06-18-2023, 11:29 PM
Another Disney bomba. Wild how Pixar has fallen. The funny thing is that their films always had social messages or commentary. There were always "adult" themes or jokes thrown in there; imagine what the "woke" crowd would say about The Incredibles if it came out today. Their films were never straight forward fairy tales, they always explored topics like jealousy and grief and love while subverting expectations. They also didn't shy away from female protagonists. So none of that is the issue.
Ultimately at the heart of all those classic or successful early films was a dedication to telling stories. Creating compelling, multi faceted characters. It really seems like a lot of stuff today has no interest in telling stories or creating multi faceted characters, and instead is focusing on marketing via identity. I'm not saying every diverse story is this. Coco is an amazing movie for instance. I haven't seen Soul but by all accounts it's really good, and it's box office struggles were moreso about covid than anything else. I've got zero issue with gay relationships in kids movies btw but uhhh...isn't Bud Lightyear supposed to be about a toy that came out in the 1990s? Why would the movie the 90s toy is based on have a same sex kiss in that context? Why does Elemental look like a shitty 00s DreamWorks movie, and why are they breathlessly announcing a random character is queer? It's as if they're making uncompelling, poorly written #content and deciding the best way to build buzz or an audience is to add some #diversity to it.
Even the target audiences realize how cynical this is, and how there's little real effort into telling diverse stories. It's solely marketing. Sometimes it works. Lords knows I thought Little Mermaid would flop but it's clearly a success. Usually it fails tho.
Ultimately at the heart of all those classic or successful early films was a dedication to telling stories. Creating compelling, multi faceted characters. It really seems like a lot of stuff today has no interest in telling stories or creating multi faceted characters, and instead is focusing on marketing via identity. I'm not saying every diverse story is this. Coco is an amazing movie for instance. I haven't seen Soul but by all accounts it's really good, and it's box office struggles were moreso about covid than anything else. I've got zero issue with gay relationships in kids movies btw but uhhh...isn't Bud Lightyear supposed to be about a toy that came out in the 1990s? Why would the movie the 90s toy is based on have a same sex kiss in that context? Why does Elemental look like a shitty 00s DreamWorks movie, and why are they breathlessly announcing a random character is queer? It's as if they're making uncompelling, poorly written #content and deciding the best way to build buzz or an audience is to add some #diversity to it.
Even the target audiences realize how cynical this is, and how there's little real effort into telling diverse stories. It's solely marketing. Sometimes it works. Lords knows I thought Little Mermaid would flop but it's clearly a success. Usually it fails tho.
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