The Danger of Disney's Live Action Remakes

At the turn of the century Disney has had their eyes on remaking their animated classics as live action pieces, and in the last decade they've gone full force into this initiative. To varying quality the initiative seems to be raking in promising results such as Alice in Wonderland from 2010 and Beauty and the Beast from 2017 that have crossed the billion dollar mark worldwide while Maleficent will soon release a sequel. But with these new interpretations of Disney classics will this send the wrong message to audiences, especially if the upcoming The Lion King crosses the billion dollar mark as well?

When the "live action" The Lion King trailer dropped there seemed to be a divide between fans and critics as to what the film actually is. Live action? Or animated to realism? From what Disney has shown thus far, and director Jon Favreau's previous work on The Jungle Book, it looks like the film is completely CG with some exterior shots...maybe? If that's the case then this would be an animated movie, but because the animals look photo-realistic audiences are willing to accept the label of live action. And if it will forever be known as the "live action" remake then that too is how kids, Disney's primary audience, will associate it as, especially if this will be their first exposure to such a classic.

The Lion King also was debated in the critic and fan sphere as to why it was made. Being a classic from Disney's renaissance era there are obviously better choices that could have benefited the use of a remake. And yet, here we are months away from The Lion King which is expected to make a lot of money, and thus that's your answer. The trailer, by the look of their marketing, seems to make the film out to be a shot for shot remake. No doubt this will elicit think pieces comparing it to Gus Van Sant's shot for shot Psycho remake from 1998, but more alarmingly this initiative that Disney is pushing through seems to also showcase a clear erasure of their history.

Disney is no stranger to erasing history as they've locked Song of the South out from any home release, but with their strategic Disney+ future soon looming over all of us and declaring a full Disney catalog there is little doubt that we'll be seeing more Disney films not available. And now with Fox under their wheelhouse their expanded library will have even more movies on the cutting block that either slip through the cracks or are strategically buried to preserve Disney's image. Though some of you may be thinking along the lines of, "well surely they won't undermine their classic hand drawn animation that started the Disney empire," and to that I'd say, they already have.

Whenever Disney has taken a film out of their "vault" they seem to have improved it, cleaned it up and updated the quality to the times. However, in their attempt to reach a modern audience they've been slowly changing their classic work. Recently, fans were angry when Disney released an updated Cinderella to Blu-ray. While they brought out the colors and cleared many of the aging picture they too inadvertently erased some of the detail. Cinderella had the most outcry about it, but this technique they've used has been done, and changed, to other titles that they've released in the last few years.

So yes, they have slowly been changing their animated legacy, but now that their game is live action the whole legacy burial seems too real as Disney continues to prey on nostalgia and put forth their continual updating plan. With more and more kids experiencing Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney live action movies there's little to go around when it comes to animation. Disney has Pixar, and their animated line, but that too only comes twice a year with their competition usually looked down upon for not being Disney.

Since its inception cartoons have been looked at as kid friendly, and in turn less mature as the stereotype of cartoons are 'purely for kids' bloomed over the decades. Now, in the modern era audiences know this to be not true. Stunning television shows aimed at kids have gotten acclaim from all age groups like Avatar: The Last Airbender, but still that stereotype persists. Pixar has been doing a good job at telling mature animated stories that affect both kids and adults, but it seems that the majority of studios still have yet to learn that lesson let alone master it.

Same goes for parents. Looking after their little ones and being forced to watch certain movies over, and over, and over, and over, and over again ad nauseam certainly will break their judgement over certain animated properties and may as well lead them to seek a live action show, or movie, to touch back with maturity. Sadly, these stereotypes around animation being for kids still exist, and will be difficult to break, but after seeing Disney's plans for their live action series it's starting to look like they too believe in the stereotype.

If a child's first reaction to The Lion King is from this "live action" adaptation then how will they react to the animated one? Especially after Disney and other studios wiped away 2D animation. To kids, the Disney renaissance is old school because they've only grew up with 3D animated shows and movies. It's understandably faster and easier to edit, but as the times have changed Disney and other studios seem to ruthlessly trudge on while leaving their past behind. And if kids are exposed to these cartoon stereotypes won't they feel older, maybe more mature, if they watch The Lion King in "live action," inadvertently saying that their original animated feature is lesser?

Now while it may sound similar, this argument is far from gate keeping compared to remaking an older film for modern times like Ghostbusters back in 2016. What's at stake here is Disney looking down and changing their history so that they can profit for the future. Fans coming out to see Beauty and the Beast in live action out of nostalgia because they watched the animated classic as a kid numerous times, and thus making it earn over a billion dollars, is teaching the next generation that audiences want live action, not animation. And with Disney+ streaming service how is that going to affect Disney's home media? Disney has already forfeited 3D releases years ago domestically, will they also do the same to their older titles in their catalog?

Even though it's been happening for years it's still too early to tell how Disney's live action initiative will affect their animated classics line. One can only hope that the new generation won't see this as being better than their animated counterparts, but as we'll continually get them for the next decade, at least, you can't help but worry for the future when you know a company has had a history at changing their legacy before.