Disney Duster wrote:Neal, first, don't tell me to shut up, please take that back and apologize. I never did that to you or anyone else. Second, I came in, yes, with anger and hurt, that people seemingly wanted Disney to take over everything so that both Disney and the things they take over lose their identity in becoming the same thing. This made me so upset I came in, but I did not tell people they couldn't dream, I asked them in caps why they wanted to do what they did, wondering if maybe they thought about it, they would change their minds.
And yea I can "let anything be sacred", like the Disney company itself and Walt's dreams for it that I find sacred, or people's dreams that don't have to do with something that already exists and already has it's own identity.
Dear Disney Duster,
Nope. I won't apologize. You
should shut up. Listen, I get what you say about this 'Disney Essence' - I really do. I used to be a huge fan of the video game character Spyro the Dragon - he was a cute purple dragon in 'platformer' games (ala Mario) - the first three games were made by the same company and had this wonderful fairy tail quality to them and are definitely classics. Back then he looked like this:
He has since been in another 8+ games, all made by different developers, who have changed him considerably. He now looks like this:
Small change, no? In my eyes, they destroyed an integral character of my childhood - made him deformed and ugly.
The new games are beat-em-ups which involve you killing as many enemies as possible and collecting experience points ala an RPG. Not even in the same ballpark as the originals.
I was a HUGE Spyro fan - I helped begin
www.spyroworld.net - a Spyro news site, that got exclusive news straight from Spyro developers - there's a forum with nearly 5,000 users, a chat room, etc. I LOVED Spyro.
The original three games had what I called the "Insomniac essence" because the game developer for that trilogy was called Insomniac. They had wonderful characters, an innocent sense of humor, amazing music, fun gamemplay.
The new games (in my opinion) have generic music, almost no extra characters - just enemies, generic gameplay.
I went on my own forum, the official Spyro forums and a rival forum debating everyone who liked the changes to the Spyro series - telling them how awful new Spyro was, how much the 'Insomniac essence' needed to return, etc. No matter what they counter-argued, no matter how they tried to come to a compromise, I always shot back - defending myself and Spyro vehemently.
And you know what? It made me miserable - and it made the other forum users exasperated and miserable. It led to users citing me as the reason they'd leave and never return to the forum.
Mind you, this was five years ago, I've matured greatly since then.
I finally realized: I would always have my original Spyro games. They weren't going anywhere. No game police could ever remove them from my possession, history could not erase their existence. But I had to accept that the original Spyro I loved was, forever - or at least for the foreseeable time being - gone. No matter how much I argued with those who liked the new Spyro games, it wouldn't change what the company who owned Spyro was going to do - they'd continue to hand him to different developers, like a puppy kicked around from home to home - becoming more and more mangled from the original Spyro I fell in love with.
And I realized: these new games, as much as they made me mad, sad, riled up - they made others happy. Why should I negate the enjoyment and pleasure of others? Why should I waste SO MUCH TIME debating and debating the same topic 'old Spyro versus new Spyro' much like you debate and debate 'Walt Disney era Disney Company versus post-Walt era Disney Company.'
I finally left my own website, the official forum, and my rival forum. I could never bring back what had been. It was gone seemingly forever. No amount of debating would ever change the future or bring back the past.
People love and enjoy the new Disney, and it makes them happy. I'm sorry that the majority, if not all, of Disney that makes
you happy is when from Walt was alive. My favorite Disney movies are "The Emperor's New Groove" and "The Fox and the Hound" - guess what? Neither were made when Walt was alive! BLASPHEMY! you say. No, they make me more warm and fuzzy inside than the Walt era movies. Does that mean I don't like what Walt did? Absolutely not. I love largely all the Disney animated movies (minus Chicken Little, Brother Bear and a select few others).
The point is - when you make as many people unhappy as you do here, Disney Duster, maybe you need to shut up. Maybe you need to stop wasting so much time and energy on debating people - which only makes MANY users here angry and miserable (if a poll of how many people found you to be a nuisance was taken, it would be quite a number) - that is NOT said to make you angry, sad or hurt you - because you are a valuable contributor to this site, but not when you drone on and on and on and on about the 'Disney essence' and the 'Disney feel.' Two concepts that do exist and yet don't. It's like time, religion and gender roles - existent but only because man said it's so. In reality, Disney is just a company and each movie they produce is 'Disney' whether you like it or not.
I think everyone here would breathe the hugest sign of relief if you could just give this whole 'Disney essence' thing a rest. It took me a few years to finally realize how many hours I wasted on debating the same topic over and over with Spyro and how many people I was driving nuts. I left the forums, because the temptation to debate was too great. If that is the only way you will ever stop this debate, then please, consider leaving - not saying that's what I want - I just mean it may be the only way for you to not see things that rile you up.
Walt Disney's Disney is dead, it's alive in traces but largely dead. And that's OKAY - companies lose their founders and must move on. Someday Nintendo will lose their Disney - Shigeru Miyamoto - and will need continue on without him. Studio Ghibli will someday lose Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and will need to continue on without them.
It's life, and companies that last beyond their founder(s) must adapt to the change of cultural sensibilities. If "Bambi" were released today, or "Cinderella" - they would most likely fail. There's just not as much room in today's crowded animation market for hand drawn animation and a sense of 'family values' - regarding the new Winnie the Pooh - despite good reviews, almost every reviewer feels they must point out how it's not 'flashy,' it's not 'like Shrek,' 'in the Pixar style.' Narnia: Dawn Treader was given mediocre reviews because it was too fuddy-duddy - with no adult innuendo, no low brow humor - reviewers found it boring, too traditional, too 50s.
That's the world we live in now, and you need to accept it and move on or get off the internet, gather your favorite Disney classics around you and avoid movie theaters and television at all costs.
If you were the CEO of Disney, or at least creative chief of WDAS - they'd fail. Sorry, but it's the truth. You cannot have classic Disney in 2011. You can have classic elements - Tangled and Pooh are proof of that - but ultimately to stay afloat, you have to be somewhat edgy, somewhat adult. Today's children are more foul-mouthed and more corrupted each year. I cannot believe what fifth graders today say to middle schoolers / college kids - such disrespectful things. When I was in fifth grade, my peers and I respected our elders - not mouthed off. Classic Disney just doesn't cut it anymore. We show outdoor movies at our campground. We can get 100 kids to show up for "Yogi Bear" and only 3 for Ghibli's "Spirited Away" (that's actually a truth, not hypothetical). It's a sad state of affairs and Disney, as a corporation - a business - not a hobbyist studio or art house, must adapt despite their family-friendly history in order to survive. I know you'd rather see Disney Co. shut down than change into something un-Walt like, but when it's the #2 highest earning corporation on earth, raking in billions, it's not going to shut down to honor it's deceased founder. Sorry, that's just good business - even if it's bad morality.
All in all - I understand this passion of yours to defend the 'Disney essence' - but it's futile. You are wasting so much of your life, it's just not worth it. Your one voice cannot change anything - just like mine cannot change Spyro. I still play the original Spyro games for PlayStation 1 from time to time, just as I imagine you still watch "Cinderella" and all your favorites. Enjoy those warm feelings, the nostalgia - it will never fade. You only dilute it by these debates and make yourself miserable and everyone else here who just want to talk about the present and future Disney, not the Disney of decades past.
So please do yourself a favor, do
all of us a favor and stop defending this ideology of the 'Disney essence' so fervently. It is eternally futile, it will never resolve, no one will come any closer to agreeing with you if they haven't already. If you can't be on these forums and stop debating, then leave. Otherwise stay, but stop all this Disney essence debate - let it just be a thought in your head that you can mull over. Don't think I don't still daydream about Spyro returning to form - I want nothing more - but the Spyro fanbase has long moved on, just like the Disney fanbase has moved on from Walt's era. I can debate with myself and be happy about it, be happy with my dreams of classic Spyro being revived - rather than be miserable and a thorn in the side of others trying to debate with them online.
Finally - if you do eventually feel leaving is the only way to resist inciting debates - why not write a script for your own Disney film? Fairy tale, talking animal story, whatever it may be - make Walt proud, fill it with the Disney essence - this is said earnestly - instead of saying what you wish Disney would be today, why not write it yourself? It's more productive and a better use of your time than the same debate over and over, plus you could return and post it and make users happy - not mad or dejected by you!
That is all. Please read this carefully and understand that I'm not your enemy, I'm just trying to open your eyes and return serenity to the many threads that have been derailed, including this one.
Lovingly stated,
Neal Patten
