Disney and Pixar

I just read a fairly interesting article about Pixar and a presumed idea that the major theme of their movies is the humanizing of the non-humans, giving them trials and lonliness and love, turning them into persons. The discussion that followed was equally passionate, I was surprised at how deeply people read into the characters and themes of these entertaining movies. And here is a great little video tribute to Pixar, to remind you why you like their movies.
Pixar tribute


And then there's Disney - On Tuesday I saw a pretty cool movie, African Cats. It was done by DisneyNature and has spectacular African vistas and remarkable footage of several families of various cats living in the wild in Kenya. I highly recommend it.



But I have this love/hate relationship with the Disney corporation. As a kid, I watched Annette and Cubby and all those in the Mickey Mouse club, singing "M-I-C... see ya real soon.." And I LOVED watching Disney every Sunday night... Walt was like a friendly uncle visiting us each weekend and sharing these cool stories via TV. He was a visionary guy with Disneyland and then Epcot. And obviously his cartooning was cutting edge and he moved that medium along in such a wonderful way. All his movies were pretty great, everyone has fond memories of various Disney films they recall from their childhood.


But then there is the Disney corporation that it all has turned into. It is way different than Uncle Walt envisioned, and his heirs have fought over creative rights over the decades as it has evolved. When Michael Eisner took the helm, he too hosted Sunday night programs, but Uncle Michael just wasn't the same as Uncle Walt. His job was to make money for the stockholders and this he did. He revamped the way they made movies and got the merchandizing machine really revved up. They figured out the ka-ching of the sequel, making parts 2 and 3 and sending them straight to video much of the time. Disney is basically the end-all, be-all when it comes to merchandizing their characters, in every corner of the world.
My beef is twofold: First, with the way they've twisted even historical figures and turned them into something they weren't. Take Pocahontas, for instance. She was a real person, a GIRL who played games with the English boys and brought in provisions which helped save the English visitors' lives. But Disney's movie in '95 shows this voluptuous young woman, promoting the MYTH that she and John Smith were perhaps lovers. And then that image of her gets promoted in all the merchandizing that follows. And what about Princess Jasmine? Would an Emir really let his daughter run around in skimpy attire like that? Even as she was courted by Aladdin and other suitors, she'd have been quite covered.






Second: As a mother of young girls, I was made aware of the sexifying of the clothes for sale in Walmart after Hunchback of Notre Dame came. Images - really sexy ones - were on shirts and dresses for little girls. Is this really what we want our daughters to aspire to when they are 6 years old!!

So the merchandizing will continue and parents will just keep buying all the videos Disney cares to put out, and all the little plastic toys and such that make them so much money. It is all about making money, that's what runs it all. They aren't about teaching us anything, nor making the world a better place... their motives are purely monetary. And they are slowly working at being more PC as well. (It took until last year to make a move about a black princess.) The overall Lesbian/Gay/Queer population are hoping they'll have a movie about a girl who grows up and falls in love with a Princess, not a Prince.... but you can go read about that on someone else's blog, I won't touch that one here at all! I'll just sit and watch Peter Pan with Jemma. We have TWO copies of that one here!