Yeah many many years ago they changed the line "where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face" to "where it's flat and immense, and the heat is intense"
Aladdin was an existing story which took place in a real-woreal-world setting. Jasmne kindkinda had to be ArabiArabian, although not a single character spoke Arabic, except maybe the little guy in the opening song. Sort of like how Beauty and the Beast was set in France, yet only a candlestick spoke with a wacky French accent. Disney seems to only harp on location when it suits them.
Then it can still be the studio who says 'I want a story set in Asia to attract more (Asian or) Asian American customers'. Either way to have writers from the place where your story is set is always a good idea.
Or, it could be, people of Asian descent make up 4.69 of the world's almost 8 billion people (roughly 60%) while ⅔ of the world population lives in Asia; so, maybe some representation in a global market makes some sense and is the right thing to do and will further our financial revenue stream. This is where some people lose me, because they forget or misrepresent the larger global population and dynamics of the world, not just their part of the world.
I did not forget it, I just do not believe that Disney chose these locations because it's the right thing. It makes sense because it makes money.
Or, life is diverse - how do we reflect that back? You do realize that for a while, business decisions were made with "how much can we homogenize this"? So, it's currently, the right thing to do to represent the world as it actually exists, the right thing to do because philosophically we realize that diversity is possible, and the right thing to do because it will net us more money than an alternative strategy (which might counter points one and two). Like - I could grant the premise if you're saying they're faking possibilities that could not exist because the diversity itself does not exist and can't ever. But reflecting diversity that does exist? Makes sense. Reflecting diversity that could exist, especially once we undo decades of media that has limited what we imagine - makes sense. Ignoring diversity to show the same characters and stories that were represented for 75 years (when all of humanity's history integrates some versions of story-telling and it makes sense to integrate as many cultures as possible)? Neither makes sense nor, currently, cents.
That's pretty much the trouble to me as well. Everything feels so forced at this point, hardly organic. Every time Disney boasts, "We're proud to introduce our first ______ character", it's less about inclusion and more about, once again, checking off boxes. Any time someone feels the need to point something out, then you're not doing it with pure intentions. My wife's friend was over for dinner one evening and she kept bringing up how she was a proud black female business owner, and she only supports others like her. Eventually I had to ask her why she had to be a black female business owner and not simply a business owner. She didn't seem to have a response. Yet if I went about boasting that I was a white business owner who only supported other white businesses, I'd be branded a racist. Double standard much? In the end, if you want to attempt inclusion, then simply do it and stop pointing it out. A little of this and a little of that, perfect mix. The minute you feel the need to wave the inclusion flag, you're doing things for the wrong reason. I equate it to celebrities who do a good deed and then have their people promote the act. Are you doing it for folks who might benefit from your generosity? Or for the adulation of your fans? Even friends on Facebook or Instagram. Sure, we're all pleased that you are volunteering at a soup kitchen... once in your life. But why do you feel the need to tell everyone? Just do it and stop with the "look at me!! nonsense.
Saw Encanto, I liked it a lot! The animation is colorful and clever, the characters are well-designed, and the songs are great because, well, it's Lin-Manuel Miranda so of course they're great! Just a few thoughts:
Spoilers, obviously:
I wish they'd said how long Bruno has been "missing". Has it been a year? Five years? Six months? Also, since the rooms are so huge, why didn't the family immediately think "He's hiding in his room"? Or do they actually think that and they're just leaving him alone? That whole part of the storyline is vague. I wasn't sure if Bruno was actually missing, eg nobody knows where he went, or they all assume he's hiding in his room and they're good with that. In any case, it doesn't seem anybody in the family was concerned enough to look for him, which is bothersome. Because of course if they'd looked, they would have found him immediately since he was always in the house.
The fact that Mirabel, Luisa, and Isabella ALL have identity issues (Mirabel struggles with being the only Madrigal without a gift, Luisa thinks she's worthless without her gift, and Isabella has spent her life thinking she 'had to be perfect' or else) really makes me wonder about their parents' parenting skills. I mean, Julietta goes out of her way in one scene to insist that Mirabel is as special as everybody else, but she seems to have no problem with her mother, Abuela, telling Mirabel to her face that she should just stay out of the way because she ISN'T special. That's rough. The takeaway seems to be that Julietta's daughters take their grandmother's word over their mother's and I wish we'd seen Julietta get in Abuela's face about that. Abuela's attitude about the gifts seems to have messed up Julietta's daughters. Oddly, Pepa's children don't seem to have any self-worth issues.
There are WAY too many characters in this movie. To be honest I think the story could have been told with just Abuela, Bruno, Julietta, Isabella, Luisa, and Mirabel. Pepa and that whole side of the family didn't contribute anything except some nice character moments. The story would have been tighter if Abuela's children had been twins instead of triplets. Antonio could have still been in the story and been Julietta's child.
Anyway! Them's my thoughts, suitable for framing or wrapping fish.
Theaters are bringing in less and less money. Subscription services are more lucrative in the longrun.
I'm not sure I'd call it a smash hit... not even close, for the big Thanksgiving weekend brought in around $40 million compare that to Frozen 2 which brought in about $130 million, SpiderMan just brought in $260 million. Family movies are just not bringing in the big bucks right now, so move it to Disney+ makes more sense, plus the theaters are packed with Spiderman. I agree with this from CNBC, "Family-friendly films, especially animated films, have largely underperformed during the pandemic, as parents have kept their unvaccinated kids at home." I think more and more families will skip the theater and wait for Disney movies to show up on Disney+ so they can save the money and headaches, plus the risk of Covid to watch it all from their own living room.
