Some good news, for a change...

Disney does right by girls in 'Inside Out 2'

Doing this Substack, I both gain and lose subscribers every time I post. Usually, happily, the former number is larger than the latter. But I think I know why some people leave, and it’s OK. My very first post was a long and thorough criticism of my employer Disney’s meddling in the so-called “Don’t Say Gay Bill” as well as their woke homophobia via their offensive promotion of what they would term ‘the LGBTQIA+ community’. I think this led many subscribers to believe every subsequent post would be me shitting on Disney, and they took glee in that. A lot of people hate Disney—which I understand, because Disney has made a lot of questionable, ummm, ‘choices’ over the past few years. But the main position of my Substack is pro-gay, not anti-Disney, and I don’t think that’s what some people realized they were signing up for. #Sorrynotsorry, as they say.

Concerning the Disney haters: I’m aware that extremists think Disney is full of pedophiles, and the rest of y’all just thing Disney fans and employees are a bunch of weirdos. I can attest that Disney is not full of pedophiles…but the part about weirdos I have to admit has an element of truth. But I submit that they are (mostly) harmless weirdos. There have been many times where I have witnessed a cast member who is a little ‘off’ and said to a coworker, ‘‘thank God for Disney, because where else would these people work?!” I’ll take a weirdo over an asshole any day.

There is a lot of suspicion about the phenomenon of the ‘Disney Adults’ and even more so for the ‘Disney Gays’. What can I say, except: Yes, some people are a little odd, but they’re basically harmless. They find joy in Stitch or Mary Poppins or Powerline or Buzz Lightyear or whatever…and really, is that any weirder than adults who find joy in watching grown men throwing a football around, or rich ‘housewives’ reality shows, or video games, or race cars, or Taylor (yawn) Swift?!

From my own ‘community’!

So I guess I am one of those weirdos? Whatever. I don’t take it personally. I’ve been a weirdo since I was a kid.

However…I have been doing this Substack for a couple of years now, and I have noticed that there are a lot of people in the ‘gender critical’ world who ignore me or dismiss me. I think this is because I work for Disney, so I must be a weirdo, so who cares what I have to say. I am aware that there are a lot of people smarter than me who have a great deal more expertise and knowledge—I read their work daily, and learn from it. I really only write when I feel like I have something to share that I haven’t seen written about, or if I feel I have an angle that is unique. I’m not a doctor, psychiatrist, biologist, parent, or woman, so I don’t speak from any of those perspectives. (But I do try to amplify those voices.) For my part, I speak as both a gay man and worker-bee employee, and how my life has been effected by The New Church Of Genderism on both those counts.

I appreciate the praise and kind words I get from readers (thank you!!), but I also feel like I deserve more respect for what I do. I just want to mention that, without dwelling on it or crying over it. See, I’m used to not getting respect—I drew a comic strip for five years, and I didn’t get much respect for that either. Comics, cartoons, Disney…these things are scorned by ‘serious’ people. >Shrug.< All I can say is that I like what I like; I do what I do. [PS: My actual love is not even Disney, it’s Charles Schulz’s Peanuts.]

I currently have a love/hate relationship with Disney. I enjoy the work that I do, and I like the atmosphere (mostly). Yes, there are times where I want to run far, far away, but there are other times where I can’t imagine working anywhere else. I will be the first to complain when Disney makes a move I disagree with, but if someone else makes a harsh statement about Disney there is still a part of me that wants to defend it. I will perhaps delve into all of this more in a later post…suffice to say, it comes from a lifelong love of the characters and stories and not wanting to part with that. I think a lot of disenchanted Disney hangers-on feel that way. Disney has a rich history and part of MY reason for being angry at The Company is what I see as moves that are destroying that history. So, when I see positive changes I want to celebrate them.

To that end:

I went to see the new Disney/Pixar film Inside Out 2 this weekend. This movie, since its announcement several years ago, has had me on edge. The first movie isn’t one of my favorites, so I didn’t have a lot invested in the continuation of the story, but there were a couple of things that gave me pause. First, there was the announcement that the storyline would be following Riley at age 13, as she enters puberty. Knowing Disney’s intent to inject ‘queerness’ into its content, I feared where this was headed. I then saw a news item that Pixar had sent out a voice-casting call for a ‘14-year-old transgender girl’, which made me feel nauseous. A year ago, during merchandise planning, I learned that Inside Out 2 was set to release in June…during ‘Pride Month’. Online, fan theories hoped for a trans storyline in the sequel. The whole thing made me very nervous.

I have no idea what went on behind the scenes, but I do know that these scripts tend to go through many drafts before they reach production. So who knows what may or may not have been planned? But I am happy to report, after viewing, that the film has none of what I had feared. In fact, it was the exact opposite! Whether it was intentional or not, the message of the film was exactly what we need right now.

For those unaware of the first movie, Inside Out follows young girl Riley via the emotions in her head: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. (That’s all you really need to know to get the idea.) The sequel focuses on the development of Riley’s ‘Sense of Self’ and introduces four new emotions as Riley enters puberty: Embarrassment, Envy, Ennui (my favorite), and Anxiety.

The character Anxiety comes barreling in and says Riley needs to change everything about herself—I was enjoying the movie already, but this is the part that made me sit up in my seat. Because this is what’s going on with kids today! That’s where all this forming of trans/nonbinary/gender identities comes from. Anxiety.

At one point Anxiety propels Riley to make a questionable decision and Sadness protests, “That’s not who Riley is!” And Anxiety says, “It’s not about who Riley is anymore, it’s about who she needs to be.” Yes! This is what kids believe! That they need to change themselves! Rather than letting their identities form naturally, they are manufacturing ‘identities’, complete with flags and slogans.

In the end, Joy convinces Anxiety that Riley doesn’t need to change herself to have a promising future, and all the emotions work together to form Riley’s new Sense of Self—warts and all.

I took the message of the movie to be that our emotions don’t get to decide who we are. In other words…facts, not feelings.

In the end credits, they even wrote “This film is dedicated to our kids, we love you just the way you are.” I know there are sick people who will warp that and interpret it a different way (‘my daughter is really my son and I accept him’) but those people will manipulate everything to go along with their narrative. Because everything about ‘trans’ and ‘gender identity’ is a lie.

I’m going to take this movie as a win, and a step towards common sense and rationality. This, coupled with Disney’s Pride merchandise this year being 1. half the size of last year’s offerings and 2. consisting of the ‘classic’ rainbow colors and no ‘progress flag’ colors, makes me hopeful. [Yes, it is all still very ugly and I don’t think Disney should be selling Pride merchandise AT ALL, but at least this is a step in the right direction.]

What do you think? Am I dreaming? Or is Disney waking up?