Opinion | Disney, it’s time to get it together

The mass media company has been facing criticism the last few years due to its handling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the trajectory its animated movies are taking. Illustration by WYATT LINCOLN, illustrator

For decades, Disney has put out wholesome animated original content, and within the last decade, it has brought many fan-favorite Marvel Comics superheroes to life, bringing a smile to many people’s faces. The last few years have not treated the mass media company kindly, however, due to criticism regarding the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a lack of original stories and the endless live-action remakes and animated sequels.

Looking at the MCU, it’s not surprising to see why a growing number of fans are starting to get tired of all of the content they’re being inundated with. During the Infinity Saga, which spanned from the very first “Iron Man” movie to “Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel was only releasing one to two movies a year, and the TV shows that were being put out at the time weren’t connected in such a major way to the movies.

Renee Elefante, managing editor

Now, however, Marvel is releasing both TV shows and movies just months or even a few weeks apart from each other. It’s no longer fun to watch MCU content because every release feels like homework, and at this point, it feels like it’s only worth it to just watch your favorite characters.

In order to watch “Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness,” for example, you have to watch “WandaVision” to understand Wanda’s arc leading into the movie. But before that, you also have to be versed in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War” to understand where her character came from and how she’s grown.

If you want to watch the fourth Captain America movie, “Captain America: New World Order,” which is set to come out in 2024, you have to watch “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” to understand how the title passed down from Steve Rogers to Sam Wilson. If you’re just now getting into the MCU, you have to watch “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Avengers: Endgame” and then “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” if you want to be prepared enough for “New World Order.”

While people can read plot summaries on Wikipedia to get acquainted instead of binging, that still seems like quite a bit of work to make audiences do just so they can enjoy a two or three-hour movie with their friends and family.

A cinematic universe such as Marvel’s should be full of intrigue and well-developed, definitely, but it shouldn’t inundate the audience with so much content that they’re experiencing a sort of fatigue and feel as though they have to know X number of movies and/or shows before they go see the newest movie in theaters or kick back on the couch for the newest show.

Movies, in general, especially if they’re stacked with lore, should be fun, enjoyable and keep you hooked from the get-go. If they’re feeling as nothing but a chore, that’s a sign something’s wrong.

The MCU isn’t the only place where Disney is facing criticism. Disney’s live-action remakes in recent years have faced valid criticism for copying most of the original movies (albeit with some new scenes and/or songs). Disney doesn’t seem to have an interest in creating entirely original stories and characters for their live-action films.

The trend in these remakes started in 2010 when Disney did the first live-action “Alice in Wonderland” starring Mia Wasikowska, and it continued with “Maleficent” starring Angelina Jolie as the titular character.

What Disney fails to realize, though, is that although “Maleficent” was an adaptation of “Sleeping Beauty,” it took the approach of telling the same story through the eyes of the mischievous and cunning Maleficent, who had been wronged by her lover and sought to seek revenge by cursing his daughter. 

With the newer remakes, Disney didn’t take a very creative approach to adapting the stories.

“The Lion King” remake was essentially a carbon copy of the animated movie. It did change up some things, like having Scar speak “Be Prepared” as opposed to belting it out in song, but other than that, many of the shots, locations and dialogue were still the same.

In addition, the remake just didn’t give off the same feelings as the original. It was easy to sympathize with Simba and the pain he was going through in the original due to how the animators animated his emotions, coupled with his voice actor’s performance. For the remake, it’s much harder to sympathize with the character because while you can hear the pain in his voice, a lion’s face in a computer generated image isn’t very expressive and can’t get a wide range of emotions across.

Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptations have also been facing criticism for race swapping characters in an attempt to be more diverse and inclusive of historically marginalized communities, adding to the original criticism of these movies being live-action. “The Little Mermaid” and “Peter Pan and Wendy” are two remakes that have come under fire for casting Halle Berry as Ariel and Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell, among other casting announcements.

If Disney wishes to tell stories of Black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), they should focus on telling these stories through original characters. Disney’s been making strides in this direction with their critically acclaimed and highly profitable animated films in the last few years: “Moana,” “Coco,” “Soul,” “Encanto” and “Turning Red.”

These films all feature predominantly or all BIPOC characters with original stories and have given viewers of all ages some great representation. Not to mention, they have some very good themes, writing and heartfelt moments. Some of these (like in “Encanto,” looking at you, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”) have gone completely viral on social media. It would be great to have more animated Disney movies starring BIPOC characters that we could list.

While the original movies “Lightyear” and “Strange World” didn’t do well at the box office, they were still cute and enjoyable films. Their lack of success at the box office could be attributed to the fact that they weren’t shown in China or other countries that normally see Disney releases since they contained LGBTQ+ content and themes.

Another option for Disney can also be elevating the BIPOC characters they’ve already established in previous animated products.

The “Little Mermaid” TV series, which aired from 1992 to 1994, featured a recurring character named Gabriella, a deaf Latina mermaid who’s fluent in American Sign Language and has an octopus as her translator. In the “Tinker Bell” movie franchise, two BIPOC characters were introduced: Iridessa, a Black fairy, and Silvermist, an East Asian fairy, voiced by Raven-Symoné and Lucy Liu, respectively.

It would be awesome if any of these characters were given their own movies and had the opportunity to be elevated without having to rely on Ariel or Tinkerbell co-starring with them in order to make them recognized.

Yet another option for Disney can be introducing audiences to stories from other cultures. This was something they were able to tackle in “Moana” (though parts weren’t entirely accurate), as Maui is from Polynesian mythology itself and the song “You’re Welcome” mentions many myths about Maui himself. 

Greek mythology was also featured in “Hercules.” If Disney wants to explore BIPOC mermaids and fairies, they could look at ones featured in African mythology, such as the mythical mermaid Mami Wata or the Aziza and Yumboes, both of which are fairies from the Dahomey and Wolof peoples, respectively.

However, it seems that Disney is remaining quite steadfast in its remakes, with ones for “Snow White” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” currently in the workings. Disney also seems very eager to continue pumping out sequels, thereby milking franchises for content, nostalgia and good old-fashioned money. Last month, Amy Poehler, who voiced Joy in “Inside Out,” announced at the D23 Studio Showcase that a sequel was being produced. Walt Disney’s CEO Bob Iger announced in an earnings call that “Toy Story 5,” “Zootopia 2” and “Frozen 3” are currently in the works.

“Inside Out” was a very memorable and emotional film, with a clever take on emotions and how trying to be positive all the time can actually be quite toxic. Unless the writers and directors are able to create a strong storyline that is as good or better than the original, a sequel probably isn’t necessary. 

“Frozen” and its sequel were also highly memorable, featuring several songs that went viral and kept getting blasted in every single department store. Though, the sequel took a weird approach to the characters in that they erased all the growth from the first movie and had to relearn their lessons all over again.

“Frozen 3” could be better off as a TV show, perhaps focusing on random adventures with Anna, Kristoff and Olaf, where Elsa makes guest appearances every so often. But there’s not enough substance left for a whole movie.

“Toy Story,” however, has long overstayed its welcome. As much as anyone loves the steadfast bond between cowboy Woody and his space ranger friend Buzz, “Toy Story 3” and its follow-up already closed out their arcs with Andy and each other.

There’s nothing left to tell of their story in a fifth movie, so it’s best to let those two rest and let the audience themselves imagine where their future journeys will take them. If Disney wishes to continue telling stories in the “Toy Story” universe itself, they’re more than welcome to, but maybe they should tell original stories with all-new characters instead of relying on Woody and Buzz to take them to infinity and beyond.

It does seem like Disney is somewhat listening to the criticism. They’ve pushed back the Captain Marvel sequel, “The Marvels,” to this November from its original release in July. They’ve also announced release dates for original animated movies like “Elemental” (out this June) and “Wish” (out this November).

Disney’s definitely got some things they can work on, and if they want to bring back a lot of their viewers who grew up with OG content and are tired of seeing remakes and sequels, they need to let it go and be brave enough to venture into the unknown.