Fans Slam Video Suggesting Disney Animation Declined Because of Non-White Characters

in Disney, Movies

Left: Meilin Lee from 'Turning Red' with Text that reads "The Decline of Disney," referring to Disney animation. Right: A man with glasses speaks into a camera in front of a bright yellow wall.

Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar have struggled to recreate the whopping success of Encanto (2021) in the last two years, with recent releases Lightyear (2022) and Strange World (2022) flopping at the box office. Some have blamed the decline on the so-called “woke” inclusivity of non-white and LGBTQIA+ characters, while others say Disney failed to market the movies correctly.

A recent viral TikTok suggests many Disney fans noticed a decline starting with Turning Red (2022). Receiving nearly 1.5 million likes, @vip22fr shared clips from Turning Red and Strange World, as well as upcoming live-action films The Little Mermaid (2023) and Peter Pan & Wendy (coming exclusively to Disney Plus on April 28, 2023). The user contrasted these movies with classics like Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Fox and the Hound (1981):

@vip22fr

The decline of disney…it’s very sad #disney #turningred #peterpan #littlemermaid #sleepingbeauty #olddisney #nostalgia #nostalgie #decline #déclin #woke #aladdin #snowwhite #hercule #90s #magic #enchanted #fyp #pourtoi

♬ Once Upon a Dream – Invadable Harmony

Despite its popularity, many Disney fans were quick to call out the prejudice in this argument. TikToker @disneek shared his thoughts in a video response:

@disneek

#stitch with @vip22fr yall make me sick sometimes. #disney #disneyworld #disneyland #disneyparks #waltdisneypictures #movies

♬ Once Upon a Dream – Invadable Harmony

“Regardless of what you think of new Disney movies, characters, whatever, that entire video was literally showing all characters that are either people of color or part of the LGBT community while saying that Disney is on a decline,” the fan said. “Then flashing to how great it used to be and then literally just showing all white characters.”

“You can like the old stuff better and you can not like all the new stuff, but that video specifically was just incredibly, incredibly riddled with prejudice,” he continued. “Obviously, a lot of people prefer the stuff we grew up with. That’s called nostalgia. This current generation of kids may hate the old stuff and love what they got growing up. But the prejudice in that video was evident and disgusting.”

Searcher Clade (Jake Gyllenhaal) and dog in 'Strange World'
Credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios

Many commenters agreed and pointed out that the two live-action films shown (starring people of color playing white animated characters) haven’t even been released yet.

“The only thing that actually showed that was bad was Strange World,” said @fattestedtravel. “All the other movies they showed [are] pretty good or are not out yet for us to know.”

“Call it what it is!” @disneydadgic agreed. “Sh*t makes me sick.”

What do you think of the current state of Disney animation and live-action films? Share your opinion with Inside the Magic in the comments. 

in Disney, Movies

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