Let The Memes Begin

I have to admit: I've been a fan of Ryan Reynolds since he was on a show way-back-when called Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place. And Deadpool is such a fun, irreverent movie...this makes me like him that much more.


Although...the first thing I thought of was, "Silly, Ryan Reynolds. The Matterhorn is in Disneyland and that is clearly Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World."

Disney Nerd Problems.

Disney Buys 21st Century Fox -- What Does It Mean?

Honestly, I don't know.

I was an English/Bio double major in college so business deals and economics lie far outside my wheelhouse. (I'd probably recommend the New York Times article on it, or even this piece from CNN Money if you want more business-y specifics.)

What I'm concerned with is what this means for Disney's brand.

After all, Disney has built an empire on being a wholesome, family-friendly, "safe" brand -- which critics take particular issue with, given the company's capitalist and consumer-driven corporate ethos. 

Me? I tend to view the creative team and the businessmen as largely separate. That is, I think (or, I'd like to think) that the people directly involved with the story are concerned with just that: concerned with the story. I don't think Jennifer Lee sits down with her creative team and says, "Hmm. We've got this movie about two sisters -- how can we add something that Corporate can market and merchandize the hell out of?" 

Maybe that's naive. I don't know. After all, the Porgs from The Last Jedi seem like someone high up at LucasFilm said, "Make something cute like an Ewok that we can market and merchandize the hell out of." And they did. (Although--when Frozen did come out, there was that whole lack-of-merchandise thing so...maybe not?) 

But I digress. 

My point is: Disney is essentially synonymous with family-friendly and there's a lot about 21st Century Fox that...well...isn't "very Disney," as we say in my house. 

Fox is no stranger to either animation or superheroes, after all: on the TV side, they've got staples like The Simpsons and Family Guy, which, while they may offer on-point social commentary, their humor is a little "adult" for Disney's brand. On the film side, they've got some of the other Marvel properties like X-men and Deadpool -- the latter of which is definitely off-brand. But if the logic behind Disney's acquisition of Marvel (and, I think, of LucasFilm) was to expand their consumer base by acquiring things that appealed to boys (they needed something to compete with the Princess franchise) well...acquiring some off-brand media could potentially expand that consumer base. 

I get why people are worried that being underneath the Disney umbrella will mean significant changes to, or even the end of, off-brand media, but...I just can't see that happening. After all, Touchstone released Pretty Woman under the Disney umbrella, and that worked out pretty well. The Disney logo didn't pop up on the screen before the film, so it's not like Disney was directly associated with it -- they just reaped the profits.

And, that, I think, is the bigger concern. As Alex McLevy points out in this article at The A.V. Club:

"In the long run, all this merger does is contribute to an increasingly homogenized and calcified corporate dominance of the entertainment industry, with fewer and fewer media companies able to challenge the major studios. And in particular, it will make Disney arguably the most powerful studio that has ever existed. The company will exert even more outsized control than it currently does, muscling in on any turf where it can wrench an extra dollar away from someone who deserves it more."

Yikes. This is where I wish I had a little business/econ knowledge to fully understand the ramifications of this. I mean, I get the basic gist of this, as someone who studies and consumes media, but not the full implications. (Any Duke Econ professors out there want to team up and create a FOCUS cluster???)

But just check out this info-graphic, using information from 2011:

This tidbit is also troubling to me as well:

"Also, it will strip the Fox broadcast network from the studio that produces most of its properties[...]that could mean the death knell for Fox television as we know it. Deadline notes Disney would likely keep brand-affiliated shows like The Gifted and beloved institutions like Simpsonsand Family Guy, but beyond that, “observers do not see Fox continuing as a network focused on scripted programming.” Without control of the studio that provides most of its content, the assumption is that Fox will instead focus more on “sports programming, news magazines, and possibly reality shows” to fill its primetime lineup."

As someone who watches an embarrassing amount of television (my DVR is pretty  much always 90% full -- although I do have a lot of Sesame Street saved these days), that hurts my heart. FOX and ABC are probably my two favorite major networks -- mainly because FOX usually picks up the shows that are more fun and different that other networks steer clear of. (Don't get me started on CBS -- while they have The Big Bang Theory, which I will forever love, their line-up is pretty much shows about white dudes. Hi, it's 2017.) Some of my favorite shows are on FOX: Lucifer, Empire, Brooklyn Nine-Nine...and they picked up Glee and Scream Queens. The idea that "scripted programming" could be sacrificed for more sports (you already have ESPN, Disney!!!) and -- *shudder* -- reality shows, makes me want to cry.

I guess we'll have to wait and see...?

Happy Birthday To Me

I don't usually go in for designer things -- I don't own, or feel the need to buy, an Hermes scarf, Louis Vuitton luggage, Tory Burch flats, a Chanel LBD, or a Coach bag -- but there are exceptions.

1. My wedding shoes are Kate Spade -- not the Jimmy Choos my Younger Self vowed to buy. Hey. That was like peak Sex and the City time. 
2. My glasses are Burberry -- and I buy their perfume. One day, I will own a Burberry trench, but that's in the distant future.
3. I'm a sucker for the Disney Dooney & Burke bags. Now, I'm super picky about the prints and the look -- a lot of the bags are bright and colorful and scream "Disney" in a way that I just can't get behind. But when the design is subtle or muted? I want to buy all. the. things. 

Well, maybe just one thing. 😊

Peter Pan Dooney & Burke released *on* my birthday. #happybirthdaytome #treatyoself #disneydooney #buyallthethings pic.twitter.com/wBLQB7yhZv

— Lisa Andres (@TheDisneyProf) November 17, 2017

#tbt

Today's #tbt is throwing back to less than a week ago, when I spent my birthday at the most magical place on Earth. (Fun Fact: Disneyland (in California) is the happiest place on Earth; Disney World is the most magical. #disneynerd) It was kind of a big deal; while we've been to Disney around my birthday -- our anniversary is October 26th, so it's close enough -- I've never been in a park on my actual birthday. I highly recommend it.

Thursday, 11/09: We had dinner at the new Jungle Cruise themed restaurant -- the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen -- before we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. If you're a fan of the Jungle Cruise and think it's pun-derful, then you probably won't be disappointed by the restaurant, as it's full of the same oh-so-punny jokes as the ride, just delivered in a little bit more upbeat manner. Also, the food's pretty good; the average Yelp rating is 4/5 stars. While some of the more recent reviews were pretty harsh -- they called the food bland -- ...idk, our meal was delightfully flavorful. Although the buttercream on that cupcake was like *all* butter.

Friday, 11/10: my actual birthday!  I had breakfast with Mickey Mouse--honestly, does it get more magical than that? NOPE.

Saturday, 11/11: We went to the Happily Ever After Dessert Party & Fireworks Viewing and the Cast Member made me a custom ice-cream-cookie-cupcake-sandwich: vanilla ice-cream between two chocolate-chip cookies + mini cupcakes as Minnie's "ears" + icing + sprinkles + a cherry on top. Chelsi might be my new favorite person ever.

I legitimately think everyone should spend their birthday at a Disney Park at least once in their life. Get you a Happy Birthday button and wear it around: every cast member will wish you a Happy Birthday -- and sometimes random strangers will too; it's a good way to meet Birthday Twins -- and sometimes, with a little bit of pixie dust, you'll get a birthday treat, like free hot cocoa, or a free Mickey Mouse ice cream bar. IT'S MAGICAL. 

[In hindsight, this must be fairly annoying for cast members...a lot of people wear these buttons, so I can imagine it might be quite tiresome to wish everyone a happy birthday or say Congratulations every day...]

Just remember to take your birthday button off before you board the plane home. Otherwise, a particularly cheerful flight attendant may notice it and announce over the loudspeaker that it's your birthday and everyone should wish the girl with the blonde hair and gray sweatshirt a happy birthday as she passes by, causing you no small amount of embarrassment. 

Early Reviews of Pixar's _Coco_ Seem To Be Positive

While researching articles on race in The Princess and the Frog, I stumbled across this -- "What Mexican and American critics are saying about Disney/Pixar’s groundbreaking film “Coco."

Now, Coco has been a long time in the making -- and the making hasn't always been good. After all, it seemed to start with this controversy over trying to copyright "Day of the Dead" and ScreenRant offers a nice history of the making of the film. 

So now that early reviews are starting to come in, I'm curious to see if their work paid off. And while the reviews excerpted here acknowledge that the film isn't perfect -- will a Disney film ever be? -- the reviews do seem to be largely positive and seem to praise Disney for the efforts they made:

I ❤️ Tee Turtle

Confession: I have a t-shirt obsession. I think it started back in my swimming days when we'd get shirts from the different meets we went to, but all the free-shirts-as-bribes in college definitely didn't help. And now, today, it continues in the form of geeky/nerdy shirts that I wear whenever we go to Disney and to class sometimes.

One of my favorite sites is Tee Turtle, and they've had a little bit of a Disney drought lately. But maybe they renewed their Disney license recently or something because they've had a spate of new Disney shirts lately. These two popped up in my Inbox this morning:



Y'all know how I feel about The Little Mermaid *and* "Poor Unfortunate Souls" so....yeah. Currently coveting both of these shirts.

Disney Announces Official Live-Action Lion King Cast

Woke up this morning to find this story blowing up on my social media feeds:

#TheLionKing. 2019. 🦁👑

A post shared by Walt Disney Studios (@disneystudios) on Nov 1, 2017 at 3:31pm PDT

I mean...first and foremost, this confirms that Beyonce will be the voice of Nala -- which, you just know she's going to slay that part of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight." (Sidebar: Can Donald Glover sing? I would think so...) I also wonder if this means they'll be bringing in some of the songs from the Broadway version, where Nala (and Scar, and Sarabi) have more of a singing presence since, you know, it's a musical. (Sidebar #2: Can Chiwetel Eijofor sing? I would think so and really hope so, because "Be Prepared" is one of my top 2 favorite Disney villain songs and he needs to bring it. Also, if this isn't a musical, and that song is cut, my heart will break.)

BUT.

What I find most interesting is the addition of Keegan-Michael Key and Eric Andre in the roles of Kamari and Azizi, respectively. On the pic above, they're paired with Florence Kasumba (who's German, interestingly enough), who is the voice of Shenzi.  Since "Shenzi" was the name of the hyena voiced by Whoopi Goldberg in the animated version, logic would dictate that Key and Andre are voicing the other two hyenas -- Banzai and Ed in the animated version.

I'm curious as to why Disney changed their names -- not that they were really well-known names. Perhaps to distance them from the animated version? Banzai in the animated version was voiced by Cheech Marin, and Ed was...well, Ed was problematic as the only animal character who didn't speak and who came off a little mentally handicapped. But I think it's interesting that all 3 hyenas will be voiced by black actors, and wonder what their "accents" will be, if they have any. After all, one of the big criticisms that scholars have against The Lion King is that the hyenas were voiced by minority actors and, they claim, had "urban accents" (essentially saying they sounded like they were, stereotypically, from the ghetto). To those critics, this was especially problematic as the hyenas were viewed as outside the circle of life and brought destruction to the Pridelands when they arrived. Critics read this as racist and classist on Disney's part -- and if you read the film against the backdrop of the LA Riots in the early 1990s, you might agree. (For a non-academic take on the hyenas, this is a pretty good read.)

I'm not entirely sure I do agree, but the name changes and casting choices are interesting, to say the least.