Discussion Disney’s Business Model is Turning Kids Into Dysfunctional Adults

rommelrommel

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Dec 7, 2002
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This is what they believe…



Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

“Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children," Walt Disney once said.

Walt’s unique strategy of building an entertainment empire for kids once made Disney a trusted source of family entertainment. That didn’t last long after Walt's death as Disney started releasing R-rated movies and adult television programming under the Touchstone label.

A decade later, Disney bought Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax. During the 90s, while Disney's more family friendly brand was releasing animated cartoons, Miramax featured Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting, and the Scream sequels. During this time Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment and assaults. Some of this was taking place even as Disney’s “family friendly” brand released The Hunchback of Notre Dame with its depiction of a lecherous Catholic villain praying before a cross while ranting about his lusts. This was what Disney had become.

In the new century the barrier between the two schizoid faces of Disney has come down.

Disney isn’t for kids anymore. Its movie business is dominated by Marvel blockbusters. Half of Disney+ subscribers, its big bet on the home streaming future, are adults with no children. ‘

What about the theme parks?

60% of Disneyland visitors were adults with no children. Only 36.7% of Disney World visitors had children under 18. The largest demographic for the theme parks, like the movies, are millennials. They are also members of the fandoms who are likeliest to spend money on licensed merchandise, and on toys and movie tie-ins that are Disney’s bread and butter.

And Disney is rapidly adapting with theme parks and resorts that emphasize its Marvel and Star Wars properties more than classic fare. Its Galactic Starcruiser hotel, aimed at Star Wars fans, costs $4,809 for two adults. Why bother with kid stuff when you can sell $13 beers?

Disney may have started out feeding the imaginations of children, but now its business model is acquiring intellectual properties with active fandoms and milking the adult fans for every cent.

Its political opposition to a Florida law barring teachers from pushing sexual issues on kindergarteners might be out of tune with the old family values Disney, but the company’s actual base, like that of virtually every entertainment corp in the country, is a narrow slice of upscale urban millennials with lots of disposable income and no families. Wokes are Disney’s base.

In 1966, the idea that a single adult would spend more money on Disney merchandise than a family of four would have seemed ridiculous. In 2022, it’s just the new normal. If you doubt that stop by a theme park and see how many of the adults with no children wearing every single piece of Disney merchandise on sale would love to lecture you about queer theory.

These are the people Disney caters to now. Not little girls who want to be princesses. That’s why its theme parks will no longer address little girls as princesses. That’s also why rides like Pirates of the Caribbean or Jungle Cruise are being revamped to be more politically correct. Disney’s new woke demographic is much pickier than even the pickiest child could be.

It’s also sexually creepy.

Disney’s new demographic are adults who have never properly grown up and on some level still think of themselves as children. That’s also the profile for the average child molester. And of the kind of adult who insists that schools force children to “explore their sexual identities”.

Healthy adults raise, protect and care for children. Deeply unhealthy ones erase the barriers between themselves and children in ways that can be merely immature or outright evil.

Disney is a messed up company with a messed up base. This is no secret to theme park employees who will, anonymously, spout about it at forums. But some of those employees have also been caught up in child sex investigations. Disney has the clout to make much of that go away through its advertising budgets and the incredible power its theme parks wield over local governments in California and Florida (though Gov. DeSantis has warned that’s going away.)

The growth of Disney paralleled a post-war child-oriented family culture. The collapse of that culture into counterculture sent the company astray. And after decades in the wilderness reemerged with cartoons full of show tunes that catered as much to Broadway lovers as to children, to an indie film movement with a seamy underbelly, and finally perpetual fandom.

Disney found its post-Walt success in moving beyond selling universal family entertainment to tapping into obsessive subcultures. As a company that had nurtured fandom in children, it was uniquely positioned to capitalize on the transformation of adults into overgrown children.

None of this is good for adults, for children, or for the culture. Neither is Disney.

American birth rates are lagging and the family is in a poor state. Only 3 in 10 millennials are living with a child and a spouse. Much of the demographic growth is coming from immigrant childbirths, not Americans. Seen from this vantage point, Disney’s bet on diversity in children’s entertainment and on catering to adult fans willing to drop $5,000 on a hotel with lightsaber training or sing-along sessions to cartoon show tunes from their childhoods makes sense.

The Walt Disney business model depended on a healthy national family. Shareholders are not going to bet on a growth segment in the American nuclear family that doesn’t exist. Betting on dysfunctional adults with sizable disposable incomes makes a whole lot more sense.

Americans are more atomized than ever. Families are drifting apart. Religious faith is imploding among millennials and zoomers. The fictional characters and entertainers of popular culture are taking the place of family and faith. Fandom provides a sense of belonging and culture that community no longer does. Main Street is being replaced by The Avengers and Mos Eisley.

And who can blame a generation born into a broken nation for choosing fantasy over reality?

Peter Pan, like the Narnia books, concludes with the reality that children have to leave fantasy behind, grow up and become adults. But what happens when the children never grow up?

Disney still has a profitable kids segment, but its real profits come from overgrown children born into broken families, prematurely coming of sexual age, who are eager to embrace leftist utopian causes and fantasies, who are seeking an identity and an escape at the same time.

The company isn’t for kids, it’s for broken adults. And it’s only natural that Disney would seek to create more broken adults to perpetuate its business model. A healthy functional adult isn’t nearly as profitable for the entertainment giant as a dysfunctional one addicted to its product.

Advocating that schools push sexual identity on kindergarteners is a cause that the entire entertainment industry, which wouldn’t exist without dysfunctional adults, can get behind.

What’s bad for America is great for Hollywood.

Functional people don’t spend all of their time in front of a television set. And functional families don’t plant their children in front of one and then buy them whatever they want to get them to shut up. Functional people are not very profitable for Disney or for the rest of Hollywood.

The entertainment industry went from a leisure enterprise to one that thrives on dysfunction, that is less interested in having 60% of the country watching something for an hour than having 10% of the country binge watch it for six hours. Ratings and demographic profiles of the industry reflect a profound shift away from entertainment as a past time to entertainment as a lifestyle.

And even an identity.
 

HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
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Last edited:

rommelrommel

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2002
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Just googled that guy and his work is nothing but an endless stream of ultraconservative nonsense and lies.

Being a right wing think tank mouthpiece paid to do nothing but write total bullshit must be a sweet gig.

I would think the level of fake outrage in there would be hard to maintain.

Do you enjoy marvel movies? You’re probably a pedophile.
 

allisolm

Elite Member
Administrator
Jan 2, 2001
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Just googled that guy and his work is nothing but an endless stream of ultraconservative nonsense and lies.

Being a right wing think tank mouthpiece paid to do nothing but write total bullshit must be a sweet gig.

Politifact scorecard for him is "Pants on Fire"

 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
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I would think the level of fake outrage in there would be hard to maintain.

Do you enjoy marvel movies? You’re probably a pedophile.

When there are super wealthy ultraconservatives willing to cut checks (or poorer ones to fleece) it's just a job if you're willing.
 
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IronWing

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Disney's cartoon movies have often had a weird (for children's movies) sexual vibe to them going back to the 1930s. That said, the article is dumb.
 
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HomerJS

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I guess they're trying to get that Muslim registry started again. Frighten white people before the mid terms.
 
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tweaker2

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The only thing that bothers me about the guy is that there's a whole lot of folks out there that see confirmation in that interminable drivel of his. Preaching to a choir that's already stuck on stupid is such an easy target to seek affirmation from.
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
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Just googled that guy and his work is nothing but an endless stream of ultraconservative nonsense and lies.

Being a right wing think tank mouthpiece paid to do nothing but write total bullshit must be a sweet gig.


God, yes. That's my second dream job, after "undercover cop for ACPO" (get to maintain a boho hippy lifestyle on a cop's salary and pension-plan while you infiltrate entirely-non-violent-and-not-remotely-threatening environmentalist protest groups, and sleep with the hippy women while the state backs you up in lying to them about your identity)

Amusing that he's a "Shillman fellow".

Shill:
noun
1 a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating, as at a gambling house, auction, confidence game, etc.
2 a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.

(Honestly, on the topic of those ACPO 'undercover cops' it was amusing when the scandal came out, to read the verdict of the cops who had to go undercover in genuinely violent and threatening drug gangs and the like, on their collegues who got such a sweet gig in comparison).
 

Fenixgoon

Lifer
Jun 30, 2003
31,464
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Amusing that he's a "Shillman fellow".

Shill:
noun
1 a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating, as at a gambling house, auction, confidence game, etc.
2 a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.
i got a chuckle out of that as well :D
 
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zinfamous

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Jul 12, 2006
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among many things, that was just poorly written. I question this person's experience and craft as what he seems to call himself "a journalist"
 
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Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
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This is what they believe…

These are the people Disney caters to now. Not little girls who want to be princesses. That’s why its theme parks will no longer address little girls as princesses. That’s also why rides like Pirates of the Caribbean or Jungle Cruise are being revamped to be more politically correct. Disney’s new woke demographic is much pickier than even the pickiest child could be.

Or

Or...

Maybe life is hard & we all like a little entertainment to help us get by, and it's OK to adjust things to be politically correct on an ongoing basis as-needed when we recognize that things weren't quite right.

The fun thing about writing articles is that it's a giant "fill in the blank" game, so you can make a plausible article by shuffling pieces around with inflammatory accusations that fit your target demographic's worldview. Splash Mountain was an awesome ride, but it most definitely needed some rebranding. And "woke" doesn't have to be a bad word; it can simply mean being willing to be fair & kind to everyone.

Disney found its post-Walt success in moving beyond selling universal family entertainment to tapping into obsessive subcultures. As a company that had nurtured fandom in children, it was uniquely positioned to capitalize on the transformation of adults into overgrown children.

Or...maybe I'm an adult who likes comic book movies instead of football. Give me more seasons of Loki & the Mandalorian please!
 

yottabit

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Jun 5, 2008
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From the headline I thought it was going to be an interesting article about the child actors they’ve employed (Mickey Mouse club etc) and the knock-on psychological effects. Should’ve known better with the current state of affairs lol

With what amounts to essentially brand preference, why do people feel the need to vomit up these word salad posts instead of just.. ummm… not watching Disney if that’s what they want and/or not allowing their kids (if they actually even have kids) to watch it? Talk about “overgrown children”, very prescient

If I wanted word vomit I’d ask ChatGPT what it thinks
 
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[DHT]Osiris

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Dec 15, 2015
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Or...maybe I'm an adult who likes comic book movies instead of football. Give me more seasons of Loki & the Mandalorian please!
Something I've always found incredible about humans is the innate desire to get others to conform. Not for people to conform to those around them, but for people to get others to conform to them so that THEY are more comfortable. My google news feed constantly has at least one sportsball story in it because it knows i'm a 20-60something male, and thus I *must* be into some kind of sportsball, just has to figure out which. I've updated my interests to reflect my lack of interest in sports, sports news sources, every individual sport imaginable, and I still occasionally get a 'soandso beachball team goes 2:1 over some other team' or 'french canadian bobsledder blahblah expected to be back in the seat in three weeks'. It feels like it's actually angry with me because I don't conform.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,436
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Something I've always found incredible about humans is the innate desire to get others to conform. Not for people to conform to those around them, but for people to get others to conform to them so that THEY are more comfortable. My google news feed constantly has at least one sportsball story in it because it knows i'm a 20-60something male, and thus I *must* be into some kind of sportsball, just has to figure out which. I've updated my interests to reflect my lack of interest in sports, sports news sources, every individual sport imaginable, and I still occasionally get a 'soandso beachball team goes 2:1 over some other team' or 'french canadian bobsledder blahblah expected to be back in the seat in three weeks'. It feels like it's actually angry with me because I don't conform.
They won't even let you hide celebrity gossip bullshit. I do like news about movies themselves, but couldn't care less who is dating who or buying what.