#anyways L + you lack an internal locus of control
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I'm glad Tumblr is available to anyone who wants to be on it because otherwise i would never get to see this unhinged rant about a mid Disney movie delivered by a Protestant who tries really hard to tiptoe up to the line of "I don't like Disney because they're not Christian anymore" without saying anything explicitly Christian. Really can't get this anywhere else.
If you havenât seen Wish yet and you love Disney, do not go see it. I am telling you now. It is ripping out the hearts of the Disney movies you love and then waving their corpses around as if celebrating those hearts.
Iâll explain why, again: the message of Wish? Awful. Anti-Disney.
But they've been doing this for a long time. Saying one thing with their movies, and saying another with their PR and Disney Parks Soundtracks.
I'll explain.
Main Idea of Disney's Wish (and the You Are the Magic theme park song and merch): "The power to make your wishes come true is in you."
â
Most Disney Movies' Idea on How to Have Wishes: "Do what's right, (trust a higher power) and something even more wonderful than what you wished will happen."
Don't try to argue with me about this. You have to look underneath the slogans and the sweater designs and the song titles to what the stories actually support to acknowledge this.
Because you canât say âdo whatâs rightâ has power unless you answer the question âwho gets to decide âwhatâs right?ââ (Which, coincidentally, is a question Wish brings up and then doesnât answer.)
Audiences of Disney used to accept that wishing on a star was much like prayer; thereâs something you long for, and itâs out of your hands, but you wish for it and you do what you know is right in the meantime. And youâre not crushed, youâre not downhearted, because somewhere in your mind you trust that the combo of those two thingsâwishing on a higher power and diligence to do whatâs goodâwill be what makes your wish come true.
Trust in a higher powerâCOMBINED WITH:
âdiligence to do whatâs good.
The Blue Fairy (higher power) gave Geppetto his wish specifically because he had demonstrated commitment to do good, whether he got what he wanted or not. The Fairy Godmother (higher power) gave Cinderella her wish specifically because she kept on being kind and good to low creatures like mice and wicked stepsisters, whether she got what she wanted or not.
Do you know why that combo (higher power + diligence to do good) is impactful? Timeless? Important?
Because itâs selfless. You want something, but youâre not going to sacrifice doing the right thing to get it. Youâre not going to focus so hard on making what you want a reality, on your own, that you miss out on things that could be more important than what you want. And, youâre not so self-focused as to believe that if you donât do it, it wonât get done.
Jeez, thatâs the whole point of The Princess and the Frog!
Tiana wishes to have her own restaurant, and she believes that only her own hard work will grant that wish. She misunderstands her dadâs advice before he dies. She isnât willing to trust a higher power combined with her own diligence to do goodâshe only trusts her own ability.
Itâs not until she realizes that Ray, the character of faith, was right all along that she learnsâwhat she wished for was too self-focused. It wasnât complete without love. Something bigger than herself. And getting that was never going to happen just based on her own hard work.
But you know what? It was never going to happen just by a âhigher-powerâ flavored shortcut, either. Because Facilier offers her her wish if sheâll just trust him, no hard work needed. But what does she say?
Trust in a higher power + diligence to do whatâs right = selflessness, and getting more than you could have ever wished for. And if your wish is selfish, doing those two things will change your wish into something selfless.
More examples? Get âem while theyâre hot, in case Wish made you forget, just like the current #NotMyDisney executives have forgotten, what real Disney wishes are for.
Belle wishes to have adventures in the great wide somewhere--but when she's imprisoned and that chance is taken from her it's not reversed because she worked hard to make her wish come true. It's granted because she gave up her wish for her father: she just did the right thing, regardless of her wish. And in the end, she does get what she wished for, which is adventure in an enchanted castle...and much more, because she gets true love, a throne, and a castle full of friends.
How about the One Who Started It All? The one Wish is failing to pay genuine tribute to?
Snow White wishes for someone to love her, and he does--but when they're separated, she does not exercise power to make The Prince come back to her. Instead, she loves who she can where sheâs atâthe Dwarfs. In the meantime, she has faith that he will keep his promise, and that pure trust in a higher power outside of her control is a big contributing factor to why the Dwarfs come to love her, and learn from her...and in the end, even more than she could've wished happens. He does take her to his castle, but she also has seven new friends who also love her, and the Queen is dead. And she didnât need to use âthe power in herâ to work harder and get it done. She just needed to not focus so much on herself at all.
How about a male main character? One whoâs wish starts out selfish, but after learning to wish on a higher power and be diligent to do the right thing, gets more than he could wish for?
Aladdin wishes to be somebody different (somebody he believes Jasmine could love, somebody who lives in a palace and is respected and ânever has any troubles at all.â)âbut doing everything in his own power for that wish proves that it was selfish all along; so he switches to doing the right thing, regardless of if his wish comes true, and he gets even more than he couldâve wished. He gets real love with Jasmine, he gets his friend Genie, and he gets to be free from feeling âtrappedâ because he doesnât have to hide who he is anymore.
Or Simba?
Simba wishes to get to do whatever he wants as Kingâbut when Mufasa dies and heâs convinced itâs his fault, it isnât for that wish that he goes back to Pride Rock to confront his past and his Uncle. Itâs because he had an encounter with a higher powerâhis fatherâthat helped him to realize his wish was selfish all along. He gives up the selfish wish, and he goes back to take his place as king, not so he can do whatever he wants, but so that he can take self-sacrificial responsibility that comes with ruling. And because he just does the right thing, finally, he gets more than what he wished for.
How about something more recent? Zootopia.
Judy wishes to make the world a better place by proving she can be what she wants to be and catching bad guysâbut when she tries to make her wish happen on her own, in her own abilities, she fails and is forced to realize that she shouldâve been looking for help by understanding âbad guys,â like Nick. Itâs only after she humbled herself, admits sheâs wrong, and changes her wish from âproving I can be what I want and catching bad guysâ to âproving that understanding each other makes the world a better placeâ (much less self-focused) that her wish comes trueâand so much more. She does make the world a better place, and she does get to catch bad guys, but she also gets to befriend one who was a good guy all along, and become all-around more effective at her dream job.
This is how Disney always has been. Because itâs at the heart of good storytelling, and even life (not to get too dramatic.)
The power is not in you. Because itâs not about you. Self-sacrifice, faith, and doing the next right thing regardless of if you get your heartâs fondest desire is what makes more than just your wishes come true. And there has to be belief in a higher power to make that message powerful.
But Wish?
Not only is it bad at showing instead of telling. Not only is it lazy and soulless.
But itâs characters rip the Star out of the sky and say âdonât wish on this. Wish on yourself, to get what you wish for. You donât need a higher power. You donât even need to sacrifice to do whatâs goodâwhatever you do is good, because you are the one doing it.â
That is wrong. That is not true, and it is not powerful. Thereâs no sacrifice in focusing on or placing your trust totally in yourself, and it undoes every good thing Disney has done up until now.
And it undoes it on the 100th anniversary, and it flaunts Easter eggs of the very things itâs undoing.
#sorry to my mutuals for putting this on your dash#but also its really funny#anyways L + you lack an internal locus of control
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