The animated filmmaker John Musker known for writing and directing Disney classics like The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet (2002), The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Moana (2016) recently echoed Bob Iger when he lamented the overt messaging in Disney productions. Attending the Animayo International Summit in Gran Canaria in Spain, John Musker told the Spanish outlet, El Pais, that Disney should put “the message secondary, behind entertainment and compelling story and engaging characters.”
Disney’s Bob Iger was quoted last year December saying that “creators at Disney have lost sight of what their jobs should be, entertain first, not messages” and added he that “stories infused with ‘positive messages for the world’ can be great but that it shouldn’t be the primary job”. Now Alladin writer and director John Musker added his voice in an apparent disapproval of woke culture at Disney.
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When discussing his involvement in the 2009 update of The Princess and the Frog, Alladin writer and director John Musker said: “We weren’t trying to be woke, although I understand the criticism. The classic Disney films didn’t start out trying to have a message. They wanted you to get involved in the characters and the story and the world, and I think that’s still the heart of it. You don’t have to exclude agendas, but you have to first create characters who you sympathize with and who are compelling. I think they need to do a course correction a bit in terms of putting the message secondary, behind entertainment and compelling story and engaging characters.”
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The good news is that more people involved with Disney are starting to recognise that woke culture with overt political and degenerate agendas is responsible for the string of failures produced by Disney. A course correction would be a start, but Disney needs more than a course correction from “putting the message secondary, behind entertainment and compelling story and engaging characters.” The deeper issue is the kind of messaging that Disney sends, and so far there is no indication that either Bob Iger or Alladin writer and director John Musker is willing to address it.
Disney needs to acknowledge that boys are boys and girls are girls, they’re not what grown up LGBTQ groomers wish them to be. Then Disney needs to acknowledge that boys will be boys and girls will be girls, they’re not what miserable feminist cat-ladies wish them to be. Girls want to be princesses, rescued by a handsome prince and boys want to rescue princesses. That was the formula for just about every single fairy-tale that Disney used and made adaptations of.
Disney prioritising entertainment, compelling story-lines and engaging characters is certainly a step in the right direction. But where John Musker, and Bob Iger for that matter, falls short is his belief that “You don’t have to exclude agendas.” And considering that he wrote the 2009 adaption of The Frog Prince by the Brothers Grimm, The Princess and the Frog in which the princess was race swapped, it is hard to ascribe his statement to mere naivety about what exactly Disney’s agenda is.
It would appear that John Musker and Bob Iger are like thieves who aren’t sorry that they stole, they’re only sorry about having been caught out – it reeks of damage control. Let us know in the comments what you think about John Musker’s latest statement.
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