Ava DuVernay to direct Disney fantasy A Wrinkle in Time, from Frozen writer’s script

Ava DuVernay is confirmed to direct an adaptation of 1962 fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time.

According to Deadline, the Selma director has been hired by Disney to take on the adaptation, which will be scripted by the Frozen screenwriter and co-director Jennifer Lee. The first draft was written by Jeff Stockwell, who was also behind the script for Bridge to Terabithia.

The book, written by Madeleine L’Engle, follows the story of a young girl whose government scientist father goes missing. She must then go on a journey to find him, involving other dimensions and fantastical creatures.

Disney had been courting DuVernay for some time to make the film. It is the second big project she has been attached to in recent weeks, the first being the sci-fi thriller Intelligent Life, which is set to star Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o. There is no confirmation about which film she will make first.

DuVernay declined the opportunity to direct a screen adaptation of Marvel’s Black Panther, which will now be directed by Creed’s Ryan Coogler.

Since breaking into the mainstream with the Martin Luther King biopic Selma, DuVernay has been involved with a number of projects that have yet to come to fruition. She is also working on a new show called Queen Sugar, for Oprah’s OWN network, and is involved in a Hurricane Katrina-set mystery with David Oyelowo.

A Wrinkle in Time was previously made into a film in 2003, starring Alfre Woodard. It received poor reviews and author Madeleine L’Engle was also unimpressed: “I have glimpsed it … I expected it to be bad, and it is.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger Joins George Lucas, Jim Henson and Walt Disney In The Toy Industry Hall of Fame

Before last week’s New York Toy Fair the Toy Industry Association inducted Robert Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney DIS +0.05% Company, into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame.

It’s an exclusive club that’s been running since 1984 recognizing individuals for bringing “the value of play to the lives of children and adults”. Members of the industry nominate colleagues ranging from toy inventors to toy retailers who they think have made a tangible difference to the industry. Reading down the list is something of a who’s who of the toy industry, including the likes of John Lasseter, George Lucas, Jim Henson and Walt Disney.

The TIA selected Iger “in recognition of his significant contributions to the industry and the impact his work has had on the lives of children worldwide”. The induction ceremony was held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City where a packed crowd of toy industry recognized Iger’s achievements. The museum also hosted an exhibit of key toys from Disney over the companies history which made for intriguing viewing.

On stage Iger received his award and highlighted the part that toys play in the Disney ecosystem. “One of the most powerful ways to share our stories is with great toys that keep them going long after the movie ends and the park closes. Toys bring our characters to life in the real world.”

Robert Iger Receives Toy Industry Hall of Fame Award in New York

Robert Iger Receives Toy Industry Hall of Fame Award in New York

While the man on the street may not immediately recognize Iger, they would certainly be familiar with many of the Disney properties come to fruition under his leadership. From the acquisition of Pixar in 2006, Marvel in 2009, and Lucasfilm in 2012 Iger has positioned Disney as a steward for all sorts of stories – both home grown and from these acquisitions.

Walking around New York Toy Fair the following day it was clear just how much impact this has on toys. At every turn there was  Star Wars Lego, Marvel figures, Finding Dory toys and Frozen dolls. Disney’s varied consumer product partners see the value of alignment with these high profile properties.

James Pitaro to Lead Disney’s Consumer Products/Interactive as Leslie Ferraro Exits Company

UPDATED: James Pitaro has been promoted to chairman of Disney’s newly combined consumer products and interactive media division, as the group’s previous co-leader, Leslie Ferraro, leaves the company.

Pitaro moves up from his position as co-chair of consumer products and interactive media and president of the interactive operation, according to an announcement from the company’s chief operating officer, Tom Staggs.

The move supplants Ferraro, who had been co-chair of the division and whose promotion last year had been touted as making her one of the highest-ranking women in the history of the entertainment conglomerate. Disney said she is exiting “to pursue marketing and consumer engagement projects, with Disney as her first client.”

Ferraro had worked more than 20 years in consumer marketing, 17 of them with Disney, with much of her work focused on the company’s theme parks. The consumer products/interactive operation she co-led with Pitaro since last May centered on Disney’s myriad licensing agreements with other companies for an array of products.

An individual close to the company said Ferraro preferred to return to a role that was more creative and consumer-facing, as opposed to the business and deal-centric position she held as co-chair of the unit.

Staggs praised Pitaro for his “strong and successful leadership” and said he brought to his expanded role “his keen eye for technological innovation and deep familiarity with the brands and franchises that continue to drive the segment’s growth.” The Disney COO also thanked Ferraro for “creating many of our parks and resorts’ most successful marketing strategies and iconic campaigns.”

Ferraro also lent her imprimatur to the change, saying that the new consumer products and interactive boss “will continue to lead the team to new levels of success.”

In his role at Disney Interactive, Pitaro led the company’s multiplatform games business, and oversaw websites and apps that serve as the online and mobile gateways to Disney and its brands. He also led social-media efforts across all platforms and spearheaded digital video projects that extend Disney storylines. Prior to joining Disney Interactive in 2010, Pitaro served as vice president of Yahoo Media, where he was responsible for guiding the strategic growth and continued development of Yahoo’s media properties.

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If Disney ‘sanitises poverty’, then I’m a singing teapot

Poor people, stop being so happy! This is not a leaked memo from the office of Iain Duncan Smith but rather a conclusion that we might reach after reading the latest research to come from North Carolina’s Duke University.

According to the research, a certain section of the media – powerful, global, persuasive – presents an unrealistic portrayal of working-class life. Which is to say that such a life – as a poor person – can be tolerable, nay even rewarding. That being poor and happy is possible. That you can be content with your lot, even when your lot is not a lot.

So what is this malign media monster? Disney.

Yes, you read that right. According to the study from Duke – a university that I’m surprised is actually real given that it was mentioned only last week in The Good Wife – Disney films don’t reflect real life in that the majority of protagonists are wealthy and the poor characters, such as they are, are unrealistic in that “nearly all perceive their jobs as invigorating”.

The 1964 Disney film version of Mary Poppins. Photograph: Disney/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar
Apparently, the likes of Mary Poppins and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs suggest that class inequality is benign, and this “sanitises poverty”. In other words, Grumpy the dwarf is way too happy for someone who works in a diamond mine and lives in an overcrowded cottage. (Seven to a room! What indignity!) Meanwhile, Poppins’ consort, Bert the chimney sweep, is delusional as he sings that he’s “as lucky as can be” when he’s working for a pittance in a service industry before the first world war.

Where to begin? Well … you bring the barrel of fish, I’ll get the gun. I would say that I hate to shatter the illusions of those who are living their lives in the hope that it will all work out in the style of a Disney film, but who I am kidding? I love shattering illusions. But I don’t need to shatter anyone’s illusions that life is like a Disney film or indeed like a fairy story – on which so many are based. Real life is more than capable of doing that all on its own. There are no happy-ever-afters. There is no such thing as hakuna matata – just mucho matata. And you’ll be a long time waiting for a handsome prince to come and sweep you off your feet. (Believe me. I’ve waited. So on the off chance that one does come along, take a ticket and get in line).

We could spend all day ripping this research to bits and poking fun through the holes. Suffice to say that those in search of gritty kitchen-sink realism tend to head for Ken Loach films and not movies that feature talking crockery. But there is a nugget of interest hidden among the stating of the obvious in this research: that fiction – especially the sort that promises a happy ending – has such a pull on our imagination despite us living with the all too painful knowledge of how fictional it truly is.

Be it film, fairytale or song, a story that someone, somewhere, lives happily ever after can be enough to light our way through the grim, glum slog that is real life. As author Janice Galloway notes in her novel Foreign Parts, fairytales “get stuck in your innards” and despite everything life throws at you – the disappointment, the dismay, the disabusing of every romantic notion you’ve ever had – the yearning for happy-ever-after lingers long, even when you know it’s never coming.

What the research from Duke points out is that Disney films – and, by extension, all fiction – can be a means of social control: control the narrative and you control the thinking of those who consume it. This is true up to a point. But what this research, or at least the reporting of it, doesn’t acknowledge is that fiction is open to interpretation. So, yes, we might read chimney sweep Bert’s happy-go-lucky demeanour as sanitising poverty – and so reinforcing a conservative world view. But we might also read Bert as a character who knows that money doesn’t buy you happiness – which is, essentially, a liberal view.

Indeed, the unhappiest characters in Disney movies tend to be rich, concerned with the acquisition or consolidation of power, and consumed with fear of being usurped (usually by younger, kinder, prettier models). So wicked queens, regicidal lions and Sith lords – yes, the new Star Wars is technically a Disney film – are basically Tories.

So is Disney subduing and deceiving the masses by telling us that our overlords are secretly miserable and that we should feel sorry for them? Or do they bring home that tale as old as time that true happiness comes from within? Don’t ask me.

If only I had a big friendly bear who could teach me about life through the medium of song or, better still, the heretofore untapped feminine powers that would allow me to construct a mighty, isolated ice palace so that I didn’t need to deal with other people. Especially do-gooders with suspiciously intimate relationships with reindeers.

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Foxtel CEO has costly message for Disney and NBCUniversal

Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein has indicated that the cable and satellite TV monopoly will pay less in fees to Hollywood studios if they also offer their content direct to consumers.

In an interview with Fairfax Media, Mr Freudenstein said Foxtel would have to make a “trade-off” with studios which supply it films and television programs but then also offer the same content direct to consumers via their own subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services.

Moves by NBCUniversal and Disney to offer dedicated, cheap subscription video-on-demand services in Australia have added to the threat Foxtel’s premium cable and satellite business already faces from generalist SVOD players led by Netflix.

But Mr Freudenstein predicted consumers will become confused by multiple offers and will stick with Foxtel as a one-stop shop for their video entertainment.
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“I think you will find a lot of these people go over the top and try to go direct to the customer,” said Mr Freudenstein. “I am very confident that the value we offer by aggregating a lot of these players is compelling and I worry a lot of these offers will confuse customers and make it too hard for them.”

He added: “We work very closely with NBCUniversal and will continue to do so. Disney has no intention of taking any content away from Foxtel; they think Foxtel is a very key partner for them.”

Mr Freudenstein added, however, that Foxtel wants to pay the appropriate amount for content, which could change if it is distributed elsewhere.

“It’s a trade-off,” he said. “When we look at our content partners, we look at what’s the right amount to pay them based on the quality of their product and where they distribute it.
“We’ll work out a way to comfortably live with whatever the market presents us.”

As revealed by Fairfax, Disney, which has four dedicated channels with Disney content on Foxtel’s cable and satellite service, is seeking a telecommunications partner to help it launch a subscription video-on-demand service direct to customers.

US network giant NBCUniversal will this week preview its own, reality-TV focused, streaming service called Hayu, which it will launch in March in Australia, the UK and Ireland, costing $5.99 a month and available on connected TVs, mobile, tablets and computers.

Foxtel’s Arena channel is dominated by content from Foxtel’s output deal with NBC for its Bravo channel. Much of that content, currently unique to Arena, will become available directly on Hayu from March.

Mr Freudenstein moved to shore up Foxtel’s position in content last week by giving Moritz von Hauenschild, who returned to Foxtel in September as executive director of product and operations, responsibility for the long-term commercial deals Foxtel strikes with its channel partners. Mr von Hauenschild will focus in particular on ensuring Foxtel has comprehensive rights across all platforms, including Presto, Foxtel’s subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) joint venture with Seven West Media, which has Mr von Hauenschild on its board.

Foxtel and Presto were dealt a blow last month when Stan, the SVOD service owned by Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media, owner of The Australian Financial Review, signed a long-term exclusive licensing agreement with US cable giant CBS for its Showtime content, including the hit show Billions.

Mr Freudenstein said Foxtel was happy to let that deal pass it by on price grounds.
Foxtel is under pressure to control costs as it encounters rising competition.

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How Disney COO Tom Staggs Sees the Company’s Present—and Future

Tom Staggs faces the unique challenge of filling a role that the world’s biggest media company has done quite well without for a decade.

When he was named chief operating officer of Walt Disney Co. a year ago, he took on a job that was last held in 2005 by Robert Iger, before he was promoted to chief executive. Now Mr. Staggs is the leading internal candidate to succeed Mr. Iger, who has said he will retire in 2018.

A 26-year Disney veteran who before becoming COO most recently served as chairman of the company’s parks and resorts business, Mr. Staggs has remained quite involved with the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disney Resort, which opens June 16.

He is also significantly involved in planning for the future of television at Disney, a key question for the company since its stock began tumbling last August when Disney said that profit growth for its cable business, led by sports juggernaut ESPN, would be lower than expected.

The Wall Street Journal spoke with Mr. Staggs at his office, across a lobby from Mr. Iger’s, at Disney headquarters in Burbank, Calif. Edited excerpts follow.

The long view in Shanghai

WSJ: Are there specific tasks you have taken on as COO? How have you and Bob Iger divided responsibilities?

MR. STAGGS: It’s basically a dual-report system across all the businesses. Our approach has been somewhat fluid, making sure that separately or together we’re focusing on businesses and projects as need be and to be the most effective we can be.

WSJ: How will you measure success in Shanghai?

MR. STAGGS: We’ll really be looking forward to the initial reception, but at the same time we build these parks for generations. We won’t judge where we are a week out, a month out, or even a year or two out.

Clearly we are planting an important flag for the Disney brand in China. We want to make sure people recognize the quality of what we provide. And hopefully it will be an aspirational kind of experience for people in China the same way it has been aspirational for people here. And therefore it represents the brand in a way that is broader than just that individual park.

WSJ: To what extent are you concerned about the state of the economy in China?

MR. STAGGS: This is a very long-term proposition, so what’s going on in the economy at any given moment is not a big concern for us. We look at the trends over the long term and continue to be as bullish as we’ve ever been in terms of the number of income-qualified people, the prospect for continued growth of the middle class in China, etc.

Focus on television

WSJ: What has been taking a lot of your time outside of the parks business?

MR. STAGGS: I have spent a great deal of time on media networks recently, focusing on the future of television.

ENLARGE

WSJ: Is TV moving toward a more direct relationship with consumers? Does that require a change of thinking?

MR. STAGGS: It’s not so much a change of thinking. For the past few years, our business has been leaning toward the brands and products consumers seek a relationship with. There is an increasing opportunity to take advantage of the strength of those brands and to reach consumers more directly.

We just mentioned on our last earnings call, however, that we think for the foreseeable future the bundle of programming is going to be the predominant way people get their television. Some people might view that as a contradiction. It’s not. That bundle can be strong even as we’re taking advantage of opportunities to have direct relationships with consumers.

WSJ: Clearly there are benefits across Disney from owning Marvel or “Star Wars” that few other companies can match. And that may be only more true in the digital world. Is the same true of ESPN, or is that more of a stand-alone business?

MR. STAGGS: One of the things this company does well is nurture and manage high-quality branded franchises. The nice thing is, quite a lot of them are highly interconnected in terms of cycling through many of our businesses.

But as a high-quality branded entertainment franchise, ESPN has real synergies with the rest of what we do and our expertise as a company.

WSJ: What are the most important synergies?

MR. STAGGS: Understanding how to manage a brand is not simple. There’s ESPN The Magazine, on television, radio and digital. Managing all of those touch points is not a simple construct, and it’s something we happen to do well.

By having that scale, we have been able to invest in a technology platform that allows us to publish across all those areas seamlessly. Also, I believe if you look forward as we increasingly establish those direct-to-consumer relationships, that expertise in consumer engagement will be a skill set that’s transferrable around our business, even if you’re not handing off an ESPN consumer to other Disney businesses.

WSJ: As you package Disney content in different ways online, do you see it all going together, or is the Marvel consumer different from the animation consumer and so on?

MR. STAGGS: We find it’s not sliced as finely as your question might imply. People tend to like Disney. They have their favorites, to be sure. Generally, if you’re a big fan of “Frozen,” that leads to a desire to engage the characters, the music and the franchise in other ways.

We want to make sure there are as few barriers to that deeper engagement as possible. That’s one of the tricks in designing the notion of what’s direct-to-consumer, what’s in movie theaters, what’s in [cable] bundles, etc.

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The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World

The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World

This past summer, Disney revealed they would be making massing Star Wars-themed additions to their two U.S. theme parks. At that time, we just saw a few hints. But Sunday night, Harrison Ford himself revealed some amazing new looks at the parks.

The 14-acre expansions are coming to Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida sometime in the next several years. We don’t know exactly when, just that construction has already begun. Then, Sunday during a TV special celebrating 60 years of Disneyland, Ford revealed some new concept images from what he called “The Star Wars Experience.”

First up, here are some images of what the land itself is going to look like. We’ve already heard the lands will be a brand new Star Wars planet and here we get a taste of its marketplace, dining establishments and, of course, its cantina.

The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World

Next, these are images from the two main rides. One will put fans in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon and another will put them in the middle of a battle between the Resistance and First Order.

The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World
The New Star Wars Theme Parks Coming to Disney Look Out of This World

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First ‘Pete’s Dragon’ Trailer Reveals Disney’s Fantastical Remake

petes-dragon-slice-robert-redford

Disney has released the first trailer for Ain’t Them Bodies Saints director David Lowery‘s live-action re-imagining of Pete’s Dragon. Written by Lowery and Toby Halbrooks, the story tells of the adventure of an orphaned boy named Pete (Oakes Fegley) and his best friend Elliot, who just so happens to be a dragon. Robert Redford plays an old wood carver whose tales of a fierce dragon that resides in the woods of the Pacific Northwest are shrugged off as nonsense, that is until his daughter (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), stumbles across Pete, who boasts of a friend that sounds a lot like the storied dragon. Howard’s character then sets out to determine where Pete came from and where he belongs.

The titular dragon is shown (backside only) at the tail-end of the trailer. The effects in that one shot might give some people pause as to why a live-action film was needed when the first glimpse of the dragon looks a little cartoonish, but there are a lot of elements to be excited about for this adaptation. Primarily, it’s that Lowery is at the helm. While I wasn’t a huge fan of his poetic outlaw flick Saints, it showed immense promise in visuals, patience and tone, and he’s been on my what’s next radar even since. Lowery also did excellent work as an editor on Shane Carruth‘s mind-bending Upstream Colorhiding the premise of the disease-strain film for as long as possible and creating an immense realm of unease. He remains an extremely intriguing selection for Disney here and I am excited to see more from subsequent footage.

How long will Lowery keep the dragon hidden in this film? Will Howard’s seasoned experience with large reptiles in Jurassic World come into play? Will her shoe choice launch thousands of blog posts for being the right choice for women running from beasts? One thing is certain, Redford looks at home in the woods and Lowery certainly captures the beauty of the evergreens and mist as expertly as the animators of The Good Dinosaur did. Let’s just hope that—unlike that Pixar film—his animators flesh out the big reptile with much more detail.

Also starring Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, and Oona Laurence, Pete’s Dragon opens in theaters on August 12th. You can view the trailer below.

bryce-dallas-howard-petes-dragon

Image via Disney

 


Here’s the official synopsis for Pete’s Dragon:

A reimagining of Disney’s cherished family film, “Pete’s Dragon” is the adventure of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliott, who just so happens to be a dragon. “Pete’s Dragon” stars Bryce Dallas Howard (“Jurassic World”), Oakes Fegley (“This is Where I Leave You”), Wes Bentley (“The Hunger Games”), Karl Urban (“Star Trek”), Oona Laurence (“Southpaw”) and Oscar® winner Robert Redford (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”). The film, which is directed by David Lowery (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”), is written by Lowery & Toby Halbrooks based on a story by Seton I. Miller and S.S. Field and produced by Jim Whitaker, p.g.a. (“The Finest Hours,” “Friday Night Lights”), with Barrie M. Osborne (“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” “The Great Gatsby”) serving as executive producer.

 

For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales…until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley). Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliott. And from Pete’s descriptions, Elliott seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham’s stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon. Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon” opens in U.S. theaters on August 12, 2016.

petes-dragon-remake-poster

Disney films ‘send the wrong message to children as they downplay struggles of the poor’

Disney films send the wrong message of social class and equality, a new study suggests.

Researchers looked at 32 Disney films to determine whether they portray realistic social values, norms and equality.

Movies such as The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and Mulan were studied alongside classics such as The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.

And the researchers discovered that rather than sending a good message to their child viewers, they ‘erased’ the problems endured by the working class.

The study suggested that characters like Bert the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins were too happy whilst the Seven Dwarfs should be more miserable because they work in a mine.

And movies like Aladdin, The Lion King and 101 Dalmatians made poverty seem ‘benign’ and that climbing the class ladder is not a hard thing to do.

DisneyBeauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast: Most of the movies studied were Disney classics

The study may cause some adults to reevaluate films that they saw when they were children and still hold close to their hearts.

And it could cause them to think twice when showing them to their own children without a warning about the hidden message.

The US researchers from Duke University looked at 32 films that were rated G – the American equivalent of U – and had grossed more than $100 million (£68 million) worldwide.

They included Beauty and the Beast, Cars, Monsters Inc, Mulan, Ratatouille, The Little Mermaid, Wall-E and The Santa Claus 2.

The researchers put the characters in the films into classes based on their job as upper class characters were defined as royalty, chief executives and celebrities.

Upper middle class included managers, mayors and, surprisingly, Santa.

Middle class characters had jobs like mid-level managers whilst the working class had jobs like soldiers, sailors, miners and chimney sweeps.

The other category was poor, defined by not having a job or connection to royalty.

Their analysis showed that in most cases the main character in the films was wealthy and that 56 per cent of the characters were in the top two classes.

Compared to the real world distributions of wealth, this meant that poorer characters were under represented.

The depictions of working class people was also unrealistic, the study said.

Authors wrote that ‘rather than experience their jobs as problematic, nearly all working-class characters perceive their jobs as invigorating, fun, and allowing substantial autonomy and authority’.

DisneyDisney Pixar film "Cars"
Cars: They also looked at Disney Pixar films

Snow White was criticised as for having the seven dwarfs to sing: ‘To dig dig dig dig dig dig dig is what we really like to do’ – when they actually worked in a mine.

Another issue with the film is that Snow White marries a rich prince after meeting him just once, whereas the lower class dwarfs who she sees more often are considered ‘unthinkable romantic partners’.

In Mary Poppins, Bert sings that ‘as a (chimney) sweep you’re as lucky as can be’.

The study says: “Bert, like other characters, frames working-class jobs as devoid of difficulties. This frame minimizes the hardships associated with working-class jobs.

“In doing so, this frame and those that minimize other hardships associated with poverty and working-class life suggest that social class inequality is benign as those at the bottom of the class ladder suffer little, lead relatively stable lives, and experience many advantages.”

The study also says that, unlike in real life, upper class lifestyles were often the ones under threat, whereas poor ones were depicted as highly secure.

Three quarters of the films showed wealthier characters defending their class position against ‘individuals or groups trying to usurp them’.

Aladdin is taken to task because of a conversation between Aladdin and Princess Jasmine in which they compare how hard their lives are despite coming from very different backgrounds.

The study claims this is wrong because it draws a ‘false parallel’ between their two circumstances despite the wealth gap.

Working class lives are often portrayed as so fun and cosy that rich people will voluntarily go down the class ladder to join them.

DisneyMulan
Mulan: One of the films researchers looked at

Poor people are also portrayed as happier too – In The Sound of Music, Maria is seen as so warm and loving that she teaches her upper class employer how to love their children.

Another problem with the films is that whilst the primary poor characters are often upstanding and brave, the secondary characters are framed as ‘morally corrupt’.

In The Lion King, the hyenas are ‘immoral and unintelligent’ and serve as accomplices to murder, the study says.

The film is also cited as an example of the rampant homophily in children’s films – Simba and Nala marry because they are from the same class and have known each other for years.

Researchers say that this kind of stereotyping limits the chance for poor people to marry up and portrays inequality as ‘the result of true love rather than discrimination’.

Romance across all the films was another area that the study took issue with.

Of the 32 films which were examined, 13 featured love crossing class boundaries, such as The Sound of Music where Maria and Captain Von Trapp marry and live happily ever after.

But the study adds: “The love crosses class lines frame portrays the class system as open and benign.

“The frame maintains that the classes love and respect one another, experience no unbridgeable divides, and are willing to share their lives and their resources with people of other classes.”

Researchers concluded that overall, children’s films made poverty and class distinctions as seem like a case of ‘just deserts’.

The study said the films made class divisions seem ‘legitimate by erasing, downplaying, and sanitizing their effects – by portraying poverty and inequality as benign.

It added: “This metaframe erases, downplays, or sanitizes poverty and class inequality, implying that poverty and inequality are not particularly problematic as few people suffer from them.”

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Star Wars secrets will be protected with DRONES to stop spies, Disney reveals

In a strike against top film buffs who use drones to leak information from highly anticipated films, Disney has unleashed a fleet of its own.

The airborne gizmos will target any “invading” cameras sent to fly above the actors while they are filming Episode WIII in Croatia.

A source said: “A special team with drones will remove any invading done cameras trying to film what’s happening.”

Star WarsDISNEY/ IG

Disney has unleashed a fleet of drones to protect the next Star Wars episode

Disney’s move comes after the studio successfully managed to avoid any leaks from last year’s The Force Awakens, which became the fastest film to make £1 billion at the box office.

The studio is also drafting 600 guards to prevent any spoilers for fans for the upcoming Star Wars WIII.

Star WarsDISNEY/ IG

The Force Awakens became the fastest film to make £1billion at the box office

The source said: “Keeping it all a surprise for fans is a huge priority.

“The secret of The Force Awakens were successfully kept under wraps, and, after its unprecedented success, Disney are taking to chances on the next instalment.”

Filming is currently starting at Pinewood, Bucks, with British stars Daisy Ridley and John Boyega.

The Force AwakensDISNEY/ IG

Disney’s move comes after it successfully avoided any leaks from last year’s The Force Awakens

However the filming will soon move to Dubronvik, where the £3million security measures will be implemented.
Episode VIII is set for release next year, with Episode IX due in 2019.

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