who was never in the closet...
Posted on 04/08/2022 2:38:42 PM PDT by dennisw
“Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children," Walt Disney once said.
Walt’s unique strategy of building an entertainment empire for kids once made Disney a trusted source of family entertainment. That didn’t last long after Walt's death as Disney started releasing R-rated movies and adult television programming under the Touchstone label.
A decade later, Disney bought Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax. During the 90s, while Disney's more family friendly brand was releasing animated cartoons, Miramax featured Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting, and the Scream sequels. During this time Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment and assaults. Some of this was taking place even as Disney’s “family friendly” brand released The Hunchback of Notre Dame with its depiction of a lecherous Catholic villain praying before a cross while ranting about his lusts. This was what Disney had become.
In the new century the barrier between the two schizoid faces of Disney has come down.
Disney isn’t for kids anymore. Its movie business is dominated by Marvel blockbusters. Half of Disney+ subscribers, its big bet on the home streaming future, are adults with no children. ‘
What about the theme parks?
60% of Disneyland visitors were adults with no children. Only 36.7% of Disney World visitors had children under 18. The largest demographic for the theme parks, like the movies, are millennials. They are also members of the fandoms who are likeliest to spend money on licensed merchandise, and on toys and movie tie-ins that are Disney’s bread and butter.
And Disney is rapidly adapting with theme parks and resorts that emphasize its Marvel and Star Wars properties more than classic fare. Its Galactic Starcruiser hotel, aimed at Star Wars fans, costs $4,809 for two adults. Why bother with kid stuff when you can sell $13 beers?
Disney may have started out feeding the imaginations of children, but now its business model is acquiring intellectual properties with active fandoms and milking the adult fans for every cent.
Its political opposition to a Florida law barring teachers from pushing sexual issues on kindergarteners might be out of tune with the old family values Disney, but the company’s actual base, like that of virtually every entertainment corp in the country, is a narrow slice of upscale urban millennials with lots of disposable income and no families. Wokes are Disney’s base.
In 1966, the idea that a single adult would spend more money on Disney merchandise than a family of four would have seemed ridiculous. In 2022, it’s just the new normal. If you doubt that stop by a theme park and see how many of the adults with no children wearing every single piece of Disney merchandise on sale would love to lecture you about queer theory.
These are the people Disney caters to now. Not little girls who want to be princesses. That’s why its theme parks will no longer address little girls as princesses. That’s also why rides like Pirates of the Caribbean or Jungle Cruise are being revamped to be more politically correct. Disney’s new woke demographic is much pickier than even the pickiest child could be.
It’s also sexually creepy.
Disney’s new demographic are adults who have never properly grown up and on some level still think of themselves as children. That’s also the profile for the average child molester. And of the kind of adult who insists that schools force children to “explore their sexual identities”.
Healthy adults raise, protect and care for children. Deeply unhealthy ones erase the barriers between themselves and children in ways that can be merely immature or outright evil.
Disney is a messed up company with a messed up base. This is no secret to theme park employees who will, anonymously, spout about it at forums. But some of those employees have also been caught up in child sex investigations. Disney has the clout to make much of that go away through its advertising budgets and the incredible power its theme parks wield over local governments in California and Florida (though Gov. DeSantis has warned that’s going away.)
The growth of Disney paralleled a post-war child-oriented family culture. The collapse of that culture into counterculture sent the company astray. And after decades in the wilderness reemerged with cartoons full of show tunes that catered as much to Broadway lovers as to children, to an indie film movement with a seamy underbelly, and finally perpetual fandom.
Disney found its post-Walt success in moving beyond selling universal family entertainment to tapping into obsessive subcultures. As a company that had nurtured fandom in children, it was uniquely positioned to capitalize on the transformation of adults into overgrown children.
None of this is good for adults, for children, or for the culture. Neither is Disney. (EXCERPT)
Societal collapse. Drive Disney out of business.
I agree. I think customer base has changed.
Its true. I know a 48 year-old man who insists on going to Disney every year with his wife.
Yes, but they are giving the customer base what it wants. It just shows there’s money to be made from entertaining perverse people.
Don’t I know this! I’ve taken my grandkids to Disney On Ice shows, and grown adults with no social skills are dressed as Disney characters- in the stands, not part of the show!
Interesting read
My wife won a deal 10 yrs ago for 4 days at Disney staying at the Beach Club. The hospitality was fantastic. Grossly overpriced at retail but I can understand the allure.
Conservatives need to stop spending any money on Disney products. It’s like giving money to the devil.
Even the Chinese are pissed off with woke nonsense from Disney.
Yes. I’ve been going to Disneyland once a year with my kids (3 day pass each time) for the last 25 years. We go from birth until age 18, and my last one has one more trip to go before she graduates from high school.
I noticed something very different last year. There were suddenly hardly any strollers or kids, in comparison with prior years. Partly perhaps due to Covid and CA parents’ fears. . .but I don’t think that’s the entire explanation.
My Gen Z son went there with his girlfriend and spent a large part of the day shopping and in the new Star Wars bar. Yes, a bar. . .overpriced too.
Disneyland is too expensive for many families now. (I have to say I enjoyed all the many wine bars now at Disneyland—there are now more than one!) And now there are rum drinks available in the restaurant in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride too. Walt is rolling in his grave for sure. . .on the other hand, Disney security does an excellent job of throwing out guests the minute they seem tipsy at all. . .
Disneyland
Where Groomers learn to Groom!!
i always thought grown ups with out children at Disney was weird.
Yep. I know a few gay people that go every year too. They act like they never grew up.
One of my nieces got married recently. She was a long-time Disney employee and some of her guests were her old friends (freaks) from Disney. Some were dudes with ribbons in their hair, acting all hyper feminine in their actions, dancing with other dudes that also set off my gaydar before they were dancing together. They can try to normalize it all, but when they try to indoctrinate it then I think it will come to blows.
I wouldn’t take a kid to any of Disney’s places, but if you do I would advise you to check out every hotel, bathroom, changing room, etc. for cameras. If they are pedo oriented the cameras will be there.
That’s true for a lot of “adults” these days. I’ve seen the term “Kidults” used. They collect action figures, or those weird Funko POP! figures, do Cosplay, or — worst of all — are Bronies.
Had no clue what a Brony was until we encountered a Brony convention while in Baltimore to see the Orioles.
Don’t get me wrong — we all have our passions or “toys,” but some are a lot more weird than others.
My aunt and uncle used to go every year with their kids, and one year they took chus. It was OK then, no sign of wokeness, still family-friendly... but once was enough. Been there, done that, as a kid I would rather spend a weekend at the farm wading in the creek, and listening to grandmother tell ghost stories around a fire.
The same thing happened to superhero comic books. Until the mid-70s, the target audience was 8-13 year-old boys, now it is 40+ year old single men.
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