Disney returns to racist roots with Wish of the South controversy
In a few short weeks, Disney is set to release its next animated feature film. Disney’s Wish is the culmination of the company’s 100 years as a beloved animated storyteller. We are all watching in anticipation to see if the studio can knock it out of the park before the year’s end. However, Disney may have once again sabotaged its own success.
According to The BloJo Movie Network, Disney’s Wish is in hot water for being insensitive and racially charged. The Wish script is being compared to Disney’s Song of the South, which is considered racist with its romanticized view of plantation life and patronizing depiction of Black characters.
Supposedly, Wish is said to be a copy and paste Song of the South, but with a colorful setting. A few years ago, Disney executives knew that a writers strike could happen at any time. They needed a movie that they could complete quickly before the writers strike halted production. To ensure that they had a box office hit in 2023, they dusted off an old Song of the South screenplay and adapted it for modern audiences. A more polished synopsis was made available on an unofficial Disney Press site, which was shared by imaginary dwarfs. It reads:
"Wish will follow a young girl named Asha who wishes on a star and gets a more direct answer than she bargained for when a trouble-making racist star comes down from the sky to join her."
Also, according to DIS news (real story), "Walt Disney Co. said it will acquire a 33% stake in Hulu from Comcast for at least $8.6 billion, a deal that will give Disney full control of the streaming service." Incidentally, Hulu currently houses the Predator movies/universe. Disney might want to bring their cinematic universes together. If the studio decides to greenlight Wish 2, it could be used as an exciting vehicle to connect the Predator movies to Disney animation. In it, the Predator could come across the star and start wishing for awful things, like the complete annihilation of all Disney characters. Disney could title it Predator Death Wish 2 and make it rated R. The Predator could hunt the Disney universe and gruesome death scenes could be planned: dismembering Snow White, beheading Tangled, harpooning Ariel, etc. The possibilities are endless.
Anyway, that's a lot to digest. However, let’s give Wish the benefit of the doubt. Let’s hope that Wish can live up to the classic Disney magic the movie is trying to pay homage to.
Scoop by Uncle Remus