Disney went woke now they're going broke

[Hoardasurass]

Woke Disney loses $900Million in recent box office flops https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12236445/Woke-Disney-loses-900Million-recent-box-office-flops-liberal-agenda-turns-movie-goers.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton
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Oh

i enjoyed the little mermaid, smidge too long and didn’t really see the point of the two extra songs…and flounder was NOT cute….but overall it was good

It's a less empowering message than the 1989 version though due to the (spoilers!) significant plot tweaks.

Whatever it is it doesn't score highly as a feminist piece. (And yes I know 1989 had its flaws but was ahead of its time, there's no excuse now to be taking away female characterisation and agency in 2023)

It's a less empowering message than the 1989 version though due to the (spoilers!) significant plot tweaks

interesting point…

yeah I didn’t really get why they changed that bit (assuming we are talking about the same bit)

I think the go woke go broke is frequently used where it is completely irrelevant. No issues with more diversity on screen, we should see that. if disneys financials are suffering it’s because they aren’t making great stuff and the whole heading into recession thing.

I remember when I was a kid going to the cinema with the girls next door to see 'suitable' films at the Norwood Regal. One such was a Disney film, The Swiss Family Robinson. Even at the age of 9 I thought it was dire. Another equally dire one was when I was 11, Summer Magic, with Hayley Mills (yuk!) and Burl Ives singing 'The Ugly Bug Ball' (double yuk!). I did like Zazie dans le Métro which an aunt took me to. She (Zazie) was my role model for months.

This.

I'm happy to be called woke if it means in not a racist, homophobic dickhead.

'woke'? Is this about a black actor playing a mythical character? Or the minor mention of a character having a wife rather than a husband?
Why don;t you bob off to 'one million moms' - you'll get a better response there.
They like their Disney 'princesses' white and helpless and married off to men.

No. Perhaps you could read the article

I agree with triple and Rufus that Jodie’s run was let down by absolutely dreadful writing. It was a travesty.

@IWillNoLie - I think there’s a big difference between having an ethnically and culturally diverse cast and rewriting history.

Armando Ianucci’s David Copperfield was racially blind casting and incredibly good fun. It took an all-white cast and mixed it up to no detriment of the plot or characters.

Trying to make Joan Of Arc non-binary, on the other hand, took a rare significant female historical figure of that period and twisted her story to fit a particular viewpoint. The whole thing with Joan is that what she did was so outrageous and heroic/heretical because she was female. Take that away and you are denying who she was and the impact of what she did.

Taking white characters and recasting them rarely disrupts the narrative because their whiteness isn’t a significant part of the story. That’s because for much of our culture’s history Default Human meant white msn.

Taking women’s or minority groups’ characters and recasting is more of a problem as their stories are often linked to their oppression and part of the narrative.

I'll call anyone, man, woman, dog, cat, whatever, a fascist is that's what they are, and for me, someone hurling the 'woke' epithet at progressives and adducing the Daily Mail in support of a certain set of political/cultural/social views richly deserves to be called a fascist, be they ever so mighty, and that includes the Grand Panjandrums of Mumsnet.

"Woke" was a term coined by Black Americans to mean "awake to racial injustice."

Unfortunately it's been twisted into a slur that is thrown against targets both valid and invalid that fit into any vaguely "progressive" category. Hence we are in the unfortunate situation that it is being used by feminists to protest the prioritisation of FIMs rights over those of women, while it is also used by white supremacists to incite boycotts of any organisation that tries to increase racial diversity. The irony being that the racists are actually using the term according to its original meaning.

What I came to loath was the poor writing - and increasingly Jodie Whittaker playing the Dr as some ditzy forgettable aren't I daft character because she was female because women can't be competent and have gravitas

Completely agree. Gave up due to the endless preachy episodes and gormless, confused gurning.
Missy was indeed fabulous.

Disney films have been dire lately.
Endless live action crap remakes and animated films that are dull and boring.

The last half decent film they brought out was encanto, and it was the music that carried it. But when in was released just before the xmas on Disney Plus it was almost impossible to get merchandise in the UK and by the time it arrived in stock, the film was forgotten. Bad planning.

Soul was dull.
Luca we got about half way through.
Seeing red was a watch once.
Raya and the last dragon wasn't bad.
Lightyear. So, so bad.

They need decent storylines that 4 year olds can follow, with songs that stick in your head. Because that's the prime age for the dolls and dresses.
Diversity isn't the problem for Disney. It's the lack of great ideas and crap writing.

There's a reason why the older films and moana, frozen etc did well.
The films that are watched over and over.
Most now are a one watch and forgotten, with the merchandise on clearance after a couple of months.

Anyone offended by the same sex relationship in Lightyear is actively seeking out ways to be offended. It's such a minor plot point, it's actually really easy to miss and it's played (correctly) as just a normal family.

Ariel, the whole family of sisters is ethnically diverse, reflecting the different oceans / seas they watch over. Ariel has red hair. Halle Bailey is a frikkin awesome singer and did a brilliant job. The fact it made some little girls feel like they could be a Princess too cos she looks like them is fabulous. I have white, blonde haired kids. They don't need to see more people that look like them to feel included, they are already included.

People need to grow up channel their inner kid more. Kids don't CARE unless they're being told to care by stupid adults.

"I'm happy to be called woke if it means in not a racist, homophobic dickhead."

I don't think it does mean that though does it? Being aware of social injustice is great. However some people thrive on finding and calling out injustice where it never existed, because calling other people racist or homophobic or whatever makes them feel superior.

Getting Dylan Mulvaney to endorse bud light wasn't an example of "not being a racist homophobic dickhead" was it? It was an example of associating themselves with an offensive clown that most of their potential customers disliked.

I don’t believe that the reason the recent Disney owned films have underperformed is anything due to diversity of casting and have more to do with the general economic climate, poor marketing and fatigue.

I have primary aged kids and Disney +, never heard of Strange Worlds until this thread- suggesting it may have had problems reaching its core market.

The trailer for Lightyear looked boring and derivative, which is why I didn’t bother watching it, and neither of my children like Toy Story. Although in Lightyear’s case the same sex kiss may have affected its performance because of foreign markets who will not show same sex relationships on screen. I assume Disney knew that when they were making the film though, and chose to include the scene anyway.

And is the Little Mermaid underperforming? I heard it was doing very well.

As for Marvel, I think that’s more to do with fatigue with superheroes. They’ve dominated cinema for over a decade, cost an fortune, and a lot of people who enjoyed those films previously have had enough. People are less willing to do a load of homework by watching several other films and a Disney Plus series to understand the plot of the latest release. The diversity of the cast and new heroes has come at a time when people are just fed up of cape films in general and looking for something new. Additionally, the quality of the Marvel TV shows have been patchy and/ or sometimes niche in appeal.

I think Disney have made bad business decisions, but diversity isn’t one of them.

That's overstating their position somewhat. They have run stories that have thankfully exposed some of the batshittery of gender ideology when more traditionally left-wing media has stayed silent or, worse, tried to gaslight women, but please don't make the mistake of thinking they've done this out of any allegiance for or understanding of women's rights. The DM historically is anti-liberal, and while the people (mostly women) who have been paying attention can see how deeply misogynistic, homophobic, regressive and often racist the GI movement is, on the surface it's considered 'progressive' and so the DM's stance is more about sticking it to the 'woolly liberals' than it is standing up for women.

I don't even think people really have superhero fatigue. Guardians 3 and Across The Spider Verse (with a very diverse set of characters) both did as well as, or better than, the previous entries in their series. But they are both very well reviewed films. I think people will go see 'woke' and superhero films if they aren't shit. My DC wanted to see Spiderman and The Little Mermaid. We could afford to see one. We went to see the one that was good.

The public will vote with their feet, and it seems that they have done.
Proof of the pudding and all that......

Yeah yeah yeah. And Der Stürmer was a brave campaigner for ethnic equality. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.

I think "go woke, go broke" is a nice catchy tabloid phrase, but not applicable here.

Audiences will embrace diversity decisions when they're backed up with acting talent and clear directorial vision (I'm thinking the critically and commercially successful Adrian Lester as Henry V, the all female Julius Caesar set in a women's prison several years ago), but can also sniff out tokenism and box ticking.

Movie writing is quite shit at the moment, Disney is the biggest example, and a lot of it is down to continually pushing certain types of characters and narratives that people find predictable and off-putting. The sex-swap of roles, the fact that female roles have to fit within a very narrow type, the sense that in every production they are purposefully changing something that fans liked but is now seen as not relevant, etc.

Too much doesn't ring true. And it combines with the otherwise shit plots and writing, and then when people complain about that, the studio says it is because they are bigots. That is really what pisses people off.

Disney has managed to run Star Wars into the ground which is kind of shocking.

You completely lost me when you decided that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 wasn't absolutely fantastic. If you can be so wrong about that, how can I take anything else you've said seriously.

The last film I saw at the cinema was the second Downton Abbey one, not because I don't like going or can't afford it (it's a fiver!), but because none of the current films appeal. I can stand some wokeness (albeit while rolling my eyes a bit), but all the films seem to be aimed at children, whether they're actually for them or not. I'd just like to see some intelligent stand alone stories (rather than remakes and sequels). Is that really too much to ask? As for replacing existing white characters with black, isn't that rather insulting to black culture? And why on earth is it always redheads who are replaced?