George Orwell said that all art is propaganda. Nowadays, the movie industry is propagandizing the woke agenda, and Disney is the biggest culprit. However, this agenda is backfiring hard. I’ve said that art is a powerful tool that can influence the world. But nowadays, it’s the culture that’s influencing the art. If you don’t believe me, look at the Academy’s new diversity rules to qualify for specific Oscar nominations. The movie industry is now catering to the demands of wokeness. Unfortunately, this agenda is doing more harm than good. Let’s examine why this woke agenda, highly prevalent in Disney films, is backfiring on the movie industry.
Disney’s Remakes and the Woke Agenda: ‘The Little Mermaid
Disney is one of the primary pushers of Hollywood’s woke agenda. And this could not be more evident than what we see with the recent and upcoming live-action remakes of its classics, most recently The Little Mermaid.
(NOTE: I recently watched the remake of The Little Mermaid and found it to be an enjoyable viewing experience despite the major issues I am about to point out).
Many conservative commentators took issue with having Ariel be portrayed by African-American actress Halle Bailey. But this is the least of the movie’s problems. It’s far more problematic because it demeans and assumes the worst of men. Case and point: changing the lyrics to the song “Kiss the Girl.”
In 2018, Princeton student Noa Wollstein wrote an editorial asking the school’s male acapella group to stop performing “Kiss the Girl.” Wollstein took issues with the lyrics in which “the male Prince Eric, on a date with the beautiful female Ariel, should kiss her without asking for a single word to affirm her consent.” The song remained controversial with the rising influence of the #MeToo movement. As a result, Disney chose to change the lyrics in the remake to encourage Prince Eric to “use [his] words.” However, this effort was already based on faulty reasoning and has backfired massively.
In the original movie, Ariel cannot voice her consent since she gave up her voice to Ursula, knowing she needed to get the kiss. Moreover, the “Kiss the Girl” sequence features Ariel frequently leaning toward an apprehensive Prince Eric, hoping to get a smooch from him. Honestly, how much more consent can she be giving?
So Wollstein is already wrong in her assessment of the song, as she has taken the lyrics out of the story’s context. Not only did Ariel absolutely consent to the kiss, but she was more eager to get it than Prince Eric was to give it. However, the way the scene plays out in the new remake makes this lyric change even more silly. To understand what I mean, check out this TikTok video I recently made:
To reiterate my points in the video: Prince Eric never follows the song’s advice to use his words and ask her. Moreover, doing so would have been problematic since Ursula’s spell made her forget about the kiss whenever anyone brought it up. The screenwriters probably created this “amnesia” storyline to make Ariel seem less lovesick (a topic I will return to momentarily). Unfortunately, it became a significant plothole that made this lyric change pointless.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only example we have. Another upcoming Disney remake promotes wokeness in a way that is backfiring hard.
Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Remake Backfires Before It’s Even Released
Disney made history in 1937 when it released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated feature ever. Still hailed as a masterpiece, a live-action remake was inevitable. However, the original movie is now being trashed by those with a woke mindset, and the Disney remake is catering to those folks. And the results are looking to be disastrous.
The movie already garnered backlash for casting Hispanic actress Rachel Zegler as Snow White. This is mainly because in the original story by the Brothers Grimm, Snow White’s name is based on her mother’s dream for a daughter with white skin, red lips, and black hair. An article from The Cold Wire explaining this critical detail can be found here.
We will leave Zegler’s race alone and focus on a different matter; what she has to say about the original film. Zegler told Entertainment Weekly that the original movie is “extremely dated” regarding issues related to women being in roles of power. For this reason, they are changing the meaning of “Who is the fairest of them all” to mean “Who is the most just?” In other words, the fairest is the one who can be the best leader. Zegler and Evil Queen portrayer Gal Gadot expanded on this in a Variety interview, saying that Snow White isn’t “dreaming about true love,” nor will she be rescued by the Prince.
This may be good news to the feminists who hate the original Snow White and other Disney films. Such figures accuse Disney princesses of being “damsels in distress” who wait around for a man to rescue them. But not every woman is on the same page with these feminists. One such woman is Faith Moore, who says in the introduction to her book Saving Cinderella:
“I didn’t choose to get married because I watched Ariel kiss Eric on board a boat. I didn’t decide to be a homemaker because Snow White sang “Whistle While You Work” and made it seem so appealing. I don’t enjoy wearing pretty dresses because of Cinderella’s ball gown. I’m not who I am because of the princesses. It’s the other way around. I see myself in the princesses. They represent something that’s already inside of me — inside of so many women, if we’re honest” (Moore, Faith. Saving Cinderella: What Feminists Get Wrong About Disney Princesses And How To Set It Right (p. 12). Kindle Edition).
At no point does Moore aim for the women who have dreams of high-profile careers in business, science, medicine, etc. Rather, she defends herself and the women like her who desire a traditional life with a man who takes care of her. Many women are on the same page as her, and the wing of feminism that belittles classic princesses is belittling these women. By taking shots at those women, Disney’s woke agenda is turning away a demographic, and thus it is backfiring on the studio.
Disney Belittles Another Group With Woke Agenda
Women aren’t the only ones being targeted with Disney’s woke agenda. Here’s some interesting information: the remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will be titled Snow White. Why? Because it’s now Snow White and one dwarf plus six magical creatures of different races and genders.
The culprit behind this change is likely acclaimed dwarf actor Peter Dinklage. The Game of Thrones star has always been against dwarf type-casting. During an appearance on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, Dinklage blasted Disney for retelling a “backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together.” Disney responded accordingly, replacing the seven dwarfs with six magical creatures and one dwarf.
But just as anti-Disney princess feminists don’t speak for all women, Dinklage doesn’t speak for all dwarfs. Jackass star Jason “Wee Man” Acuña told TMZ he disagreed with Disney. He claimed the studio was “replacing jobs that people could have as little people.” Wee Man even said that Disney should scrap the project, remake the movie, have the characters be dwarfs, and cast them accordingly.
Wee Man also took issue with Warner Bros. for casting Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa in the upcoming movie Wonka, feeling that role belonged to a dwarf actor. Fellow dwarf actor George Coppen echoed these sentiments in a BBC interview, saying, “A lot of actors [with dwarfism] feel like we are being pushed out of the industry we love… One door is being closed, but they have forgotten to open the next one.”
Disney, Warner Bros., and other film studios may have adopted this woke agenda with good intent. Or they may have just been trying to make a buck off social justice warriors and minority groups. Regardless, the woke agenda these studios have adopted and propagandized is backfiring on them hard. Ultimately, it’s led them to belittle and take jobs away from those who they claimed to fight for.
Will Disney’s Backfiring Woke Agenda Be Their Downfall?
It’s unlikely that this backfiring woke agenda will kill Disney. The company still has several classics to its name. And while the remakes cater to an audience that isn’t as impressed as the company expected, it’s also got audiences turning back to the originals and appreciating them more. In many ways, these remakes are Disney’s New Coke. Disney’s decision to cater to the woke mob does seem to harm them, but the company will still find a way to thrive.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? You decide, and tell me what you think in the comments.
