Disney (and others) at the Box Office - Current State of Affairs

[TP2000]

I'm not going to speak for the gay community here, but I'll just say that you two must have either lived in very accepting communities or aren't remembering or maybe aren't being truthful about that time period.

I remember it. Paul Lynde was in the center square every afternoon on national TV.

It wasn't a living hell. There were things that were dumb (I mentioned a few examples), and laws that needed to be repealed, but it wasn't some hellscape of being stoned to death or being pushed off the roofs of buildings. That still happens today in some countries, don't forget. Frankly, I'm glad I grew up then; I wouldn't trade my memories of the bars and discos and parties and friends I had for anything!

 

[Disney Irish]

Obviously it speaks to the franchise’s branding issues. This feature was tied closely to a D+ series just like The Marvels was. Neither one came storming out of the gates. The next Star Wars feature is following the same series-feature game plan. Bad idea.

Well it remains to be seen if its a bad idea or not. But that is neither here nor there in relation to Ford's participation in the film.

 

[TP2000]

I mean, he just acknowledged that he was passed over for promotion because he was gay, which makes the denialism even more surreal!

At least twice, with that same phrasing of needing "a family man" for the job. I still remember what those bosses looked like, and the office I was in when it was said, as if it was only a month ago.

But compared to having separate drinking fountains and schools, and having to sit at the back of the bus? Nope, that never happened to us. Much less being stoned to death or being put in prison like still happens to Gays in other countries today. In day to day living, it wasn't that bad at all. We were even being shown on TV then, so people knew who we were and that we existed.

 

[Agent H]

I went to school in the '80s and '90s and was insulted for being gay on multiple occasions (even though I was deeply closeted at the time, including to myself). Only the other month, my partner and I were walking down the street (our hands not held together) and someone rolled down their car window to call us f_gs.

I’m so sorry

 

[LittleBuford]

I’m so sorry

Thank you. The namecalling from the car was pretty suprising. Thankfully, that sort of thing is rare these days (at least where I live).

 

[Disney Irish]

I remember it. Paul Lynde was in the center square every afternoon on national TV.

It wasn't a living hell. There were things that were dumb (I mentioned a few examples), and laws that needed to be repealed, but it wasn't some hellscape of being stoned to death or being pushed off the roofs of buildings. That still happens today in some countries, don't forget. Frankly, I'm glad I grew up then; I wouldn't trade my memories of the bars and discos and parties and friends I had for anything!

Um, maybe you didn't live through some "hellscape", but that doesn't mean it was some easy ride for the gay community during that time. All you have to do is go back and look at all the fear, outrage, and other violence surrounding the community during that time, some of which still occurs today. So it may never have affected you, but it certainly did the community.

 

[TP2000]

Um, maybe you didn't live through some "hellscape", but that doesn't mean it was some easy ride for the gay community during that time. All you have to do is go back and look at all the fear, outrage, and other violence surrounding the community during that time, some of which still occurs today. So it may never have affected you, but it certainly did the community.

Teach me, teacher. Show me how it was so I can know.

 

[Disney Irish]

Teach me, teacher. Show me how it was so I can know.

Its not for me to teach you. If you aren't aware of the violence, fear, and outrage that affected your own community during that time and still occurs today then I suggest you educate yourself, spend more than 8 seconds on it.

 

[LittleBuford]

Its not for me to teach you. If you aren't aware of the violence, fear, and outrage that affected your own community during that time and still occurs today then I suggest you educate yourself, spend more than 8 seconds on it.

He knows anyway. He's posted on its elsewhere:

You think the 80's was fun, what with AIDS and everything?!? You should have seen the 1970's, when even an old queen like Paul Lynde had to talk in code on The Hollywood Squares.

Wait, it's all coming back to me now, I can even top that... try being an enlisted man in the service at a time when practicing homosexuals were not just illegal, they were national security concerns just waiting to be exploited by Soviet spies. There's where the real fun was at!

As @Chi84 has noted, we have to stop pretending that honest discussion is the aim here. If it were, the goalposts wouldn't keep moving. It really isn't worth engaging with.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I lived in the 60’s too and that’s not at all what I saw. You are fortunate to have gone to a school with kind and accepting students.

Yes, it was a rural school near an air force base, so we had the base kids too. Really, it was like that and I'm glad I lived in a time when that was possible. I know not everyone did.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

OK, but you framed it in terms of times having changed, as if referring to some generally observable social/cultural shift that has turned sexuality from a non-issue into an issue. If that wasn't what you meant, I'm not sure what the point of your post was.

It means that the views have changed. It was a non issue when I went to school. It was accepted and no one every commented negatively while at school. I'm sure there was murmurings out side of school. But nothing was acted on. I'm happy that I lived where I did and was a teenager in that time frame.

 

[Chi84]

Yes, it was a rural school near an air force base, so we had the base kids too. Really, it was like that and I'm glad I lived in a time when that was possible. I know not everyone did.

You lived in a situation where that was possible. I doubt it had to do with the “time.”

 

[TP2000]

He knows anyway. He's posted on its elsewhere:

As @Chi84 has noted, we have to stop pretending that honest discussion is the aim here. If it were, the goalposts wouldn't keep moving. It really isn't worth engaging with.

I was just about to use my time in the Service, but you beat me to it.

I actually wanted to stay in, because I had a boyhood/young adult interest in being an airline pilot and in those days the military was the only career path to get there. But by the time I was 20 I knew I was an avowed homosexual and got out of the Service as fast as my draft board let me.

Would I have liked to have stayed in and make a career out of it and parlay that into a job as a glamorous jet pilot? Yes, and I bet I would have been good at it. But it wasn't an option for gays then, and I had to protect myself as best I could. So I got out of the Service and worked moving furniture for a year while I tried to figure out what to do with my life.

Was that fun? No. But compared to the similar civil rights struggles of the 1960's and 70's, it was very mild and very manageable. We also had the best bars in town, and this was decades before the bridal parties started crashing them, so that helped make the era more enjoyable. And certainly memorable.

 

[brideck]

At least twice, with that same phrasing of needing "a family man" for the job. I still remember what those bosses looked like, and the office I was in when it was said, as if it was only a month ago.

That's because we tend to remember traumatic events in vivid detail.

I'm sorry that you had to be caged like that in the society that you grew up in. Even if upon reflection you don't feel it was that big of a deal (after all, you're still alive... which is a super low bar to be setting), I'm sorry that you had to live through that.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

You lived in a situation where that was possible. I doubt it had to do with the “time.”

I disagree. Things were simpler then compared to now. Mores were different. I know that not every school was like that and I feel fortunate that's all.

 

[Chi84]

It means that the views have changed. It was a non issue when I went to school. It was accepted and no one ever commented negatively while at school. I'm sure there was murmurings out side of school. But nothing was acted on. I'm happy that I lived where I did and was a teenager in that time frame.

Are you completely certain that your perspective was the same as the people you’re discussing?

 

[LittleBuford]

It means that the views have changed. It was a non issue when I went to school. It was accepted and no one every commented negatively while at school. I'm sure there was murmurings out side of school. But nothing was acted on. I'm happy that I lived where I did and was a teenager in that time frame.

I'm glad you went to an accepting school. Clearly, what you experienced cannot be generalised to society at large, especially when discrimination against gay people was written into the law. Nor can you really speak for your gay school-mates, whose perception may well have been quite different from yours.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Are you completely certain that your perspective was the same as the people you’re discussing?

um, what???

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Really wondering how much less this movie would’ve made without Harrison Ford in the cast.

Disappointed?

 

[Chi84]

I disagree. Things were simpler then compared to now. Mores were different. I know that not every school was like that and I feel fortunate that's all.

Things were simpler then because people who were discriminated against simply accepted their position in society and felt lucky if no one commented or acted upon their prejudices. I lived through those days too.