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
🤣

I doubt anything fundamental is lost of she wishes for a kid with hair as black as coal, lips as red as blood and skin and smooth as snow.

If anyone is going to answer awkward casting questions, surely it's DC re Flash

Yeah. I don't really like them gender swapping existing characters as if to say a character's sex isn't part of who they are. Well, not "as if" really because that very much is the message that they try to push. I recall my reaction when they announced it was that at least Jodie Whitaker was an actress I liked and I thought would be good in the role. I'd seen her in St. Trinians and in Four Lions and in Broadchurch. It was actually the first one that made me think she could be a fun Doctor.

But boy was I wrong. First came interviews where she said things like she'd never watched Doctor Who before she got the part, or how she was enabling girls to look up to the Doctor / feel part of the franchise. I went to the 50th anniversary showing at the cinema and there were a tonne of girls there. I saw a teenage girl dressed up as the Fourth Doctor complete with hat and long scarf (no idea where she got that!). The Doctor was plenty looked up to by girls and the only two serious Doctor Who fans in my social circle were women in their Forties who had a "phwoar" attitude to David Tenant and (slightly less so) Matt Smith and for whom Jodie Whitaker's Doctor was a final nail in the coffin.

They also took away one of the few pacifist role models for boys if they really want to talk about male vs. female role-models if they think that matters.

Jodie Whitaker's Doctor was notably stupider, dependent and arbitrarily bad with people in a way no other had been.

But then you really couldn't expect anything else. In Capaldi's run a Time Lord regenerates from a White male to a Black woman and immediately her first words are "thank god, rid of all that testosterone at last". If you want to sum up Woke in one line, that clunker will do it. It's not about adding, it's about taking away. Everybody would have loved it if they brought back Romana. And they wouldn't have even cared if she was smarter than the Doctor because Romana was smarter than the Doctor. (At least back before the writers made the Doctor a godlike figure).

The pretence is that they're trying to promote the idea that sex or skin colour doesn't matter. But you can tell it matters more to them than it does to anybody else. The same people who didn't like the female Doctor would have loved to see the female Time Lord Romana return. Plainly the issue isn't that such people hate women. It's that their own things are being colonised aggressively and they're told their bad people if they don't like it.

Dr Who is a terrible example for you, it's one show that has so clearly tried to embody a kind of identity politics ideology, and it's ruined the show.

Had sex-changing Time Lords been a part of the lore since the early days, or even arisen naturally, that would have been fine. No real sci-fi fan is unacquainted with sex changing aliens, from The Left Hand of Darkness to Star Trek. And there are plenty of stories of such things in literature and mythology, it's an idea that has a lot of scope for interest.

In the case of Dr Who, there had no sense before gender ideology arose that Time Lords changed sex. Probably not for any good reason, really. It became a thing because tv producers thought it sent the kind of message in terms of social and political perspectives, and because film and tv now have a huge hard on for sex swapping roles.

At the same time you see them filling roles of secondary characters as if by some tick box, and turning more and more to stories that focus on social justice themes and scenarios, with all the subtly of a Victorian morality play about the evils of gin.

Audience know when they are being patronized, which is why Dr Who has such terrible audience numbers now.

But then you really couldn't expect anything else. In Capaldi's run a Time Lord regenerates from a White male to a Black woman and immediately her first words are "thank god, rid of all that testosterone at last".

testosterone? They are aliens.

But it isn't unfeminist at all. What it is, is a real story about the human soul and the things that beset it.

It's not a story about how to live, it's a story about what to beware of.

Human beings, and maybe especially adolescent girls, often have this feeling that when they are in love, often with someone they don't really know who is kind of an idol for them, if only they love enough and give enough, the beloved will love them back.

It's a bit different for young men, they seem to believe that only if they peruse enough, they will have their love returned. But it's basically the same impulse.

The story of the Little Mermaid is cautionary, it shows what happens when you believe in that and live it out, in a mythologized kind of form.

I would think that's a perfectly good story for feminists.

But then you really couldn't expect anything else. In Capaldi's run a Time Lord regenerates from a White male to a Black woman and immediately her first words are "thank god, rid of all that testosterone at last".

Yeah that serves as a standout example of the sort of thing people are complaining about.

I have to say Halle Berry has done a steller job as the Little Mermaid, she really has and her singing is amazing. But I wasn't initially pro a black mermaid playing the role of a traditionally Danish Tale. I think since Black Lives Matter, Disney was stuck. They wanted to keep the original soundtracks but it's hard to justify a black carribbean influenced music score without appropriate representation.

Unfortunately they are remaking Lilo & Stitch which is my favourite Disney animation and they are casting white characters so yet more controversy.

The irony is the same people who were pro black casting the Little Mermaid are upset they're not casting darker skinned Hawaiian actors.

Identity politics. No one's ever happy.

A black woman, not a black mermaid lol!!

Unfortunately they are remaking Lilo & Stitch which is my favourite Disney animation and they are casting white characters so yet more controversy

oh goodness they are going to ruin stitch 😩 he’ll be terrifying 😱

Absolutely definitely yes

Truthful retelling of what a fucking mermaid story?

The story of the Little Mermaid is cautionary, it shows what happens when you believe in that and live it out, in a mythologized kind of form.

Yes, that's true. The prince never pays any attention to the Mermaid at all. A black Mermaid during the time of slavery could add an extra dimension to the original story, giving an extra reason for her invisibility to the prince.

The original Little Mermaid story reminds me in a sad way of young people transitioning. Willing to pay the price in any amount of suffering, leaving their homes, ignoring their family's pleas, getting evil medicine from the witch that changes their bodies, all in pursuit of something they can't ever have.

And thank you @DemiColon for suggesting it's a cautionary tale, it hadn't occurred to me to see it that way. Now I shan't feel guilty about liking it!

A black Mermaid during the time of slavery could add an extra dimension to the original story, giving an extra reason for her invisibility to the prince.

Whilst I think that would be interesting in a far more dark and adult film that is closer to the original tale in its message, this is a light hearted story for children and black children and adults want and need to see themselves depicted in contexts other than slavery, pain and struggle. Slavery isn't the be all of black history. Far from it. Besides it's a fantasy set in a kingdom and time that doesn't exist.

There was a proposal about this, and on the forums I was on the idea received quite a lot of push back from ethnic parents and I agree with them.

The original Little Mermaid story reminds me in a sad way of young people transitioning. Willing to pay the price in any amount of suffering, leaving their homes, ignoring their family's pleas, getting evil medicine from the witch that changes their bodies, all in pursuit of something they can't ever have.

In the original story to a point yes. Good analogy!

But don't forget there's also a christian element of the mermaid striving for an immortal soul at the end. She doesn't just become foam on the sea.

From wiki: Her body dissolves into foam, but instead of ceasing to exist, she feels the warm sun and discovers that she has turned into a luminous and ethereal earthbound spirit, a daughter of the air. As the Little Mermaid ascends into the atmosphere, she is greeted by other daughters, who tell her she has become like them because she strove with all her heart to obtain an immortal soul. Because of her selflessness, she is given the chance to earn her own soul by doing good deeds for humankind for 300 years, and she will one day rise up into Heaven.

This 'woke to broke' thing is interesting. Nike's sales actually went up after right wingers targeted them over their support for racial justice campaigns. Bud Light suffered after they were castigated for seeming to support Dylan Mulvaney (a 'transgender influencer'). Some experts say this is to some extent to do with their initial flip-flopping when the fuss began - they stayed silent on the issue for several days, and then the CEO CEO said in the firm "never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people". Many people saw this as waffling, and people wondered exactly what they stood for. If they really supported Mulvaney, they would have stood up for her/him/them, but they backed down. Both sides then saw that as two-faced and inauthentic.

this is a light hearted story for children and black children and adults want and need to see themselves depicted in contexts other than slavery, pain and struggle.

If "this" is "a Disney film" then yes, it should be a lighthearted story for children and should depict the audience as they prefer to see themselves. I just wish they had left the Little Mermaid alone.

They could have had George Macdonald's Princess and the Goblin / Princess and Curdie instead. They're very visual and they're chockful of Victorian values so no-one would mind what Disney did to them

Minor point - but the box office receipts are not what ends up in the film studios bank account. The cinemas and distributors obviously take their cut. Usually the deal is the opening week the studio takes 90% of the ticket sales but this then quickly drops to 50% or less as time goes on... This is why the opening weekend ticket sales are reported as so important.

So the break even point for Little Mermaid for example cost $250 million to make, plus another estimated $140 million to advertise and the distributors will take another large bite out every sale over the whole of June sales. Means the break even point is at least $500 million. Last report shows it has almost reached that amount: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt5971474/ and sales have naturally tailed off (and worth less and less to Disney).
As one of the big releases this year to barely break even, then it is not great for Disney, which is reflected in how much investors think their company is worth (essentially flat over 2023, and less than half from the peak in Nov '21). Times are not good for Disney and the current expectations of Indiana 5 are very poor considering the gigantic break even point.

Shoe horning random relationships, various ethnicities and situations like it's a bingo card is a prime example of how NOT to do it.

Yes, and this way of doing it is arguably in its way quite discriminatory / racist / homophobic because it's not a real part of the story, it's just a box ticking exercise and quite transparently so. Agree Strange World was awful.

Is it not as simple as the energy giants all over the world are fucking everybody and we just have no money to go to the cinema!

I'm a granny quite enjoyed little mermaid as did five grandchildren. Light year bored them rigid. They're too young for marvel.

Family went to Disneyland in January it was quiet and much more expensive. Also looking quite tired in places. They've over spent in some areas, trying to claw back money elsewhere.

I'm ticked off they haven't done a Moana 2 though

OH and Peter Pan was a yawnfest too

@AmaryllisNightAndDay
"In theory as a feminist I suppose I should like the "feisty" Disney Little Mermaid but the original Hans Andersen story is not about adventure it's about total self-sacrifice to a hopeless love. The Little Mermaid is brave and beautiful but she gives up everything including her own life and she doesn't even get her man at the end. It's nearly as un-feminist as you can get (OK, "Patient Griselda" is worse) but it's still a beautiful story and you can take a lesson from it about how self-destructive romantic love can be, if you want to."

The story is unfeminist if you think the moral is that you should throw away everything you have on a hopeless love and die of it. If you understand that a lot of these tales are cautionary, then it's not. Nor is the moral of Hansel and Gretel that parents should abandon their children or that gluttony is a positive.

Not talking about you specifically but I have never understood how some people cannot understand that because a character exists in a story, that doesn't mean you're supposed to emulate that character.

The Little Mermaid closely follows the 'Angel of the Hearth' and Victorian ideals of self sacrificing women. It really is a product of its time and I don't think it can be read as a cautionary tale, seeing as she will ascend to heaven for being a good 'christian woman'. She will acquire a soul. Therefore it's a reward.

"A black Mermaid during the time of slavery could add an extra dimension to the original story, giving an extra reason for her invisibility to the prince."

There was a massive White slave trade as well. And indeed the word "slave" is literally Slav. One reason there are fewer descendents of White slaves is because Arab and Turkish slave owners castrated male slaves. I'm posting this not to diminish the tragedy of Black slave experiences but to counter this idea that it is somehow a Black thing. It is certainly promoted as a Black only thing but the historical reality is a great deal more... diverse.