We both know that Disney could get together research showing that kids like to eat broccoli while getting punched in the gut.
The increase in linear narrative and Eleanor are backstory also parallels a significant cultural shift in which the lives of children has become increasing and overwhelmingly structured. Structure and organization has to so strongly dominate our lives that it is what we have culturally set as a default that we’re starting to see isn’t entirely healthy. And we starting to see growth in the area of non-structures experiences with things like Meow Wolf’s offerings and even how a lot of FEC museum type experiences are being developed.
The commercial nature of the design process also creates conditions that favor not just linear narrative but ever increasingly complex and convoluted narrative. If you are pitching an attraction like The Haunted Mansion with art and a brief description it’s going to look like less work compared to a Phantom Manor where you now have all of this extra elaboration. This is compounded by the fact that people who don’t draw, who so often are in major decision making positions, too often believe that drawing is merely a talent, not a skill, and doing drawings is therefore quick and easy but they almost certainly have had some experience in having to write something and therefore can better relate to the effort that goes into drafting a narrative. If you want your team to look productive more narrative and backstory can help make that happen.
A far bigger issue though in my opinion is the crisis of confidence that has far bigger ramifications. While there are prominent individuals, the themed entertainment industry has largely eschewed notions of the auteur and singular creative vision. This has slowly but surely been taken to an extreme that is detrimental to producing work. There are the proverbial “too many cooks in the kitchen” and a deep fear of decision making lest one make the wrong decision, even when an obvious decision is there. The frighten creatives must also appease executive leadership who can issue singular fiats without question, experience or taste. The whole point of backstory is to provide a team with a common basis upon which everyone can work, but when there is a deep resistance to personal preference and the air of arbitrary decision making it can become a booted crutch. The backstory becomes a sort of Bible, sometimes literally referred to as a story bible, that provides truth and guidance on all decisions. It isn’t enough that this lamp would be fitting for the business of some era and the designers like, no, it was found on so and so’s grand adventure into town one day, made by some wise old lampist who has peddled his craft for decades. The narrative gives a semblance of structure and rationality to the project in the face of at times competing egos and sensibilities, including those above whose taste cannot be rebuked but could be gently guided to see that it doesn’t match the story, which they understand as a work of significant effort.
