iâm obsessed with how disneyâs animated canon this year like. on paper it all seems like surefire basic disney hits, and then they all just went fucking insane. and disney execs must be so pissed bc they have no idea how to market this shit
like luca couldâve been a generic friendship story but the creators were like ânope! weâre going for a hardcore ghibli vibe, oppression metaphor thatâs gonna resonate with a TON of people*, and FUCK around with animation as MUCH AS WE CAN. itâs gonna be like. little mermaid but with two lil gay boys and their awkward sweaty friend and itâs a found family letâs goooo.â itâs SUPER stylized in appearance in a way that disney/pixar doesnât normally experiment on and we all fucking loved it. also all the gays attach themselves to it immediately
* before yâall say so in the notes, i know the director said it wasnât intentional, but like. the grandmaâs speech at the end⌠someone knew what they were doin regardless of whether or not they told disney
and then like. raya and encanto. disney execs mustâve been pumped to drop two disney princess movies in one year, thatâs like. supposed to be infinite money!!
but raya drops first and itâs the first disney animated action film since⌠atlantis? i think atlantis. and thus it has vastly different pacing than what a disney audience is used to, hardcore fight scenes, etc., but the message of the film overall is âeven if some people suck, we shouldnât give up on humanity as a whole because we can still rebuild our world togetherâ which is WILD for a kidsâ movie and also smth we kinda need and THEN like. you can tell from the early merch drops they expected everyone to want plushies of the cute animals + the dragon, cause they marketed sisu and the animals the most, with maybe âfunny kidâ boun second to them? and then the movie drops and everyone wants merch of namaari, the âantagonistâ who definitely does not fit the stereotypical Disney Princess Look⢠and also everyone is convinced she and raya are gay, including rayaâs voice actress, so the queerphobic execs have gotta be pissed about that but what are they gonna do?? yell at kelly marie tran? they know for a fact they OWE her for the shit they pulled with star wars and if they do anything else the fanbase will fucking slaughter them
and then!!! encanto!! so theyâre like âwell raya was outside of our comfort zone, luca was pushing it a little with the stylism and more relaxed vibe, but encanto is our normal disney movie!! itâs a musical with a marketable disney princess, sheâs gonna be the cute awkward one of the lineupâ but itâs SO funny how it all went down!!! i was super interested in encanto before the drop and i can tell u, all the merch was banking on âcute animal kidâ antonio and âpretty princessâ isabela being the popular ones. there was mirabel merch ofc but there was so much of antonio and isabelaâ plushies of antonioâs animals, a huge playset of isabelaâs beautiful pink flower room, etc. they learned a lil bit from namaari that their audience likes buff women and so released a couple dolls of luisa but definitely not as many. 100% did not expect the rest of the fam to be that popular.Â
AND THEN!! encanto drops and yes, itâs a disney musical, but all the songs are heavily story-driven and not really easy to throw on radio stations. the entire film is a look at how generational trauma impacts a familyâs mental health, with the lesson being, for every member of the family, including mirabel, âyou have to admit that you have a problem, recognize that other people have problems too, and then support each other.â it deals with forced displacement from armed conflict, something that is still hitting hard with colombians today as well as complex, not black-and-white family dynamics about how you can love someone with your whole heart and still unintentionally hurt them, and how forgiveness is possible if you admit wrongdoing and change your behavior
AND THEN!! not only is it a heavy movie for the disney franchise, the stuff the audience likes is baffling them. they expected people to want to buy toys for the cute animal kid and the perfect princess, but the internet is going INSANE over the rat uncle with like ten minutes of screentime tops. and the stuff everyone likes about isabela? is after sheâs shed the mantle of perfect princess, and is tossing catci into the air and dying her hair and dress multiple colors. you could say they donât merch bruno and post-transformation isabela atm bc spoilers, and yes, that tends to happen- queen anna and snow queen elsa didnât get merch for a couple months. BUT again, they clearly expected everyone to want isabela because of her pink prettiness and instead everyone wants the deranged cacti sister!! AND TO ADD TO THAT, everyone is obsessed with the cousins that disney didnât even think to market, you can only find merch of dolores and camilo in like, those bundles of tiny figures of the whole family, there are no dolls of dolores even with her marketable appearance and fancy dress, thereâs even less of camilo, but everyone loves them so much!! they marketed luisa a little but not a ton and sheâs super popular right now because of her relatability and different body typeâ which disney execs apparently did not want her to have and the creative team had to fight for. people talk nonstop about the 50yo adults, about how the couples are #goals and how the tripletsâ dynamic must be,,,
AND THEN!! the songs that disney execs bank on. they know that their soundtracks will always sell bc theyâre disney and they have mr hamilton himself making the music for this, and moanaâs soundtrack was a hit so of course this will make them money. and it does!! but the songs that are making them money are not âthe family madrigal,â which was heavily marketed, OR mriabelâs soloâ the disney princess solo songs tend to be the most famous. itâs not even isabelaâs song, which they must have thought would be a hit bc itâs very âlet it goâ and w/ the girl they expected everyone to love. INSTEAD, the songs EVERYONE IS PLAYING are âmiddle kid syndrome breakdownâ and, a song that has hit more streams than âlet it go,â âexposition dump sung by side characters that is called âFUCK this one guy in particular.ââ and they have NO idea what to do with that!!! i follow disney music stuff on social media so that i know when to pirate it and they are confused as fuck! theyâre just like âheeeey guys #fellowkids hereâs a poll whatâs your favorite line from âwe donât talk about brunoââ and then itâs just five random lines they grabbed from a bag, itâs so clear that theyâre like âthese arenât #empowerment anthems like âlet it goâ or calls to adventure like âinto the unknownâ or âhow far iâll goâ itâs!!!! a mental breakdown and an exposition dump!!!! BOTH SUNG MY CHARACTERS WHO WE ARE NOT MARKETING! WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO PUT ON TSHIRTSâ
and to top that!! they must have been like âthereâs no ships in this movie the queers canât possibly attach to this oneâ and then the wlw raced after luisa and everyone clung to isabela and bruno and pointed out the bi rainbow on mirabelâs dress and they must be pulling out their hair i wanna be a fly on the wall of the marketing meetings so badly
tl;dr Disneyâs three animated films of this year must be driving Disney Execs FUCKING insane because theyâre reasonably popular and well-received but for reasons they did not expect and they donât know how to market them at all