I don't have to point out the hypocrisy in Disney not wanting a robust public domain but one thing I want to point out is that the first Mickey Mouse story Steamboat Willie, the tune Mickey whistles is "Steamboat Bill" by the Leighton Brothers from 1911.

Which in itself is sometimes considered a parody of "The Ballad of Casey Jones" a folk song from the very early 1900s about the train conductor Casey Jones who sacrificed himself to save his passengers in the year 1900 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Fascinating story and an example of embedded mnemonic where art or history is embedded in a thing, sometimes several layers down like this. I didn't know about Casey Jones until digging into the song Mickey Mouse was whistling.

Frankly i dont think its an uncommon thing and is how stories, art and history often gets passed down trough generations, be it intentionally or not. I do however think modern copyright law stands in opposition to this.

Casey Jones was, in fact, a real person and is practically the patron saint of locomotive engineers at this point:

(Image from Wikipedia)

A lot of people think he's a made-up folktale character, but he did actually save every single passenger on his train, including his fireman, Sim Webb, who he told to jump from the cab before the crash. (Sim survived with minor injuries and is one of the best primary sources we have for what actually happened.) The accident happened because the railroads actually came down harder on you for being late than they did for speeding, and the freights his train plowed into were so long that they didn't fit entirely on a siding and were on the main line.

He was only two minutes behind schedule after starting at a 75-minute deficit, and he saved every single passenger on his train to boot. Arguably one of the greatest engineers to ever live.

The song itself is believed to have originated with a friend of Casey's named Wallace Saunders, who was an engine wiper (someone who keeps locomotives clean in the yard). Allegedly it spread from there until an engineer named William Leighton whose brothers were vaudeville performers heard it and passed it along to them. You can read more about the song itself here! It actually gets a bit weird, but the basics are:

And now all of this is in the public domain, and we get to use it as we see fit.

Please reblog if you vote for a larger sample size!

straight up cartoonishly fucking evil corporation

Article published 8:23 AM EDT, Wed August 14, 2024

tl;dr: The server at a restaurant on Disney property assured the couple that certain food items were free of dairy and nut contamination and the woman died of severe anaphylaxis shortly after consuming foods they were repeatedly assured were safe. The epi pen they had did not save her life because the food was absolutely contaminated with what were, for her, deadly allergens. And Disney is trying to corporate capitalist their way out of legal accountability.

It is pretty clear cut that they did, in fact, cause this woman’s death. And her husband is asking for $50k in the wrongful death suit to cover the medical and funerary expenses as well as the mental anguish they caused. A modest $50k, not 50 million. A company worth 156.43 billion dollars is trying to dismiss the suit based on a 5 year old free Disney+ trial instead of giving this man what he’s asking for, a fraction of the amount he deserves.

I hope this makes everyone think twice before visiting the park or bringing their child to the park, especially if you or your loved one has an allergy or disability. Disney will kill you remorselessly, refuse to take accountability and traumatize your loved ones further.

I’m sure if this goes further they’re going to try to blame the staff and individual server who was likely undertrained and badly informed, because Disney treats its employees like shit. It straight up tortures and traumatizes them.

Inside Job didn’t just get canceled.

It had its first season split in two, a tactic animators said was used for Cuphead to let them pay staff less. Then, the show was renewed for a real second season.

And then the show was canceled before that second season anyway.

Final Space didn’t just get canceled on the most depressing cliffhanger ever. It was removed from all platforms before becoming a tax write-off, essentially meaning the only ways of really watching the show is through DVD or pirating.

The Owl House wasn’t just given a shortened third season. Disney, a company already known for a, let’s say, complicated relationship with its LGBT+ history, took a show created by a bisexual woman, filled with beloved LGBT+ characters, some of which were teenagers just like the audience, and told said creator to destroy her shows pacing so she could finish her story in just 3 45 minute specials.

How did Treasure Planet manage to come up with the greatest aesthetic in all human history? Victorian elegance plus space-age flair, with just enough dirt and grime and wear and tear to make it feel real? A combination of traditional and computer animation that perfectly embodies the movie's blend of old and futuristic? How does it get any better than that?

If you love Disney, its parks, its media, and its merch, listen up.

So I work for Disneyland, and we are talking about striking very soon. So soon, in fact, that we've been hosting rallies just outside of the parks. Yesterday was the 69th birthday of Disneyland Anaheim... it was also a monumental rally.

I haven't seen anyone on tumblr talking about the impending strikes against Disney. Not even going through the Disney tags or searching tumblr for "Disneyland Strike."

Let's talk about why we're striking:

https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/union-button-contract-dispute-19515296.php?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2u5o_mvU3i6jpIyHxBUZpEzD2GRSKFf5Pem4uRXqa6vKWDgZuffvINd1g_aem_AA1L0fI1phugJIluYMcDSw

Update: Disneyland Anaheim workers have voted to authorize a strike. They are not officially on strike yet, as the unions will be meeting with Disney to negotiate on Monday and Tuesday. Following that, if they don't come to an agreement, a strike may be called at any time.

Not blog relevant, but please share! When workers go on strike for better working conditions, I think people should always support that.

the replies 💀

I have laughed so much at this post, especially the close-up of Beast's bedroom eyes, and the reblogs:

And then this one killed me:

Can't believe no one has posted her reaction

— The “Disney adult” industrial complex - New Statesman

“If Disney adults – by their own admission – are seeking escape from a troubled world, then who told them entertainment, not collective action, was the best option? Who told them to seek escapism instead of an escape?”

…

“Those who mock Disney adults suffer from the same misconception as Disney adults themselves: they believe the Disney adult phenomenon arose by accident, and therefore gleefully judge and mock those who they believe to have inferior tastes. As Giroux wrote: “We are losing the ability to recognise, let alone resist, the corporate control of time, space, bodies, and minds.””

…

“Disney has monopolised culture in such a way that makes it very difficult to escape, or critique … Giroux sees infantilisation as a form of depoliticisation. “You infantilise people so they can’t think, so they can’t act.”

it’s actually trivially easy to avoid disney movies

Would be funny if they put forward this argument for the generalised opposition to art, entertainment and hobbies towards anything other than a specific brand of art and entertainment they don’t like.

Yeah, are you less of an activist if you watch romantic comedies? If you watch crime thrillers? We’ve already had this argument about superhero fiction, and it was dumb then too.

Piss on the poor???

So the article is about Disney systematically leveraging its quasi-monopoly over children’s entertainment, and the fact that it produces about 70% of movies in theaters, to position its brand identity as an aspirational lifestyle choice. And how the fact that it has deliberately constructed this brand-based identity, and lashed it tightly to the concepts of ‘purity’ and ‘joy,’ is some late-capitalism shit to keep an eye on?

Like it’s easy for adults to avoid serious engagement with Disney if they want, at least adults who don’t watch a lot of films outside the band of genres Disney doesn’t do, though avoiding exposure is quite a lot harder. But kids do not really get the option.

And inasmuch as kids do avoid Disney saturation, they wind up socially excluded due to missing all the references in a way that’s weirdly like belonging to a minority religion, actually.

Your Band-Aids and everyone’s cool backpacks and sneakers and the mandatory rainy-day recess activity, that’s all Disney.

And the religion comparison is useful when you consider that like. Disney does in fact now have broader indoctrination access to children than any one church, and here they are building themselves up a whole infrastructure to take you from cradle to grave?

About halfway down the article there’s a paragraph about how Disney tried to punish a specific newspaper for publishing an investigative piece about their financials and political lobbying by blackballing them from media reporting on their products, which again are over half the market.

This is an alarming amount of power for a corporation to have! And they have it on purpose! And they’re increasingly driven by nothing but the bottom line.

And the article is about how people being contemptuous of the intense hobbyists serves to deflect attention from Disney’s ideological maneuvering!

I have no idea what most of the reblogs above me think it’s about, but they don’t appear to have even read the excerpts actually in the tumblr post.

Corporation…bad.

Don't Make a Silly Mistake

Steamboat Willie is now in public domain.

Mickey Mouse?

That's a Trademark.

If you think that the Disney lawyers who specialize in trademark have not been preparing for this, you may be making an expensive mistake.

lion king 0.75: nala masculinizes

OK THIS IS NOT A FUCKING DRILL EVERYONE FUCKING REPEAT AFTER ME. THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL DO WHEN YOU WATCH MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL THIS YEAR:

You will navigate to the page on disney plus (and it has to be here. Unless someone has actually uploaded the REAL movie anywhere else you cannot get it elsewhere)

BUT YOU WILL NOT HIT PLAY. You won’t do it. Because it’s NOT THE REAL VERSION OF THE FILM AND DISNEY IS FUCKING LYING TO YOU AS IT ALWAYS DOES

You will scroll down HERE. To EXTRAS instead. You MUST GO HERE. This is non -negotiable

THEN YOU WILL SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE EXTRAS AND YOU WILL THEN HIT PLAY ON THIS BAD BOY: THE FULL LENGTH VERSION

And you will watch it. And you will thank me for having been so blind and led astray by that stupid fucking mouse. You’re welcome.

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS (2023) 1x01, ""I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher"

And how can the world want me to change ?

This is— and I cannot express this enough— some of the most perfect “younger version” casting I have ever seen.