Tag Archives: music

Wish: Another “White Man Bad” Flop

Why does Disney still make movies? They’re not good at it anymore. I just saw the trailer for their latest flop, Wish, and it checks off the diversity boxes:

-Brown female lead

-Chubby Asian diversity hire friend

-A white male villain who oppresses the people

The plot of Wish parallels a lot of things wrong with modern society. People don’t want to work for their goals. They want instant gratification and think they’re entitled to whatever they want.

The King of this land can grant wishes, and his daughter, Asha, uncovers that not every wish is granted and the king decides what wishes come true and says, “I decide what everyone deserves,” in a malicious fashion. Asha then wishes upon a star and, from what I gathered, can now grant wishes herself.

We have seen similar plot points in Wonder Woman 1984 and Bruce Almighty, where everyone got their deepest desires granted, and then they had to have such a gift stripped away because of the chaos that would ensue.

We see a clip of the King granting a man’s wish to be a knight. The man is consumed by magic, and a knight’s outfit appears on him. That doesn’t make him a knight. A man must endure trials and tribulations to finally earn that title. You can’t just wish for it; you are bestowed courage and wisdom.

The movie, I think, has only one logical ending. For Asha to realize that her father is right. Not everyone should have their wishes granted. How noble the wish may be doesn’t matter, but can Disney be so self-aware? Can they say that the diversity hire is wrong and the evil patristical white man is right? I doubt it. Disney is committed to going down with the ship on their politics and ideals, but I can’t think of another ending. Maybe the King steps down and puts Asha in charge of granting the wishes for the kingdom, but in that scenario, Asha still has to approve or deny the wishes. I’m betting Wish will be another Flop in the failing empire that once was Disney.

World War Joe

Soul : A Symphony of Failure

Disney movies usually have messages of perseverance, working hard, and to keep on moving forward. Soul doesn’t do that. The message at the end of Soul is “you might not achieve your dreams, but appreciate every moment” which isn’t a good for young children and failing adults.

In Soul, the main character Joe Gardner doesn’t want to be stuck in an everyday routine. He wants to be a jazz concert musician and not just a music teacher. At the end, Joe finally gets his chance to be part of a popular jazz band, but realizes he’ll just be doing the same thing everyday and then gives it up for the vague message of “I don’t know what tomorrow will bring but I’m happy about it”.

What makes it worse, is that the band hired someone else for that night, but Joe insisted he’s the best person for that job and they told the other guy to leave. So, Joe got someone fired from the biggest moment of their life so he can achieve your dream, but then gave up on it when it wasn’t everything he wanted it to be.

This movie isn’t for the motivated dream chaser, its for the settler who can now justify their plain existence with the message of “I live life every day to the fullest” as they clock into their 9-5 or part time job talking about how they’re winning at life. Bad message Disney. Bad message.