It’s no surprise that Disney isn’t quite the same as it used to be. From getting involved with Florida’s governor to becoming politically correct, I feel as if there is an equivalent here to seeing someone you are close to going down a dark path where they are trying to reinvent themselves and in a very bad way.
Now, I want to be very clear on something that if you are a fan of the Disney Live Action Remakes, then who am I to stop you? But this is just my personal perspective on them and my perspective alone. As the 2023-2024 school year is starting up, I can see that there are teachers out there that want to make these films as part of their upcoming curriculums. But as a former special education student, I want you to take a moment and think about what is best for your students: do they really want to watch the original Disney animated classic that has value or a live action remake that holds no value?
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For one thing, the Disney Live Action Remakes are really not the best films to show students as part of a curriculum. The one big difference is that while Disney is trying to reintroduce new generations to it’s classics, they are doing so in the wrong way. You can’t just take something beloved and try to fix it when it’s perfectly fine as it is.
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I mean, take the live action remake of “Pinocchio” for example. The original 1940 film is perfectly done as it is and is not afraid to scare it’s audience into something that is in real life such as drinking, smoking and falling to temptation. By showing scenes of Pinocchio in trouble and Lampwick turning into a donkey, we are teaching our children that life does contain hidden dangers that we have to learn to avoid.
In addition, Pinocchio himself in the original film (while changed from his book counterpart where he was a jerk) is an innocent boy, but does submit to temptation and we, the audience, learn from his experiences firsthand. In the remake, he just shows resistance to these temptations and that’s it. Although he does go to school in the remake, he is kicked out of school for being a puppet and joins Stromboli’s puppet show. This to me sends a bad message that you cannot judge a book by it’s cover without evidence to backing you up. In fact, all of the tense scenes that teach the viewer such dangers in life is rushed through without giving the audience a chance to learn the lesson.
Then, there is the matter of one scene that really gripes me and that is than rather trying to kill off Pinocchio like in the animated film, they try to kill off Geppetto at the climax. By doing this, you are denying the audience the definition of what it means to truly earn your right in a life goal such as sacrificing your own life for another life. Plus, Tom Hanks can show emotion for crying out loud, why even do this?
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Another example is the live action remake of “The Little Mermaid” which came out this past spring and involves the character of King Triton (Javier Badem) who is more bullheaded and shows nothing of any remorse after he destroys Ariel’s Grotto whereas in the original, Triton immediately regrets his actions and this shows the lesson we can show regret for our actions if we do something that upsets the other party.
It’s important to also remember that what students see in the classroom is reflected outside of the classroom, too. I mean, if you are going to show the live action “Little Mermaid” and see students not show any remorse like the new Triton did, then the fault lies with you, the teacher.
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The truth of the matter is that I look at these live action remakes and I say to myself as a former special education student, what kind of lessons will I get out of something like a Disney Live Action Remake? I grew up on the classic animated films and they must have lessons that I can relate to in ways that I have never seen before. I’ve actually have watched some of the Disney Animated Classics in the classroom and I tell you that I’ve gotten more out of them than what I saw out of them the first time around.
With the live action remakes, students will get little to no lesson value out of them and instead big A list Hollywood stars in roles that might otherwise not be best suited for them. Hope that’s magical food for thought as the school year begins!!
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Catch you all later!!
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