Saturday Matinee: The Wonderful World Of Disney Nazis

It's the weekend. What better time to take in a movie? Join me in the spacious Lomblog screening room for today's special feature, Education For Death: The Making Of The Nazi. Granted, it's no Lombaire, but it is an honest-to-goodness Walt Disney classic from 1943.

After the film is over, I'll be back with some special commentary. But for now, grab some popcorn, turn out the lights, and enjoy ten minutes of grainy, archival entertainment direct from YouTube - man's greatest-ever invention.



Wow. Pretty chilling, isn't it? I understand Disney forced Mel Gibson to watch this several times before they agreed to continue backing his next film.

A few more contemporary figures came to mind during my viewing. The red-faced school instructor bore more than a passing resemblance to one-time Homeland Security Secretary-Designate Bernard Kerik:



In the same scene, you probably caught a glimpse of a young Bill O'Reilly:



This must be where he learned his earliest talking points.

For the most part, this film was good old-fashioned pro-America progaganda, the kind Hollywood just isn't making these days. The production house that Mickey built was four-square and four-fingered behind democracy and against German totalitarianism, marching and dumpy blondes. While Disney may or may not have been an anti-Semite - I think anyone who's seen drafts of the original "eighth dwarf", Angsty, would find the matter beyond dispute - he was still willing to put his talents to work against the Third Reich. And if he were thawed out today, I'm sure Uncle Walt would still be on the side of Uncle Sam, releasing hits like Islamic Radicals of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Oil and Hezbollah: Fully Loaded.

Sadly, today's animators just don't have the "stuff" to fight for freedom. Don't be surprised when the Little Mermaid washes up in a burqua, stuffed to the gills on Afghani poppies.

On that note, see you in the aisle!

LF

Another Disney Disgrace

The papers and networks are full of stories today about how Disney is blocking the release of Michael Moore's latest picture. Naturally, this angers me but I can't say I'm too surprised.



I should state upfront that I don't have any great familiarity with Mr. Moore's work. I heard good things about Bowling For Columbine but have a hard time believing that a game show could translate well to the silver screen. (Ever see The Gong Show Movie? I rest my case). I also missed his highly acclaimed first film, Roger And Me, as I mistakenly took in a Times Square flick called Rogerin' Me - not the same thing. Still, I do admire him for having a political conscience. In that way, he is following in the footsteps of Lombaire, who was one of the first directors to bravely advance the cause of gay acceptance with his 1961 film, Infirmières In Amour With Autres Infirmières (Nurses In Love With Other Nurses), though admittedly the lighting in the shower scenes could've been much better.

I just don't see how Mr. M. ever thought he would get a fair shake out of Disney. Let's face it: when it comes to artistic freedom, Le Mickey has always been his corporate master's four-fingered bitch. Take one of the earliest of Disney's so-called "classics," Dumbo. What could have been, 40 years before Lynch, an allegory on the life of John Merrick became instead meaningless drivel about a flying elephant.

What about Song Of The South? Everyone knows the real song of the South, circa 1946: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay/The deleterious effects of the bigoted social construct created by the white male superiority complex linger to this day! But no, Disney would not confront viewers with this harsh reality. Or how about The Jungle Book? Originally conceived as an expose of Michael Rockefeller's mysterious disappearance among the New Guinea headhunters, it became just another stupid talking bear movie.

But probably the most unforgiveable Disney film was Aladdin. Given the opportunity to educate the Western populace, especially children, about Arabic culture, they reduced the entire Middle East experience to princesses, magic carpet rides, and Robin Williams' prefab ad-libs. If the film were aiming for any reality at all, Aladdin would've used at least one of his wishes on Palestinian statehood. That he did not speaks to a cultural tone-deafness that this country is now paying a heavy price for. Surely, all of us must shoulder some blame for failing to prevent the terrorist attacks of 9/11 but Disney's refusal to more respectfully dramatize the resentments simmering within a man like Jafar must rank as one of the most missed of all opportunities.



Anyway, I hope to interview Mr. Moore about this controversy when his film debuts at Cannes later this month. And unlike my Festival interview with Peter Jackson some years back, I hope we are both fully clothed.