“There are precious few at ease
With moral ambiguities.
So we act as though they don’t exist.” -The Wizard, “Wonderful”, Wicked.
Much like the story I’m about to recall, remember that Walt Disney is dead to begin with and is not necessarily the main villain I’d like to see brought down because as I say, he is dead. Place the responsibility on those who live as an analogy for all aspects of life, especially beyond the entertainment industry- or at least what should be beyond it,
I recently watched a video on Facebook about the fact that Walt Disney supposedly didn’t enjoy the holidays, only it wasn’t the revelation that made me take notice. The video was framed in a way that made me feel a bit confused. In the video, it was said that Walt balked at gift giving and “saw the holidays as an unnecessary day off” and “an impediment to forward momentum”. Now, as a person who regularly watches various iterations of A Christmas Carol during the season, these words were almost verbatim from those spoken by Ebenezer Scrooge, by far the antithesis of ideal role models. Despite all this, the narrator took the idea of Walt’s disdain for Christmas as an invitation for everyone to “assert their own boundaries this Christmas.” Was this a good message? Absolutely. Several of the absolute best people in my life, like my grandfather and several of my cousins, don’t and didn’t care for the holidays. I could excuse the video entirely if it wasn’t talking about one of the most important, well known, and influential individuals on the planet and across history. There was a clear dichotomy in the way it came across that was deeply unsettling. Mainly, why was it a selfish omen for Scrooge, a wealthy and influential businessman of fiction, but a healthy exercise in boundaries when Walt, a flesh and blood businessman of an even greater influence, did it? What lesson are we intended to take, and furthermore idolize?
Walt’s studio even has a character dedicated to the concept of the greedy, wretched billionaire in Scrooge McDuck. While the McDuck iteration has changed over the years to be a philanthropic adventurer, this adds to my ever growing apprehension as to what exactly the House of Mouse says about the morality of wealth and if they are practicing what they preach. More than not, my mind slides to the pessimistic view. However, Disney being what it is, is there not something good to be had as well? Some of the best entertainment and pop culture of the last century have been sewn from the seeds of a mega corporation. While this is arguably a problem in and of itself, the corporation is not the problem I feel is the main issue. The problem is when people refuse to see the corporate side entirely in the pursuit of fully immersing themselves in a “magic” that can never be questioned. The evil that becomes invisible or ignored is more dangerous than blatant malice.
It’s this ambiguity I have been pondering for the past several months, while watching Seinfeld and Sanford and Son. Two different generations of shows that completely encompass this idea of the ambiguous individual. Bigotry, selfishness, and apathy are shown in characters that are disgraceful, yet equally and indelibly relatable. My parents regularly point to Fred Sanford as a period piece, with him regularly saying the n word and things that seem “unthinkable” today, while we flip to a show that regularly referenced masturbation, poverty botched immigration policy, profanity, theft, fraud, and the myriad of other problems spurred by the regulars of apartment 5A. Even a deeply modern show like Rick and Morty has a protagonist with so many self esteem issues and addictions that he jokes about the atrocities he has done while having a suicidal catchphrase. We all may love the anti-heroes and unreliable characters because they are seemingly more realistic than the morality and virtue driven ones, but they are not always meant to be made into the idols they often become.
People tend to think this kind of moralistic ambiguity goes away with each passing generation simply because the next generation has a different view of what it means to be morally ambiguous. The truth is we are never moving away from this quantum state. We are getting more aware it exists in the first place and are trying to put ourselves into stances and sides further and further in order to protect ourselves from admitting that we have opposing, imperfect qualities in our systems we shield ourselves in. Distancing ourselves from the truth, both comfortable and uncomfortable, leads to people placing ideology before reality. Whether Walt Disney was a good person or not is relevant to how we see Walt Disney. The real difficulty comes when we realize this also applies to us. Our own choices are often conflicting to what we actually think or want that we don’t consciously consider them, becoming a partial fallacy of ourselves. This is why we struggle. The ambiguity is inescapable. The fact that the human condition is not nearly as didactic as people might think scares people who are unwilling to accept the things they are uncomfortable with. As we put more and more emphasis on people and issues that are not necessarily “common” in our truly global society, people are overwhelmed by what they consider complicating or challenging because they are afraid of the ambiguity they will never be able to be free of. All we can do is be as aware as we can, as welcoming and inclusive as possible, and do what feels right to us. Finally, and.perhaps most difficult, is the more influence, power, or privilege we have, the more responsibility we must have.
In short, life is complicated. It has always been complicated. Never idolize anyone or anything to the point where you can’t accept their imperfections without rationalizing them first. That’s how we get to where we wear clothes, hats, armbands we cannot take off.
Calm and Cultured 