How MAGAts, Donations, a Racist Chant, and a Red Panda Hurled Disney into the Culture Wars

When it rains, it pours, and its currently pouring in the House of Mouse because of politicians and….

*checks paperwork*

……a Pixar movie about a panda?

Welcome to the Culture Wars, Disney.  

Let’s rewind back in March 2020, when there was a bit of a PR tussle when it was revealed that Disney was laying off everyone because of the pandemic, which was understandable, until we got to the situation concerning the college program cast members. Not only were they being given only two weeks to pack up, find money, find a flight in the midst of the world shutting down, but they weren’t even going to be paid for their troubles. Now, there was pushback against the negativity from the Disney fans because the Disney fandom can be notoriously defensive when their company is being criticized.

I personally battled Disney fans for days on Facebook to a point where I deleted the app entirely, this was my final straw about the combative environment Facebook creates. Most times whenever Disney does some shenanigans (and not giving refuge to thousands of international college programs during the early days of an emerging pandemic is quite the shenanigan), they can still rely on their adamant fans to back them.

However, we’re at a stage where the intense criticism is coming from all angles, and its multiple incidences as opposed to one, and this battle for Florida’s soul between Disney and the political party trying to transform Florida into a MAGA haven will not be going away anytime soon.

Primarily, Disney’s progressivism has become heavily scrutinized, especially after CEO Bob Chapek opened his mouth and vomited the worst possible response to the Don’t Say Gay bill coming from the MAGAt crew. Chapek claimed that Disney’s arsenal of groundbreaking films provides a stronger statement than any public response to a political issue. Problem is, the Don’t Say Gay bill is not simple politics, its attempted erasure of the LGBTQ community from a group of fascists uncomfortable with their existence, and this was Disney’s chance as the tourist heartbeat of Florida to affirm their position as the inclusive place they claim to be. By the second apology, Chapek opened a can of worms.

First came the rebuttal that Disney was being political as early as THIS MONTH when they pulled movies from Russian movie theaters.

Then came the revelations of their political donations to shitty MAGAt Ron DeSantis, the same DeSantis that has been pushing bills to combat Disney’s training methods.

Then came Pixar animation studios revealing Disney’s attempts to severely restrict LGBTQ themes and even subtle hints within their content as an effort to appeal to global audiences, including the Middle East and Russia. Disney even demanded the removal of a simple kiss in the upcoming Lightyear film until the revelations prompting Disney to backtrack the censorship.

Then came the revelations of their donations to MOST of those fighting -for- the passage of the horrid bill, which resulted in Disney halting -all- political donations (for now).

Then came the curious decision to put yet another Pixar film with a non-white lead character to Disney+ as opposed to a theatrical release, after Soul and the LGBTQ-friendly Lucas.

Then on top of that, there was the Texas high school’s racist chanting and marching in Magic Kingdom during the early days of Spring Break, and inexplicably needing multiple days before finally admitting that the performance was unacceptable as opposed to just saying that the chant and dance was not in their audition tapes. It also took Chapek multiple -more- apologies to deliver a proper response to the controversies, and he STILL got it wrong.

So, how progressive IS Disney, actually?

Well, the answer to that question can be found in another element of the company apparently broiled in some controversy: Turning Red.

The movie about a teenage girl going through the early stages of puberty transforming into a panda whenever her emotions picks up also has gotten some sharp criticism from certain corners of the country. It’s become the first mainstream family Disney film to directly reference menstruation (technically the second to bring up puberty, with Big Hero 6 being the first albeit in a much shorter sequence) while also being the first to visually display lusting and awkward teenage sexuality. Its also arguably the most culturally and ethnically diverse animated film ever made, as we see a wide spectrum of main, supporting, and background characters from all sorts of racial backgrounds, which gave the Toronto, Canada setting much more flavor and authenticity.

Its also this unabashed variety that seems to scare off certain critics, as a now infamous review of one critic in CinemaBlend was so hated it got pulled from the twitter account and got buried within the website. The critic in question claimed he couldn’t enjoy the movie because he couldn’t “relate to it” and predicted because it’s so direct, many people would conclude the same. I would -absolutely- love to see his stance on some of Scorsese and Tarantino’s more infamous works if that’s among his criteria for a movie’s quality. But he’s not alone in this stupid stance, as Turning Red’s rottentomatoes and metacritic numbers is noticeably lower than Pixar’s norm because of the skewed dismal scores emerging from angry parents and white male audiences hating to see their Pixar flirting with eastern animation styles. The same types of parents wanting to control what schools teach is also trying to convince Disney to entertain without teaching and revealing life details they deem uncomfortable.

Apparently, this kind of movie, a film about a confident teenage Asian-Canadian going through growing pains, is unacceptable regardless of how fun and creative it becomes. And on a side-note, Turning Red is an extremely good film with some of the most energetic animation and comedy Pixar has ever crafted. I also know a part of the critical reviews is because it reopens the wounds of living through the early 2000s when boy bands ruled the world, and I know there are shades of racism and sexism scattered underneath the negative reviews. People were clearly not prepared for the content, and for that I salute Pixar for making it entertaining while keeping it edgy (in an animated PG sort of way, similar to Shrek and The Incredibles).  

This is what makes Disney so damn frustrating sometimes, because they had the galls to unleash movies like Turning Red to audiences knowing their fanbase has a heavy dosage of…unabashed conservatism…..but they also lack the ability to truly double down and truly go full steam ahead on the progressive values their content represents (which would give us the bizarre narrative transition from Last Jedi to Rise of Skywalker). Dreamworks’ first gay character only happened because of an ad-lib from spectacular comedian Craig Ferguson (please please come back to late night TV), and by then Disney already had animated programs, films, and television shows with LGBTQ characters and/or plenty of hints and gay coding; which the gay coding isn’t something fully worth celebrating but it’s still better than nothing, especially way back in 1980s America when Ursula made her presence known.

But Corporate Disney is wildly afraid of truly maintaining the progressive edge, and this is why they didn’t cancel the Magic Kingdom performance mid-racism, this is why they have donated money to obvious anti-LGBTQ politicians in favor of tax breaks and appearing more Conservative Christian American, and why Finn’s storyline got butchered to death starting with The Last Jedi. I STILL have not forgiven Disney and LucasFilm for what happened to Finn.

Disney has nonetheless survived generations of questionable decisions primarily because of their creativity but also because in the midst of their corporate behavior they manage to create content that most companies are afraid of making, they have managed to be creatively progressive while the competition stalls. If you don’t believe me, go back and rewatch movies like Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, and especially Mary Poppins to see how far ahead of the curve Disney can be. Mary Poppins is secretly the most feminist, religious and anti-capitalist movie ever made under Walt Disney’s watchful eyes. Another older example has the criminally underrated Fox and the Hound’s messaging predating Do the Right Thing by a decade. Switching to modern day, don’t get me started on how Zootopia was so damn direct in the subject about racism that Disney has mostly avoided the IP entirely.

But we’re at a point in which patience towards this hypocritical behavior is running thin.

White supremacy has risen and maintained political power because of the MAGAt movement. Domestically, we’re seeing none of the progress happening in other countries, we’re seeing increases of violence and hostility towards marginalized groups in recent years. Even more ridiculous is how the supposed best country in the world is inches from outlawing abortion. Its more unacceptable than ever to see Disney, already the biggest name in global entertainment, continue to nickel-and-dime their way to tax breaks and making deals with political devils to maintain obscene profit margins.

Their employees deserve better, their LGBTQ fandom deserves much better, and it should be Chapek and Company’s responsibility and duty as successful Americans to make stronger pushes to greatly improve the country that made them financially comfortable for lifetimes. Freezing the donations is not enough, Disney has to go after the obvious culprits and villains in domestic politics. There IS no both sides on topics like LGBTQ erasure and trying to downplay the effects of racism and inequality. People like Ron DeSantis has to go, politicians like him does absolutely nothing to actually improve the country and move us forward, and the Disney upper management knows this.  

Go back to the story about the school that performed their racism in Magic Kingdom’s Main Street. If Disney’s explanation is indeed true that the audition tape did not match the performance that eventually emerged, then this says a hell of a lot about what’s happening within the ugly underbellies of this country—starting with that shit school in Texas. Clearly a school surrounded by money -knows- their chants and dances are racist, so they gave a watered-down version to Disney for approval and decided to go with their racist performance because THAT is what makes them comfortable and happy, they trekked hundreds of miles to enjoy Disney and Orlando while also displaying their racist mascot and racist marching in a region that’s notoriously progressive.

If this is true, then these are precisely the types of people whose political party and affiliations should never EVER receive money from companies that produces progressive content like Black Panther or Red Panda. You cannot claim you’ve learned from the past but continue giving money to those who profit off old prejudiced fears. Corporate Disney cannot pretend like they are still being allies after being outed like this, not without some major shifts in their company.

So unlike Disney’s past controversies, this one isn’t just going to disappear without more consequences, especially with the midterm elections coming up and the man responsible for trying to halt Florida’s progressive movement obviously aiming for the White House in 2024 by passing obscene bill after obscene bill to please his base, which likely includes that stupid high school shouting “scalp em’” in the year 2022. So much damage has been done, and its going to take a lot of action from Disney if they want to earn back some of the lost goodwill, and if they want to avoid their current worst enemy ending up as a presidential candidate.

At the same time however, the Culture Wars has become ridiculous as a top-tier Disney film like Turning Red became a hot-button issue because it dared to symbolize puberty and directly discuss maxi pads while unapologetically and confidently being Asian-Canadian.

So we have to do the strange thing to praise a company while also severely critique them.

Creative Disney deserves all the praise, especially the Pixar corner who have spoken out against Disney and has continued making great movies that takes some daring decisions (I do wish Pixar is handed some Marvel and Star Wars properties in the future). Then, subtle and outright progressive Disney movies from this century also deserves honorable mention for pushing certain conversations forward; like Lilo and Stitch, Wall-E, Zootopia, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Winter Soldier, Encanto, and Cars 2 (just kidding on that last one).

But Corporate Disney owes us several apologies, and owes us several financial and direct actions to show that they remain an ally to the accepting progressive wing of the United States from creatively to politically to overall. Disney has a long year ahead, especially once that bill gets signed and the MAGAt base feels compelled to pass the next stupid law, and especially as we creep closer towards the consequential midterm elections. They owe it to everyone who supported them and spent money on them, especially the LGBTQ community that has seen dozens of states pushing measures to limit their right to simply exist.

Dear Disney: Solidarity comes with strong actions, and not just words and profitable movies.