DISNEY FROM GLORY TO CONTROVERSY

Disney, a project born in the heart of a man who conquered not only America but the world, has become a symbol of dream and magic, has been part of the childhood of most of us, and with such a strong and lasting appeal, is still part of the childhood of most children on the planet, but the question that remains before the evident financial crisis that the company is going through and its controversies with the government are: Will the legacy of Disney endure in the future, and the company will continue to be the place where magic happens?

Since it was founded on October 16, 1923, Disney has been at the forefront of world entertainment, with its cartoons and movies enchanting generations, the company has always brought innovation and fun to thousands of people around the world, with parks, studios, movies and million-dollar franchises.

But now we look with surprise at a Disney in financial trouble, with movies doing poorly at the box office, and a complex dispute with the Florida government, and we wonder what is happening in the Kingdom of entertainment, is the magic running out?

On the verge of completing 100 years, the how and why Disney has reached this critical point is quite complex, and I as a fan of its stories and characters, would like to say that it is the fault of the California Government that is "politically persecuting" the company, that times have changed, and people today are more interested in violent movies and games (the subject of my next post) and no longer give the deserved value that Disney movies and products have.

But although I am a fan, I am not blind or foolish, and I will say here why I think Disney has reached the critical point that it has, and I will start talking about the legal mess in Florida, where Disney claims to be suffering political retaliation, when in fact what is happening is the Florida government putting things in their place, come on, how a company has the right to a part of the territory of a state to command and control as they wish, I am not saying that the government should intervene in the freedom of commerce, far from it, but I think it is fair that the governor should have the right to appoint people, to be on the inside of the board of directors, looking out for the best interest of the people of California, have you thought about every company in the country owning its own territory, without supervision from the state? In my opinion, that is potentially dangerous.

The fact is that this controversy with the state started because Disney thought it was okay to discuss gender identity and sexual orientation with children under the age of ten, which should not shock anyone since in many of their current films these themes are already quite evident, and although I think that everyone has the right to have their own opinion and that this opinion should be respected, I honestly don't think that this is the only reason why the government took the attitude it did, and just the fact that Disney thinks it can do more than the Florida government, already gives us a lot to think about regarding what Disney thinks about the rest of us.

Which brings me to my second point: why in recent times, Disney movies and productions are falling so much in the public's preference, and in my opinion, the reason is simple, the large number of reboots and live-actions that in their majority, instead of being better, fall short of the classics, the woke agenda and constant need to put political and social agendas in their films, not in a healthy and natural way, but in a totally forced and superficial way, with the only purpose of "wokeism", and what in fact has been making Disney's productions accumulate one flop after another.

I believe that issues such as female empowerment, the LGBTQI+ theme, and gender issues are important and should be addressed in all possible media, but trying to take this and insert it in a forced and artificial way in content already known to the public, changing the essence of classic stories for this goal, and something that does not please most of the public, in general.

I think what is missing at Disney is the humility to understand that fans of the classics, want the classics as they were simple and with good life lessons, superhero fans want their classic superheroes to be respected and not nerfed and turned into failures for a woke agenda.

Disney should talk about inclusion, but they should use their strength to bring to light the issues of gender, race and sexual orientation, with new, original stories that reflect the new times and the issues are placed naturally and consistent with the story, after all what is the need to invent a She-Hulk, if you can create a new heroine equally strong and empowered, that can be successful, without having to rely on the name of the old Hulk.

I think that what Disney lacks today is the courage to innovate, they want to bring to light important and current issues, but do not want to update themselves for this, they do not want to risk creating new things, and are holding on to their past successes recycling them again and again and again, Disney in my opinion although well-intentioned with its guidelines, is a giant that has grown so much that it seems to be afraid of its own size and ended up losing its essence that has always been the ability to create the new, and to enchant and, at the same time, teach important values to people.

New times require new values, and in the business world, as in nature, the one who can adapt lasts, and Disney seems to no longer know how to innovate or adapt, and is paying the consequences of this inability, with bad box office numbers, fights in court, and the mass dismissal of employees. It is sad to see a company as inspiring and conscientious as Disney, with so many problems, one can only hope and support that they can find their way again.

And the way, in my opinion, is to innovate in content so that they actually reflect the new times, respect the classics, are they princesses, superheroes or beings from other galaxies, and have the humility to recognize that although global, they are just one company that must respect the laws of their government and their country, and they must respect the values of their public, who is in the majority are parents with children. I hope that Disney finds itself in time so that we can see stories that reflect the issues of the new times, with the Disney standard of quality, without having to do away with the classics of our childhood, and so that we can trust that Disney is hand in hand with America and not a company that has grown so much that it now thinks it is above everyone else.

FOOTNOTE

A recent case that illustrates exactly what I wanted to exemplify in this post is the case of the Budweiser brewery, whose majority audience is male, and decided to launch an advertisement, with a trans model representing the brand, which is a wonderful proposal of inclusion, but unfortunately does not speak to the main target audience of the brand which is the cisgender, white, traditional American man.

I agreed with the demonstrations of repudiation with a simple commercial, whose idea is clearly one of inclusion, of course not, but the market is the market and in marketing the most basic lesson is, you should make your advertising according to your target audience, so I think that Budwaiser as well as Disney has not been studying its consumers properly because Budwaiser said its goal was to reach the young public, but they forget that their young public is also mostly white men and cisgender, and how do they expect to sell if their target audience does not identify with their product?

The same happens with Disney, which in recent times has been releasing several controversial animations and forgetting that those who will take their children to the movies and pay the ticket are mostly fathers and mothers of the traditional American family, who are not willing to expose their children to such complex issues so early, and therein lies the lesson that either you respect your target audience, or you don't profit.