# The Slow Food Movement: A Comprehensive Report

## History and Background

The slow food movement emerged as a response to the rise of fast food culture and industrialized agriculture.

While the specific origins aren't detailed in the provided documents, the movement represents a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of traditional food production, local ingredients, and sustainable farming practices.

## Core Tenets of the Movement

Based on the context documents, the slow food movement emphasizes several key principles:

1.

**Local and Traditional Cuisine**: The movement celebrates authentic, regional cooking methods and ingredients that reflect local culture and geography (Document 0ac5e918)

2.

**Sustainability and Waste Reduction**: Restaurants aligned with slow food principles focus on minimizing food waste and using sustainable practices (Document 7075f668)

3.

**Quality Over Speed**: The approach prioritizes carefully prepared, fresh ingredients over quick service (Document 7075f668 mentions "fresh homemade pasta for lunch

# The Slow Food Movement: A Comprehensive Report

## History and Background

The slow food movement emerged as a response to the rise of fast food culture and industrialized agriculture.

Title:

Content: ITALIAN pals Eugenio Nobile and Lorenzo Barba have more than their nationality, friendship and business in common.

They both worked as chefs in Milano’s before opening Sonflour on Castle Street; they are both 36; they are neighbours in Blarney Street’ and they both have dogs!

“It is true we share a lot of interests,” says Lorenzo, from Turin.

A girlfriend lured them to Ireland.

“Not the same girlfriend, though!” says Lorenzo laughing.

“I left Turin 15 years ago and worked as a chef while travelling to Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Germany and Italy. My girlfriend, Julia, got a job in Apple and I got a job in Milano’s, where I met Eugenio.

“We became friends and planned to open a restaurant together.”

Eugenio is from Rome, where he worked in the hospitality industry for many years.

“I used to cook with my mother at home,” he says.

Now the pair have crafted a unique Italian street food menu that is full of local Irish ingredients with their own Italian twists. They cater for vegans and for vegetarians.

“We had been working in Milanos’s in 2019 before lockdown hit, and since then we planned to open our own place in Cork,” says Lorenzo.

They had time to plan a successful business on Castle Street.

“We used the timing of the pandemic to plan opening our business with a focus on sustainability,” says Lorenzo. “The pandemic gave us good time to plan Sonflour, the menu took us seven months to perfect.”

Why Cork?

“We fell in love with Cork,” says Lorenzo.

“I grew up in a big city and when I came here, I found the city wasn’t huge and it was easy to get around. It felt like the right balance. We are surrounded by nature and we can escape to the sea or to the forest which aren’t far away.”

The lads were made feel welcome.

“We loved the kindness of people compared to some other countries,” says Lorenzo.

Did they love the Cork accent?

“We got to understand it fine,” says Eugenio. “I learned to speak English here. My first experience abroad was working in Milano’s in Cork. I got along with everyone here and I like the lifestyle.”

Sonflour took off from the word go.

“We thought we would ease into the business slowly, but from the very start a couple of weeks ago, we were getting bookings and we were very busy,” says Eugenio.

“It was a great start. We found the perfect spot here in Castle Street.”

The lads are kept busy.

“We open seven days a week and our days start at 7.30am to begin prepping. Everything is freshly made. When people order, we make the dishes from scratch. The dishes are from Italian cuisine and all the ingredients, except the tomatoes, are from local food suppliers. We aim to keep food waste to a minimum as well.”

Italian film star, Sophie Loren, is famously a pasta lover. She said ‘Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti!” What delicious pasta dishes do the lads dish up?

“We have artisanal pizzas, focaccia vinyl, while the ravioli and the linguine are very popular.”

What is the most popular dish for pasta lovers like Sophia Loren?

“We thought it might be our pizza,” says Eugenio. “Our pizza Al Taguo is an Italian recipe, it is very Roman, very crunchy and nice and thick. It is not round but rectangular. But so far we have found it’s the ravioli that comes in a truffle oil and mushroom cream.”

The chefs use Irish produce to create their unique dishes like the George Costanza salad and the Socca Farinata bites.

“The buffalo mozzarella is from Macroom, the Mossfield mature cheese is from an organic farm in Co. Offaly, our flour is from Kilkenny, while all our vegetables are grown locally,” says Eugenio, who is brewing me a rich Italian coffee.

“Our food is inspired by Italy but grown in Ireland. We’re big on Irish suppliers. We order our tomatoes and other bits from Italy. Our goal was to create Italian street food in a sustainable way that tastes good. Our organic wine is from Italy but our supplier is Irish.”

The chefs are both vegetarian.

“We wanted Sonflour to have a focus on veg and vegan and yet appeal to everyone,” says Eugenio.

“Many people who eat meat and fish two or three times a week might look for a vegetarian option every so often and they can come here to us for that option.” The chefs thought of everything.

“We worked in different restaurants around the world and we saw the amount of food waste can be huge, so we took a look at that when we planned the menu.”

After the prep, says Lorenzo: “We make the fresh homemade pasta for lunch and we make it again in the afternoon for dinners.”

He and Eugenio did tastings for the extensive menu.

“We did a lot of home trials, finding the perfect balance between crispiness and mixing our flavours to compliment with opposites.”

The restaurant on 9, Castle Street has a continental flavour to it. The windows look onto the bustling street outside while inside has a cosy intimate feel to it. The lighting compliments the wood furniture and the kitchen is in full view of the customers.

There is an added bonus.

“There’s a record player in the corner and people are welcome to browse through the collection of vinyl records and they can choose a record they’d like to hear,” says Eugenio.

The duo have achieved their goal.

“I never saw myself as an entrepreneur,” says Eugenio. “Here, I found the energy and the inspiration to go into business. The good energy inspired me. Before, I would have seen obstacles and difficulties, but not here.

“The people are so encouraging. The response from the public has been wonderful. We thought we’d start slowly but we did not - the first week we were booked out.”

What do the lads do in any spare time they have? “We walk our dogs, Loki and Lille,” says Lorenzo.

The two lads are happy with their lifestyle and with their new successful business.

“Sonflour is our baby and we are happy to work hard,” says Lorenzo. “We love meeting the people and talking to them.

“We are super-happy!”

Sonflour, 9, Castle Street, Cork, is open Monday to Wednesday, 3pm-9pm, and Thursday to Sunday, 1pm to 10pm.

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On returning to traditional food methods

What happened after the opening of McDonald's restaurants in Rome opened?

While the specific origins aren't detailed in the provided documents, the movement represents a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of traditional food production, local ingredients, and sustainable farming practices.

Title:

Content: LATEST NEWS

UNESCO recognition is a treasure trove: boom in tourism and new activities

The Sapienza University study revealed that from Prosecco DOCG to Pantelleria, employment, visitors and companies are growing

The UNESCO recognition is the one that everyone wants because it is one of the few recognitions that bring people together, and in a world where we are “divided” over everything, it is a highly prestigious goal. Italy is very aware of its prestige, since it the world “queen” of UNESCO recognitions. Italy boast 59 “World Heritage” recognitions and 14 registered in the representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The recognitions are a “treasure”. that confirm the history and uniqueness of the “Bel Paese” (the beautiful country), where food and wine and landscape are highly valued, starting with wine “terroirs", which are a special union in the "blood" relationship created between the land and man, history and modernity, and a bond that the generations continue to uphold.
Italy’s UNESCO recognitions include the “Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene”, where Italian bubbles that have conquered the world are made, the “Wine-growing Landscapes of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato”, an extraordinary cradle of unique wines - first and foremost, Barolo and Barbaresco, or “Val d’Orcia”, one of the most iconic territories in Tuscany, where two other excellent reds Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are grown. Then, going south, the extraordinary, “The traditional agricultural practice of growing the sapling vine of Pantelleria”, where there is also the multinational recognition of the “Art of Dry Walls”, found in other viticultural landscapes as well, such as Soave, in Valpolicella, the Cinque Terre in Liguria, Valtellina and more, even outside National borders. Then there is Italian food, its products and its techniques, starting with the “Mediterranean Diet”, the symbol of Italy, or “The traditional art of Neapolitan pizza chefs”, and the “Truffle search and extraction in Italy: knowledge and traditional practices”. And the list of UNESCO recognitions might become even longer, as “Italian Cuisine”, has been candidated, as well as the “System of Chianti Classico Villa-farmhouses”, have been included on the Italian “proposal list” of candidate sites for World Heritage Site, and the technique of setting aside Valpolicella grapes which, if accepted, would be the first winemaking technique to obtain the prestigious recognition.
How much does the recognition “weigh”, in the positive sense, obviously, for a territory that has a UNESCO excellence? This question was answered during the meeting at the Trento Festival of Economics, where part of an International study, carried out by Pierluigi Petrillo, the UNESCO chair at the Sapienza University (Rome), president of the Evaluation Body of the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage, who presented and illustrated the study that represents the “traditions, know-how, and knowledge that define the identity of a territory”. The economic returns, from employment to founding new businesses, are evident. Petrillo provided data relating to these advantages, and others, which UNESCO Sites and intangible assets bring to the territory, citing relevant examples from the wine and food world, that have succeeded in “neutralizing” the negative effects of Covid.
In general, tourists visiting UNESCO sites totaled +53.59% in 2021 compared to 2020 and +67.83% in 2022 compared to 2021, against the National average, respectively, +41.24% and +50.65%. The trend of overnight stays was higher, +62.81% (2021/2020) and +59.55% (2022/2021) in UNESCO sites, while the National average instead reached +38.73% (2021/2020) and +42.48% (2022/2021). Petrillo stated that the trend also included agritourism companies, and mentioned Pantelleria, which produced an extraordinary performance at +60% (after the UNESCO recognition), compared to the National average +41.9%. “After Covid”, Petrillo said, “we have had the impression that tourists chose UNESCO sites even though the trend before Covid showed substantially identical data. However, businesses that have a connection to the UNESCO recognition, cultural businesses, recreational businesses, businesses that offer tourist services, and agri-food businesses, also grew exponentially”. The study revealed that UNESCO sites attract more tourism businesses (+16.26% in 2018 compared to 2017; +6.47% in 2022 compared to 2021; while the National average was +5.48% and +1.9%), and therefore overnight stays in agritourism companies during the period 2014-2019 experienced exceptional growth (+41.9%), compared to the National average (+2.5%).
The “Conegliano and Valdobbiadene case” is emblematic, taken as a model, and noting that the UNESCO recognition (which was received in 2019, and therefore, during the Covid period), “increased employment”. The Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG District counted 347 non-hotel facilities in 2017, which then jumped to 531 in 2022 and overnight stays in the extra facilities grew from 2.867 in 2017 to 4.211 in 2022. There were 185 sparkling wine houses in 2017 and 209 in 2022. Global companies grew from 4.418 (2017) to 4.514 (2022). Employees in sparkling wine houses increased from 2.726 in 2017 to 3.514 in 2022, while the global ones went from 6.245 to 6.867 over the five-year period taken into consideration.
Valorizing the territory and its skills, and increasing its working numbers, is also evident in the pizza sector, following the UNESCO recognition for “The Traditional Art of Neapolitan Pizza Makers” (2017). The number of professional courses, linked to this art, has grown significantly in Italy and especially abroad, where there are more and more accredited schools. “Before the UNESCO recognition, in the restaurant chain, the pizza chef was considered”, Petrillo emphasized, “ the low man on the totem pole, but after receiving the recognition, the profile of the profession completely changed. Now, there is so much pride and awareness that even famous chefs have started making pizza engaging prominent pizza chefs”. These data confirm what WineNews has reported over the past few months, referring to the “boom” in numbers that the Viticultural Landscapes of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato have registered upon being included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (2014), generating an exponential growth in tourists and activities. UNESCO is a treasure trove.

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Altri articoli

What are the supporters of slow food movement advocating?

On returning to traditional food methods

What happened after the opening of McDonald's restaurants in Rome opened?

What is the purpose of Taiwan's Taitung County Government ito hold the "SLOW SUPER Taitung Slow Farmer Market"?

To promote sustainable agricultural development

## Core Tenets of the Movement

Based on the context documents, the slow food movement emphasizes several key principles:

1.

What are the supporters of slow food movement advocating?

Conscious consumption
Enjoyment of good food

On returning to traditional food methods

**Local and Traditional Cuisine**: The movement celebrates authentic, regional cooking methods and ingredients that reflect local culture and geography (Document 0ac5e918)

2.

On returning to traditional food methods

**Sustainability and Waste Reduction**: Restaurants aligned with slow food principles focus on minimizing food waste and using sustainable practices (Document 7075f668)

3.

What are the supporters of slow food movement advocating?

**Quality Over Speed**: The approach prioritizes carefully prepared, fresh ingredients over quick service (Document 7075f668 mentions "fresh homemade pasta for lunch

What are the supporters of slow food movement advocating?

On returning to traditional food methods


I don't know.

I don't know.

Title:

Content: Trump weighs another run as GOP rivals eye own campaigns

NASHVILLE (AP) - As religious conservatives gathered this week at a sprawling resort near the Grand Ole Opry House, Nikki Haley pressed the Faith and Freedom Coalition´s "Road to Majority" crowd to look to the future.

"It´s up to us to deliver a new birth of patriotism," said Haley, the former South Carolina governor who was ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump. "And together with you, and with trust in God, I pledge to answer that call and inspire our country once again."

Such comments are typical of a party that's out of power and in search of its next leader. But what´s unusual: The party´s last leader is plotting his own comeback.

Trump is showing up on the same stage Friday, his first public appearance since the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection began to lay bare his desperate attempts to remain in power by challenging American democracy. But, at least for now, the harrowing footage and searing testimony in the panel's hearings, including accounts from Trump´s close associates and members of his family, appear to have done little to dampen his interest in another campaign.

Indeed, Trump is actively weighing when he might formally launch a third presidential run, according to people familiar with the discussions. The debate, according to aides and allies who insist Trump has yet to make a final decision, centers on whether to announce a campaign in the coming months or, in accordance with tradition, wait until after the November midterm elections.

Trump has spent the past year and a half holding rallies, delivering speeches and using his endorsements to exact revenge and further shape the party in his image. But some say the former president, who has decamped from his Florida Mar-a-Lago club to Bedminster, New Jersey, for the summer, is also growing impatient.

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during a joint statement with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the Rose Garden of the White House, Oct. 23, 2017, in Washington. Trump's desperate attempts to remain in power by challenging American democracy have been thrown back into the spotlight by the Jan. 6 committee, with harrowing footage and searing testimony from his closest aides and family. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

While he has relished his role as a party kingmaker - with candidates all but begging his endorsement and racking up large tabs at fundraisers in his ballrooms - Trump also misses the days when he was actually king, particularly as he watches Democratic President Joe Biden struggling with low approval ratings and soaring inflation.

"I think a lot of Trump´s future plans are directly based on Biden, and I think the more Biden continues to stumble on the world stage and on the domestic stage, people forget about the downside, the dark side of Trump´s presidency," said Bryan Lanza, a GOP strategist and former Trump campaign official.

An announcement in the near future could complicate efforts by other ambitious Republicans to mount campaigns. Haley, for instance, has said she wouldn´t run against Trump.

But there also are concerns that a near-term announcement could hurt Republicans going into the final stretch of a midterm congressional campaign that appears increasingly favorable to the party. A Trump candidacy could unite otherwise despondent Democratic voters, reviving the energy that lifted the party in the 2018 and 2020 campaigns.

And, regardless of his decision, the aura of inevitability that Trump sought to create from the moment he left the White House has been punctured. Some Republicans and their aides have tried to make clear in recent months that a Trump candidacy would have little influence on their own decisions.

They include Trump´s vice president, Mike Pence, who has been hailed by the Jan. 6 committee as someone who put the national interest ahead of his own political considerations. Eyeing a White House bid, Pence is maintaining a brisk political schedule focused on drawing attention to Democratic vulnerabilities.

Others including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have also indicated their decisions do not rest on Trump´s. And they and others have become increasingly brazen in their willingness to cross the former president, including endorsing candidates running against his and even campaigning with Georgia´s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who survived Trump´s efforts to defeat him in the state´s GOP primary last month.

Some of these could-be candidates, including Trump´s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Sen. Rick Scott and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, were appearing alongside the former president as he headlines the Faith and Freedom Coalition´s gathering in Nashville.

The field could include a long list of others, including Rep. Liz Cheney, the lead Republican on the Jan. 6 panel and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan - both Trump critics. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, is seen by many loyal Trump supporters as the future of his movement.

Indeed, many of those attending the conference in Nashville - the resort is near the Opry House, where the longtime "Grand Ole Opry" country music radio show is broadcast - weren´t sold on a third Trump run.

"I don´t know. The jury´s still out with me," said Jonathan Goodwin, a minister who works as a Faith and Freedom organizer in South Carolina. "I like him, but I think he shot himself in the foot too many times"

While Goodwin said he "definitely" had his own concerns about the 2020 election, he said he didn´t support how Trump had handled the situation. "I think he should have bowed out gracefully," he said, "whether it was rigged or not."

Illinois conservative Pam Roehl, who arrived at the conference Friday wearing a red Trump baseball cap and "Trump 2020" necklace, said she still supports the former president, but was increasingly finding herself in the minority among like-minded friends, whom she said had moved on, discarding their bumper stickers, and embracing DeSantis.

"They´re like kind of, ´Get with the program. Why aren´t you backing DeSantis?`" she said.

Though it´s increasingly clear that Trump wouldn´t march to the GOP nomination unchallenged, a large field of candidates could still work to his advantage. The dynamic is beginning to resemble the 2016 campaign, when Trump faced a large and unwieldy group of candidates that split the anti-Trump vote.

In a crowded field, even if Trump only captures around 30% of GOP primary voters - as his endorsed candidates have in several races - he would sail to the Republican nomination.

Aides say Trump has been peppering those around him for their thoughts.

Some in his orbit, like former campaign adviser Jason Miller, have urged Trump to jump in sooner rather than later, to get a head start on building out a campaign, try to freeze out competition and keep attention on himself.

An early strategy would also allow Trump to cast his mounting legal vulnerabilities as merely political attacks. An Atlanta district attorney has impaneled a special grand jury to probe his meddling in the 2020 presidential election. And in New York, Trump and two of his children have agreed to sit for depositions next month in the state attorney general´s civil investigation into his business practices.

Others are urging Trump to wait until after the midterms, so he can run on Republicans´ November victories. They note that his frequent teasing of his plans - Trump often muses he'll "do it again" - earns him applause and media attention and warn that formally declaring his candidacy would trigger campaign finance laws that set limits on how much donors can give. It also would change his relationship with his Save America PAC, which has more than $100 million in the bank - more than both national party organizations combined - and currently funds his campaign travel.

Either way, many voters say, he will need to win them over.

Jake Thomson, 19, who goes to school in Alabama and will be a first-time presidential voter in 2024, said he thought Trump was a great president, but was also interested in alternatives.

"It just kind of depends on how things play out," he said.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., arrives to speak at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" event, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., speaks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" event, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" event, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, walks to the podium to speak at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" event, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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Trump weighs another run as GOP rivals eye own campaigns


# Contemporary Flat Earth Movement: A Parent's Guide

## Executive Summary

The contemporary flat Earth movement represents more than just a harmless quirk or odd belief system.

While individual flat-earthers may appear normal and well-intentioned, the movement itself contains concerning elements that warrant parental awareness and caution.

## Key Organizations and International Presence

The flat Earth movement has organized into several international groups:

- **Flat Earth Society** (founded by Charles K.

Johnson, now led by Daniel Shenton)
- **International Flat Earth Research Society**
- **Flat Earth International Conference** (annual gatherings)
- Country-specific groups in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, and other nations
- Active online communities across social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit

## Celebrity Endorsements and Public Figures

Several celebrities and public figures have promoted flat Earth beliefs:

- **B.

o.

B** (rapper) - launched a campaign and released songs promoting flat Earth theories
- **Shaquille

# Contemporary Flat Earth Movement: A Parent's Guide

## Executive Summary

The contemporary flat Earth movement represents more than just a harmless quirk or odd belief system.

Title:

Content: “One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
A+ A A-

Can the COVID-19 pandemic be defeated in 2022?

The WHO chief raises hopes of pandemic ending despite infection rates breaking records.

Read more https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2022/1/2/can-the-covid-19-pandemic-be-defeated-in-2022

Environment Resources

.  1% for the Planet

.  American Geophysical Union

.  350.org

.  Beyond Pesticides

.  CERES

.  Clean Water Action

.  Climate Central

.  Climate Change Guide

.  Climate Docket

.  Climate Mobilization

.  Earth911

.  Earth Institute

.  Earthjustice

.  Environmental Defense Fund

.  Ecowatch

.  Environmental Law Institute

.  European Commission Climate Action

.  Fires - Global Forest Watch

.  Green America

.  Moms Clean Air Force

.  National Science Foundation

.  Nature Is Speaking

.  NASA

NASA Climate Change: Vital Signs

.  National Science Foundation

.  Nature is Speaking

.  NOAA

.  NRDC

.  Rainforest Alliance

.  Sierra Club

.  TerraCycle.com

.  Union of Concerned Scientists

.  World Resources Institute

.  World Wildlife Fund

 .  World Wildlife Fund - Climate

Voting Resources

.  270 to Win - National & State 2020 Elections

.  Federal Register

.  iCivics

.  League of Women Voters

.  USA.gov

.  Vote.org

.  League of Conservation Voters

.  VoteProChoice

.  Democracy for America.com

.  Vote Vets

.  Resisterhood

.  MapLight

.  Sunlight Foundation

.  Vote411

General News Resources

.  AlJazeera

.  AlterNet

.  BBC

Politics Resources

.  American Prospect

.  Cambridge University Press

.  Circuit Breaker

.  Committee to Investigate Russia

.  Defense One

.  Federal Register

.  Fernwood Publishing (Roseway Publishing)

.  Haymarket Books

.  Institute for the Study of War

.  Israel Lobby and American Policy

 . The Moscow Project

.  MapLight

.  McClatchy

.  Middle East Eye

.  Military.com

.  MoveOn.org

.  Nation Books

.  Politico

.  Roll Call

.  SunLight Foundation

.  USA.gov

.  US Dept os State

.  US House of Representatives

.  US Senate

.  Versobooks.com

.  Win Without War

.  Washington Spectator

.  Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

Food/Health Resources

.  Beyond Pesticides

.  Center for Food Safety

.  Civic Dinners

.  Civil Eats

 .  Food First

.  Foodtank

.  Food & Environment Reporting Network

.  Food & Water Watch

.  Food Day

.  Food Revolution Network

.  GM Watch

.  Slow Food International

.  World Resources Institute

.  EDF Seafood Selector

.  1% for the Planet

.  SAFE Project

.  Healthy Campaign

.  National Nurses United

.  Center for Food Safety

.  Fair Trade Certified - Coffee

.  Up Top Acres - MD & DC

.  Planned Parenthood

.  NARAL

.  Moms Clean Air Force

.  What's On My Food?

News aggregator updating headlines throughout the day to top news & Links to international news, social commentary and columnists creating a better world. External links are provided for reference purposes. The Daily Ripple is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. tlr workshop 2015

While individual flat-earthers may appear normal and well-intentioned, the movement itself contains concerning elements that warrant parental awareness and caution.

## Key Organizations and International Presence

The flat Earth movement has organized into several international groups:

- **Flat Earth Society** (founded by Charles K.

Johnson, now led by Daniel Shenton)
- **International Flat Earth Research Society**
- **Flat Earth International Conference** (annual gatherings)
- Country-specific groups in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, and other nations
- Active online communities across social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit

## Celebrity Endorsements and Public Figures

Several celebrities and public figures have promoted flat Earth beliefs:

- **B.

Title:

Content: Overcoming The Noble Lie: Great Narratives & Compelling Futures

From New Dawn Special Issue Vol 15 No 6 (Dec 2021)

If the last two years taught us anything, it’s that humanity is now at its most critical inflection point. We stand at the precipice of a major turning in western civilisation – the culmination of a millennium of human development, seminal events, knowledge, and culture.

It is undeniable, yet not at all clear, the direction we are headed, or what the future holds, and who will be around to see it come to fruition. We are not seers or prophets and cannot peer into the future, but we can read the signposts of the past and present.

We have a wealth of shared experience and a vast living memory – a collective consciousness updated and added to every day. If we search humanity’s archive, we find answers to many of these questions. Those answers have always been available, gleaned from understanding ourselves, our journey as a family, and the human race.

French novelist Alphonse Karr famously coined the saying, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” or, the more things change, the more they are the same.

Yes, we have been here before.

Let’s step back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries – a time of upheavals and period of great turbulence on many human fronts – politically, spiritually, and technologically. The western world was in the midst of an existential crisis as secularisation brought with it two disruptive forces to the traditional order of knowledge and influence: the rise of the intellectual and mass media.

It is perhaps no coincidence that the world finds itself in a very similar impasse approximately a century later, with many of the same conditions present today, only on a much more pervasive level.

The parallels between then and now are astonishing. This should not be viewed as ‘history repeating itself’ but rather as a more intense interlude of what had already come to pass – only this time events are unfolding at much greater speed, propelled by advances in communication technology on a global scale inconceivable to previous generations. Such changes were equally profound in 1900, as were the transformations that took place across society.

As the 20th century approached, theology was supplanted by evolutionary science. An ascendant Darwinian authority presided over existential questions like “Who are we?” and “What is man’s purpose?”

Undoubtedly, this was a tumultuous time, intellectually and spiritually, with acrimony leading to heated exchanges between clergy and scientists, even leading to violent confrontations. But, with its newfound status, it was inevitable the secular power of Darwinian science would colonise the political and social sciences before giving rise to the sordid science of curative breeding known as eugenics.

Recent history leaves no doubt that if left unrestrained by morals and ethics, wanton destruction and incredible suffering are wrought in the name of science and progress. These forces of modernity materialise in today’s advances in genetic engineering that have brought us back to that point once again: humanity faces the dilemma of resisting game-changing advances of technology and innovation or surrendering to it and prostrating at the altar of science and progress.

We are an entire century into a fully secularised society in the West. Today’s tech gurus, vaccinologists, and public health officials now occupy positions of prestige and command the reverence once reserved for pontiffs, philosophers, and poet laureates. The divine mysteries have given way to the ‘divine’ algorithm, and timeless sublime prose to the transience of the latest epidemiological model – from Gandhi to Gates, Whitman to Whitty, in just a few generations. How else could a man like Dr Anthony Fauci, an 80-year-old career gatekeeper for the transnational pharmaceutical cartel, still occupy the US government’s highest-paid job, and recently voted People Magazine’s “sexiest man alive”? Albert Camus once said, “Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.” Indeed, if not for the wave of mass hysteria and fear that swept over the world in February 2020, few would even know of Dr Fauci, let alone revere him as a demigod. On one level, we may be deluded into believing that today’s gaudy exhibitionists are mere frivolities of pure media spectacle, but behind the facade of political celebrity is an unforgiving ideology called technocracy.

You will often hear the trope that “more people have been killed over religion than anything else.” If only it were true. The 20th century serves as a potent reminder of the misleading nature of that statement, for no other century witnessed the sheer brutality and crimes against humanity on an industrial scale perpetrated in the name of various despotic interpretations of some variant of social Darwinism or political science, reaching levels of totalitarianism never seen before in human history. There are too many examples: WWI, WWII, Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Maoist China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Central America, Afghanistan, and Iraq, to name only a few. In almost every instance, the preservation of secular dogma took precedence over the lives and souls of humans who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire of ‘progress’. Fascism, socialism, communism, neoliberal capitalism – each would justify collateral damage as a means to achieving the goal of transformation or the formulation of a new order.

In the 21st century, the forces that inherited the mantle of power – the dynastic families and special interests – are preparing the next act in this worldly saga.

The Grand Narrative

So often it’s been said that in war, history is written by the victors, who impose what is known as the ‘living memory’ of a nation or people, chronicling a shared experience, generally of collective sacrifice undertaken for the greater good, and paying tribute to the martyrs along the way. These become the narratives that post-war orders and worldviews are built upon, a central pillar around which the reorganisation of society and economies occurs. Without marshalling the “narrative,” a ruling establishment cannot lead and steer society in its direction of choice.

What happens in the absence of a bona fide world war? Can elites still construct an equally compelling living memory which the people can rally around?

Grand narrative management is precisely what Klaus Schwab’s World Economic Forum (WEF) has been attempting from the onset of the ‘global pandemic’ crisis. In 2021, the WEF announced its “Great Narrative” initiative, although evidence for this project can be traced much further back through a number of their documents and website presentations.

To create the requisite living memory, Schwab and the WEF replaced the usual military war piece with the new war on microbes. “The pandemic has revealed the acute need to focus on the future and long-term health of our societies,” said the globalist luminary.

While the rhetoric sounds innocuous, everything we’ve witnessed over the last 24 months proves beyond any doubt that their hyper-centralised ‘public health’ planning has little to do with the health of the individual and more about how the individual can be more effectively managed to serve the collective, that in turn is to be administered by the new technocracy. The WEF is merely the latest avatar for this elitist ideology whose primary goal is always to meet the ruling oligarchy’s financial and consolidation goals and objectives. This was true 100 years ago as it is today.

Just as with the global financial crash in 2008, when elites privatised their profits and socialised their losses through gargantuan government bailouts, so too will elites seek to consolidate their baronial individual asset wealth portfolios and privileged asset classes while demanding infinite self-sacrifice for everyone else – all for the greater good, of course. It is also about managing expectations, as the WEF states:

“The Great Narrative Meeting [in November 2021] is a linchpin of the Great Narrative initiative, a collaborative effort of the world’s leading thinkers to fashion longer-term perspectives and co-create a narrative that can help guide the creation of a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable vision for our collective future.”

You might be asking: what is their endgame? Put simply, every new world order needs a financial reset, and in the WEF’s Great Reset, the plan is to intentionally overinflate and collapse the current fiat money system, reimagined and replaced by a new globalised economic system backed by a new superficial asset class under the guise of the “financialisation of nature.”

That plan gained a significant foothold in October 2021 when the Rockefeller Foundation and the New York Stock Exchange announced the creation of a new asset class that will effectively monetise the natural world as well as the processes underpinning all life. All in the name of “sustainability.” The lifeblood of this system will be a new Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) which will be fully programmable, meaning that the currency issuer can stipulate how the digital money is spent.

This is the highest form of social engineering conceivable and can become the payment mechanism for Universal Basic Income, allowing the government issuer power over what you are allowed to purchase. It could limit your transactions to green spending and ‘carbon-neutral’ activities. It’s also a system designed to eliminate upward mobility unless you gain promotion through the political economy.

It could lead to the ultimate victory of the technocracy. However, its Achilles heel might be that it seeks to remake the world in such a short space of time, presumably so these masters of the universe can marvel at their ‘remarkable achievements’ in this lifetime – the ultimate act of hubris by these self-anointed stewards of the planet.

When the technocracy movement first emerged in the early 20th century, contemporary thinkers raised the alarm that pseudo-intellectualism and the mechanised worldview augured an eventual collapse of western civilisation. The timeframe wasn’t clear, only that it was inevitable. In his historical literary work, The Decline of the West (1928), Oswald Spengler described the event horizon that eventually consumes all major cultures, and which generally have a limited lifespan of roughly one thousand years. He examined eight major civilisations as examples: the Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian, Greco-Roman, Mayan-Aztec, Arabian, and European-Western. He envisioned the West being consumed by its intellectual vortex:

Today we live so cowed under the bombardment of this intellectual artillery, the media, that hardly anyone can attain to the inward detachment that is required for a clear view of the monstrous drama. The will-to-power operating under a pure democratic disguise has finished off its masterpiece so well that the object’s sense of freedom is actually flattered by the most thorough-going enslavement that has ever existed.

Now realise what is at stake. The unconstrained vision of Davos elites may become the final revolution within a larger civilisational cycle. The Covid-19 pseudo-pandemic would be one of the catalysing events in this process, followed by global cyberwar, and then finally ending in something more outrageous like a nuclear conflagration before ushering in a New World Order.

Such a protracted multi-phased upheaval would mark the end of the main features of modern western civilisation: the post-Westphalian nation-state, the era of enlightenment and rational thought, self-governing democracy and republican forms of government. The world would move into what Zbigniew Brzezinski called a Technetronic Era. Compared to the 20th century, this would more resemble a centralised command and control economy and a highly automated society. In terms of individual rights, it would look like a neo-feudal dark age.

This cycle was discussed by American writers William Strauss and Neil Howe in their book The Fourth Turning (1997), which illustrated how the development of Anglo-American society is a feature of a much larger centuries-old cycle. Or, as Italian commentator Federico Dezzanidescribes it, “like a snake biting its own tail over the span of a century, Anglo-American societies are born, grow, mature and die, only to rise again and begin a new cycle.”

The Noble Lie

In the end, it all comes back to Malthus – Malthusianism – which is ultimately the ideological standard hoisted by the likes of Schwab, Bill Gates, Stanley Johnson, Prince Charles, and globalist outfits like the Trilateral Commission. These elites believe that the people must bear the brunt of this epic existential predicament of an overcrowded planet in a state of terminal decline due to man and his industrial exploits, which is said to be driving anthropogenic global warming to the point where Earth will be uninhabitable. To save humanity from itself, we must be forced to accept that there are too many of us, so we play their globalist game of musical chairs. We know what they mean, but they won’t state their intentions openly, not yet anyway. Only it’s not true.

In Plato’s Republic, in the dialogue of the myth of the metals (social castes), Socrates explains that to maintain order and social continuity, the ruling class must act under the aegis of “the noble lie.” This is based on the belief that from time to time, the ruling class must feed the general populace an ennobling fiction to maintain order and continuity. The noble lie is noble because it benefits the soul of the person who believes it. From an elite’s perspective, this is done for their own good and that they might feel better about their station in life.

If you think about our living memory, or what happened in the West over the last half-century, it’s been a continuum of such lies, although hardly noble: the assassination of JFK, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, Saddam’s WMDs, 19 Arab hijackers on 9/11, spreading freedom and democracy in Afghanistan, overpopulation, climate chaos, Trump-Russian collusion, Covid-19, the Great Reset, and soon it will be the coming war on China. Each epic yarn spun with the help of a 24/7 mainstream and social media barrage of propaganda and misinformation. By brainwashing the population incessantly, the establishment creates the illusion of a ‘bottom-up consensus’, so much so that the people believe they’ve collectively arrived at a grassroots consensus.

Drifting out noble lies in the 21st century has become a pretty efficient process with the consensus enforced by digital dragnet: dare oppose any noble liedeployed by the globalist caste for your own good to ‘reimagine’ and reorganise socio-economic systems, and you’re treated the same as a blasphemer in medieval times – silenced, excommunicated, banished from view, and no longer permitted to speak in the public commons. Deplatformed, depersoned, cancelled.

At the same time, however, a very real great awakening is also taking hold with a rising level of political and conscious awareness much broader and wide-ranging than anything before in human history. This is a consequence of the same global panopticon wielded against the people by the elites. Such awareness is the prerequisite to ultimate liberation, or as philosopher G.I. Gurdjieff once said, “If you wish to get out of prison, the first thing you must do is realise that you are in prison. If you think you are free, you can’t escape.”

Which brings us back to the philosophical and existential question: why are we here? What is the purpose of humans on this planet? Darwinian genetic science says we are here to promulgate our genes and advance the species. On a fundamental level, this is what makes us human. But the new green technocracy says this is no longer possible, and we must embrace a higher truth – a new altruism imbued in the Great Reset doctrine.

The irony is that collectively speaking, humanity might not survive this new ‘empty planet’ initiative. Elite technocrats will contend that only a planned society modelled after Huxley’s vision of a technocracy organised by functional castes and selective breeding in vitro can save the planet from the alleged existential menace of human consumption and climate change.

Whose compelling future is this? Is this not the ‘scientific dictatorship’ that H.G. Wells foresaw, with a global government run by an elite committee of scientists and technocrats who hold the reins of power over every aspect of life and dictate how society is organised and run minute to minute? This is unconstrained totalitarianism. Under such a system, the individual will have no agency, no conscience, and eventually no soul.

The last 250 years have been an extraordinary progression from monarchies to democratic nations, in which the state eventually assumed a god-like status. It set the stage for what is heading towards us now: the advent of globalist transhumanism and a one-world unified state.

Far from being its crowning victory, this crescendo of technocracy and the perversion of ‘progress’ exposes how materialism and the scientific priesthood cannot satisfactorily answer the fundamental questions we’ve asked since time immemorial, those eternal questions and divine mysteries pursued by monks, sages, and sannyasi. The forces of modernity cannot resolve this predicament, so people are left searching for something more grounded – where through the natural world they may also know the supernatural. Once again, people reach for religion and spirituality to find meaning and purpose, including (and not surprising as one may think) the younger generation.

We should be under no illusion about the challenges lying before us. But even beyond an awareness of what you face, you need to have a vision of a world you wish to live in. Elites have always been adept at occupying the minds of the people with propaganda, and the latest war or catastrophe, so we never settle long enough to formulate our vision of a compelling future. Instead, our vision is mired in a never-ending procession of reactive emotions, leaving us vulnerable to the power of suggestion – and a ‘compelling future’ is instead continually served up to us by our rulers. They create the problem (a noble lie) that elicits our reaction before they present us with a solution to which there is usually no alternative.

Make no mistake: the great and the good in Davos are busy designing your ‘compelling future’, and if no other counter-narrative is offered, they will decide your future for you. It’s that simple.

Qui tacet consentit. Translated: your silence is your consent.

There is still much work to be done, but the work is never done. Throughout time, this has always been the case. The more things change, the more they are the same.

This article was published in New Dawn Special Issue Vol 15 No 6.
If you appreciate this article, please consider a contribution to help maintain this website.

Footnotes

1. Albert Camus (1963), quote from “Carnets: 1935-1942”
2. Wall Street’s New Asset Class Will Put Natural World ‘Up for Sale’, childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/wall-street-new-york-stock-exchange-natural-asset-company
3. Federico Dezzani, www.geopolitica.ru/en/article/covid-destruction-institutions-and-beyond
4. What is a Noble Lie?, kenyonreview.org/2007/02/what-is-a-noble-lie/

© New Dawn Magazine and the respective author.
For our reproduction notice, click here.

About the Author

Author Patrick Henningsen is the founder and editor of the news and analysis website 21st Century Wire, and is an independent foreign and political affairs analyst for RT International. He is also the host of the SUNDAY WIRE radio program which airs live every Sunday on the Alternate Current Radio Network. Learn more about this author at: www.patrickhenningsen.com

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B** (rapper) - launched a campaign and released songs promoting flat Earth theories
- **Shaquille


# Disney Live Action Remakes: A Strategic Analysis Report

## Executive Summary

Disney's live action remakes of classic animated films represent a calculated business strategy that leverages nostalgia while attempting to modernize content for contemporary audiences.

Over the past 5-10 years, Disney has systematically remade iconic properties including Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Dumbo (2019), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), Mulan (2020), Pinocchio (2022), and The Little Mermaid (2023).

This report examines the strategic motivations behind these remakes, their adaptation approaches, and audience reception.

## Strategic Motivations

### Nostalgia-Driven Financial Strategy

Disney's remake strategy fundamentally relies on nostalgia as a profit driver.

The company recognizes that established intellectual properties (IP

# Disney Live Action Remakes: A Strategic Analysis Report

## Executive Summary

Disney's live action remakes of classic animated films represent a calculated business strategy that leverages nostalgia while attempting to modernize content for contemporary audiences.

Title:

Content: Robert Zemeckis understands two things about Disney’s Pinocchio. First, he knows the 1940 animated film is ingrained in the entertainment behemoth’s DNA. It’s considered by many to be the best animated film from the studio’s early days. “When You Wish Upon a Star” is now the Walt Disney Pictures fanfare. The song’s promise of wishes fulfilled under starlight is part of Disney’s patented feel-good m.o. Heck, over the years Jiminy Cricket has become the company’s B-tier mascot, right behind Mickey Mouse.

But Zemeckis also knows that the ’40s Pinocchio is weird as hell. The stranger things that punctuate that seminal early Disney effort are hidden in plain sight, though they're often forgotten as people marvel at the film's artistry. Most other filmmakers would’ve bent over backwards to pay homage if given a chance to bring Pinocchio to life in 2022. Zemeckis is not the guy you hire to do that.

His new live-action Pinocchio adaptation gives you what you’d expect, but so, so much more. It’s as if Zemeckis wanted his adaptation to play like if Moulin Rouge-era Baz Luhrmann directed Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The film is only as reverential as a Zemeckis film can be, which is not very reverential at all.

After Disney's years of uninspired retreads, like 2019’s The Lion King and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio veers all the way in the other direction. The eye-popping Pleasure Island sequence alone has more personality than most anything Disney has done in this space recently. While the aggressive shift in artistic influence might alienate some Mouse House purists, anyone willing to take a walk on Zemeckis’ wild side might get a kick out of this one.

Take Tom Hanks, for example. As Geppetto, the screen legend channels the same cornball energy that made his portrayal of Col. Tom Parker in Elvis a glorious meme. Even when Hanks is hamming it up, he’s still credible and magnetic (kind of like Zemeckis as a director). Continuing with the irreverence, the film’s portrayal of Pinocchio is like if you made Ralph Wiggum out of wood and gave him Jacob Tremblay’s voice. Zemeckis gets in a few fun jabs at Pinocchio’s blissful ignorance (at times involving fire), which help keep the film from getting too saccharine.

Zemeckis’ Pinocchio doesn’t hew too closely to the preciousness and regality of the animated classic. It's more of a parking-lot carnival ride through an uncompromised vision, and the most enjoyable one of these live-action Disney flicks since 2016’s Pete’s Dragon.

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Content: Pinocchio (2022) review: more like Pinocchi-oh no

Pinocchio (2022) fails to live up to its animated predecessor in almost every way. Still at least Luke Evans is having fun, which is something...

Pinocchio (2022), like many of the live-action Disney movies, is a difficult movie to review. You have to balance the nostalgia you feel toward the original animated movie with the understanding that these new films aren’t really made for me. They’re made for a new generation, to get them hooked on Disney movies the same way we were growing up.

Still, I can honestly say that if the House of Mouse is trying to encourage younger people and kids to get into their family movies, they’d be better off showing them the original ’40s Pinocchio because the remake is dreadful, and I don’t use that word lightly. Everything about this film is a downgrade from the original.

The story’s basically the same, a carpenter named Gepetto (Tom Hanks) builds a wooden boy and wishes his marionette son would come to life. The Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo) half grants his wish and brings the puppet named Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) to life but does not make him a “real boy”.

Instead, Pinocchio must prove himself worthy of becoming flesh and blood by being good and the fairy tasks Jimminy Cricket (Joseph Gordon Levitt) with serving as Pinocchio’s conscience. If you’re reading this, you know the rest of the story – Pinocchio gets caught up in a big adventure that culminates in him being eaten by a whale.

Right, let’s get to the big reason this film does not work. The VFX are atrocious. We’re talking Ally McBeal Dancing Baby levels of bad at times. While watching the film, I did not believe that Gepetto and Pinocchio were in the same room or touching, which is surprising considering this film was directed by Robert Zemeckis.

Zemeckis was the mastermind behind the comedy movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which made me believe Bob Hoskins and a cartoon rabbit were in the same room back in the ’80s. Unfortunately, Pinocchio has a touch of the Polar Express about it, with the characters’ eye lines failing to match up and dead-eyed CGI monsters staring off into space.

I’m sorry to say it as well, but Pinocchio is creepy. He’s a living puppet, essentially a family-friendly Chucky. The original kid’s movie managed to dodge the Uncanny Valley by being animated. Here the sheer unnaturalness of Pinocchio is laid bare by putting him next to live-action actors. Had they made Pinocchio an animatronic, they may have gotten away with it, but the fact he’s a VFX character only heightens his general weirdness.

Still, the cast is pretty stacked, so you’d imagine they’d do a good job, right? Well, they don’t do a bad job, but despite Disney expanding this adaptation, the story’s still pretty threadbare. As such, neither Hanks nor Levitt gets all that much to do, and they fail to leave any real impression. Erivo, however, is probably the worst treated of the main cast, with the Blue Fairy’s role cut down quite a lot leaving her with just one scene in the whole film.

As for the songs? Well, I’m sorry to raise the spectre of the original once again, but they’re not a patch on the ’40s Pinocchio’s tunes. The best Disney song in the film is probably ‘I’ve Got No Strings’, but it’s not even as good as the version Ulton sang in the MCU movie Age of Ultron.

If I had to say anything good about this, I liked Luke Evans as the nefarious Coachman and the Pleasure Island. While they took out the alcohol and smoking (unsurprisingly), the sequence maintains the sinister spirit of the original, and the donkey transformation is no less horrifying than the original.

Were I to be charitable, I might suggest if you’ve never seen the original, you might get something out of Pinocchio (2022), but for me, this is another live-action dud from the House of Mouse.

Pinocchio (2022) review

Pinocchio (2022) fails to live up to its magical predecessor.

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Content: The internet went into a tizzy recently with the announcement of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a new horror film that utilized characters ripped straight from the pages of A.A. Milne's original children's books. This movie would see feral humanoid versions of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet going on a rampage after they're neglected by Christopher Robin. Such a project was made possible thanks to the initial iteration of this iconic literature figure going into the public domain in 2022 (Disney still has a trademark on their version of Pooh). Though this may seem like a jarring use of a character made for youngsters, Blood and Honey is following in the long tradition of public domain children's characters getting repurposed for much grislier adult means.

While companies like Disney have a firm grasp, or even a stranglehold, over the general public's default image of characters like Snow White or Cinderella, they don't own these characters in their entirety. Many classic fairy tales that are still passed down to kids were made in an era before copyright law was prominent, which allows anyone to have a go at making, say, a Red Riding Hood movie. This has often meant animation studios creating cartoons meant to mimic your standard Disney title, but it also means that adult-skewing projects have a chance to exist without worrying about getting suffocated by powerful lawyers.

Initially, the concept of public domain characters being used for adult purposes included a heavy focus on reimagining such individuals through a highly sexual lens. Appropriately for the year in which it was released, the 1969 film The New Adventures of Snow White was a sex comedy that reimagined not just the titular princess but also Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in ribald nudity-heavy scenarios. This fate even befell fairy tales written closer to the modern world, at least compared to the likes of Snow White. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published in 1865, but 111 years later, it would inspire the 1976 erotic comedy Alice in Wonderland. No familiar childhood fables were safe from getting a risqué upgrade for adult audiences.

RELATED: How 'Winnie the Pooh' Provided a Gentle Send-Off to Hand-Drawn Animation at Disney

The popularity of 1970s horror fare like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween took violent and gory horror films from obscure oddities directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis to the mainstream. This meant a whole new avenue opened up for how public domain characters could be reimagined for eye-catching adult-skewing movies. 1984 would somewhat see an early example of this trend with Silent Night, Deadly Night, a slasher film about a man who kills people while dressed as Santa Claus. Though the film didn't involve Kris Kringle chopping off people's heads, it did lean heavily, especially in its marketing, on the iconography of a public domain children's character like Santa being paired up with decidedly non-family-friendly behavior.

The immense controversy surrounding Silent Night, Deadly Night, namely over its advertising emphasizing the idea of a scary version of St. Nick, cut the film's theatrical release short. However, it also showed how much attention one can muster up when you warp people's notions of how a beloved childhood icon should behave. That kind of guaranteed publicity was not going to go unexploited forever. That same year, another violent horror vision of beloved children’s characters emerged from the Neil Jordan feature The Company of Wolves, which was inspired by the story of Little Red Riding Hood. A trend was forming that wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon.

The boom of the direct-to-video horror market in the 1990s only increased the ubiquity of titles looking to deliver freaky visions of familiar relics of your childhood. An established brand name can make a VHS tape more instantly recognizable to potential viewers, and what’s an easier brand name to exploit than one attached to a public domain character? This is where the likes of Pinocchio's Revenge and Snow White: A Tale of Terror (the latter featuring acting heavyweights like Sam Neill and Sigourney Weaver) came in, delivering disturbing interpretations of public domain figures often used to entertain kids. The original Jack Frost from 1997, about a murderer transformed into a killer snowman, could also be said to be part of this trend, given that its title referenced the ubiquitous Winter-themed character of the same name.

The 21st-century did not see a complete end to this trend, with the likes of Gingerdead Man following in the footsteps of earlier entries in this genre. Interestingly, the ubiquity of these kinds of takes on classic fairy tales and mythological characters in the public domain did decrease a bit in prominence. This was because more family-friendly fare was beginning to mimic the incredible success of Shrek by delivering their own skewed visions of Goldilocks, Pinocchio, and other public domain figures. Even Disney got in on the act with Chicken Little and Enchanted. People were still interested in seeing familiar characters getting brought down to Earth, it was just happening in more PG-rated confines.

This trend couldn’t last forever, though, and the revival of more traditional fairy tale fare in 2010 with Disney titles Alice in Wonderland and Tangled ensured that this generation’s response to Silent Night, Deadly Night wouldn’t be far behind. Sometimes, 2010s approaches to darker manifestations of public domain properties emerged as sanitized mainstream entertainment, like Snow White & The Huntsman. Though the color palette had been toned down and nobody was singing songs, The Huntsman was a decidedly PG-13 affair, one missing out on the three B’s (blood, breasts, and bombast) that often defined earlier and grimier takes on these kinds of characters.

These old exploitation films had problems in tackling sexuality and violence, most notably in their nonchalant depiction of sexual assault against women. However, their commitment to extreme nudity and violence did offer something new and cheekily naughty compared to the mainstream fairy tales that inspired them. Snow White & The Huntsman, by contrast, was an example of using a public domain property solely for the brand name rather than as a leaping-off point for exciting transgressive entertainment.

More mischievous and violent visions of public domain characters still flooded store shelves, streamers, and even theaters, the latter being evident in Krampus. This 2015 title from director Michael Dougherty reached into classic German folklore to deliver a horror movie about the mythological figure who was basically evil Santa. It was a title that twisted lots of seemingly happy staples of Christmas into something more twisted and grisly. A few years earlier, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale emerged from Finland with a story about a feral version of Santa Claus while, back home in America, a unique vision of Hansel & Gretel infused with R-rated action was unleashed in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

The trend of using public domain characters in a manner that would make strict parents clutch their pearls is always evolving. This is partially to keep up with the tastes of moviegoers and also to ensure that this subgenre can always be on the cutting edge of which characters have recently fallen into the public domain. So it is with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, which started filming mere months after the Pooh character fell into the public domain. The rarely stagnant nature of this subgenre ensures that every possible familiar character of old children’s entertainment will be exploited as much and quickly as possible.

While it’s easy to see the monetary reasons that would make media companies like seeing public domain characters utilized in this way, what is it about this concept that general audiences find so endearing? Whether it’s pornographic films from the 1960s, slashers from the 1980s, or today’s Asylum horror movies about Cinderella or Snow White, why do people keep watching these films in high enough numbers to ensure their persistent existence?

Part of it comes down to just the inherent amusement in seeing somebody twist around recognizably innocent material into something more warped. Thanks to how family-friendly companies like Disney plaster their characters everywhere, cheerful and cutesy interpretations on Winnie the Pooh and Pinocchio are everywhere. Seeing somebody douse such characters with blood and violent urges can feel like a transgressive thrash against the status quo. Plus, some of these adaptations, particularly several more faithful retellings of Pinocchio, prove appealing in how they get back to the darkness that often defines the original fairy tales these characters originated from. Their modern incarnations may be connected to syrupy cheerfulness, but many public domain characters got their start in stories chock-full of brutality that could only exist in R-rated fare.

Whatever the reason for these properties existing, the enduring presence of twisted adult takes on public domain children’s characters, not to mention all the internet attention thrust upon Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey makes it clear these kinds of projects won’t be going anytime soon. That means moviegoers need to brace themselves for some truly subpar pieces of trash that believe just spouting harsh profanity and displaying nudity is enough to make a movie substantively “adult.” However, the likes of Krampus show that there is some enjoyably naughty fun to be had with reimagining public domain figures more grotesquely. There is potential within these kinds of movies…or at least the potential to be better than something like Snow White & The Huntsman.

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Content: Skip to main content Skip to header navigation

Peter Dinklage Has Every Right to Be Outraged Over the Live-Action Seven Dwarfs Movie Planned by Disney

Disney is finding itself in the hot seat after actor Peter Dinklage called them out for their upcoming live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It seems that the film company was patting themselves on the back for casting Rachel Zegler, who is of Colombian descent, as Snow White while not giving much thought to how the seven dwarfs would be portrayed.

Dinklage started the conversation on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, sharing his displeasure with how Disney has handled the situation from the get-go. “Literally no offense to anyone,” he said. “But I was a little taken aback when they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White — but you’re still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The four-time Emmy winner is right about this because without the seven dwarfs, there is no story. At the same time, the depiction of the characters doesn’t hold up in 2022.

“Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there. It makes no sense to me,” Dinklage explained. “You’re progressive in one way, but then you’re still making that f**king backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together? What the f**k are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.” Disney heard him loud and clear, but they were a bit vague in their response to The Game of Thrones actor’s concerns.

“To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community,” the statement to The Hollywood Reporter read, “We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.” It sounds like they are having to do a hard pivot before they begin filming. Did they really give the dwarfs any thought before Dinklage’s comments were heard on the podcast? It seems like the characters were just an afterthought until Dinklage’s call to action woke Disney up from a deep sleep on their societal contributions as to how the dwarfs are portrayed in the media.

Before you go, click here to see all the nostalgic hits getting movie and TV reboots.

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Why Spider-Verse And Mario's Soaring Success Leaves Disney Animation In The Dust

It's a good time to be making movies.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the film industry to a screeching halt, forcing theatres to shutter their doors as studios shuffled their theatrical slates. With the future of the theatrical model uncertain and studios itching to gain income quickly, potential blockbusters like "Soul" and "The Tomorrow War," which were initially slated for theatrical release, debuted on streaming.

It's now 2023 and the box office is slowly approaching pre-pandemic levels, largely in part due to studios and theatres deciding to work together. However, while films like "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Avatar: The Way of Water" brought audiences back to cinemas, its animated juggernauts like "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" and "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" which are compelling audiences to stick with the theatrical experience. The success of "Mario" and "Spider-Verse" can't solely be attributed to the fact they're IP. Both films, alongside their contemporaries, are doing something different.

Since theatres returned to capacity, Disney and its subsidiary Pixar's animated footprint has been microscopic when compared to rival studios, with Illumination and Sony Pictures Animation making strides at the box office and in the culture. The House of Mouse's animation division is going through a crisis. In 2019, Disney boasted 3 billion dollar-grossing animated flicks: "The Lion King," "Frozen II," and "Toy Story 4." Since then, no animated flick from the studio has managed to gross over $250 million, with the company debuting two unprecedented bombs with "Strange World" and "Lightyear."

What happened? While others are innovating, Disney has found itself running in place, failing to adapt on several fronts. Through a series of managerial missteps and uninspired decisions, Disney Animation has quietly handed its throne over to the players who were once playing catch-up.

Super Mario is the simple family-friendly adventure that millions wanted

When it comes to box office supremacy, it's Illumination that's at the top. With its crowd-pleasing stories and eye-popping visuals, the Universal-backed studio has managed to create three inoffensive billion-dollar franchises with "Despicable Me," "Sing," and "The Secret Life of Pets." While critics might label their films as safe, they're known quantities for families and children who want to be whisked away for 100 minutes or less.

With "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," they've delivered their biggest hit to date. Nintendo and its roster of characters have defined the video game medium, with characters like Mario and Luigi holding the same universality worldwide as a bottle of Coca-Cola or McDonald's golden arches. The animated picture, which debuted in early April with little competition at the multiplex, has grossed over $1.3 billion and has racked up nearly $100 million from Premium Video on Demand.

Why is "Mario" so successful (particularly when the 2023 film is compared to its divisive 1993 live-action predecessor)? It's simple. In keeping with Illumination's mantra of creating crowd-pleasing films, "Mario Bros." doesn't alienate. It capitalizes on its IP by treating it with reverence and respect. It doesn't go beyond its means and tries its best to create a piece of mass-market cinema that isn't overly complex, which allows it to be easily translated. Nearly 60% of the "Mario" gross is thanks to international markets, where the film was dubbed with local talent to match audience expectations. Unlike Disney's contemporary films, which primarily deal with Western-centric trials and tribulations, the appeal of "Super Mario" was wholly universal — audiences across the globe knew they were getting a simple, family-friendly comedy with the right amount of heart the moment they walked into cinemas.

Spider-Verse, meanwhile, innovates at every turn

If "Mario" is a testament to the power of IP and simplicity, then "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is the opposite, an exposé on how IP can serve as a gateway to expand upon new and bold ideas. In the case of "Spider-Verse," it's the franchise's ability to chart a new path with its inventive animation, bleeding traditional hand-drawn looks with contemporary CG, creating a fluid, immersive visual language. "Into the Spider-Verse," which debuted in 2018, quickly became the blueprint for contemporary animation, with films like the upcoming "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" taking cues from it. And the film's 2023 sequel has truly penetrated pop culture on another level, with many dubbing it as one of the best animated films of all time.

"Across the Spider-Verse" taps into both superhero and multiverse tropes with grace, capitalizing on audience expectations with its fair share of cameos and easter eggs. But it's the film's visuals that set it apart, proving that audiences are ready to digest animation styles that don't just replicate reality. "Spider-Verse" swings for the fences by playing with a variety of contrasting images and designs to create something that truly has to be witnessed on the biggest screen for possible. As superhero films lose their general hold over audiences, "Spider-Verse" stands out from the crowd because its "it factor" isn't the multiverse, but rather, its liberal use of several different animation techniques.

For Disney, this should be a wake-up call that their animation style is getting stale — audiences are ready for more visual risks.

Disney needs to balance between magic and strategy

The light on Disney's kingdom seems to be dimming, at least on the animation front. Illumination and Sony Pictures Animation –and arguably, DreamWorks Animation — are filling in for the once mighty behemoth, delivering hits that hold actual staying power. What's gone wrong for Disney? It's important to recognize that the slump is because of two things: (1) a lack of innovation and (2) business blunders that have robbed the company of its prestige. After diminishing returns with "Meet the Robinsons" and a failed return to hand-drawn animation with "The Princess and the Frog," Walt Disney Animation Studios found itself in a slump, while sister company Pixar was soaring to new heights. Their luck changed with 2013's billion-dollar grossing "Frozen," a film that playfully toyed with the studio's reputation for creating princess-centric films. With "Frozen," true love wasn't conventional heteronormative love, but the power of sisterhood, a subversion that proved Disney was moving beyond traditional, boxed-in themes, like Pixar.

Since that striking turn a decade ago, WDAS (and Pixar) have found themselves in a corner with one core theme: generational trauma. "Frozen II," "Turning Red," and "Encanto," among others, have focused on the sins of the past manifesting in the present. Repetitive narratives and themes are fine if there is visual diversity, but WDAS has largely followed in the footsteps of Pixar, trying its darndest to create 3D computer-animated films that emphasize realism. If "Spider-Verse" has proven anything, it's that audiences can value adventurous forms of animation that aren't wholly uniform. Pixar and WDAS were once the face of taking risks by focusing on realism, genre-bending narratives, and diverse characters. Today, that isn't enough.

Disney has no one to blame but itself

"Toy Story 4" and "Frozen II" grossed over $1 billion in 2019. If "Toy Story 5" and "Frozen III" were to hit cinemas this calendar year, it's difficult to imagine them grossing over $800 million. IP matters, right? Not when it's diluted. In a bid to boost Disney+'s clout during the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney sent several of Walt Disney Studio Animation Studios and Pixar films to the service, robbing instant classics like "Soul" and "Turning Red" of profitable theatrical runs. Even "Raya and the Last Dragon," a film that should have been widely celebrated for its diverse story and roster of characters, was sent to Disney+'s Premier Access to squeeze up a quick profit. The result? Families across the globe realizing that their $7.99 a month subscription to Disney+ was a far better bet than buying tickets for the company's latest animated effort.

"Lightyear," what should have been a surefire hit, dropped the ball with middling critical reception and a gross of $218 million. The kooky sci-fi epic "Strange World," which boasted out-of-this-world visual aesthetics, couldn't take flight with a $69 million cume — one of the company's biggest financial failures. And "Elemental," the closest thing to a riff on "Inside Out," debuted to shy of $29 million –  just $2 million less than the third-weekend gross of "Spider-Verse."

Disney knows they fumbled the bag by sending their films to Disney+, with Pixar chief Pete Docter telling Variety that the company trained audiences to expect films on the service. It also doesn't help that their films cost way too much. In pursuing realism, Disney's bank accounts are being drained, with "Elemental" and "Lightyear" boasting $200 million price tags. "Spider-Verse" and "Mario," meanwhile? $100 million, shortening the amount of success they truly need.

Disney will persevere

The success of "Super Mario Bros" and "Spider-Verse" should scare Disney. The once-mighty powerhouse needs to figure out a way to bring audiences back to cinemas because, frankly, the Disney magic is dissipating as each day goes by. Luckily, "Mario" and "Spider-Verse" provide the necessary steps for Disney to rebound.

Disney should continue to focus on cost-cutting, bringing down the budgets for its animated flicks. If both "Mario" and "Spider-Verse" can become record-breaking and genre-defining films with small budgets, Disney should be able to do the same. Another way to save money? Actually release films in theatres. Recent flounders like "Lightyear" and "Elemental" should not signal that the theatrical model is dead. Treat Disney+ as the company's archive, not its saving grace. Allow future and recent projects like "Elemental," to premiere on PVOD after their time in the cinema is done. Give it months before sending the film to Disney+, where it can live forever. This is what Disney does with its Marvel films and, most recently, "Avatar: The Way of Water."

But no managerial switch-ups and financial cutbacks can change audience perception. Audiences want something new. If "Mario" was the power of IP and general breeziness coming to life, then "Spider-Verse" is proof that risks can be taken. Disney, pick your fighter. Instead of regurgitating IP, like with "Lightyear," allow Pixar to bring the world of "Avatar" or "Star Wars" to animation. Or switch up your tried-and-tested 3D animation style for something that pops, forcing audiences to witness the latest visual marvel on the biggest screen possible.

With "Wish," Disney seems to be doing just that, blending 3D animation with watercolors to create a look that no one else is doing. Now, will Disney succeed with this upcoming "risk?" That's up to the audience members.

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Content: Disney Confirmed to Lose Rights to Multiple Original Characters Within 5 Years

in Disney, Entertainment

Credit: Disney

Tomorrow, Disney will lose the copyright to the original rendition of Mickey Mouse, as the big-eared icon enters the public domain after 95 years of protection. While many have been focused on Mickey being let go by the magical iron clasp of The Walt Disney Company, the other characters that will join the mouse by the end of the decade have not been discussed nearly enough.

On October 7, 1998 a year and a half after the initial introduction of the Copyright Term Extension Act and following robust advocacy from influential copyright holders such as the Walt Disney Company and Time Warner Inc., Congress successfully passed the bill, thereby extending the duration of copyright protection for creators of original works.

Since 1976, copyrights had been valid for the life of the artist plus 50 years. The newly enacted legislation prolongs copyrights for works generated on or after January 1, 1978, to the life of the author plus 70 years and extends copyrights for works created for hire and owned by corporations to 95 years, up from the existing 75-year term. This meant that Mickey Mouse, who was created in 1928, would have his copyright ownership extended to expire in 2024, as opposed to the original 2004.

While stating that Mickey Mouse will no longer be owned by Disney certainly has created a buzz online, there are certain stipulations that help Disney still control the majority of the mouse, for now. The version of Mickey entering the public domain is his first appearance on screen, in Steamboat Willie.

As we know, there have been multiple other iterations of Mickey Mouse over the past 95+ years, with his most recent animation in The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, the recently retired Disney+ series, looking entirely different than he was initially depicted by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. It appears that Disney has been calculative in their Mickey Mouse interpretations, creating a variety which will not only give them creative control for longer, but will likely cause some creators to slip up, and use the wrong Mickey in their creations, allowing Disney to sue, and have that content removed.

As we saw with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, the 2023 horror film, many are looking to turn these beloved and classic characters on their head once they enter the public domain, and Mickey Mouse, one of the world’s most recognizable characters, will certainly be a hot commodity.

The video gaming company Fumi has unveiled a gruesome trailer for an upcoming shoot-’em-up game titled Mouse, scheduled for release in 2025. The game features a slim-limbed rodent bearing a resemblance to the original Mickey Mouse, portrayed as a ruthless gangster. The presentation includes a black-and-white backdrop, period-specific music, and an atmosphere reminiscent of Ub Iwerks’s classic 1928 animation.

You can check out the trailer below.

The game is described as:

Join private detective in MOUSE, a gritty, jazz-fueled shooter. With guns blazing and a retro rubber hose animation style, battle your way through a corrupt city full of crooks and danger. Inspired by classic FPS and noir films, MOUSE is the explosive shooter you’ve been waiting for.

MOUSE boasts a unique visual style inspired by the charm of 1930s rubber hose animation, transporting players to a nostalgic era of early cartoons. Assume the role of a private detective navigating a noir city teeming with gangs, mobs, and characters from the dark side. Unravel a quest for justice in a noir city mired in chaos, corruption, and vibrant energy, utilizing a diverse arsenal of weapons, power-ups, and explosives to thwart the takeover by corrupt politicians. The game’s playful weaponry and distinctive health display, coupled with enemies behaving like cartoon characters, add a lighthearted twist to traditional FPS gameplay.

But, with Mickey’s copyright expiring, comes a few other characters that we know to be as the “Fab 5” that will also enter the public domain by the end of the decade. Next year, Pluto will enter the public domain, followed by Donald Duck and Goofy in 2029, according to Global Toy News. Minnie Mouse will enter the public domain tomorrow, along with her partner Mickey.

These characters will face a similar challenge to those looking to use their likeness as Mickey presents, as it will not be every rendition that we recognize available for use. However, this does signify that the end of an era is certainly upon us.

In the 2030’s multiple Marvel characters will also enter the public domain, including Captain Marvel in 2034, The Flash in 2035, and Captain America in 2036. This will be an interesting shift for Marvel, as other studios will have the chance to use these now-iconic characters, thanks to the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) in their own stories.

What kind of content do you expect to see now that these characters are entering the public domain?

in Disney, Entertainment

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Content: It’s possible that being an only child was one reason I was not exposed to the phenomenon of Disney princess worship during my youth. On the other hand, the lack of a coordinated merchandising effort during the 1970s probably had much more to do with the fact that the company’s princess lineup wasn’t yet emerging as a cultural trend.

In that decade, Disney focused most of its marketing on the so-called “Sensational Six” core characters, including Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck; along with product tie-ins to the 1977’s “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.”

Of course, Disney had only made three princess movies up to that time. Those included 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” 1950’s “Cinderella,” and 1959’s “Sleeping Beauty.” Following the introduction of Aurora in 1959, Disney would make moviegoers wait 30 years for the next princess to arrive in a film that would herald the start of the Disney Renaissance.

And that film was 1989’s “The Little Mermaid.”

Written and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, the 28th Disney animated feature film was very loosely based on the 1837 Danish fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. It boasted a string of memorable songs that brought imbued the production with Broadway panache. Alan Menken wrote the score, and collaborated with Howard Ashman on the songs. The film scored three Academy Award nominations, winning two for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “Under the Sea.”

The animated film featured the voices of Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. Wright, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars, and Buddy Hackett.

Buoyed by the success of “The Little Mermaid,” the Disney Renaissance ran from the late 1980s to the late 1990s and unleashed a series of critically and commercially successful animated films. Of the 10 films considered part of this period, five were Disney princess films. By 2000, the list of Disney princess included Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Mulan. Andy Mooney, a former Nike executive who had been named president of Walt Disney Company's Disney Consumer Products division, saw an opportunity. He pitched the Disney Princess franchise line — and a generation of children became entranced consumers.

More than 20 years have gone by since the end of the Disney Renaissance and the official launch of Disney’s Princess Line. These days, Walt Disney Pictures is focused on making live-action adaptations of its animated films. The latest of these is “The Little Mermaid,” directed by Rob Marshall from a screenplay written by David Magee. The film was released theatrically on May 26.

When evaluating a remake, adaptation, or reinterpretation of a classic film, one must consider not only the quality of the new film, but also how it compares to the original. It’s not enough to ask if the film entertaining and well executed. One must also determine what makes the remake valuable in its own right.

“The Little Mermaid” is set in the 1830s in the Caribbean. Ariel (Halle Bailey), youngest child of King Triton (Javier Bardem), lives in an underwater kingdom. Disney wisely mentions in its synopsis of the film that Ariel is 18 years old — not 16, as she was in the animated version.

Unlike her older sisters, Ariel is defiant and rebellious. She is captivated by a world beyond her reach, defying her father’s orders to study humans and collect their possessions from shipwrecks. She is often joined in this endeavor by her aquatic companions Flounder and Sebastian (voiced by Jacob Tremblay and Daveed Diggs, respectively); as well as by the birdbrained Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina), a seabird whose understanding of human culture is amusingly erroneous.

When a sailing ship she has been watching is destroyed in a storm, she rescues Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). When Triton learns Ariel interacted with the surface world, he goes on an overprotective father rampage, destroying her collection of bric-a-bracs, baubles, and curios while reiterating his mandate that she should not indulge her inclination to learn, explore, or meet new people. Ironically, Prince Eric’s adoptive mother, Queen Salina (Noma Dumezweni) places similar constraints upon him because she is fearful of the outside world and of losing her son.

Desperate to be reunited with Prince Eric — who she is in love with despite the fact that the two haven’t even actually met at this point — Ariel turns to Triton’s evil sister Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), a scheming sea witch who sees this as an opportunity to oust Triton and take power over all the world’s oceans. Ursula strikes a deal with Ariel, giving her legs in exchange for her voice. There’s a catch: If Ariel fails to receive true love’s kiss from Eric before the end of three days, she will become Ursula’s property. To make sure Ariel fails, Ursula also causes her to forget about needing to score that kiss.

That’s just the setup. If it seems a bit drawn out, imagine how it feels watching it on the screen. With a runtime of 2 hours and 15 minutes — 53 minutes longer than the 1989 animated version — it sometimes feels like we’re treading water. One wonders if, in a post-pandemic world filled with ADHD brains, kids can manage to maintain focus on this narrative that meanders its way from scene to scene without a sense of urgency. Sebastian and Flounder know that there is a looming deadline, but in this version of the story, Ariel has been robbed of that knowledge. In the animated version, she at least had a specific objective. She actively worked toward that goal. In this version, she is a starry-eyed young woman crushing on someone she barely knows, drifting dreamily between infatuation and limerence.

Because it is both a retelling of a classic fairy tale and a redesign of a beloved Disney property, the film suffers from a pronounced scarcity of creativity and originality. There are updates to the story, changes in individual characters, and a few additional songs. Some of these facelifts work, such as the addition of Queen Salina. Some of these addendum fall flat, such as Eric’s song “Wild Uncharted Waters,” written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda’s song “The Scuttlebutt,” performed by Awkwafina and Diggs, is a more palatable add-on, despite that fact that it is jarringly different tonally from other music in the film.

All the film’s flaws and miscalculations can be forgiven by its most impressive saving grace: Bailey’s performance is as remarkable as it is enchanting. Bailey stands out again and again in the murky, sketchy CGI undersea sequences, glowing with charisma and agency. She brings the magic that is noticeably lacking in elsewhere in the film, balancing the nostalgia of childhood memories with a contemporary attitude. She carries this film on her shoulders, filling it with a sense of wonder and awe that will inspire children to seek out unexplored horizons and work toward achieving their dreams.

Mind you: I’d prefer Ariel did not have to literally transform — for a man — to be deemed successful. This version somewhat mitigates that theme. Personal transformation is fine when prompted by a desire to become a better person, while self-change enacted strictly to please an individual or a group is unwise and unhealthy.

The film also features recurring examples — both subtle and palpable — that show gender equity, diversity, and inclusivity are beneficial to society. These are the very same principled concepts extremist legislators and ultraconservative judicial officials currently vilify as “woke,” as if being socially aware, compassionate, and empathetic has somehow become objectionable. If you ascribe to that mindset, you should probably skip this movie.

The bottom line is “The Little Mermaid” may not be as artistically inspired as the animated version, but a standout performance by Bailey keeps the film afloat. It frequently captures the kinetic energy of a Broadway stage production, delighting audiences both with signature songs and newly added sequences that enhance the story and the characters. It is consistently entertaining, with sporadic moments of dazzling brilliance.

If you don’t trust an old curmudgeon to properly evaluate a Disney Princess film, I’ll share a few points my 16-year-old daughter made.

According to B.C. Zumpe, the film’s CGI could have been better. She particularly enjoyed a scene in which Ariel and Eric are dancing in a village near his castle, while a Caribbean band plays.

“Some people want all the characters to look exactly like the originals,” she said. “It wouldn’t be fair if Disney excluded Halle just because of her skin color. They chose her for her voice and her spirit. Even if you’re only upset because she looks different from the Ariel you grew up with, you can’t expect them to keep everything the way you want it.”

My daughter also felt that Awkwafina did a good job in voicing Scuttle. She appreciated how the film promoted the idea that it is good to interact with other cultures and be open to new ideas.

She’s a good kid.

Photo courtesy of DISNEY

Halle Bailey stars as Ariel and Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric in “The Little Mermaid.”

Photo courtesy of DISNEY

Melissa McCarthy stars as Ursula in “The Little Mermaid.”

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

Over the past 5-10 years, Disney has systematically remade iconic properties including Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Dumbo (2019), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), Mulan (2020), Pinocchio (2022), and The Little Mermaid (2023).

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

This report examines the strategic motivations behind these remakes, their adaptation approaches, and audience reception.

## Strategic Motivations

### Nostalgia-Driven Financial Strategy

Disney's remake strategy fundamentally relies on nostalgia as a profit driver.

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

The company recognizes that established intellectual properties (IP