I often tell
people, if you’re looking for a screaming, crying, whining kid, look no further
than Disney, the “happiest” place on Earth. I have mixed feelings of Disney. It
is undoubtedly a monstrous conglomerate with a facade of happiness that cranks
out superficially artist movies and annoyingly poppy music. But really, is that
always a bad thing? When searching for a nice, sterile environment that at
least feels better than the rest of the world, there’s almost no better place.
Take
vacationing, for instance. There are many who travel to tropical resorts to
places like Mexico or the Bahamas to enjoy a little slice of paradise. But in
reality, when most folks visit these places, they never see the extreme poverty
or drug gangs or homelessness or crime of Mexico or the Bahamas. Instead, they
stick to the candy-coated resorts that shield them away from the realities of
their “paradise”. How is this different than Disney, a place that screen their
employees based on physical appearance and place more emphasize on cleanliness
than the quality of their food?
And then
there’s Disney’s music, something that often hits me like a wasp to the ear. Yet
I find myself playing this music for my kids… on purpose. Why? For the same
reason that when my kids are in the car, I flip the radio to either local
Christian pop station or find something from the 50’s or 60’s. These options
are often already filtered and sanitized for my kid’s ears.
And then
there’re the gems in Disney productions. There are a lot of Disney movies and
other creations that are… well, garbage. Things that are so bad I feel insulted
having wasted my time on it. The ending of Lilo and Stitch for one. But through
the muck, there are certainly productions that are wonderful. The Fox and the Hound
remains one of my favorite movies of all time. And I occasionally catch myself
singing “Chim Chimney” on a particularly good day. And in spite of the distaste
toward crowds, I’ll openly admit that I have annual passes to the parks that I
take my family to enough times that both of my kids could easily be park tour
guides.
So, love it or
hate it, Disney is Disney, forever earning and spending billions on fake
happiness for millions of families and other nuts who need a little sanitized get
away. And I would openly admit that I too am one of these nuts.
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