Go woke, go broke. That phrase epitomizes what is happening to Disney right now on all fronts. Disney’s obsession at the altar of identity politics and virtue signaling, is proving that that is a pill Americans don’t want to swallow. Will this be a wake up call? Disney’s stock has lost almost 40% of its value since their deep dive into a “not so secret gay agenda” was revealed in March, spurned on by the controversy over Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill. As a result, Bob Chapek caved to the will of the activists within Disney. He surrendered whatever control he might have had, by giving a “hostage” video during their Reimagine Tomorrow conferences, groveling pathetically as he kissed the ring of the radical LGBTQ activists inside his company. All of Disney’s major properties, have been taken over by radical activists that care more about forcing their personal politics on audiences, rather than a well crafted story. Marvel, Pixar, and LucasFilm, have been giving fans content drowning in virtue signaling representation, destroying major characters and the franchises themselves, all in the name of the message. ‘Lightyear’, which came out over Father’s Day weekend, was the final nail in Disney’s coffin, that proved fans are not interested anymore in the message activists within Disney are trying to convey. Especially with a beloved character like Buzz Lightyear, that was commandeered to tell audiences that having a father was non essential, and was really the villain all along.
Fans Are Tuning Out in Droves
‘Lightyear’ is just another failure, in a long list of failures, that Disney has put out, whether on Disney Plus, or at the box office, that have fans tuning out, and turning to great entertainment like ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. The exception in the last year and a half, would be Dr. Strange, but that was an anomaly in my opinion. Strange was successful, in part, because it was riding the tail winds of the ultra successful ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Juggernaut, and fans were curious to see what happened next. But as audiences realized it was a continuation of the WandaVision saga(which if you didn’t watch WandaVision, you might have felt lost), plus the forced virtue signaling of characters no ones heard of, and you had a Dr. Strange sequel that ultimately fell flat, as it sidelined its major character. ‘Eternals’ was a huge loss, ‘Shang-Chi’ barely made a profit, and can be argued that it didn’t, and ‘Black Widow’ failed at the box office. Sure places like Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety, along with other simp mainstream media sites, would come out and make excuses for this flops, blaming it on Covid and right wing review bombing or fans outright, but the real truth, is that fans are just sick and tired of being preached at and the god awful writing. Disney Plus has been no different, with Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Boba Fett, Obi-Wan, and Ms. Marvel, all performing below expectations. Why is that? Because you have activists lacing all this content with their personal politics. It’s a diversity and inclusion narrative that over half of the country disagrees with. For example, Ms. Marvel was the lowest rated debut for a Disney Plus show in its history. Why did the fans tune out? Could it be because it’s a character no ones heard of? Or could it be that she’s a failed comic book character that no one was interested in buying? Or could it be because it was a virtue signaling mess of bad writing. It might be all three, but Ms. Marvel’s failure is being predictably blamed on the fans. With the combination of the bad writing and identity politics, you have shows and movies that just don’t make any sense, and don’t fit into what once made Disney a trusted source for great storytelling.
Lightyear Should Have Been a Box Office Blockbuster
‘Lightyear’ was supposed to be a blockbuster hit for Disney. It had name recognition and a huge fanbase. It’s a sequel that follows ‘Toy Story’, the highest grossing animated box office franchise of all time. ‘Lightyear’ had no excuses. But when you replace the actor who voiced Buzz Lightyear for the last 27 years, go all in on telling audiences how woke you’re going to be, have the main actor bash fans that disagree with having to bring their kids to see forced representation, and insinuate a possible bad showing, because of review bombing, why in the world would your movie succeed? But Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and LucasFilm, keep going back to the same well of insanity, with wash, rinse, and repeat.
Disney Can’t Stop the Bleeding
Bob Chapek and Susan Arnold, promised change. They gave us three pillars of excellence, that they were adamant the company was going to follow. They demanded the heads of LucasFilm, Marvel, and Pixar, run all ideas past them for approval. It would seem that was all platitudes for the shareholders sake, because Disney is failing to produce quality content, and in their own words, “storytelling excellence and a relentless focus on our audience.” Disney’s stock is almost at pandemic levels. But since March, when Disney decided that the correct course of action, was to side with the woke activists within their company, and 5% of America’s population, Disney lost whatever consistency and message they hoped would stop the bleeding.
Credit – Disney
Boys Bad, Girls Good
‘Lightyear’, is the culmination of everything wrong with Disney’s direction. They are taking well established franchises, that had an established and loyal fanbase, and took advantage of those successes, ultimately appropriating them as vessels for their political activism. Disney originally bought Marvel and Star Wars, as they claim, to get more of the boys market, because Disney was almost solely known for their princess focused themes. Instead, as soon as they acquired those franchises, they immediately began dismantling those franchises by claiming the Force was female, and representation was key. Disney discarded the boys market those franchises were intended for, and replaced them with girl focused characters and forced representation. Disney went so far as to allow the destruction of iconic male characters that made those franchises famous. Luke Skywalker, Admiral Ackbar, and Han Solo were replaced by a purple haired general, a female character named Rey that was endowed immediately with a perfect working knowledge of the Force, and Han Solo was ridiculed and killed off. Kevin Feige has systematically killed off or gender swapped every white male in the MCU, or made them second string jokes in their own movies.
Related: Are We Surprised?
A Wake Up Call?
Disney has alienated half of their audience with their identity politics and fan bashing, much like the Biden administration and Democrats have ignored parents, Republicans, and the right. And they have done it with a self righteous indignation, telling fans they should comply or “die the way of the dinosaurs” as Chris Evans so eloquently put it. ‘Lightyear’ was a slap in the face to parents and those that disagree with what Pixar was force feeding fans. ‘Lightyear’ was a movie that promoted representation, and disregarded fathers, making them the villain through a beloved character that bent the knee and was repentant. ‘Lightyear’ might just be the box office failure that Disney needed but didn’t deserve. Hopefully this gives Disney the wake up call it needs, and shows them that storytelling and a relentless focus on the audience, is they key to success. The question is, will Bob Chapek put his foot down, or will it be force fed to him yet again.
