XPost: rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.tv, alt.radio.talk
XPost: rec.arts.starwars, rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc
ItÆs no secret that Disney isnÆt doing well lately. They just laid off nearly 15% of the workforce at Pixar, their movie studio that used to produce guaranteed hits. But PixarÆs recent films ôElementalö and ôLightyearö were bombs, and the division hasnÆt turned a profit in more than two years. People just didnÆt go for the strained interracial/immigrant metaphor in ôElementalö or the same-sex kiss in ôLightyear,ö or the rehashed, stale vibe of both projects.
Additionally, DisneyÆs much-touted ôfully immersiveö hotel called ôStar Wars: Galactic Starcruiser,ö shut down late last year, after operating for less
than two years. Disney had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the project, apparently on the theory that people cared so much about the ôStar Warsö brand that theyÆd be willing to spend thousands of dollars for the privilege of staying two nights in a windowless concrete building posing as a spaceship. That didnÆt pan out. Apparently people werenÆt excited to stay in
a hotel where the experience is seemingly designed to be as aggressively unpleasant as possible.
That same quarter, DisneyÆs streaming service, Disney+, reported a loss of
more than a million subscribers. And thatÆs not even getting into DisneyÆs decision to get involved in Florida politics, on the side of activist
teachers who want to talk to kindergartners about ôgender identityö and
ôsexual orientation.ö
Faced with this brand collapse, Disney had two options. One option was to retool their content to focus on entertainment and family values instead of activism, which is what Disney used to do, when it was a universally beloved and much more financially successful company. They could get back to their roots. Not in the sense of churning out more remakes, but in the sense of
being a company that makes wholesome family films that capture a sense of wonder and imagination.
The other option was to keep doing exactly what theyÆve been doing, and continue to shove the same agenda ù the equity/representation/LGBTQ approach
ù that theyÆve been pushing for years now.
Eight months ago, DisneyÆs CEO, Bob Iger, publicly pledged to pursue the
first option. He declared that Disney would refocus its efforts on entertainment, not political messaging. That was the plan, or at least the
plan that was shared with the public. But thatÆs not what happened.
Disney, over the past eight months, has apparently decided to double down on agenda-driven content, to the point that theyÆre openly attacking their own fans. ItÆs a remarkable turn of events, and itÆs one thatÆs worth discussing because this development isnÆt unique to Disney. And it suggests that ôwokenessö may not be the best way to describe what weÆre seeing at Disney
and other major corporations like it. ThatÆs certainly part of what weÆre seeing, but thereÆs something else going on here. It looks a lot like
corporate mediocrity run amok ù the private-sector version of what we see across the public-sector bureaucracy. Unimpressive people with impressive- sounding credentials, who check the right demographic boxes, are taking the helm of businesses and products that they donÆt understand. TheyÆve
insinuated themselves into these companies like a cancer thatÆs evidently impossible to remove. And even when the company CEO publicly tells them one thing, theyÆre free to do another.
To get a better idea of what I mean, take a look at this interview from the other day, featuring Leslye Headland, the creator of the new Disney ôStar
Warsö show, ôThe Acolyte.ö I donÆt want to prejudice you in any way, so watch this clip with that introduction. This is the showrunner talking about her show. Watch:
https://youtu.be/OTRtQ_l8sPo
DonÆt worry about the story, or the plot, or the characters. Who has time for that? Instead, just listen to these two women call old ôStar Warsö characters gay, and then giggle like schoolgirls. They are excited that this new ôStar Warsö show will be the gayest ôStar Warsö show yet. Which is, in every way,
the exact opposite of what the audience actually wants.
The only thing you learn from that interview is that Leslye Headland is gay
and has no respect whatsoever for her audience or her own show. This is how Disney is promoting the latest entry in a franchise they spent $4 billion to buy a decade ago. And that has a lot of fans wondering how exactly she was chosen for the role of showrunner. If her role is to push some subversive
woke ideology, sheÆs not being very subversive about it. SheÆs just angering
as many fans as she possibly can. ThatÆs all this is.
And sheÆs not the only one doing it. The CEO of Lucasfilm ù a woman named Kathleen Kennedy ù just came out in defense of her showrunner. Kennedy
declared that if youÆre not a fan of how Leslye Headland is handling herself, then you probably hate women.
I think Leslye has struggled a little bit with it. I think a lot of
the women who step into Star Wars struggle with this a bit more.
Because of the fan base being so male-dominated, they sometimes get
attacked in ways that can be quite personal. à My belief is that
storytelling does need to be representative of all people. ThatÆs an
easy decision for me.
Yes, she really said that. ôStorytelling does need to be representative of
all people,ö says the CEO of Lucasfilm, as she mocks her own fanbase. These people are so dumb that they donÆt even understand the words coming out of their own mouths. ôRepresentative of all people,ö really? Are they going to have eight billion characters in this show, one for each person on Earth? How exactly is this going to work? Is storytelling supposed to be ôrepresentative of all peopleö ù whatever that means ù or is it supposed to be representative of the creative vision of the storyteller?
I was going to show some more clips of these women, but itÆs honestly too painful to subject you to. These are people who canÆt even communicate
without descending into valley girl nonsense, and theyÆre putting together shows that they expect millions of people to watch. Kathleen Kennedy was
lucky enough to work with Steven Spielberg, and Leslye Headland worked on rom-coms with titles like ôSleeping With Other People.ö Those are their credentials, and theyÆre considered impressive in the industry. So they get
to continue butchering ôStar Wars.ö
By the way, ôThe Acolyteö was released this week and ù as has become a new tradition for ôStar Warsö films and shows ù it has a very high critics score
on Rotten Tomatoes but a failing grade of 45% from the audience.
Joel Berry, who apparently subjected himself to at least some of the show, offered this review:
The Acolyte is a queer, Marxist vandalization of the myth of Star
Wars. In The Acolyte, the Force is a metaphor for cultural hegemonic
power. The Jedi are a metaphor for cisgender white oppressors who
hoard the power for themselves. Yes, it really is that obnoxious and
stupid.
The account Wall Street Silver offered this viewer warning:
The Acolyte, Star Wars new series streaming, very woke. 1) main
character has two mothers 2) main Jedi characters are all Black
and Asian, no white men 3) only speaking role for white men in
first episode is prisoners on prison ship.
So Disney has decided to right the ship by ramming it directly into another iceberg. ThatÆs not to pick on ôThe Acolyteö too much, although it obviously deserves it. Because of the fact that Disney is now pumping out ôStar Warsö shows on an assembly line, thereÆs another one I can mock as well called
ôTales of the Empire.ö This one is apparently geared towards kids, and I
guess it features a nonbinary Jedi, based on how all of the characters use ôthey/themö pronouns to refer to his corpse. Watch this, if you can get
through it:
https://youtu.be/XVGR4oFc2Z0
This is the result of DisneyÆs big plan to focus on ôentertainmentö and not ômessaging.ö We have nonbinary Jedi and girl bosses making sure we get the gayest ôStar Warsö ever.ö And thatÆs not all.
As Bloomberg recently reported, Disney is now banking on the upcoming film ôInside Out 2ö as the, ôkey to restoring the magic.ö They think this film ù a sequel to a movie from 2015 ù is going to be a smash hit, to the point that theyÆre going to give it a 100-day run in theaters. As Bloomberg reports:
If families show up for Inside Out 2 in the kinds of numbers Pixar
used to see, it will reaffirm the studioÆs standing. But if the movie
fails, it will fuel concerns about the companyÆs relevance.
So whatÆs ôInside Out 2ö going to be about? ItÆs hard to say, because itÆs
not out yet. But after some Googling, I came across this headline from an outlet called Pride.com. HereÆs their assessment, based on the trailer:
The long-awaited sequel to Disney and PixarÆs Inside Out isnÆt
hitting theaters until this summer, but the official trailer dropped
this weekàand itÆs looking a little gay. à Fans think Inside Out 2
is going to be gay AF.
How brave is that? Are they also going to gay-ify ôInside Outö ù which was
kind of a middling Pixar entry in the first place? Who knows? But based on
the fact that they canÆt make anything that isnÆt gay ù we can assume the answer is yes.
This is all very woke, yes. ItÆs also incredibly lame and stale and unimaginative. That would also be an apt descriptor for what Disney is doing with its theme parks. As the writer Peachy Keenan documented on X/Twitter yesterday, Disney is currently re-theming their famous ôSplash Mountainö ride because apparently it is racist. And theyÆre creating a politically correct replacement.
Keenan watched all of DisneyÆs promotional materials, and she put together a comparison of the old ride with the new one. Basically, the new ride wonÆt
have Princess Tiana in a nice dress with a handsome prince, or even a
storyline of any kind:
Instead, you get a lot of dead space, repeated boring animatronic
who look like zombies compared to the Pirates animatronics, and
Tianaùincrediblyùin ugly baggy pants, no makeup, no nonsense hair,
zero glamour. à ItÆs Girl Boss Tiana and sheÆs dressed like a Jungle
Cruise.
Sounds thrilling. I was trying to figure out why all of this is happening at Disney ù why theyÆre sabotaging their own brand, despite what the CEO said theyÆd do. And itÆs clear that, whateverÆs going on here, itÆs not unique to Disney.
Consider what just happened at Cracker Barrel. Their CEO is a woman named
Julie Felss Masino. She took the job last year. Previously, she worked at
Taco Bell, Mattel, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Starbucks, and MacyÆs. Of course, the clientele of every single one of these companies is very different from the typical Cracker Barrel, which skews older. But in general, her old jobs were mostly in the food industry, just like öThe Acolyteö showrunnerÆs jobs were mostly in the entertainment industry. And thatÆs good enough, so Julie Masino got the job.
Unfortunately, itÆs not working out too well. Masino just announced on a call with investors that the company is, ôjust not as relevant as we once were.ö
To ôignite growth,ö she said, itÆs necessary to ôrevitalizeö the brand. She then outlined a bunch of generic initiatives, like rewards programs that
every other restaurant offers. Her announcement sent the stock down 11% immediately, putting it down nearly 50% in the past year. And why wouldnÆt
the stock drop? The new CEO clearly views Cracker Barrel as completely indistinguishable from every other place sheÆs ever worked. If anything, she probably hates the brand. And we can assume she hates the brandÆs primarily blue collar, Christian clientele.
We saw something similar with that Bud Light VP, Alissa Heinerscheid, when
she dismissed her own customers as ôfrattyö and said Bud Light needed a rebrand. They brought on Dylan Mulvaney, and we all know how that turned out. Alissa Heinerscheid, like Julie Masino, had great credentials. She went to Harvard and Wharton, and had worked at big companies like Listerine and
General Mills. But she didnÆt understand Bud Light or care about the
customers, so she destroyed the brand.
ThatÆs now unfolding at Cracker Barrel as well. And itÆs a very preventable, slow-motion collapse. On social media, someone using the handle ôPine Barronö summed up the problem better than anyone IÆve seen. HereÆs what he wrote, describing an alternative to Cracker BarrelÆs current CEO:
Imagine a CEO who actually loved Midwestern and Southern culture.
What about pop up concerts and endorsements by Zach Bryan and Morgan
Wallen? Why not lean into its heritage as an æafter churchÆ spot and
create programs for church groups including discounts and shuttle bus
services. Grassroots evangelical support has made huge hits of movies
like the Sound of Freedom and restaurant chains like Chik-Fil-A. à
Imagine a public company with leadership that didnÆt hate the blue
collar evangelical population. There are so many obvious partnership
opportunities with brands like NASCAR or country music stars. I donÆt
think this is wokeness or girlbossery per se, but rather typical
corporate mediocrity. à They hired a generic MBA type who built a
career on the massive brand equity of Yum Brands and Starbucks. à
Just a cog in the corporate machine. I hope we will see titans of
industry again but this is not how weÆll get them.
That does a fairly good job of putting into perspective everything weÆve been seeing over the past few years at Disney, Bud Light, and so many other major corporations. And I think itÆs a more apt explanation than simply chalking
all of this decline up to ôwokeness.ö
This trend of hiring interchangeable CEOs with resumes and trendy
demographics has been an unmitigated disaster because it overlooks what the leader of every company should have, at a bare minimum ù which is an understanding of their product and a genuine respect for their customers. Without that, you get shows like ôThe Acolyte.ö You get Dylan Mulvaney and angry customers, and your stock collapses along with your brand.
All the combined efforts of feminism and diversity and equity and wokeness
have brought us to this point. But itÆs bureaucracy and inertia thatÆs
keeping it alive, long after everyoneÆs tired of it. That inertia is the
reason why ù whether youÆre going to a restaurant or a movie theater ù youÆre now guaranteed a product thatÆs as mediocre as the people who created it.
--
Let's go Brandon!
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)