You just highlighted pretty well that what people think of as “political issues” changes over the decades.
Being black or gay used to be super “political”. Now, those things seem kinda solved (or at least not argued as much) and it’s about being trans or a drag queen.
Disney has always tried to write stories current with the politics of the time, albeit in a safe family-friendly way.
Right, that's what I'm saying, your first 2 paragraphs. I disagree on the 3rd though: Disney was not always progressive (but that was before any of the films mentioned in the pic).
I think people complain about it more now because it's become more prevalent in politics. Before racism and misogyny were just accepted and the as time went on the strive for equality has been met equaly with those who feel threatened by equality, so there's a lot more pushback. We didn't have "go woke go broke" because those people were a smaller audience. Sure they were probably racist and misogynistic back then still, but now more of those people feel emboldened in their bigotry.
I don’t disagree that we are currently in a wave of conservative pushback. For a while the conservatives were being begrudgingly dragged forward. They didn’t like it, and they grumbled, but they saw the inevitable tide of progress. But now…the recent rallying cry that not only is all this progress bad…but it’s literally going to steal their children. Now they’ve got a war to fight.
Anyway, I still think that Disney has always kept current with the opinions of the day. I don’t mean that they push the envelope. No, no. More like they will push an angle when they feel like it gets safe to talk about politically. We’re seeing gay characters NOW, not 20 years ago. Give it another 10-15, and maybe we’ll see trans characters.
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u/briangraper 6d ago
You just highlighted pretty well that what people think of as “political issues” changes over the decades.
Being black or gay used to be super “political”. Now, those things seem kinda solved (or at least not argued as much) and it’s about being trans or a drag queen.
Disney has always tried to write stories current with the politics of the time, albeit in a safe family-friendly way.