Marveling at Disney

By Jen McGahan • August 31st, 2009

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Walt Disney’s was a dream that took wing during the great depression, bringing the classic fairy tale Snow White to the silver screen (when the economy couldn’t have looked worse) in 1937. Today you have to hand it to the man who imagined the first theme park AND the first animated feature. With the Marvel acquisition, which both companies agree isn’t crucial to their individual survivals, Disney’s dream now hosts around 5000 new characters.

According to Jim Hill Because of Marvel’s previous deals with other studios (Spider-Man with Sony, and Iron Man with Paramount, to name a couple), it could be ten years before we see Spiderman scaling Cinderella’s castle, but I’m betting it’ll be worth the wait.

Neither company was hurting, but like any full throttle dream, the more I let it steal my imagination the more I’m thinking, “Why the heck NOT?…Don’t wake me yet.”

Still, there’s an ‘odd-couple’ tinge to it, don’t you think? Kind of like a Vegas wedding, where two kids who just met decide to get hitched, for better or for worse. And the ones left shaking their heads are the dark and misunderstood Marvel character fans, not the cheerfully earnest mouse ears. In fact, if ever the Hulk meets his match, it’ll be a mouse with a high-pitched voice and red shorts. The death knell sounds like “Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now” (can you hear the incessant whistling in the background?); another point for The Mouse.

But times and dreams change. Anyone with half an imagination is already gearing up for the Marvel movie spectacles coming. I suspect in hindsight, we’ll all be relieved to see that the original comic book heroes will remain gritty and heartbreaking. My 6 and 8-year-old boys will be teenagers by the time Disney gets around to the X-Men and Ironman, and I expect they’ll be the new Disney market by then; the brooding young male. (Come to think of it, have their lives ever been Disney-free?) But we’ve got a recession to deal with, and if anything positive can be said about crappy economic times, it’s that dreams (some dreams, anyway, in spite of everything) come to life.

So Walt Disney’s big ass dream suddenly possesses a dark side. Strap yourself in for a wild ride.