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I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical when Disney bought out Pixar, thinking “That’s it, that’s the end of the golden era of Pixar”. There are still a lot of dangers for the two companies while they merge (not the least of which is Creative Head Honcho John Lassiter spreading himself too thin), but I’m optimistic that Pixar’s influence is going to rub off on Disney a lot more than the other way around.
This NY Times article describes Pixar’s business ethos, most interestingly the concept of “Pixar University”, an onsite school where all staff—from CEO to cafeteria cook—are encouraged to take any of over 100 courses in filmmaking, animation, drawing, sculpting or creative writing. Time briefly describes some of Pixar and Disney’s upcoming movies.
Pixar has already made the reassuring move of cancelling Disney’s knock-off Toy Story 3, saying they’re not categorically opposed to sequels of their movies, but only if they’re good. (There’s a big difference between Toy Story 2 and, say, The Lion King 1-1/2.)
And most encouragingly is Jim Hill Media‘s description of John Lassiter’s initial walkabout through the Walt Disney Features Animation unit and the Imagineering unit (the people who create the resort attractions and rides). At WDFA the gist of his message was: “If you don’t draw for a living, then you don’t belong here”, backing up the rumour that he will eliminate an entire layer of middle managers. Animation directors would no longer report to a bunch of bean-counting senior VPs, but only to him and the Disney/Pixar Animation president.
It’s a good start.
We went to Disney not out of an intense need to go—we have had our fair share of cynical thoughts about Disney—but with the knowledge that it would be probably the best wheelchair-friendly destination in the world, and that Jon would probably get a fair amount out of it. And we are very glad we did, because he got so much more than we expected.
So let’s debrief on what we’ve learned about Disney:
Disney isn’t about creativity or art. A movie isn’t the end product any more, it’s just the start of the process of making a life-size character greeters, a ride, a hotel theme, and a hundred billion T-shirts and things made of plush. And the logistics of seamlessly moving tens of thousands of people in that manufactured culture.
At any of the parks—but especially the Magic Kingdom—all we could think about was the ten of thousands of sociology experiments that could be done, or probably were in fact being done, by the company. This is herd behaviour on a massive scale. When they stake out a parade route, it starts almost two hours in advance and progresses with an intricate precision that gradually channels and redirects the mob, eventually using a pre-parade platoon of vendors peddling bunches of light-up trinkets to push the last few stragglers off the route. And then, immediately after the parade passes a team whips past, making the rope and poles instantly disappear.
At the budget hotels, there’s a couple of customs involving childrens’ stuffed animals. If the child chooses, they can pose them on the inside window sill between curtains and window, for passers-by to see. Very cute. However, if the toys are just strewn around the room or on an unmade bed, upon your return you’ll find them posed in little tableaus on the child’s now-made bed. Jon came home the second night there to find his Bear doll reading a Welcome-to-Disney certificate (commemorating his first time at the resort). The next day, Bear was cuddling Jon’s new Totoro doll on his lap. How do you instill this culture—for lack of a better word—universally amongst your cleaning staff?
David marvelled at the creation of everything in every park, the minutiae, the craftsmanship. What is built of real materials, what isn’t, and how it is distressed post-construction to create the perfect look. The beautiful fountain outside the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel was painstakingly poured and beautifully tiled, then crushed, cracked and dirtied, the plants nearby, leafy but tattered, the velvet ropes that guide you are dusty and worn on top. Gorgeous. All for a three-minute thrill-ride that was inside. And to be noticed by the millions lined up for it.
Totally artifical, but all-encompassing while you’re in it. Patti, a veteran of Disney, had warned us about the merchandising, but nothing can prepare you. As Laura says, it was so brazen, so larger than life, that there was ultimately no arguing with it; all you could do was admire the staggering scale on which it was done as an awesome exercise in marketing.
The culture is so all-consuming that Patti also warned that:
1) You are going to buy souvenirs. You won’t be able to avoid it.
2) Choose wisely. There are so many things in the parks that fit right in there, but nowhere else. It’s like a kind of camouflage. Something that seems subdued—and even tasteful—in an environment that features giant walking cartoon characters and six-storey-Mickey-wizard-hats, may actually cause irreparable harm to the eyes and psyches of unsuspecting civilians anywhere else on the planet.
At least someone is having fun during the Canadian election. It’s the Prime Minister’s head speech writer, Scott Feschuk, and he’s keeping a blog.
It’s great silly fun, mainly light-hearted banter, but with some interesting stories along the way, like why you should never miss the motorpool (second entry). Or inner sanctum stuff, like the internal mood in the plane after the Tories made hay of the Scott Reid remark (very bottom entry). Or the time he cleaned out Paul Martin at poker.
More open than you’d expect, especially compared to the rest of the pack. Sadly, the NDP is probably too earnest to keep one of these. The Tories do have a blog of sorts, but predicitably it’s just an anonymous, vitriolic, partisan mouthpiece.
I just searched for and bought the Pogues’ song “Fairytale of New York” (in my view one of the best Christmas songs in recent years) from iTunes. Mucho yuletide-y goodness for 99¢ and one of the all-time best Christmas song opening lines:
It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
You can discover all sorts of surprises—both good and bad—when you use iTune’s Search function. For me, one of the worst was this version of “Fairytale”. (For those without iTunes, in short: The Irish Tenors. Ouch.)
The animal I want to be is a pig. Pigs say oyke oyke. I love sitting in mud. I woud snort. I woud run we we we we we all the way home. Mommy and daddy are pigs too. May bee we coud play a game calld three little pigs. Daddy is going to be the big bad wolf.
And little more to add to Laura’s entry about the new blog space. The first time you try to comment your comment will be held until it is approved by the administrator, just so we know you aren’t trying to sell something we don’t feel like advertising. So don’t panic if your post doesn’t apprear right away the first time. And no longer will your email address be shown.
BTW if you are viewing this in Safari, look at the cool use of CSS3.0 in the upper left hand corner. Doesn’t show up in Firefox yet. Nice work Laura!