The Cultural Confusion of Disney's WISH

hey thanks for clicking on this video it starts with a disclaimer you can skip ahead like 50 60 seconds but I think you should listen to it it's a little bit important at the current moment there are plenty of people that are engaging in a personal boycott of Disney products for many many valid reasons I respect the effort but I'm not personally participating myself due to the stipulations already outlined by the official BDS movement these were terms that were laid out by the people in crisis and they' have only asked us to do a few things specific to this company I would definitely encourage everyone to follow those terms specifically I'll leave a link somewhere so you can go read up if you'd like I'll also disclose that I haven't paid to see this movie and neither as Disney though I do recognize that engaging with it on any level no matter how critical could ultimately end up boosting its public profile especially if it's still in theaters having said that I am donating some AdSense off of this joint uh I have a charity in mind but if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them comment DM email you know to drill with that out of the way let's start the video Disney's wish is a 2023 animated musical comedy produced to coincide with its Studio's 100th anniversary buil primarily as the origin story of the iconic Wishing Star that's appeared in countless Disney media it's considered to be a celebration of Disney lore and the encapsulation of the original Classic's impact on our culture over the course of 5 years thousands have contributed to the production of a film that's meant to stand next to the like is Snow White Pinocchio and Dumbo if you were to plug Disney wish into Google the first search result would refer you to the cruise ship of the exact same name it was christened by June of 2022 and after a few months at se a fulllength documentary on its creation was produced and released by National Geographic and I think this accidental deconomy really sums up this film's relationship with its potential audience quite well after after a rocky few years within the world of entertainment the biggest and baddest of the studio system has been noticeably struggling to make wish the Smash Hit they wanted after weeks of mixed reviews and slow turnout the film itself has been an easy target online as Disney's cynically Big failed commercial for its vast Empire its themes and how they've been marketed have led many to see it as not only a corporate product but one that might just be someone's Last Stand never mind who just someone it is entirely possible that by the time its theatrical run ends the sequel to The Paw Patrol movie Paw Patrol the mighty movie will have made more at the box office than a Mainline Disney event film in 2023 either that or it's a trolls 3 sweep in which case I'm completely on board for that I'm not here to add on to the stupidly stupidly tall pile of clickbait videos that are already made about this movie I'm painfully aware of how skewed its coverage has been on YouTube letter box Twitter you name it and I really don't think me dissecting it shot for shot is necessary partially because the movie is just so so damn boring but also because I find stuff like the marketing uh the weird reactions to it before it came out the weird reactions to it after it came out the various biases and prejudgments that were present and how that affected it are way more interesting to me from a sociological lens I mean art is inherently political I think it's totally fine to an certain pieces of media from that lens especially if you take into account the fact that this movie is so flawed as a film itself that it might just smooth out a lot of the biases and prejudgments that may already be pre-existing and make it easier for us to talk about some of these issues here if that makes sense just remember that no matter how comprehensive this video could be in theory I don't want it to be the end all Beall of this film's Legacy I would like to see the reaction to it change in morph a little bit I want to see it a few months out different from how I found it you should probably just try to see this joint as a historical marker for where all the discourse was and a little Peak behind the curtain as to how people were feeling at this particular time with that out of the way let's get things [Music] started as you may already know cuz Disney loves reminding everyone of this fact this particular film has been 100 years in the making this story is centered around our featuring heroin Asha as she fights the evil sorcerer King magnifico for the right for everyone in her poor provincial town to pursue their dreams it's a classic Disney fairy tale presented within a modern lens with watercolor type backgrounds and more dramatic outlines housing a colorful cast of characters they even got a traditional Disney villain for this one how about that they haded a little twist filling on the side I hope you don't mind that part anyway with the help of some friends and a rousing spirit present in every Mouse House heroin the film is meant to be the culmination of every piece of Princess media to date and an extravagant tribute to the vividly animated Disney brand or at least that's what they want you to think the primary point of contention with wish is due to the contradictory nature of its existence it's supposed to be emblematic of narrative and aesthetic synthesis where in elements of Disney past would be seamlessly fused with modern tropes of today in a way that emphasizes how far they've come and how much farther they'd like to go so they take an idic fairy tale setting and apply it to a classic good versus evil struggle but forget to add any of the personalization or intent with which the old films were made it encourages you to follow your dreams without giving its young protagonist much of any to pursue the story espouses The Power of friendship without showing us any particularly strong connections made or kept it's the story of the Wishing Star but it's also the story of these other things that somehow also kind of connect because you know Disney but not really many of these qualms could be reduced down to issues with World building and internal logic and they're certainly relevant in that area but I'd argue its biggest issues especially concerning its main lead are rooted in its lack of identity that's just endemic to the world she inhabits now contradictory or polarized elements within a story aren't an issue in and of themselves it's it's often when incidental conflicts crop up where a competent Storyteller can wrench the most movement and growth out of their ideas working within playful extremes is practically a Hallmark of Disney animated Cannon take or two sidekicks for instance being on opposite ends of the design Spectrum Ash's anthropomorphic Confidant demonstrate this contradiction on a much smaller scale the star literally just a Luma from Mario is a chibified blob energy with simplified facial expressions it's been noted to be partially inspired by classic Mickey Mouse shorts but I think if you asked any random kid in Disney World they would probably point to the rudish iteration as its primary point of inspiration the goat is terrible and bad and stupid and nobody likes him [ __ ] the goat is visually in line with Sidekicks from the Xerox era onward despite him mugging the camera in every single piece of promo art imagine I mean there's only two of them but nevertheless his characterization is relatively tame for a feisty wide-eyed innocent ready to Take On The World at a moment notice he doesn't really say or do anything you couldn't picture a 5-year-old Wen even with his much lower register I'm talking I am talking who knew my voice would be this low narratively they're also worlds aart in execution the baby goat could be taken out of the movie quite seamlessly even coming down to individual lines and references without much of anything being altered the star often doesn't feel more developed than a Plucky plot device and any attempt to build a rapport with Asha feels a bit AR official but its mission is to guide our protagonist through to her end goal which is more or less accomplished these details are easily gleaned from various teasers and trailers but more commonly audiences seem to read them as cynically crafted ready-made money printers to the tune of millions and millions of dollars in merch they're tolerable enough for the most part but it do seem like a genuine interest in crafting a compelling if not broadly likable sidekick was just not fulfilled here had this contrast been used in a more creatively challenging context it's likely that they would have been received warmly by the general public stock characters with vague wisps of Representative elements are this film's bread and butter and reviewing this lack of relationship kind of cues us up to confront the main Crux of this thesis did you know I had one I I I barely knew I had one it'll probably be another 20 minutes before you hear about it again personally I find the general message of wish being tied into identity and being free to conquer one's own destiny to be disharmonious with how its characters and setting were utilized they weren't there's a fair amount of supplementary material they save for the inevitable art book that details attention paid to surroundings and cultures that don't receive a fraction of the attention in the narrative at the same time there's different angles to consider when critiquing the film or dissecting pre-existing analysis that may not be fully considerate of the circumstances the film was made in intersectionality do really be like that sometimes so there's probably a few categories with which this film is out a Crossroads that I wouldn't even consider while scripting this for our purposes we're only going to focus on a couple spheres of interest and we can also separate the topics that we'd be tackling in this particular part between things we expected them to not do and things they actually didn't looking into the former first I I thought we could delve into how our main lead is seen as a female protagonist first considering the fantasy setting and the elements the general premise is supposed to be eved ative of the focus on Asha is palpable to say the least in this context we could perhaps consider a lot of roles that would be paired down to simplistic archetypes but this main character is meant to be a strong Fusion of the old and the new if not in narrative function at least in personality narratively I think the current consensus is that she doesn't have much of an art to speak of by the end of the film she does take on a bit more social status but it's unclear where she'd actually end up personality wise just doesn't seem to be well defined in any capacity she's driven to pursue other people's wishes and she's determined to not process the implications of what she wants or needs or she she she's adventurous within the narrow setup of the story she's enough of a blank slate that early reactionaries leapt at the chance to label her as another certified quirky girl from The Princess line of succession I feel like I've seen that personality in humor before but where oh yeah here oh in here over here too can't forget about you and possibly controversial hot take the white man version of it having actually seen her story play out I do believe this is some weak ass sauce but it's been levied at every female lead post Tangled so that kind of carries its own set of problems to be honest the swiftness with which these complaints are often made raises some red flags concerning how we see them nevertheless Asha is more the victim of bland riding than anything else ironically I think this comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of the princesses which I mean wouldn't surprise me cuz we spent an entire era of media studies taking pot shots at characters that were fundamentally blessed and unbothered they were just vibing they were just cruising they didn't give a [ __ ] any bitching made at the expense of Corky characters doesn't typically go farther than it's childish or it's played out without compensating for the fact that every lead from this time period is dealing with themes of self-discovery identity and culture that's markedly different from the '90s princesses in a weird way Corky has become shorthand for samess or same face syndrome when there wasn't much if any to be found I mean even outside of that context Asha is pretty boring but I don't think it's fair to throw her into that category when she's not meant to be there I find it interesting that there is such a compulsion to try and compare characters created decades apart cuz it couldn't as easily be done within the scope of black Disney which covers a similar range of time but is spread out much farther across the the company's Legacy the only projects within that Collective that get talked about with any frequency aside from all the racious [ __ ] and maybe the Goofy movies are the few within the past couple decades that centered black characters I don't know if you knew this but a lot of us just don't [ __ ] with these movies I mean I haven't finished soul and I I find Princess and the Frog to be mildly enjoyable but I'm otherwise indifferent on a structural level there's a lot of issues to compensate for we don't have time to get in all all that today I'm sure cornbread tube will fill you in when you got the time but most of these issues stem from the fact that creating a black perspective took a back seat to the narratives themselves which often stands in contrast with how these choices are marketed musker and Clemens literally said this while promoting the movie they were making it's okay it's all right I'm not mad at them I know there's some of the good ones I know I uh I I thought Treasure Planet was kind of cool that that that's what you're supposed to say right considering the role that diversity is said to have in the story itself I'd posit that asha's potential Arc in this movie could have been a big thing if there was something more concrete that's not to say she had to become an action star for her to be recognized as good representation after all we'd find ourselves yearning to see more stories that aren't exclusively centered around traditional black struggle all the time not to mention a passion just to tell our own Stories unfettered We definitely need our own frivolous Escapist garbage too but how far could that barrier be stretched before this character's identity outside of skin color is almost indeterminable it really does underscore the difference between POC stories and stories that feature P the former puts them in the production they have people at the center of the story actually try and tell them putting them in the director's chair head writer slot showrunner Circle all of those positions get you closer to making a POC story than just making those characters there's room for nuance no one production is the exact same and Disney is especially good at blurring those lines but it's undeniable there's a unique authenticity lent to letting people just speak for themselves right the latter is important too but there's a clear discrepancy in what they do it takes nothing to change a character's race in the planning stages but it's a real effort to make them come alive we usually end up in recurring in background roles as is so becoming supporting leads in media that's supposed to be a about us just kind of rub salt into the wom my view on representation has always been centered around slow and steady steps forward there are individual people or entities that take longer strides or bigger Footprints but every instance it's just one leaf on a giant tree it gives you the most detailed picture when you view them as part of a much larger sphere it's statistically impossible for everyone to feel equally seen by one form of representation so variety is the name of the game the end goal of Ideal rep is supposed to be absolute normalization and in a more abstract sense a diverse swath of perspectives is the key to eventually achieving this no one group of people is a monolith and upbringing background culture Creed and the more sides shown the better representation arguably feels most Hollow when there's a lack of range and perspective present the compulsion to make media that's easily digestible for a majority of the audience can conflict with this mandate and even when we have beef to pick with specific meteor entities much of it is happening within and against systemic issues that they Loosely represent it's a tricky thing to balance and there's a lot of little ways that they could have tried to improve this I was thinking a lot about the color theory around the movie right the darker the color the more distant aggressive bad it it feels right characters of color generally they're they're background characters they're not always at the Forefront if they are they're usually lighter in complexion and that kicks off a whole mess of other talks about colorism and internalized racism and everything but consider this the evil King is cloaked in in white is traditionally associated with Purity and innocence and more commonly at this point in time has been attributed to characters that are more cold or unfeeling or artificial Asha is wearing mostly purple which according to the art book is associated directly with her cultural identity as a North African but it also tends to stand for royalty within the Western hemisphere which is a bit of unexpected Synergy right having the black girl destroyed the homogenized vision of what Silver Fox Chris Pine wants by recognizing the natural color and life and vibrancy of her home in his kingdom is kind of badass I think kids would pick up on that really quick but honestly given the lack of reaction from constructs like black Twitter I I think it's okay if we just let this one go in the most General sense having the mid ass movie be the one that is featuring the black girl as the lead is bad I don't necessarily like that but got to cut our losses you know the concept that's propping up the film was pretty muddled by itself so I imagine that trying to tackle a story that requires that much nuance and inspiration would probably just not be within the scope of their abilities now if it were just left up to Asha we could probably just leave it there this video probably wouldn't have even existed if that were truly the case but this film in all of its pre-eminent vager found a way to kind of pay lip service to diversity as a concept in a way that shows that it had the most potential to make the most out of its setting in his characters while simultaneously being the most clueless about what it actually wants to achieve but in order to even get into that we have to establish the logistics behind the setting the primary setting for wish would happen to be the kingdom of Rosas now nestled in the eye of a small Mediterranean island lies a hustling bustling presumably self-sufficient Society cultivated by its main antagonist quite consciously its inhabitants are noted to come from every corner of every continent on the globe having been attracted to the town's lack of taxes and Serene peace this isolated Community could offer them it and Asha share a similar cultural makeup with both of them being a fusion of Spanish and North African influence the main timeline of wish is Tethered to sometime in the early 12 1200s or the late Middle Ages its placement within this specific context allows it to predate several but not all members of the princess Canon among other Disney stories the center of town borrows a lot from Romanesque architecture with various smaller details borrowing from architectural style specific to Medieval Spain Asha comes from a mixed background her father's side is vaguely Iberian while her mother's is of North African descent in specific the am people indigenous to Northwest Africa were name dropped as a direct point of inspiration and part of her canonical cultural makeup Asha doesn't look like many Disney princesses of the past and Disney takes active advantage of this upon first glance many would assume that we now have an afro Latina princess thrown into the mix her voice actress Ariana debose is and while it's likely this character came to resemble her more once her role was solidified this labeling does not apply to Asha this character is explicitly afro Hispanic which sounds ped but there's an important distinction to be made here the former points to Roots within the Latin diaspora found throughout the Americas more commonly known as Latin America the latter can include Latin America but it only qualifies countries that tout a predominant Spanish influence an easy way to remember the distinction between Hispanic and Latin America is remembering that Brazil is technically part of Latin America which is a broader term than Hispanic America which does not include it it's striking to me because whether intentional or not this film seems to expertly dodge any concrete form of Latin rep that isn't distinctly Hispanic as far as we know there aren't any Latin characters in The Narrative it's geographically impossible for there to be no Latin citizens of roses it is heavily implied that the island was placed where it was because aesthetically speaking it looks like the center of the universe but you don't see heads or tails of them Beyond a couple background shots if you head Canon that you know like use your imagination to again I don't know and I find this hugely ironic I mean I guess someone can be offended but I I'm just kind of confused is this accidental Latin eraser I think even if the implications of this Choice were very incidental and were only really considered after the fact this is an attribute that is taken advantage of in marketing the film as far as I can tell I don't think there's been any Disney spokesperson or representative that has squarely pinned Asha as afro Latina and they probably never will but they're totally fine with other reviewers or critics or whatever have you praising her for being a shining Beacon of representation or even just calling her afro Latina outright I just loved how Asha looked um Asha is a mixed race he afro Latina woman and she just looked so cool and I just love the representation that she she already gives based off just how she looks already which feels a bit off to me you have folks within your cast that technically could have filled that mandate you know that that quota could have been satisfied if you really wanted to but you just didn't do anything with it this disparity stands out a lot more when you consider what wish has chosen to do with half of its Supporting Cast as you may already know Asha is flanked by a group of friends directly inspired by the Seven Dwarves aside from helping satiate the robust appetite for bounti for references the directors assigned their Collective presence the lofty purpose of highlighting quote unquote the promise of a more richly diverse and harmonious tomorrow to the world of wish from conception there was a Clear Vision for how they would be executed with regard to both their cultural backgrounds and their root in Disney Cannon all the seven being very regionally specific in terms of where they come from East Asia North Africa Europe two characters of Arab descent is a Belle weather for the incredible cast how [ __ ] correct was this guy I don't know if you've noticed I'll just rip the Bandit off right now this is the Burger King Kids Club of supporting Cass and in this particular case this was actually one of their smartest choices made I'm a cut Against the Grain [ __ ] the critics I am firmly of the opinion that they are all a great addition to the Final Cut I'm sure their Collective presence breaks some some rules of film making including Disney's but in the wider context of what the story is supposed to be it makes complete sense for them to be here in fact I'll go a step further and say they could have been the Saving Grace of this [ __ ] which is what ultimately makes their lack of relevance here all the more terrible to me anyway I don't know if you care one of the guiding principles of wish concerns the universality of said worldly desires wishing hoping aspiring for more or greater is something that presumably everyone goes through it's arguably a necessary Milestone to hit to become a well-rounded functioning adult the act itself is innate to everyone it's the same as eating and sleeping and [ __ ] but between different upbringings and geographies and manifests itself in different ways a dog barks no matter which part of the world he's in but it doesn't always sound like a woof you know incidentally the medium of Animation makes the homogeneization of certain symbols much more seamless but everything looks a little bit different in other parts of the globe there's a whole gluta mythology around wishes that this group opens you up to explore by bringing Captain planets Planeteers to the Forefront of this cast it would theoretically give us a great opportunity to explore that universally varying experience so did they do anything with them well her friends are funny but that's about it they don't get enough time to be real characters either they're just the Seven Dwarves and they're just there to crack jokes and stand around in a group to show you how diverse they are and that black woman she ain't got nothing to do everybody has something to do this man sneezed a lot he was Goofy she didn't had nothing to do but be black I I I hate that he's right on that I know know all we need you to do is stand there and be black all right all right all right right I'm I'm not really in any position to try and defend these guys all I can really do is share what I've learned and take it from there if we were to pick one of these guys from random let's say uh him I like him he seems like kind of a CH bloke so safy actually functions as this film's proxy for Sneezy and and let me just right off the bat let let me just tell you something this this guy respectfully ain't worth [ __ ] he's just a guy like I have nothing against him but be real right now literally one of the D tier dwarves that wasn't decided on until it was time for the Final Cut he could have been replaced by any other choice and I do mean any other I can't believe this is a this is a realist it's true it could have been jumpy or deffy or dizzy or hickey or wheezy or baly or Gabby or Nifty or sniffy or Swift or lazy or puffy or stuffy or itchy or [ __ ] or yellow or polka dotted okay all right all right all right let me stop let me stop I'm going off the rails here but I I think you get the picture I'm saying that this character was neither important in the context to the source materials narrative like Doc or happy I guess nor was he iconic enough in execution to be representative of the dwarfes as an enity like grumpy or Dopey who ironically was also decided on last minute but he still brought a unique sense of levity to the film and his General existence is damn well Justified here you could study any one of his shots as Prime USDA grade Kino ass reference material now it's important to remember that each of the 17 are inspired by the dwarfs but they not direct copies of them they're much closer in composition to you and I than anyone else like like sleepy was a career narcoleptic he did almost anything of importance in his sleep and this lunk has bags under his eyes I mean he's a little drous but he's he's not living that lifestyle bashful could not get through any certain sentence without tripping and skipping and flipping and stumbling all over his words meanwhile this girl like she's a Wallflower for sure but she seems fairly self-confident and Ste was the type of dude that could move half a dozen anvils from one side of the room to the other without even lifting a finger okay maybe one finger but this kid he's no airbending Prodigy he's not even in training he might not even have allergies in the first place tragic I know so in this vein the main function the explicit purpose of this character does not transfer over to safy which means that we are left to purely work off of what this film gives us the little crumbs the little nuggets information that they drip feed I will say based off of the very little we do know about him I think there was a solid foundation with which to build something greater somebody on that team understood the basics again working within playful extrems can give you a grand running start if you know what you're actually doing like the guy that's allergic to everything furry and fuzzy as an emotional attachment to chickens good great even do something with that give me paos give me drama give me comedy something you're probably a little bit confused you probably didn't even know that about him let me break down the one sequence that'll tell you almost everything you need to know about him in the smack dab middle of the film after Asha meets up with the iconic star she ends up going back into the castle so she can loot some of the wishes from magnifico's weird enclosure for them I guess she throws the Luma and the talking goat into the chicken cop so she can get the poop on magnifico without setting off any alarm Bells I guess eventually safy goes to collect eggs and Asha has to step in front of him keep him from blowing her cover and they do that back and forth [ __ ] and eventually he drops a potent bar he's he says are you trying to keep the chickens away from me he didn't say it like that he he started to curl in on himself his eyes got all big he started clutching his egg basket it was rough this was this was rough sailing you didn't understand you probably won't unless you watch the film again not encouraging you to but this this was just Primal emotion here now let me give you my amateur interpretation of what the [ __ ] this actually means chickens are like any other pet if you were in a rough position and you just needed someone to lend an ear and be close to they could easily provide you that Comfort but I think there's something much deeper going on here my first reaction while watching this was literally just someone did something to him there's no way this kid was not victimized at some point for some reason you know it was the Middle Ages and from a technological perspective they were not yet in a place where anybody could be living like the Bubble Boy but I think the same principle applies to this kid wherein anybody with a little sprinkling of authority in his life is just keeping him from anything natural or artificial that gives the slightest hint of being something that could be inflammatory to him so the chickens kind of represent Freedom Independence a window into the Great Wide World aside from the small Corner that he's familiar with and I doubt that was thinking about it in this context but this is actually kind of a defiant move cuz I don't know if you know but chickens like many other birds are messy as [ __ ] like extremely so even if you weren't an allergic mess you would probably find hanging in their General vicinity to be quite bothersome to say the least so this just has layers and layers and layers of meaning at a Pixar's 22 rules a story telling the first one dictates that you are more likely to appreciate a character for trying and failing than their raw success you can interpret this in different ways but I would say having a character that pushes through their chronic condition to convert with a creature that could literally jeopardized their health is daring as [ __ ] not advisable just daring gee I wish we had access to a convenient plot device that could give us greater insight into this person and how they might be destined to spend the rest of their lives if only Fanning out a bit there are three separate levels with which the story artists could have chosen to pursue if they wanted to flush out any of these characters one you have the metatextual level literally just the story itself they live in a Melting Pot there's no one person that has the exact same opinion on how this whole wish thing should be carried out even among asha's seven friends they probably don't all agree they would have different takes on the situation or maybe they don't who knows you do figure it the [ __ ] out two you have the cultural level which kind of ties into the first remember different cultures respond to feelings in different ways you have a regionally specific cast for a reason their relationship to their culture is going to affect how they see wishes or themselves or what they would deserve in Life or how they should go about it are they fully satisfied with the values and traditions with which they were raised to uphold or are they completely detached maybe something in the middle are there outside forces like discrimination that are affecting their judgment if you didn't want to deal with either of those if you didn't even want to think about touching such pesky topics as uh racism am I right guys here's number three deal with the dwarf traits themselves even if they were all individually happy with who they are as people they have special burdens that they carry as a consequence of being inspired by references they're teenagers for [ __ ] sake there's got to be some type of angst in there do something you have a multifaceted cast of Mostly comedians that could have easily picked up the slack get their consultation figure out how they grew up what are their Traditions Implement them into the characters it would have taken you a month tops to do all of that it was gross negligence not to follow up on that or any of these ideas really all right enough of this let's let's get into the [Music] animation when wish was initially revealed at d23 2022 it was noted early on to be a fusion of 2D and 3D elements for a while the visuals were all we really knew about the project we knew that was pursuing a watercolor aesthetic that its animation would be hyper stylized and there would be said Fusion of 2D and 3D somewhere when the initial teaser dropped in late April we were finally made aware of how this reflected on the final product initial reception was a bit mixed yeah we'll just go with that as much as this terminology has been thrown around I don't think most people truly expected it to look like spiderverse whatever the [ __ ] that means I think it was more the expectation that this would be partially 2D animated that whipped many up into a fever pitch so when that teaser dropped in late April not only were their personal expectations dashed but it also seemed to fall short in the context of what they already working with the main complaints included the watercolor effect being understated the character design looking syy the articulation lacking detail just generally being an underwhelming visual experience after seeing the whole thing in action I do think that most of these complaints help water we can all the discussion over them I wasn't personally too troubled by them I already made peace with this looking like a mid piece of movie by the time that teaser dropped and I think your personal assessment would probably depend on how you already feel about the Disney library or at least the most recent parts of it many were willing to jump to its defense once the upscaled 4K trailer dropped and everybody realized that all the details got lost because Disney chose to upload trailers in Native 1080p with the dooo YouTube compression at work and like I agree of course but all of that's still self-inflicted at the end of the day history is slowly vindicating this man I can remember a handful of shots that looked nice and expansive but for the most part seemed like it was a pretty dull ride far too dull to justify staying away from an age- old technique that would entice audiences to pay greater attention to your movie Under the expectation of a better looking experience I'm be honest fam you kind of sold yourself out with that line but that's The $64,000 Question right was it even possible for them to have made a 2d movie and after sitting on it for a while I don't think that was ever truly a consideration for them ironically it was the short they wanted to air alongside wish that ended up cementing my opinion if these walls could talk once upon a studio is ultimately the crossover to end all crossovers a Roger Rabbit style romp a grand experiment that certainly seem to have paid off by now set inside the walls of the famed Animation Studio the characters from every film made up to 2023 make a rare appearance to celebrate their home Centennial with a cute little family photo it's a fascinating experience there's a lot of little nuances that you would probably expect more so in a a featurelength commitment but you got all those details in just under 8 minutes it has a lot of replay value especially in conjunction with how long it took to make it took about 8 months by it self just to develop and the grunt workk of assembling a team that could handle the glut of Disney's 2D characters was a huge hurdle to surpass there's been Rumblings about a trainee program for the longest time and we have to assume that part of why it exists was to help with the short and even outside of that there were dozens and dozens of past and present Disney talent that came back to supervise train or otherwise contribute to the project many have weaponized the sheer Chad energy of this short to take the piss out of the Virgin wish and like I get it but this was like a 12th of the runtime calm the [ __ ] down and yes there are plenty of other Disney shorts that have blurred the lines between 2D and 3D much better but they are still shorts they have a lot of resources and time thrown at them but they're still made on a deadline they're made in Far smaller numbers there's just fewer Stakes behind them they are experiments wish was like a mandate I do understand the frustration there especially if you consider how the concept of 2ti was treated in various interviews and press junkets but really think about the commitment you're asking them to make wish took about 5 years to throw together and it is almost all but confirmed that that [ __ ] was crunched in some capacity keep in mind it is far from the only Disney film even in recent times to have been crunched to that level it's entirely possible to make a fully functioning 2D or 3D animated feature film in that amount of time but for whatever reason that was not enough time for them to finish here it took them at least 2 years to get through this short so imagine how much time it would have taken them just to find enough people that could animate on it if it were truly going to be 50/50 2D in 3D they probably would have had to consider that at least a decade before this having said all of that that this film out of any other film they could make was really the only opportunity they had to do something that spectacular for the next 100 years I don't think there will be another idea that truly justifies such a grave expense so them fumbling it like they did here was just not a good look I will maintain that this [ __ ] is TV cartoon core to its very bones and that's not entirely derogatory the TV cartoons that this reminds me of were ones that pushed the medium forward that made the most out of the least that they could get I don't think wish is particularly indicative of that Innovation it just you know what I mean but while we're talking about it uh you you you think we could get a TV show or something give us a short at least I mean you got to bring back the chickens you got bring back the chick they're they're the marketable ones bring back the goat too if you want I mean you you have to do it you have to you have to do it the kids are wait [Music] to prepare for this video I ended up watching into the unknown the making of Frozen 2 was shot over the course of about four months and it's arguably the first documentary series on a Mainline Disney film filmed and edited in a progressive manner when I discovered that this was in fact a thing that happened I had casually joked that this might make good watch party material someday and I just never got around to watching it up until now when I realized hey this might be relevant in this case so I threw it on over Thanksgiving weekend and uh I don't think I was prepared for any of this like any of this at all anyone with a monom of knowledge on animation production would walk away from it with several questions concerning why the centerpiece of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate is not being given more time or resources to refine its products like none of the practices showcased in the dock are unique to that movie or that era of Disney history what's passed off as a great Triumph of film making is in some a huge exercise and futility story beats designed to keep normies on the edge of their seats only serve as an appropriate cop and SE break for the rest of us but Frozen 2 gets to maintain a shroud of Mystique and doesn't arouse suspicion the same way wish would cuz despite having similar issues the box office gross was able to mask any of these issues I can't imagine that they didn't at least try and do the same thing for wish but at this point with the movie performing the way it did we'll probably never see that footage they would rather try and save face and pretend nothing happened but only because they couldn't turn a profit here that's going to be a yikes for me dog if we continue on our current trajectory wish will go down as the second most expensive finished and released Walt Disney Animation film to date and in inverse proportion to that one of its biggest flops as well with a $200 million budget you could make feasibly four or five different animated movies that look good sound good and feel good to watch it's a a bit of an uncomfortable subject but I do think it's important to start broaching this topic with the upcoming inevitable animation strike coming in July of 2024 these films don't have to cost this much you know you could make them with less money every other animation fan has had a vendetta against illumination for years cuz like a decade ago their CEO was like bragging that they could make films a little bit cheaper than the competition and I've never understood why like Super Mario Bros the movie movie Ryan the last dragon cost the same amount of money to make it was not uncommon for DreamWorks films from maybe a decade or two back to be more expensive than Disney films there's quite a few from either Studio that come close to bordering illumination tier budgets and you would assume those higher costs would translate into uh Crews that are well fed and well taken care of Illumination is probably one of the few Animation Studios that seems to have a pretty good reputation in that regard do I like that creatives of all shapes sizes and skill sets enjoy unique benefits as a consequence of their status as a Disney Employee yes do I like the fact that most of their films are either runaway hits or instant flops because most of them are costing more than they need to no the people on top that Rush this film into Championship mediocrity are the same ones that are going to have to choose which limb of the company to amputate to save their yearly bonuses the people towards the bottom likely knew how to punch up the store but for shortsighted or Petty reasons they're left to fight for the right the privilege to make a better movie next year given the little that Iger has said so far there's a decent chance that Some Cuts will be made messages will be obscured good art will be scrapped slashed shelv people will lose their jobs for doing as they're told and they can't do a thing about it many defending wish are pushing for begrudging acceptance unconditional support they're under the impression that patronage lended towards the super mega conglomerate will somehow benefit the workers at the bottom like I I get the basic principle but the fanaticism with which some of y'all Screech is disgusting like [ __ ] they're not getting royalties unless the apocalypse comes tomorrow and renders modern entertainment wholly inaccessible or tertiary they are no less closer to being jobless than you'd be to a better movie I mean this is the movie we God you know I mean it's fine like let's just enjoy for what it is let people enjoy things you know just okay even pushing aside this whole crafts people being victimized by selfish blo hards deal aside it's just not a satisfying experience I think you know that this studio has been at the Forefront of technical Innovation every decade that it's been an existence they've molded the shape of an entire Medium as an art form and a business these [ __ ] have been crowing About Hair physics for well over a decade at this point I'm saying this in the least emotional way possible you are much closer to killing the medium furthering this line of thought than I ever will be for not seeing a bad movie coddling Them mindlessly supporting whatever they pump out is not good practice it is not how you sustain good art and if these are the issues that you genuinely care about it is in your best interest if not your primary moral obligation to push for better art we can drive change if we work strategically we didn't get the pockets of representation we did by just sitting on our hands and accepting the crumbs just throwing support behind them because it's the best they could do is such dog [ __ ] it it's not real it is downright antithetical to the entire Spirit of Disney and denying that shit's all over the message of the film that you're trying to defend it just bothers me because as a problem this is just so far removed from what most of us do and our general Collective existence but you apply this logic to situations that are so much bigger than us that actually drive substantial change from millions and millions of people it just blows my mind you are not beholding to Daddy Disney it's the people you're trying to defend that are and they're the ones that are likely going to be in trouble next year it's so weird to try and weigh the probability of this particular particular person being in the same position in about a year's time is it truly fair to blame every single thing on her of course not honestly most of this [ __ ] is beyond her pay grade but I'm sure the shadowy Council of chairs people and Executives or whatever the [ __ ] are ready to shake things up by this point she's in a very powerful position as is but she still reports to others that have higher expectations and shittier ideas and unrealistic Tim taes and on top of that all of this is just taking attention away from the folks that are actually making it work Pixar has been busting their asses the entire time and they've gotten practically nothing for it I'm not even really convinced that they would have even put these three movies in theaters had wish not flopped as bad as it is right now it's infuriating Beyond Comprehension these films and TV shows are always somebody's first gig they don't always get to work on [ __ ] that they like or even work with people that they can Vibe with but you would want to think that they have something to believe if not the work itself then at least their own contributions to it and they're the ones that are probably going to be taking a hit in the midst of all this so it's [ __ ] up that all this [ __ ] is happening but it's even more [ __ ] up that some of you would enable any of this happening in the first place is this movie Personally responsible for all this chaos no but are the choices behind it and the collective impact worth some introspection I damn wellon think so the writing's on the wall folks nobody is getting their dues to today which is rather appropriate given the time period we're currently existing in but you better be ready to back these guys up in August they're going to need the help you see the sweetest way of rling yet to Disney's wish is the modern analog to 2004's Home on the Range a lame and forgettable feature length Folly that while it likely be seen as a quirky underrated Delight elsewhere is seen as a confusing and eventually costly misstep for the studio at a crucial time within animation it's only really lazy in comparison to the last 10 15 years of stories they've told realistically speaking Wish isn't much more than a painfully mid movie perhaps aggravatingly so for some but not an unpleasant experience for most there's a deep and painful irony knowing what short was said to Premiere alongside it and how polar the critical reception to that is from the film that's it's supposed to accompany wish fails to be a sparkling tribute to the Disney Legacy in totality but in some way it manages to be much closer to representing the Studio's complicated Legacy than anything else as powerful as the image of Uncle Walt may be the unsightly underbelly of the Studio's regular business was never fully concealed the brand identity is far removed from what it embodies even down to the big man himself it was often enough that the projects not entirely be fitting of the studio mold were the ones that defined history stories that not only added definition to the brand but were vital additions to the animated Pantheon princess flakes are nice partially cuz they only came along every once in a while but they were never the end all be all [ __ ] the whole identity of princesses as a group was only developed at the turn of the century the thing that always made Walt so interesting was that the multifaceted facade he put up was only a small fraction of himself which mirrors the relationship we often had with with his work trying to reduce much of that down to stock archetypes and non-descript calling cards is only Disney in the eyes of cheap pale imitators thinking you could doctor the most bare pastia year old work and tying it together with some half-ass memberberries lore is not subversive or traditional it's just boring while the immediate readings of wish as a general allegory for revolutionary activity is very ironic the message should not be taken lightly whoever chooses to heed its warning that's in some position of power over there is obligated to follow up on it as much as Saving Face would be the significantly less painful option having this film be the train wreck to force wide systemic changes is far more befitting of the Disney Legacy than you'd believe I don't truly think the top brass care about making honorable decisions just for the sake of it but if this wish shall go down as the studio swans song it should at least be known for establishing something more concrete than this for challenging the status quo for Paving the way for others to recognize their own star power and for forcing somebody anybody to do the next right thing got to go but thanks on with the show

Channel: The Wacky Delhi

Views: 106,031

Keywords: disney wish, wish disney, disney wish movie, wish 2023, black disney, wish movie analysis, disney, walt disney animation studios, wish references, disney wish analysis, disney wish black princess, princess asha, asha ariana debose, disney wish diversity, afro latina princess disney, disney princesses, disney wish review, disney wish 2023, the wacky delhi, animation video essay

Id: -IPbLj-pykg

Length: 50min 45sec (3045 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 01 2024