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Fantasy Land: The Downfall of Disney and Innocence Lost

Fantasy Land: The Downfall of Disney and Innocence Lost

Long ago, when my siblings and I were children, The Wizard of Oz appeared once a year on network television. That was a special event in our household. My mother closed down the dining room for supper, put up TV trays in the den, served up what were then rather exotic TV dinners, and turned on the television. For the next couple of hours, we watched Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow,” got a kick out of the Munchkins, and were terrified by the Wicked Witch’s army of flying monkeys.

On Saturday mornings, we lolled about in our pajamas and took in cartoons and the Little Rascals. On some nights, shows like Bonanza and Dick Van Dyke came our way.

But best of all were Sunday evenings when we put aside our books and toys and tuned in to watch Walt Disney himself bring us his magic. Here we saw the fireworks over the magic kingdom, watched cartoons and other pieces from the Disney studios archives, and met Fess Parker as Davy Crockett, the show that sparked a craze for coonskin caps. Even now, like so many of my peers, I can sing most of the words to “The Ballad of Davy Crockett.”

Those days are long gone.

In “Disney Has It All,” Elyse Apel looks at the woke agenda deployed by Disney in the last decade—and especially in the last three years. The results of this sexualization of cartoon characters, transgender propaganda, and general progressive policies has brought reputation catastrophe to this once thriving enterprise. As Apel reports, “From just March 2021 to May 2022, the approval rating for Disney dropped from 77 percent to 33 percent as headlines filled the news with reports about the company’s radical positions.”

Elyse also points her readers to a recently released documentary, Walt’s Disenchanted Kingdom, which strips away the Disney family-friendly façade and reveals biases. Made by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the 50-minute documentary featuring comments by such personages as Ben Carson and Brent Bozell III reveals the descent of the Disney corporation into woke policies. Ironically, YouTube has already hit the documentary with an age ban because

“[I]t may not be appropriate for viewers under 18,” as Catholic League President Bill Donohue was told by YouTube.

Those interested may watch this film free of charge (and without age restriction) on Rumble.

Many of us engaged in the culture war view Disney’s demise with grim satisfaction, one more example of “Get woke, go broke.” We may also shake our heads in wonderment as this enterprise—once so highly honored by parents—not only rejects its own former classic hits like Swiss Family Robinson and Peter Pan as offensive but also continues its full embrace of the woke agenda.

Perhaps what we should feel most of all, however, is a deep sadness. Disney’s promotion of sexuality and transgenderism in movies clearly aimed at children is a mirror of our culture’s depraved attitude toward young people in general. From the inexplicable offerings of drag queen shows to kindergarteners to the transgender and gay books now scattered throughout the children’s sections of our public libraries, some in our society seem savagely intent on destroying the innocence of children.

Parents interested in kicking back against this evil have several options: They might begin by boycotting Disney World and Disney Land, refraining from buying Disney merchandise, and not watching the newer Disney films or paying for Disney’s streaming service. When visiting their libraries, they might consider purchasing Gladys Hunt’s books Honey for a Child’s Heart and Honey for a Teen’s Heart, which contain hundreds of recommendations for worthy, age-appropriate books. If Mom and Dad are feeling particularly bold, they might follow the lead of some groups of parents, including one in my town of Front Royal, Virginia, and protest books inappropriate for children by writing both to the libraries and to the governing boards of those institutions.

One final note: The lost innocence of childhood affects all of us. The 5-year-old who gazes with rapture at a crèche or a Christmas tree gives the rest of us, however momentarily, a renewed sense of wonder. The second-grader who spends her day dressed as a princess may well strike a chord, however distant, reminding us of our own childhood of white knights, fairy queens, and dragons.

“What was wonderful about childhood,” wrote G.K. Chesterton, “is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world.”

Destroy the innocence of the child, and you destroy a miraculous world. Destroy the innocence of childhood, and you destroy innocence itself.

Image credit: Flickr-Joe Penniston, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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Jeff Minick
Jeff Minick
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  • Avatar
    Michael McCarthy
    February 11, 2023, 11:04 pm

    Chesterton appreciated the wonder of childhood. In ORTHODOXY, he wrote:
    "Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again", and the grown up person does it again until he is nearly dead.

    "For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.
    But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon.

    It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.

    It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

    AMEN!

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    • Avatar
      John Iovine@Michael McCarthy
      February 14, 2023, 12:22 am

      Disney is much worse than portrayed in this article. All one has to do is watch Disney + "Proud Family" to see the most hateful anti-white racism from a major outlet.

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