Disney to "Quiet the Noise" in Culture Wars

[tvguy]

San Francisco and Disney's roots go together?

Nope. A loud statement by the Disney family over how Disney was being operated.

 

[BrianL]

This I agree with 100%.

Sad part is, I'm sure lots of those clumsy attempts were probably not that clumsy at the start and became clumsy because of higher ups meddling with a story. But that's a dif conversation haha.

I dunno, I think some writers do it withoug being told to do it a certain way. It's sort of complicated really to do it "the right way" though. I mean, like any art, some of it is going to work and some isn't.

Please don't get upset at me for using quotation marks - they are apporpriate in this case, I swear!

 

[starlite_]

The ironic thing here - you don’t actually know me, or what I think naturally diverse looks like. So who’s being the judgmental one?

The way you word things gives me an pretty good idea tbh. But feel free to be more precise in what you mean by naturally diverse. I wouldn't be opposed to be proven wrong.

 

[Kim&Chris]

So you think diversity is "an agenda"?

No

 

[tx911]

Im not the original poster, but I’m going to give this a go.

Diversity as a check box is an agenda. Including diversity just so that you can say that you did is an agenda.

Being true to a story, choosing the best actor(s) regardless of race, being ethnically realistic, not forcing diversity awkwardly in, in other words, being naturally diverse is not an agenda. There’s a difference. Being genuine about the diversity just looks and comes across differently.

Bingo.

To take it a step further, forced implementation of diversity to check a box is actually harmful to the group it purports to help, and degrades the relationship between said group and the majority.

Diversity should be a natural consequence of equal opportunity and equal ability to take advantage of those opportunities, not "back-end" diversity in which an overt effort to hire minorities is made in order to look good on paper.

 

[SteveH]

Remember the days of great story telling? Like Toy Story, Up, Wall-e, and so many others. That was the era of great writing, great production and when movies really were entertaining without the controversy. If Disney can get back to good story telling that could go a long way. But when I look at the upcoming Snow White adaptation, I cringe - how is that going to bring people together. I am just very doubtful they can or will accomplish this dream.

 

[MillauFr]

I'm not following posters here are saying Disney is getting back to its roots? What roots? At its roots Disney is a private company whose primary purpose is to maximize shareholder value.

 

[BrianL]

Bingo.

To take it a step further, forced implementation of diversity to check a box is actually harmful to the group it purports to help, and degrades the relationship between said group and the majority.

Diversity should be a natural consequence of equal opportunity and equal ability to take advantage of those opportunities, not "back-end" diversity in which an overt effort to hire minorities is made in order to look good on paper.

While you do have a point, the problem is that in many, many cases, unless it is forced it simply won't happen. Humans tend to stay within their own circles and that will often mean people similar to us. We have to push and step out of our comfort zone and allow exposure to different kinds of people - but not everybody will do that. This isn't necessarily nefarious (sometimes it is though), but at any rate we will never get there without effort. Certainly some attmpts to do so work better than others and all that - I'm not purporting to know how to fix the world here. I do recognize what it is like though.

 

[starlite_]

Remember the days of great story telling? Like Toy Story, Up, Wall-e, and so many others. That was the era of great writing, great production and when movies really were entertaining without the controversy. If Disney can get back to good story telling that could go a long way. But when I look at the upcoming Snow White adaptation, I cringe - how is that going to bring people together. I am just very doubtful they can or will accomplish this dream.

What about the LA Snow White is against bringing people together?

 

[starlite_]

No

Glad to hear it. What do think "agenda" means then? I am struggling with understanding the context of your post if that is the case.

 

[tx911]

While you do have a point, the problem is that in many, many cases, unless it is forced it simply won't happen. Humans tend to stay within their own circles and that will often mean people similar to us.

I disagree. I think most people welcome diversity. The world would be dreary without it.

I do not think a lack of diversity in a particular setting necessarily implies racism or any other -ism either.

If a lack of diversity exists in a particular area, there are probably other reasons for it that have nothing to do with race per se.

 

[cvjw]

I'm not following posters here are saying Disney is getting back to its roots? What roots? At its roots Disney is a private company whose primary purpose is to maximize shareholder value.

They have been doing a terrible job of maximizing shareholder value lately. Our stock is down over 50%. They need a course correction to right the stock value.

 

[BrianL]

I disagree. I think most people welcome diversity. The world would be dreary without it.

I do not think a lack of diversity in a particular setting necessarily implies racism or any other -ism either.

If a lack of diversity exists in a particular area, there are probably other reasons for it that have nothing to do with race per se.

I think that most people like to think that they welcome diversity, but the reality doesn't really bear that out. It's a subconsious thing and it's not always an -ism or anything, but it's just not realizing it.

 

[BrianL]

They have been doing a terrible job of maximizing shareholder value lately. Our stock is down over 50%. They need a course correction to right the stock value.

You're right - their roots are to have a share price over 100 bucks! The thing is, the stock price isn't down because of any culture war. It's all about streaming and it's inability to turn a profit so far.

 

[HokieRaven5]

You're right - their roots are to have a share price over 100 bucks! The thing is, the stock price isn't down because of any culture war. It's all about streaming and it's inability to turn a profit so far.

Streaming, dying linear markets, dying theatrical market, lack of a dividend and institutional investors overcorrected from their initial overreaction to Disney+ subscriber #’s neglecting that it needed to be able to make money.

 

[BrianL]

Streaming, dying linear markets, dying theatrical market, lack of a dividend and institutional investors overcorrected from their initial overreaction to Disney+ subscriber #’s neglecting that it needed to be able to make money.

Well, if you want to get all technical about it, yeah.

 

[cvjw]

You're right - their roots are to have a share price over 100 bucks! The thing is, the stock price isn't down because of any culture war. It's all about streaming and it's inability to turn a profit so far.

And Disney making movie after movie that people don’t care enough about to buy tickets to and see in the theater.

 

[BrianL]

And Disney making movie after movie that people don’t care enough about to buy tickets to and see in the theater.

Partly becuase they know they can see it on D+ relatively soon. It all comes back to that.

 

[Smugpugmug]

There are times when it is forced, but they are actually rare. Sometimes it's not so much "forced" as it is just clumsily handled - like when they add a character of a certain ethnicity and give that character every stereotypical trope that they know. Often this is done in good faith, but it's still pretty dumb. I'm not one to get all bent out of shape about it though - it can sometimes contributre to a story not being that good, but that's about all the damage it does. I'm certainly not afraid of nor offended by it or anything.

Just my opinion (also I've discussed this with my LGBT friends) but an example of it being forced is with Lefou in the Beauty and the Beast remake a few years ago. We saw right through that.

You're right that it's rare as that's one of the only recent examples I can think of.

 

[BrianL]

Just my opinion (also I've discussed this with my LGBT friends) but an example of it being forced is with Lefou in the Beauty and the Beast remake a few years ago. We saw right through that.

You're right that it's rare as that's one of the only recent examples I can think of.

Right. I mean, there was always some subtext with that character. It didn't have to be overt. So, you know, they turn it up to eleven for the remake.