Lightning and the Lightning Bug

Disney has decided that they are no longer a company that tells stories, but a screeching, scolding schoolmarm, more interested in enforcing discipline than education. Second, if they want to be a propaganda organ for the progressive movement, the people who run Disney are sure making a mess of the job.

Walt Disney was a man driven to tell stories. If he simply aimed to make money, Disney would have gone into real estate instead. Walt did end up owning a lot of acreage, but that was only so he could keep telling stories. And at that, he might just have been the best there ever was.

People will pay for a good story, and Disney built an organization that churned out tales that were better than anyone else’s. It drew individuals with a similar passion from all over the world. They made money, but the finished product was the important thing. The public picks up on craftsmanship like that, and rewards it.

Much of Disney’s output was simple, pure escapist entertainment. Think The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Love Bug, and That Darn Cat. These weren’t profound films to make us dwell on the big questions of life, but they weren’t advertised as such. The whole family could sit down and just enjoy them. To use an oversimplified simile, these movies were like drinking Kool-Aid, really sweet and not much more than sugar water. Still, kids love Kool-Aid, and parents chuckle over that simple delight.

Strangely enough, Disney didn’t just sell Kool-Aid. They were just as skilled at turning out coffee as well. Films like Old Yeller, The Lion King, and Finding Nemo all offered up plenty of action and adventure for kids. Adults picked up on the deeper themes under the surface. And when the kids grew, they tasted the coffee as well. Coffee isn’t as sweet as Kool-Aid. It’s bitter at times. But the taste is so much richer.

Storytelling that good doesn’t happen by accident. It takes time, effort, talent, and heartfelt passion for the art. When done right, it’ll bring in some money, usually. But the real payoff for the storyteller is the light in a child’s eyes as the story plays, and the joy that kindles in the parent’s heart. At some point, the people who run Disney decided to toss all that away. For reasons left as an exercise for the interested reader, they instead focused on packaging messages, not stories.

Now, I realize that there have always been messages in Disney movies and shows. A moral lesson is usually included in any tale. But that message is best hidden in the background, there should you want to look deep enough. Disney films subtly highlighted the perils of too much greed and the value of persistence, between the hijinks and car chases. And the messages were invisible if you just wanted to watch the spectacle. Kool-Aid or not, it was good storytelling. And good storytelling will draw a crowd, regardless of messaging, hidden or overt.

Propagandists can’t afford for you to ignore their message, and are annoyed that they have to bait the trap with a story in the first place. Consequently, they resent the exercise and disdain the aspect of human nature that forces them to make the effort. Of course, there’s not much they can find to admire in human nature to begin with. Messaging takes center stage, and the story plays second fiddle. If it’s not shoved to the wings.

Today the story is viewed by the people who run Disney as a rote formula to drape over the message as a costume or frame it like scenery. That is why recent remakes and sequels of earlier stories are mechanical and boring. Disney has put out remakes before. The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Love Bug, and That Darn Cat were all remade, with the care of skilled craftsmen who take well-earned pride in their work. Those movies were at least watchable.

However, when the goal is to scold and indoctrinate, a previously entertaining script or franchise is trimmed and appended on to in a cynical effort to house a weaponized message. The story, if recognizable at all, suffers horribly. The little mermaid is retooled in blackface, overtly accusing the audience of racism if they don’t praise the result. A preposterous claim because no-foolin’ racists are actually pretty thin on the ground in America, outside of the Democratic party. Luke Skywalker must be mocked and discarded to facilitate his replacement by someone who’s sole qualification is being female. An abrasive, profoundly unlikable opportunist steals Indiana Jones’s hat simply because his masculinity tars him as no longer acceptable. The hat doesn’t even fit. Her head is too big! These check all the woke boxes, but are so darned boring and predictable. And sad, ultimately sad.

Somehow, they walked away from telling tales to produce condescending infomercials for progressive pipe dreams. That’s neither Kool-Aid or coffee. It’s raw sewage. Not only do they expect you to applaud as that repulsive liquid is poured down your gullet, they still expect you to pay for it.

This approach is offensive to true storytellers. No matter. Disney has either fired all of those or bullied them into a miserable, sullen silence. If Disney feels compelled to churn out propaganda, at least they should try to do the job properly, as is done in these ten best propaganda films. These filmmakers were savvy enough to understand that you have to hold onto the audience’s interest, keep them in the seats without eyes glazing over.

Of course, a key component of effective propaganda is some respect for the target audience. Which Disney has lost in the couch cushions. Progressives have no regard for anyone who does not agree completely and immediately with the current party line. Toleration of dissent would lead to uncomfortable questions about why so few have embraced their glorious worldview without benefit of a bayonet in the back or AI software scanning social media for heresy.

All that, specifically, is why I won’t be seeing Disney movies or shows, or visiting Disney parks anytime soon. It’s just not worth the money or the time. And, Disney is just a pale, pathetic reflection of the glory, the magic it once seemed to produce so effortlessly. The comparison is, to paraphrase Mark Twain’s wisdom, the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

Image: PxFuel