It seemed to begin in earnest with the onslaught of social media posts heralding the woes of another Disney animated movie. In this case, Turning Red was the latest movie to engender an online cacophony of tirades from “outraged parents.” Some of the tirades against Disney included:
- “That’s it, I am just about done with Disney!”
- “Cancel your subscriptions to Disney +”
- “Parents beware of the new movie Turning Red!”
I had to google “Turning Red,” and soon discovered that the newly released animated Disney/Pixar film was an attempt to bring to the screen the real challenges of a teenage girl undergoing puberty. Further reading revealed that, whenever the 13-year old girl began to get uncomfortable during this tumultuous time in her life, she was turns into a red panda. As I continued to read, it wasn’t the overt way in which menstruation was implied, the awkward conversation about the subject with a parent, or the tampons and pads in the house, it was the subtle message of “let the inner-beast out.”
In all my reading on the movie, the subtle word “transition” just seemed to leap out at me from just about every article. Sure, the movie seems to generously emphasize the teenage girl’s journey through puberty, but I discovered alarming quotes from the movie during research. Here are a few quotes I found from the movie:
Jin: People have all kinds of sides to them, Mei. And some sides are messy. The point isn’t to push the bad stuff away.It’s to make room for it, live with it.
Mei: Ever since I turned 13, I wear what I want, say what I want. 24/7, 365.
Mei: My Panda. My Choice, Mom!
Mei: I accept, and embrace, all labels
Mei: And yeah, sometimes I miss how things were, but nothing stays the same forever. We’ve all got an inner beast. We’ve all got a messy, loud, weird part of ourselves hidden away. And a lot of us never let it out. But I did. How about you?
Mei: Be careful. Honoring your parents sounds great, but if you take it too far, well, you might forget to honor yourself.
The Subtle Agenda Moves Forward
Not even spending time on the quotes that captured overt references to sexual objectivity, such as, “shake your moneymaker,” it is clear that teenage puberty is the red herring of the film. This film, based on the aforementioned quotes, is more about “accept the beast” than it is “resist the beast.” In direct opposition to the Apostle Paul’s theological discourse outlining the battle against the deathly desires within us all, Disney subtly marches forward as a vehicle of propaganda whispering the idea of “don’t fight it, embrace it.”
We have heard these same ideas being expressed by the transgender community over the last several years. The struggle to become what you feel you are on the “inside” but fears of being rejected by parents, friends, and society. “My Panda. My Choice,” Disney quietly drops into the narrative of a movie that is supposed to make you laugh and feel-good about the gradual acceptance of the inner-beast. Of course, anyone with a brain in their heads understands the reference to be a play on the words “my body, my choice.”
Veiled within the movie is a troublesome narrative that goes something like this:
Those societally challenged identities that are “hiding away” inside of you, embrace them–don’t fear them! We know you may face tremendous opposition, even from your parents, but “honoring your parents sounds great, but if you take it too far, well, you might forget to honor yourself.” That weird, messy, loud inner-beast within you–we all have it, but many never let it out. I did, will you be brave enough to let it out as well?
The School of Hollywood
Disney is an EDUCATOR not an ENTERTAINER. For that matter, Hollywood as a whole is an educator and Christian families have been paying their monthly subscriptions to keep their children enrolled at Hollywood Academy. Oh, but the hypocrisy of many is on full-display as parents take to social media over the latest Disney World debacle in Florida and declare, “that’s it, I am canceling my subscription to Disney +!” Really? After all the signs were clear that Disney and Hollywood were clearly promoting this agenda, the politicization of recent events is what caused you to remove your children from the Academy?
Let’s take a look at the curriculum of Disney/Pixar since 2016:
- the first gay couple Bucky and Pronk Oryx-Antlerson was silently inserted in the 2016 animation of ‘Zootopia,
- the first 3-second introduction to the lesbian couple in the movie ‘Finding Dory” (2016),
- the first “exclusively gay moment” of a character in the live rendition of Beauty and the Beast (2017),
- the first openly bisexual character in Thor:Ragnorak (2019),
- the first gay character in Avengers:Endgame (2019),
- the first lesbian parents of color, quietly inserted into the celebrated film, Toy Story 4 (2019),
- the first, very brief, same-sex kiss in Star Wars:the Rise of Skywalker (2019),
- the first lesbian–possibly transgender–police character in Pixar’s film Onward (2020),
- the first major gay character in Disney’s Jungle Cruise (2020, where the stigma is discussed by the character and affirmation is received by another,
- the first gay superhero in Marvel’s Eternals (2021)
- the celebrated openly gay character of Artie in Disney’s Cruella (2021)
- first lesbian superhero in Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness (2022)
- the first same-sex kiss in the upcoming Pixar film “Lightyear” (coming in June 2022)
The CULTURE Series
This series of articles is called the “Culture Series,” so that we can highlight pervasive and distorted things that are happening in our culture that we, willfully or ignorantly, have been allowing, cultivating, and justifying. This latest tirade has brought us an almost humorous response of shock, alarm, and angst. Are we really alarmed, or have we just leapt onto the latest social media bandwagon that is based on the political sensationalism rocking our nation? This agenda has been on full display for many years and, with each new push by the entertainment world, we leap on new bandwagons, type our shock and dismay, threaten to boycott and make changes, but then–once the controversy dies down–move on, resubscribe, laugh some more at movies and videos that are biblically and spiritually impure, and wait for our next moment to leap onto another righteous bandwagon.
I am not trying to anger us, but I am trying to ALARM us that we may share in the culpability of the decline in morality and innocence that has seized many of our children in this present day. It is a hypocritical to boycott Disney, but maintain allegiance to the “hook-up culture” series of Friends. It is a hypocritical to boycott Disney +, but continue to be avid followers of the Office TV-Series. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime…the list goes on, Disney alone is not the problem, Hollywood as a whole is the problem.
Lest anyone misunderstand, I assume responsibility for the past enrollment of my own children into the world of early Disney, so this is not merely a virtue signal. However, God was gracious to allow me to see the “open-door” such enrollment propagates and I refused to allow my home to become a link to the worldly lessons these pimps of perversion are wanting to teach our children.
I am issuing a challenge to everyone that will read these articles. Make the changes required and close the door on worldly entertainment. We are beyond the era of “Leave it to Beaver.” We are beyond the cute, whimsical ideas of fairy tales. Just as cannabis is a “gateway drug” so also can entertainment serve as a gateway to the illicit. It really comes down to how much we want to protect our children.
Perhaps you have opened the door and your children–and yourselves–have journeyed down the path of adopting and allowing movies and entertainment into your home that you shouldn’t have. It is time for an honest conversation in your home with your children and with each other, as spouse. Make a covenant with your family that will seek to correct crooked paths and realign your family to values and positions so many now consider antiquated. You can make the change and direct your families toward purity and righteousness.