Does Disney's Dramatic Decline Reflect Growing Public Opposition To Woke Activism?
The participation of major corporations in the molding of cancel culture should not be overlooked. While many people assumed that companies were "bending the knee" to progressive activists, the opposite was actually true. Woke movements are a minority within western populations and have no boycott power. There's never been any reason for businesses to be afraid of them.
In fact, without the support of companies like Blackrock, Vanguard, Google, Facebook, Twitter and many others the cancel mob would have little to no power. The situation seems to be changing, or the damage seems to be minimized. One corporate entity reflects this shift more than any other, and that's Disney.
A lot has happened in the US in the past several years, so much in fact that it might be hard to remember how close the country came to total disaster under the dictates of the progressive hive. The political left had been accumulating social influence with the aid of international corporations, NGOs and government officials since at least 2016. However, after the Biden Administration took office and pandemic hysteria went into full swing, the activists sought to flex their cancel culture muscle in a big way.
The result was a dystopian frenzy in which mass censorship was rampant and speaking out in any way against official narratives might get you booted from social media and even fired from your job. Leftists called it "consequence culture" as a way to justify their behavior, but the consensus was that this was thought-policing on an Orwellian scale. The assumption by leftists being that they are the virtuous arbiters over what words and beliefs should be punished. No one voted for them to do this job.
The smell of blood was in the water and, as with all dystopian societies, certain non-compliant people were made into examples to frighten everyone else.
UFC fighter and actress Gina Carano was one of those people. Carano says she was harassed by Disney management to add "pronouns" to her social media bio to "prove her support for trans lives". After the actress made an online joke by listing her "pronouns" on Twitter as 'beeb bop boop', the company brought pressure to bear in an attempt to force Carano into silence.
Her eventual removal by Disney was heralded by the political left as a great victory and a display of the cancel mob's power. If they could destroy the career of a Hollywood celebrity then there was a good chance they could destroy the life of almost any average conservative.
Disney then engaged in a slow boil of the theater-going public with DEI propaganda. Many suspected Disney was removing white, straight and male characters from the majority of their productions on purpose. As it turned out, that's exactly what they were doing.
The pendulum appears to be swinging back on Disney, however. With the help of Elon Musk, Carano has pursued an effective civil suit against the company and a recent court decision blocked attempts by Disney lawyers to have the case dismissed. The lawsuit will be going to trial.
The vast majority of Disney content from films to streaming series have been met with box office failure and audience disinterest. In 2023 alone, Disney had only one film that made a significant profit (Guardians Of The Galaxy) while spending a billion dollars on multiple box office flops (not counting marketing costs). Not one Disney+ series was met with audience acclaim. Streaming subscriber numbers sank.
Disney has consistently used its immense corporate power to legitimize the woke mob. Are they finally getting hit with the karma they deserve?
After Disney publicly declared war on the state of Florida and conservative efforts to stop gender identity indoctrination in public schools, the company was put on notice. They have since been exposed in numerous cases participating in far-left propaganda efforts including implanting LGBT messaging in children's content.
Disney was also exposed by a VP on hidden camera for DEI practices and race discrimination against white male actors and corporate employees.
Disney's secret agenda is not so secret anymore. They have been thoroughly defeated by the state of Florida and Ron Desantis in civil court and the company has lost their Reedy Creek autonomy. Disney stock has been hovering near 5-year lows since 2023. Their brand is essentially destroyed and their content is treated by most consumers as radioactive. The sheer size of Disney and their holdings means that they have the capital to survive for years without public support, but the company has already started cutting employees in mass layoffs, including 14% of Pixar in May. Not a good sign.
Is the karmic hammer finally swinging back to hit Disney in the face after nearly a decade of woke bullying? It seems that way. But the bigger question is, does Disney's decline reflect a larger national move away from the woke mob and cancel culture in general? Are Americans finally fed up with progressive pearl clutching and DEI? This seems to be the case. Disney fueled cancel culture for years only to find themselves canceled in return.