Disney

August 02, 2024

Inside Out 2: Fluff, Hijinks—and Exactly the Right Message

My generation’s worst habits are finally being put under the magnifying glass. Social media addiction is getting national attention, from the surgeon general of the United States advising a warning label, to some of the biggest school districts in the country straight-up banning children from using cellphones during the school day. Continue Reading...

June 27, 2023

Disney and Human Flourishing

Sometime in the last decade, the collegiate class were led by their dedicated sophists to start talking about “the narrative,” which hadn’t concerned them before. Soon they also started complaining about propaganda, “misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.” Continue Reading...

October 20, 2022

Andor Succeeds Where Other Star Warriors Fail

If there’s anything close to national mythology in America nowadays, it’s Marvel. This may be depressing, but we should nevertheless face the fact and make the best of it. Before that, it was Star Wars, which is still an incredibly profitable business, even as it is failing. Continue Reading...

October 11, 2022

The New Pinocchio Swaps Conscience for ‘Authenticity’

American parents used to trust Disney to charm their kids with beautiful fairy tales. Most such tales were European in origin, but Disney Americanized them, made them more democratic, less bloody minded, and ultimately hopeful. Continue Reading...

June 01, 2022

Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness reminds us who really is in control: Disney

I want to put before you three facts of importance for storytelling today, and for our self-understanding, which is what we want out of it. First, fantasy stories now dominate entertainment in Hollywood and beyond. Continue Reading...

May 19, 2022

Disney’s new Moon Knight series mocks both gods and men

My previous essays reviewed two Progressive visions of manliness. Michael Mann’s HBO series Tokyo Vice reduces contemporary Japan to racism, sexism, and homophobia. Michael Bay’s Ambulance relatedly gives us a contemporary America where ethnic minorities, strong, independent women, and gay protagonists vanquish an evil white man. Continue Reading...

April 19, 2022

To boycott or not to boycott Disney, that is the question

Disney, world famous entertainment and media conglomerate, is now at the center of controversy—in all kinds of ways. The state of Florida recently enacted the Parental Rights in Education bill, which has proven to be orders of magnitude more controversial than its name implies. Continue Reading...

December 01, 2021

Episode of ‘The Simpsons’ is erased from Disney+ lineup in Hong Kong

The streaming service Disney + made its long-awaited debut in Hong Kong this month, although with one episode from an extremely popular TV series missing. An episode from The Simpsons, which ridicules Chinese government leadership and pokes fun at the nation’s censorship of any mention of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, was removed from the show’s lineup in Hong Kong, confirming citizens’ fear of increasing government control and elimination of free speech. Continue Reading...

June 12, 2017

When Lightning McQueen brought jobs to rural America

“Main street isn’t main street anymore. No one seems to need us like they did before.” Americans continue to face the violent winds of economic change, whether stemming from technology, trade, or globalization. Continue Reading...

May 01, 2014

A Dystopian’s Guide to Barbie Dolls and Disney Princesses

Proponents of limited government often talk about utopianism because it led to so much dystopian grief in the most infamous socialist experiments of the 20th century. Anna Mussman makes another utopian/dystopian cultural connection in a recent essay at The Federalist. Continue Reading...

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