We celebrated Memorial Day by going to see Disney’s newest
film, “The Little Mermaid.” It was everything we’ve come to expect from Disney
- incredible technological effects, beautiful use of colors and imagery, lilting
melodies, an uplifting story with a predictable plot.
[Spoiler alert: The protagonists really do end up
living happily ever after. Surprise!]
I was struck by how genres of film continue to blend in these new productions. The juxtaposition of actual beings (kings, queens, sailors, dogs) with animated characters (starfish dancing in choreographed patterns, talking crabs and sea gulls) and some that blurred those categories (mermaids, mermen and a rather nasty Sea Witch squid admirably played by Melissa McCarthy) really keep the viewer on their toes throughout the film.
Even better, the film’s score was created in the style of
music from the Caribbean islands which as a Floridian I have grown up loving. Even
the setting in the tropics looked an awful lot like home (save the mountains
which one only finds here housing roller coaster rides at theme parks).
What was not to like?
To say I loved this film is probably an understatement even
as I was aware that this explosion of color, music and loveable characters erupting
from a multistory IMAX screen is not for everyone. Indeed, in many ways it is
the glaring exception to the rule that Hollywood seems to be following these
days which sees violence and harm to living beings as a prerequisite for a film
that sells. Truth be told, it is usually dystopia, not utopia, that sells.
Perhaps the box office success of “The Little Mermaid” will encourage film makers to make a lot more love and a lot less war
the point of their coming productions. But I’m not holding my breath.
Biting the Hand That Feeds Us
As we left the IMAX on International Drive, I became aware that
we were just down the road from the sprawling Disney complex whose company gave
birth to this film. That complex includes the Magic Kingdom where I once worked
as a Jungle Cruise captain and steam train conductor over an eight year span. I
didn’t make much money there, but I had a great time and made a number of
friends, some of whom I am still in contact with today. More importantly, it
was some of the best training for working with the public I could have ever
gotten.
For better or worse, over its half century here, Disney has
proved to be the economic generator for what became an enormous tourist
industry that has swallowed up much of the heart of Central Florida. The
International Drive hotels and restaurants, the sprawling Orange County Convention
Center complex and even the nearby competing theme parks are all ultimately the
result of the house that Disney built. And the film we had just seen provided
one of the many reasons for that success: Disney knows how to entertain
people. For just a couple of hours, the harsh realities of our world seemed
far away.
These days Disney finds itself under assault by a governor and state legislature of Florida that has long ago lost sight of the sweetheart deals the state of Florida made to lure Disney to this state. The tension arose when management dared to challenge our culture-warrior-in-chief’s homophobic “Don’t Say Gay” laws. It was a move Disney management took reluctantly, largely driven by pressures from within the theme parks where LBGTQ employees like myself have always played a major role in insuring “the happiest place on Earth” was actually able to make its customers happy.
In revenge for daring to speak out, Disney was stripped of
its special district self-governance protections and placed under control of a
board of ideologues appointed by the governor. When Disney executed a legal
maneuver to insure its properties remained under its control, an enraged governor
who labors under the misapprehension (and major psychological inflation) that
he is “God’s warrior,” began threatening to punish Disney with everything from
imposing state oversight on Disney ride operations to building a prison
adjacent to the theme parks.
Hell hath no fury like an adolescent stuck in arrested
development who has been told no.
A Threat to the Whole State
Of course, any kind of punitive action taken against Disney
is incredibly short sighted at best. Disney itself employs thousands of people
in its parks, restaurants, shops and hotels. But the hotels, restaurants and
shops which surround Disney employ thousands more. If those employees lose
their jobs or find their hours cut back, that impacts their landlords, grocers,
store and restaurant owners who see their businesses decline.
A slump in the economy in the booming heart of Florida can only impact the rest of the state in deleterious ways. And in a state facing several existential crises that has always based its revenues on a regressive sales taxes that soak our visitors while sparing our wealthy retirees of any social responsibility, this is tantamount to shooting yourself in the foot.
My Mother had a saying about this kind of childish
behavior. She called it “cutting your nose off to spite your face.”
We See Ourselves in These Films
As we headed home, the final scenes kept returning to me.
In a sweeping tableau, a wide range of living beings presented themselves along
the shoreline of the island which the prince’s castle overlooked. They included
human and non-human animals as well as creatures who lived “Under the Sea,” a setting
celebrated by one of the more joyful songs in the film. In this finale, mermaids,
mermen and merchildren all rose from the waters to be present with the land
dwellers who stood on the shore. And with that, the concern that “different
kinds do not mix” was revealed for the fear driven lie it always is.
The assemblage of characters was striking in its wide
diversity. Every race known to humanity was represented in the cast. And they
had all come together to wish an interracial couple - a beautiful Brit and his beautiful once-mermaid bride of African heritage - a happy life together.
The world’s peoples assembling in the name of love. What a
concept!
A New Pork Chop Gang
What became clear in that moment was the vision that Disney
holds, a vision that is very different from that offered by the current holders
of power in Florida.
Disney is decidedly NOT a not-for-profit organization.
Indeed, it is a corporation which sees the making of profits as its chief
motivation. And its track record with its employees over time has been mediocre
on a good day. Trust, me, I know that only too well from my time there.
But Disney also has a long history of seeking to include all kinds of people in its operations and depicting them in its films. One of the reasons we Americans love Disney films is because when we watch them, we see ourselves represented there. And the message therein is implicit but powerful:
You are a valuable part of a rich mixture that
makes us who we are.
That’s a striking difference from the vision we Floridians hear from the current occupant of our governor’s mansion. That vision is imposed by an increasingly extremist legislature holding seats protected by gerrymandering that has long since stopped representing the average Floridian. It’s enough to make this sixth generation Floridian pine for the days of the Pork Chop Gang, the white, conservative Democrats who held Florida in thrall for decades until a then still Supreme Court ruled that closed primaries and legislative districts which did not reflect the population were unconstitutional.
Florida’s public schools under that regime were underfunded
and segregated. And they still largely are. And yet, the New Pork Choppers have
now added teachers to their targets who now are micromanaged by self-appointed moral
agents threatening loss of licensure, law suits and even jail time for even
acknowledging the reality of the world in which the children they would educate
live.
All of this transpires under the rubric of avoiding making students
uncomfortable. But when histories of racism and the existence of LBGTQ teachers
and students are erased, we must ask ourselves, “Whose comfort? And at whose
expense.“ And it occurs in a time when Florida ranks 49th in state
spending on public education. Little wonder there are 10,000 vacancies in
teaching positions as even more teachers are planning to retire or leave this
state.
The Florida of the Pork Chop era was the bastion of Jim
Crow, a time when Black voting was repressed, unions were debilitated,
homophobic moral panics besieged Florida’s universities and women largely had
no rights other than those derivative of their husbands. To those traditional
targets, the New Pork Choppers, led by “God’s warrior” have added the estimated
three quarters of a million undocumented immigrants whose hard daily labor
insure that we Floridians are guaranteed our daily bread.
My Dad had a saying that applies here: “Don’t bite the hand
that feeds you.”
The Choice Being Offered Us
A distinct choice is being offered Floridians. The question
our state faces in 2023 is which vision it will follow. And ultimately, it is
the question being posed our nation as a whole.
The governor, newly empowered by his lap dog legislature who
changed state law to insure he could run for President, must now balance his
duties as governor of America’s third largest state with the demands such a
campaign will make on his time and energies. But he has already shown us his
vision. Choosing to wage a war of the bogeyman of wokeness, he has ignored the real
needs of our state: victims of Category 5 hurricanes struggling to recover, insurance
providers leaving our state and workers struggling to find housing. Our road
system crumbles under the weight of so many new residents and visitors. And our
school systems from K to Ph.D. are in a free fall.
The vision this governor presents is a fetishized, black and white vision of the 1950s with all of its racial disparities, sexual repression and fear mongering. Ironically spun as a state based on freedom, none of our teachers are truly free to teach nor our students to learn, our women are not free to make basic decisions about their own bodies, our LBGTQ people are not free to offer the unique contributions they make to a healthy society and our immigrants find themselves the new whipping boys even as they insure our tables are loaded with their produce.
This is not a vision of America. It is lacking in
imagination, consciousness, breadth and depth. It is an angry vision, driven by fear, mean
spirited and lacking in compassion. While it may speak to a sizeable minority
that has proven loud and willing to dismantle our democratic republic if they
are not allowed to control it, it does not speak to an America that all of the peoples
present have worked tirelessly over time to make a vibrant nation.
And this is precisely where Disney seems to get it right.
Its creative vision of assembled sea and land creatures,
vowing to respect one another and the environments in which each dwell, is a vision
worthy of America. For a glimpse of that utopia last weekend in “The Little
Mermaid,” I am grateful and I highly recommend it to you. It offers badly
needed hope as Floridians continue confronting the forces that would destroy
this incredibly diverse state , a state whose potential is unlimited and its
rich diversity a gold mine for those who would honor it.
As I see it, the score at the end of this round is:
Mickey Mouse 1, “God’s Warrior”, 0.
Let’s see where it goes from here.
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Harry Scott Coverston
Orlando, Florida
If the unexamined life is not worth living, surely an
unexamined belief system, be it religious or political, is not worth holding.
Most things worth considering do not come in sound bites.
Those who believe religion and politics aren't connected
don't understand either. – Mahatma Gandhi
For what does G-d require of you but to do justice, and to
love kindness, and to walk humbly with your G-d? - Micah
6:8, Hebrew Scriptures
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do
justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to
complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. - Rabbi
Rami Shapiro, Wisdom of the Jewish Sages (1993)
© Harry Coverston, 2023
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