

Regarding corporations going "progressive": They don't. Disney doesn't either. They do the math and realize: Hey, the people who are pro-LGTB rights are now more than the ones who have a problem with it, so let's go with this. It's a good thing though in the sense that it shows that we have already won.

Edited by Swanpride on Jan 18th 2019 at 3:00:27 AM

Here's what our Walt Disney page says about it.

There's definitely some level of Values Dissonance at play here, but that's just the way of things.

Edited by megaeliz on Apr 21st 2022 at 1:12:00 PM

Disney has a policy about official biographies of other people who worked at the company too, apparently - that's why Amid Amidi's book about Ward Kimball wasn't published.

Walt was pretty conservative, and very anti-union, but while the company's been conservative creatively, I can't say the same otherwise. There are few companies who've done as much for gay people for as long as Disney.

That's probably what set both Walt and his company apart. He was a genius at recognizing and recruiting talent, and would respect anyone who could bring something new and exciting to the table, even if they didn't happen to be white and male. (In fact several legendary figures in Disney history, who's work we still enjoy today, were woman, such as (but not limited to) Imagineers Harriet Burns, Alice Davis, and Mary Blair.

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 17th 2019 at 10:41:09 AM

Bottom line, Disney is complicated. Even creatively speaking. There they didn't do a lot (or anything) for gay rights but, well, they have the longest running female lead franchise...if you consider how rare female leads in Western animation still is, that's quite impressive.

Lee Unkrich leaving Pixar.

After 25 years, Lee Unkrich is leaving Pixar.

EDIT: 'd!

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Jan 18th 2019 at 7:39:54 AM

Looks like he's leaving for personal reasons (e.g. to spend more time with family) and under amicable circumstances. Best of luck to him.

Best of luck for him.

Just found this little bit of obscure Disneyland record history. It’s amusingly jarring to hear Thurl Ravenscroft singing Kermit the Frog’s, “It’s Not Easy Being Green”.

Not to say it’s bad though. It’s the opposite, just kinda funny to me.

Edited by megaeliz on Jan 19th 2019 at 11:04:24 AM