Disney is at a low point - Where does it go from here?

 

    When Disney announced its 50th anniversary movie Wish, executives thought that the hype by name alone would be enough to make it one of its most successful films ever. It goes without saying that Disney is a juggernaut of animation with some of the most legendary and iconic movies under its belt, so expectations were high. When the trailer dropped for the movie, the response was... less than stellar.

    The first impression that a lot of people were pointing out is that the animation looked off. Fans had been begging Disney to make another 2-D animated film (the last one being 2009's the Princess and the Frog.) Instead they got a hybrid style, where backgrounds were 2-D but the characters were 3-D, and it just didn't mesh well. I even saw people accusing the company of using AI to finish some of the shots, which wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility but would permanently discredit them if that were true. Secondly, the story was extremely predictable. A young, quirky girl who wants more out of life must defeat a power-hungry King with the help of some cute marketable characters. I even saw in Target they were selling the toys before the movie even dropped, that's how big they thought this movie was going to be, which is just laughable in hindsight. 

HAHAHA he said butt

    This isn't about Wish though, because I haven't watched it. I just found the response to it fascinating. Disney is the pinnacle of animation, or at least it was. Now everything is a remake. This isn't specifically a Disney problem, a lot of movies are getting remade from different studios, but they seem to do it a lot. I saw the Beauty and the Beast live action remake in theaters and remember thinking even then that the film didn't add anything new or special. Likewise, the Little Mermaid and Aladdin weren't received well either, leading people to suspect that the studio is completely out of ideas.

    It hasn't been all bad, however. I found Moana to be one of the most devastatingly beautiful and impressive Disney flicks that I've ever seen. Zootopia is one of my favorite movies ever, and I'm desperate for a sequel. It took the studio years before the Incredibles saw a much-anticipated sequel. You would think that Disney would be a lot more open to hearing what the fans want, because it would actually put butts in seats, but I think what the corporate executives are betting on is another Frozen, something massively successful to a child audience that can then become extremely marketable. Frozen is a good movie, and it deserved its success, but did it honestly need a sequel? Was it not capable of standing on its own? 

    

    What really threw me over the edge, however, was CEO Bob Iger announcing a Toy Story 6. You've got to be kidding. Out of all of the movies that they could be putting their money and resources into, that's the one they chose? They're really banking on millennial nostalgia it seems. It's going to be terrible, we all know it's going to be terrible, so why do it? Well, we know the answer to that one, and that's profit over creativity. Instead of paying for original ideas and listening to animators, writers, and people that are truly passionate about these things, they listen to focus groups and what they think will make them the most money.

Seriously, stop making remakes and make a sequel to this already >:(

    This has resulted in an odd role reversal between Disney and studios like Universal Pictures, who played second to them for years but have now seen critical praise and success. The Bad Guys was delightful and hilarious. Puss in Boots: the Last Wish, ended up being my favorite movie of all time (I will write about that flick and how much I loved every minute of it. I highly recommend giving it a watch.) How to Train Your Dragon, the Super Mario Bros movie, Kubo and the Two Strings were all great. This isn't to say the studio hasn't had its fair share of flunks either, (Minions and Sing were... something,) but I think they are moving towards something big, and Disney would do well to take after them.

    It goes beyond just their movies, though. In a post-capitalist, anti-corporation society that we now live in, Disney being one of the most massive companies there is doesn't sit well with a lot of people anymore. Allegedly, Disney has cheated hundreds of writers and animators for their fair pension. Not to mention the impact their parks have on the environment, despite the park claiming they've been reaching for net zero greenhouse gas emissions since 2009. But the expansion of the park in Anaheim was reported that the park would significantly impact air quality, greenhouse gases and noise. It's hard to know the true number of emissions knowing the company probably pays people to keep things quiet, too.

    I have actually personally known people who have worked at Disney, and it sounds like a nightmare. My friend was doing their work study program, where she would work at the park and go to school at the same time and Disney would help pay for it. She described something exhausting to even hear. She worked 12 hour shifts, sometimes without breaks. People were difficult, rides would shut down. She even described some celebrity encounters who were also difficult to work with. People who dressed up as characters faced sexual harassment daily. (Not so fun fact, the princess that got grabbed the most, I learned, was Princess Jasmine.) Any complaints to managers mostly fell on deaf ears, relying on a customer-is-always-right attitude. As you can imagine, this also doesn't help their reputation.

    So how would Disney fix this? Well, I think they should start by listening to their animators, paying workers fairly, and truly committing to protecting the environment. I don't think that as a corporation, they're going to do that though, because that's exactly what they are. They play into the system just like any other massive company does, and the only way we can truly fix that is by dismantling that system entirely. Hopefully, it will practice what it preaches in the movie Wish. 

This girl on TikTok summed everything I said up nicely.

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