'Strange World' Disney's 2022 Animated Film

[LittleBuford]

Of course it's discussion. Some of us were discussing the lousy box-office performance of Strange World. And some here attacked us for it. Is trying to silence us about it. That's the real issue here.

It's a strange sort of silencing given that a huge percentage of this thread is taken up by posts repeatedly rejoicing in the film's failure. To me at least, it seems that the the majority of these posts are designed to hammer home an ideological point rather than engage in good-faith discussion. There's something very wrong indeed when a thread ostensibly devoted to a film that most of us have ready access to through Disney+ is inundated with posts by people who absolutely refuse to watch it. It's the forum equivalent of review bombing, and it skews proceedings away from a civil, informed, or productive exchange of thoughts.

 

[LittleBuford]

This is my opinion and only my opinion -

At the very end, where the town was dark with candles, it seems to be preaching that we must totally stop all fossil fuels and live in the dark to save the planet.

As I have posted before, Fossil fuels made everything today possible.

Without oil and plastic, there would be no internet, no world wide web, no devices to access the web, no forums.wdwmagic.com, no WDW.

In my opinion, it's hypocritical to all of a sudden make fossil fuel the huge villain AFTER it got us to the great standard of living we enjoy on a daily basis, including everything needed end to end to post on this very site.

In my opinion, we still need oil to make all sorts of materials.

In my opinion, if we want to stop burning fossil fuels for power the answer is nuclear power.

Whatever solution peoplekind comes up with, it should develop over time as to not yank the rug out from under people just trying to live, work, grow their families and live their daily lives.

I've mentioned this before, but we also see wind-powered electricity at the end.

I personally don't think the film vilifies fossil fuels. Rather, it allegorises something we all know anyway: that the world's reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable and that we should aim for viable alternatives. This is a message I've been hearing since primary school, and I'm 40 years old.

 

[Disney Analyst]

It's a strange sort of silencing given that a huge percentage of this thread is taken up by posts repeatedly rejoicing in the film's failure. To me at least, it seems that the the majority of these posts are designed to hammer home an ideological point rather than engage in good-faith discussion. There's something very wrong indeed when a thread ostensibly devoted to a film that most of us have ready access to through Disney+ is inundated with posts by people who absolutely refuse to watch it. It's the forum equivalent of review bombing, and it skews proceedings away from a civil, informed, or productive exchange of thoughts.

Here here!

 

[Heppenheimer]

This is my opinion and only my opinion -

At the very end, where the town was dark with candles, it seems to be preaching that we must totally stop all fossil fuels and live in the dark to save the planet.

As I have posted before, Fossil fuels made everything today possible.

Without oil and plastic, there would be no internet, no world wide web, no devices to access the web, no forums.wdwmagic.com, no WDW.

In my opinion, it's hypocritical to all of a sudden make fossil fuel the huge villain AFTER it got us to the great standard of living we enjoy on a daily basis, including everything needed end to end to post on this very site.

In my opinion, we still need oil to make all sorts of materials.

In my opinion, if we want to stop burning fossil fuels for power the answer is nuclear power.

Whatever solution peoplekind comes up with, it should develop over time as to not yank the rug out from under people just trying to live, work, grow their families and live their daily lives.

Oddly enough, one of the most nuanced takes on balancing the many competing interests of energy supply that was aimed at kids was...

This:

Amazon product ASIN B07NJK8VKC
I still have my copy!

Even though this was published under the sponsorship of 1980s Exxon-Mobile, it was surprising frank about the costs of using fossil fuels, but also explained both the pros and cons of other energy sources. Kind of like the best primer from my childhood on monetary inflation came from an episode of Duck Tales, Disney gave me a better summation of energy policy than countless opinion pieces in more adult reading sources. And it explained things to kids without talking down to or preaching to them.

 

[brb1006]

Pleakly— though that’s not really played up until the animated series.

Pleakly wasn't gay, he just likes crossdressing (plus he's an alien). Not all men that crossdress automatically makes them "gay" you know.

Heck, Osamu Tezuka was very fond of having straight male and female characters being comfortable in dressing in feminine/male clothing and wearing makeup regardless of age. Notably Unico the little Unicorn who is frequently seen wearing eyeliner and wearing a cute bow around his tail and horn.

 

[DKampy]

They still have Gay Days. It is May 31 - June 5 this year.

Ah…. I don’t usually go in the summer months anymore now that I live up north.., don’t like the humidity and heat

 

[Magenta Panther]

Pleakly wasn't gay, he just likes crossdressing (plus he's an alien). Not all men that crossdressing makes them "gay" you know. Heck, Osamu Tezuka was fond of having straight male and female characters being comfortable in dressing in feminine clothing and wearing makeup.

Plus there's the fact that the reason Pleakely dresses like that is to make people laugh, not to make a statement.

 

[LittleBuford]

Maybe the fact that the film failed is worthy of discussion. Saying that those of us who haven't seen it yet can't comment on its failure is akin to saying that someone who hasn't seen Avatar: The Way of Water can't comment on its box-office success. Savvy?

Of course it’s worthy of discussion. But how can anyone seriously maintain, let alone repeatedly insist, that it failed because of its inclusion of “gay themes” without having watched it first to see how those themes are actually handled? Don’t you think it’s telling that most of the people who’ve left reviews here—including those who didn’t like it much—don’t share the view that Ethan’s crush was the cause of the film’s failure? How can a meaningful discussion ensue when members of one camp refuse to inform themselves of the particulars on which their argument is supposedly built?

 

[Heppenheimer]

The villain in Big Hero 6 was terrible though. Sick of the recent Twist Villain Trope.

I honestly don't even remember much about him, other than he looks like Bob Iger and the movie all but telegraphed that he was going to be the secret villain. Once the characters, for some reason, became super heroes, I kind of tuned out.

 

[Heppenheimer]

And how do you know that? Did you take a census or something?

Disney in general has a pretty big fan base. I would assume that includes gay and straight.

 

[LittleBuford]

Disney in general has a pretty big fan base. I would assume that includes gay and straight.

This is true, though I personally feel that Disney fans are disproportionately gay, by which I mean that gay (and other LGBTQI people) seem to me to form a higher percentage of the Disney fanbase than they do of the general population. I would say the same of CMs. My impression is, however, based on nothing more than my own "gaydar".

 

[Heppenheimer]

This is true, though I personally feel that Disney fans are disproportionately gay, by which I mean that gay (and other LGBTQI people) seem to me to form a higher percentage of the Disney fanbase than they do of the general population. I would say the same of CMs. My impression is, however, based on nothing more than my own "gaydar".

As a straight male, I probably don't possess such perceptive powers.

But I do recall my love of all things Disney as a kid being mockingly referred to as "gay", so maybe there is something to that. Ah, weren't the 80s such a wonderful time for any kid that didn't have completely mainstream interests and tastes?

 

[GimpYancIent]

As a straight male, I probably don't possess such perceptive powers.

But I do recall my love of all things Disney as a kid being mockingly referred to as "gay", so maybe there is something to that. Ah, weren't the 80s such a wonderful time for any kid that didn't have completely mainstream interests and tastes?

True Disney fans do not care how a person identifies. Some simple escapism, family multi-generational fun, enjoyment and relaxation is the motivation.

 

[GimpYancIent]

No one has an “agenda” against Strange World. We’re all Disney fans who want to see this company succeed. Making movie after movie and show after show that the mass majority have proven for a while now that they don’t want to watch isn’t a recipe for financial success. This company can’t keep wasting money. Some of us are just more capable of looking at things from a financial/business side.

Old show business quote "Give the People What They Want". SW did not meet that expectation. The viewing public spoke loudly without having to say a word.

 

[ElvisMickey]

Old show business quote "Give the People What They Want". SW did not meet that expectation. The viewing public spoke loudly without having to say a word.

Exactly! Most people want to be entertained…not preached to for 90+ minutes.

 

[Disney Irish]

It should be understood that no one here has any real data or insight into the exact reason why the movie failed, everyone is just providing an opinion.

In reality there isn't one single reason why the movie failed. It was very likely a combination of reasons most of which have been discussed ad-nauseam. So there is nothing new here to be discussed about this.

The only thing left about this topic is to see the viewership numbers for D+ when they come out in a couple weeks. If its pretty high numbers then we'll know that D+ had a large effect on box office.

 

[ElvisMickey]

That is an opinion. Correlation is not causation.

Box office numbers aren’t an opinion.

 

[Prince-1]

Respectfully, disagree. This isn’t a one off situation. Disney has had failure after failure recently. Strange World is another Lightyear and so on and so forth. There’s a pattern.

Two films isn't a pattern. Lightyear underperformed but wasn't a bomb and Strange World was a box office flop. Before these two, the last few films went straight to D+ and we have no way to know how they would have done at the box office.

 

[erasure fan1]

The only thing left about this topic is to see the viewership numbers for D+ when they come out in a couple weeks. If its pretty high numbers then we'll know that D+ had a large effect on box office.

I don't know if that theory holds water. This movie was a historic flop. I would bet on the viewership numbers being very strong. People love to see what all the fuss is about, and this movie had a lot of fuss associated with it. So the key is going to be how does this movie perform in a year or two down the road. Unfortunately we will never get that data from Disney.

 

[ElvisMickey]

I don't know if that theory holds water. This movie was a historic flop. I would bet on the viewership numbers being very strong. People love to see what all the fuss is about, and this movie had a lot of fuss associated with it. So the key is going to be how does this movie perform in a year or two down the road. Unfortunately we will never get that data from Disney.

I waited for Disney + and it took me almost a week to watch it because, in my own personal opinion, which I’m allowed despite what some folks here may think, I found it painfully boring and a major snoozefest. I tapped out after 15 minutes each day but I wanted to get through it so I could have an educated opinion on it.