milojthatch wrote:Let's take another look at that list:
Here are the live action movies Disney released in 2010:
- Alice in Wonderland - Goth
- Prince of Persia - Dark
- Sorcerer's Apprentice - Goth
- Secretariat
- Tron Legacy - Gothish
In 2011:
- Mars Needs Moms - Darkish
- Prom
- On Stranger Tides - Gothish/ Darkish
- The Muppets
In 2012:
- John Carter - Dark
- The Avengers - Dark Moments
- Chimpanzee
- Odd Life of Timothy Green - Different/ Indi-like
- Frankenweenie - Goth
In 2013:
- Oz: The Great and Powerful - Goth
- Iron Man 3 -Darkish
- Lone Ranger - Darkish
- Thor 2 - Darkish
In 2014:
- Maleficent -Goth
No, I see the point here. The films of late have not been the bright, happy family-friendly films of the Disney past. Gone are the days when the live-action films have the same tone as films like "Marry Poppins" or "The Santa Cluase." Frankly, from the above list, the listed film was "The Muppets," and that was more the exception, not the rule. Disney today is far more interested in summer pop corn films that attract teen age boys then family entertainment, and it shows.
First of what, the gothic art style may be seen as one being subjective, especially with Alice in Wonderland and Frankenweenie. In Alice's case, while it does differ greatly from Disney's very colorful and wacky take, and Alice in general seems to attract the "goths" greatly, the art style in Alice in Wonderland was more of a romantic/victorian gothic look inspired by the illustrations in the book. Frankenweenie is a tribute to classic horror tropes. The designs may be seen as gothic, but the movie as a whole is a horror movie tribute. Oz: The Great and Powerful I fail to see as gothic but more like high fantasy, with the wicked witch being the gothic one for obvious reasons. And even then, those are subjective as to what is or isn't gothic.
And now for my main argument, let us take off our Walter Elias Disney glasses for a minute and look at film history as a whole. While Disney did always try to innovate in his own way, many of the films he produced were often the product of what was common in Hollywood in each respective era. For example, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is often placed alongside Wizard of Oz as one of the definitive fantasy/fairy tale musicals.
10,000 Leagues Under the Sea was Disney's take on the sci-fi genre that was popular in the 50s and such. Mary Poppins was Disney's take on the lavish musical seen in the 50s and 60s like Singin' in the Rain, My Fair Lady, Showboat and such. In the 80s the dark fantasy was popular with movies like Labyrinth, so Disney produced the dark Return to Oz in the 80s. In the 90s, the corny family comedy was very popular in Hollywood, so a lot of their movies were corny family comedies.
So if there are many dark/gothic/moody Disney films as you guys call them, then that's because we are in the cinematic trend of films being dark/gothic/moody, all in the wake of the success of films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Is this necessarily a bad good? Well depends on how you see it. Most of us see filmmaking as being an art that should be taken more seriously than it is being taken these days, and Disney should innovate more and make more family movies. But the truth is that both audiences and the industry have changed since the very early days of film, they demand something different with each passing decade. Disney has, in a way, since the very beginning changing and updating itself to stay relevant in a society that is always changing gears when it comes to entertainment.
Also, let us not forget that not ALL of the classic Disney live action movies were all that clean. The Three Lives of Thomasina, despite starring a cute cat, dealt with issues of faith, life, life after death, love and trust. Darby O' Gill also had its dark elements. Oh and Old Yeller had that wonderful scene with the boy killing his own dog so he could be put out of his misery. So not even Disney's "cleanest" films were that clean and family friendly to begin with.
But going back to the topic at hand: I can see the disagreement you guys may have with this since these movies are indeed more Hollywood-ish than what Disney tends to produce. Claiming that this is a "phase" Disney is going through and saying Disney only cares for a certain demographic is diminishing the quality some of these films have, and some have gained universal praise and success.
Long story short: don't blame Disney, blame the ever evolving film industry, an industry that Disney has been following since their beginnings, mainly introducing their takes and innovations to the industry.
