Friday, July 19 2019

Dear Journal,

We made it to Friday! It's been a pretty crazy week filled with ticket duty, working with interns, cooking, video editing, chores, journaling, and over-sleeping, but we've finally arrived at Friday and are at the precipice of a long, relaxing weekend. Tonight, Marissa, Rodney, and I are going to see the new lion king. Not going to lie to you, our collective expectations are low. Marissa, being the biggest lion king fan between the three of us, is worried her expectations are not going to be met, especially hearing about the CGI, and all the changes they made to the set list and the lyrics, etc. Me and Rodney's expectations are a little lower - as long as we see at least a few lions and get to eat a big bucket of popcorn, we'll have a good time.

I feel like I'm one of the few children that doesn't have a special emotional connection to the Lion King. I swear to you, I don't think I sat down and watched the movie beginning to end until I was in my twenties. Don't get me wrong - I knew all about it. I used to play the video game on the SEGA genesis, but I hated it. The game was sadistically difficult. Even the first level where you play as a young Simba, rolling and frolicking around pride rock, dodging beetles and trying to climb rocks, was way too difficult. Maybe watching baby simba fall off a ledge and die, or step on a beatle one too many times and die, or (if you're lucky) just get mauled to death by the hyena at the very end of the level has left be desensitized.

But nonetheless, I'm along for the ride tonight. I'm less upset about this specific remake as I am about all of them in general. Think about it. It seems like Disney is really on track to literally re release a CGI version of every movie they have ever made. Sure, they're starting with the easy ones first. The Lion King. Aladdin. The little mermaid. Those tales are chock full of empowering messages. But I'm waiting for them to finally get around to vamping something like Sleeping Beauty. How do you get young girls excited about a beautiful young princess that sleeps in a tube and waits for a magic kiss from a prince? How about when she gets conned into washing dishes for all those dwarfs in the woods? And then I think there's a poisonous fruit in the mix somewhere?

I think I was trying to build up to something, but I might just be demonstrating how little I know about these Disney movies. I don't think there are any dwarfs in sleeping beauty, are there? Man, if that's the case, then what else happens in sleeping beauty?

If disney movies are your thing, then I hope for your sake that the Lion King remake is everything you hoped it would be. And if it's not, then I hope you let 'em have it.

I was talking to a friend who had a very interesting interpretation of this whole Disney movie remake stasis we're trapped in. "Millenials are the me generation, so they're only showing their kids things that THEY were into as kids." That's a very poignant observation, isn't it? I had just assumed producers were lazy, or they didn't want to pass up on an established franchise only to stick their neck out for one that nobody's ever heard of. But maybe we're the problem.

What's your favorite movie? How would you feel about a remake? Are some things better left in the past? Good questions to chew on this rainy Friday morning. Have a wonderful day, everyone. Watch out for beetles, hyenas, and falling rocks.