Evil Disney Cynicism

There’s this thing troubling me of late. Now I know that in many, many ways, Disney is an evil empire (despite some very progressive HR policies, which are again tempered with virulent anti-unionism). However, they’ve crossed some liner heretofore unrevealed to myself. And how did they cross this line (in fact, to paraphrase Joey on Friends, they’re so far over the line, the line is a dot to them)? With releasing all these new sequels to Disney animated classics. The one that really got me was Cinderella II: Dreams Come True. We all know how Cinderella ended: She and the prince lived Happily Ever After, The End. When someone lives happily ever after, there’s no need for sequels because there’s no drama. And you know what? Her dreams did come true already. But that’s no the end of it, no. There’s been sequels to Peter Pan,The Little Mermaid, 101 Dalmations, The Jungle Book and I believe Beauty and the Beast too. That’s pretty much everything. Has there been a Snow White sequel yet? If not, I’m sure it’s in the works.

Artistically, these movies may be interesting in that the sequel carefully copies the style of it’s predecessor. But much like knock-off paintings sold for mass-consumption, it’s sad, cynical and empty. I’m already annoyed with their ‘limited time only’ DVD sales of films (roughly a few months every 10 years, just in time to catch a whole new generation of kids), but this latest bit is just way over the top for me.