Rodentia
One day I'd like to read a good biography of Walt Disney. I think he did good things, I think he was a visionary, an innovator, and he had an appealing presence on film. He sure did some cool things with mice. For all I know he kicked dogs and drank too much, but I really hope not.
When I first started going to Florida to jump out of airplanes, I'd head over to DisneyWorld on bad weather days that kept us from jumping. It cost fifteen bucks to get in and five bucks to park. I thought this was a bargain. Being used to the bumper to bumper inhumanity of stadium parking lots, I feared the entire parking process but it turned out to be a dream. It's as easy-in and easy-out as could be. This cemented my first real Disney thought: they did things right. Rather than be an afterthought, the logistics of moving people around had clearly been someone's priority early on in the development process.
But then I noticed that each time I went back, the price of admission had gone up two bucks. I just checked now and the price is up to $71.00. Per person. For one park. For one day.
For years the parking stayed at five bucks but shortly before we moved out of the Sunshine State they started hitting those, too. When we left it had gone up to ten bucks. I've never believed in paying for parking anywhere I go (not that I'm not forced to do it). It's like a surcharge or a penalty for giving someone my business. And the ever-increasing prices for the season passes we used to get... I had hoped when Universal opened up that competition would slow the increases down. I'm so naive.
And then they announced they would do no more animated features. Because computer-rendered images trump actual art and story? You can't have both? I believe there's a place for "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid" alongside the Pixar offerings like "Toy Story" and "The Incredibles."
And they keep putting these computer animated cartoon series on their cable channel, THE favorite of my kids, with "art" and "characters" that are so crudely drawn, so unimaginative, so
unpleasant to look at that I can't bear to watch them. "The Buzz on Maggie," "Dave the Barbarian," and now "Phineas and Ferb" are simply dreadful. And that's just to name a few.
A couple of weeks ago I read how the woman who wrote the Cheetah Girls books that a series of Disney Channel movies (third one forthcoming), CDs, and an actual touring musical group are based on, hasn't been paid any of the royalty money she contracted for. Sure, it's a common enough story for a freelance writer to be screwed by Hollywood, but this is Disney, for gosh' sake. Isn't it? Happiest-place-on-earth kind of company?
So, yes, I'm disappointed. But here's what I REALLY find appalling: so much of the programming on the Disney Channel perpetrates the same kind of "class warfare" that make me keep my kids out of public school. I was watching their "Minutemen" movie last night with my daughter and one of the characters, a JOCK, was complaining about the behavior of fellow students he previously bullied. He said something like, "It's like the dorks don't know their place anymore."
To be fair, it's not just Disney. All the studios put out this crap that sorts people into Jocks and the Popular Girls, as well as consigning large numbers to be Dorks, Nerds, Geeks, Brainiacs, and other groups to be mocked and ridiculed. These are the lessons we want our kids to learn? This is what life in school is really like?
Really, you can't tell your stories any other way? Give me a break.
These shows force kids to take sides, either mock or be mocked, be on the inside or the outside, behave a certain way and be cool or don't and be a joke. I watch these things, too often alongside my children, and think "Columbine De-mystified." It's sad, it's pathetic, and it can't be anything other than wrong.
And I hope to god that Walt himself, were he still with us, would not have allowed this stuff to take over his vision. Someone has to light the way, which I think he did, but those that follow have to keep the flame alive. Other than the snooty waiter from "Ferris Beuller's Day Off," I don't know who said, "I weep for the future." Sadly, I do, too.
Save Ferris. Save us all.
When I first started going to Florida to jump out of airplanes, I'd head over to DisneyWorld on bad weather days that kept us from jumping. It cost fifteen bucks to get in and five bucks to park. I thought this was a bargain. Being used to the bumper to bumper inhumanity of stadium parking lots, I feared the entire parking process but it turned out to be a dream. It's as easy-in and easy-out as could be. This cemented my first real Disney thought: they did things right. Rather than be an afterthought, the logistics of moving people around had clearly been someone's priority early on in the development process.
But then I noticed that each time I went back, the price of admission had gone up two bucks. I just checked now and the price is up to $71.00. Per person. For one park. For one day.
For years the parking stayed at five bucks but shortly before we moved out of the Sunshine State they started hitting those, too. When we left it had gone up to ten bucks. I've never believed in paying for parking anywhere I go (not that I'm not forced to do it). It's like a surcharge or a penalty for giving someone my business. And the ever-increasing prices for the season passes we used to get... I had hoped when Universal opened up that competition would slow the increases down. I'm so naive.
And then they announced they would do no more animated features. Because computer-rendered images trump actual art and story? You can't have both? I believe there's a place for "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid" alongside the Pixar offerings like "Toy Story" and "The Incredibles."
And they keep putting these computer animated cartoon series on their cable channel, THE favorite of my kids, with "art" and "characters" that are so crudely drawn, so unimaginative, so
unpleasant to look at that I can't bear to watch them. "The Buzz on Maggie," "Dave the Barbarian," and now "Phineas and Ferb" are simply dreadful. And that's just to name a few.
A couple of weeks ago I read how the woman who wrote the Cheetah Girls books that a series of Disney Channel movies (third one forthcoming), CDs, and an actual touring musical group are based on, hasn't been paid any of the royalty money she contracted for. Sure, it's a common enough story for a freelance writer to be screwed by Hollywood, but this is Disney, for gosh' sake. Isn't it? Happiest-place-on-earth kind of company?
So, yes, I'm disappointed. But here's what I REALLY find appalling: so much of the programming on the Disney Channel perpetrates the same kind of "class warfare" that make me keep my kids out of public school. I was watching their "Minutemen" movie last night with my daughter and one of the characters, a JOCK, was complaining about the behavior of fellow students he previously bullied. He said something like, "It's like the dorks don't know their place anymore."
To be fair, it's not just Disney. All the studios put out this crap that sorts people into Jocks and the Popular Girls, as well as consigning large numbers to be Dorks, Nerds, Geeks, Brainiacs, and other groups to be mocked and ridiculed. These are the lessons we want our kids to learn? This is what life in school is really like?
Really, you can't tell your stories any other way? Give me a break.
These shows force kids to take sides, either mock or be mocked, be on the inside or the outside, behave a certain way and be cool or don't and be a joke. I watch these things, too often alongside my children, and think "Columbine De-mystified." It's sad, it's pathetic, and it can't be anything other than wrong.
And I hope to god that Walt himself, were he still with us, would not have allowed this stuff to take over his vision. Someone has to light the way, which I think he did, but those that follow have to keep the flame alive. Other than the snooty waiter from "Ferris Beuller's Day Off," I don't know who said, "I weep for the future." Sadly, I do, too.
Save Ferris. Save us all.
posted by Rick Ollerman at 2:40 PM
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