Posted on 01/23/2009 8:15:05 AM PST by Mikey76
During our family’s recent vacation to sunny Florida, my wife and I had the opportunity to enjoy the magic of Disney’s Epcot park without our children. We enjoyed the rides and shows and the variety of cultural experiences to be found there. There was one show, however, that irritated me not a little. It was a movie billed as the “Circle of Life-an Environmental Tale” and was hosted by those lovable characters from the Lion King, Simba, Pumba and Timor. Al Gore himself might have nominated it for his Oscar.
The film begins with our three heroes enjoying their little piece of paradise on the African plain. Pumba and Timor, however, have dammed up the stream to create a lake. When Simba asks why, Timor unrolls the plan for the “Akuna-Matada Super Resort” the two friends were going to create around their new lake. They were going to make boatloads of money. Simba shakes his head and tells them a story about another species that wanted to follow the same path of money grubbing progress.
The tale begins with pictures of man in his hunter-gatherer state where he was one with nature and only took what he needed from the earth. Then they settled down and built cities and soon multiplied like locusts and spread across the plant like a plague, destroying the earth as they went. Of course there were the obligatory pictures of smokestacks, burning oil wells, traffic jams, sewage and oils spills with shiny, black birds. Timor and Pumba are horrified and swear they will never be like that. They knock down the dam, which was causing an environmental catastrophe downstream, and vow to help the poor stupid humans clean up their act.
Does anyone other than me see the problem here? We were watching this environmental lecture in one of several resorts run by Disney. Resorts that created the scar in central Florida that is Orlando. Timor and Pumba dammed a stream, Disney dammed up the Everglades. How much water and energy does Disney and the the surrounding resorts use in their pursuits? And the bit about the oil companies-if it wasn’t for the oil companies making gas to put in all the cars that clog up Interstate 4 and bring tourists to fill up parking lots, Disney wouldn’t be able to charge each of those cars twelve dollars to park and seventy five for the privileged of being lectured. We constantly hear about the environmental impact of “Big Oil” but what about “Big Amusement Park and Resort”? Central Florida would be nothing without Disney and the environmental impact of all those parks, resorts and the surrounding communities is arguably larger than the Exxon Valdez spill. Has not their success resulted in just as much environmental damage as the poor farmers in Brazil who are cutting down the rain forest?
I’m not opposed to entertainment. I love a good show and a fast roller coaster as much as the next guy. And yes. we need to be good stewards of the environment and man’s greed and waste has done a lot of damage and we should do better. But listening to Disney lecture me about environmental responsibility is like listing to a prostitute lecture about safe sex.
It was the only one I could think of and I have seen every Disney movie at least 3 times with my kids.
Don’t forget, High School Musical had two parents in it. Unfortunately, the barf factor was way to high to watch. It has been banned from my house.
You can never watch a Disney movie (even the old ones) that doesen’t have a storyline either void of parents, parents killed, or parents evil as part of the main plot.
Try thinking of one?
Well, sometimes the dad is around. I seem to recall the Little Mermaid and Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" had fathers. I think the princess in Aladdin had a father, too. Not sure what Disney's got against moms!
Try thinking of one?
How about Peter Pan? The Darlings are good responsible parents even though it did not seem that way to the kids.
Pinocchio? Geppetto is nothing if not the kindly parent.
Swiss Family Robinson? Happily married, heterosexual, couple defending their children.
1001 Dalmatians? Both humans and dogs come off as good eggs.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
All over a 100 years old, too. Disney also openly and blatantly promotes homosexuality on their ABC network, both in daytime and primetime. It’s not implied , open kissing and simulated sex scenes.
I bet old Walt is turning in the ice box they keep him in.
2. They are sticklers for accuracy. We were at Disney/MGM watching the Pocahontas show shortly after the movie was released. When the English came on stage, I leaned over to a nearby cast member and remarked, "You know that the English are carrying the wrong flag." She turned to me and asked what I meant. I explained that the red cross of St. Patrick wasn't added until 1801, about 200 years after the events in the play. When we came back the next day, they were using the correct flag. I also understand that they corrected the movie.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Oh, c’mon. That’s ‘cause you can’t have adventures when mom’s around.
There was one show, however, that irritated me not a little. It was a movie billed as the “Circle of Life-an Environmental Tale”....
If that bothered you make damn sure you don’t go on gay-day wearing anything red.....
I know I’d use .44MAG or a shotgun slug for the boar, but what would a .220 Swift round do to a Meerkat’s head?
All right you got me. I don’t think Disney is evil. I just think a lot of their story lines are a bit creepy.
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