The ouroboros was an ancient iconographic depicting a snake or a dragon biting on its own tail, and used to symbolize a mad variety of concepts in different cultures: birth, death, the continuity of life, disorder, yin and yang, infinity, circular reasoning, elements of alchemy … basically, a handy and interesting picture of some kind of circular concept. The notion of an organism busily munching down on its own substance also occurred to me on contemplating the likely movie disaster that will be the live-action version (with CGI-generated dwarves, so exactly how live-action is it, really?) of Disney’s Snow White. Which hotly-anticipated disaster is finally lumbering into the port of general release this week, where it is expected to crash into the dock and immolate. Not only may it likely crash and burn itself, but also the future career of Rachael Zegler … who might be able to sing and dance, but otherwise off-screen seems to have all the charm and tempting appeal of a liverwurst sandwich forgotten in the back of the employees’ break room refrigerator for a month or so.
So, no – won’t be darkening the door of the multiplex anytime soon for this expensive and much-delayed botch job, or waste hours watching when it goes on streaming video (as it probably will, and in record time). As a somewhat creative person, who has long been in the business (if you can call it that) of providing diversion and entertainment, I have often wondered … why? Why go through the long, expensive process of doing a live-action movie version of an animated feature film anyway; following a carbon-copy of the script, duplicating the animated characters with actors which sort of resemble them, and copying the background scenery and setting with artfully designed sets.
Well, obviously, doing a live-action version of a popular animated movie must have paid off in the past, or Disney wouldn’t have done it more than once. Someone in the accounting department of the House of Mouse must have tallied up the expenses and projected profits and calculated a win. I guess there is also an element of proving that yes, it can be done. It probably also makes sense to remind the audience of Disney-created characters, images and stories, a decade or so after an animated feature has made bank, and to get another bite of the merchandising apple … but creating a world through animation has really no limitations. Even movie magic can only go so far, in a live-action duplication.
There is another downside to the live-action restyling of animated movies, and I wonder if anyone at the higher echelons at the House of Mouse has considered it. And that would be the routine practice of a live version, rather than putting the creative energy and the expense into a new animated creation, rather than just retooling a past product. There is a whole world of folk tales out there, heroes and heroines, stories, fables, amazing deeds and colorful backgrounds for original and new creations. To be fair, Disney has dabbled with a few of them. They did so very well with Mulan, with Moana, Encanto, Coco, and The Lion King; why not come up with more stories based on international folklore and backgrounds, rather than burn money doing live-action versions, as they did and are with the first two named? How long can the creative serpent come around and consume itself in reworking older creations? How long can the serpent continue, when there is nothing original and new? Discuss, if you are interested.
(Jamie the Wonder Grandson loves Moana – so did my niece and nephew, when they were his age … and no, not the least interested in the live-action version, if it is ever completed and released.)
I expect that the creative energy that Disney once had as an organization is gone and cannot be recovered. I’m sure there are good creative people there, but they would be able to better accomplish such things under a new and different umbrella.
Once the self-eating of the serpent passes a certain stage, it can’t be reversed.
David, I am sure that any genuinely creative people left at the House of Mouse must be slowly dying inside.
“There is a whole world of folk tales out there, heroes and heroines, stories, fables, amazing deeds and colorful backgrounds for original and new creations.”
That’s a great reminder and spur to creativity. Here’s my free suggestion that draws not only on ancient history to offer pearls of wisdom, but opens up an entire new audience for Disney of those who think about the Roman Empire every day.
“Lucius”
“Lucius is a street urchin in Ancient Rome. His days are a combination of a fight for survival and non-stop adventure with his ever loyal sidekick, the lovable, floppy-eared mutt Tiberius Maximus Africanus.
One day,Lucius observes the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his entourage proceeding through the Forum when all of the sudden an assassin leaps out! Just as the villain is about to plunge his blade into the Emperor, Tiberius Maximus Africanus jumps out and bites the ancient version of Lee Harvey Oswald on the hand causing him to drop the knife.
A grateful Marcus Aurelius offers to adopt the orphaned Lucius and make him his heir. Lucius agrees but only under the condition that Tiberius Maximus Africanus can come along too. Marcus Aurelius smiles and says, “Of course, it is what nature demands.”
As Marcus Aurelius, Lucius, and the floppy-eared mutt walk back toward the palace, a shadowy figure from a nearby alley glares at them. Foiled is he? He says under his breath, “ I will get you for this Lucius and your little dog too.”
Lucius accompanies Marcus Aurelius everywhere, even out to campaign against the Parthians. All the time, even in the midst of slaughtering barbarians or feeding Christians to the lions, Marcus Aurelius instructs Lucius in the ways of Stoicism so when it comes time he too can rule Rome as a wise king.
Lucius is happy in his new life, but he senses something is wrong, that the Emperor’s life in terrible danger. One night, he sees a shadowy figure slink towards the Emperor’s bed chambers. He confronts the figure. It is Commodus! Marcus Aurelius’s no-good, shifty son! He was behind the assassination plots all along!
Lucius grapples with Commodus and after a long struggle they end up at the edge of Mt. Vesuvius. Just as the older and stronger Commodus is about to throw Lucius into the boiling lava, Tiberius Maximus Africanus leaps out and bites Commodus on the ankle causing the villain to lose his balance and fall to his doom.
In the closing scene as Marcus Aurelius takes Lucius and Tiberius Maximus Africanus out for ice cream and to observe some ritual executions, the grateful Emperor looks down at Lucius and says “Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back.”
Lucius is finally at peace, not only is the Emperor safe, but more importantly he has found a father even if he isn’t quite sure what he is saying most of the time. “
That’s the Disney movie we want.
“Well, obviously, doing a live-action version of a popular animated movie must have paid off in the past, or Disney wouldn’t have done it more than once.”
I’m not so sure about that. As John Nolte has noted, for a couple of decades cable TV subscriptions insulated media companies, especially Disney, from the feedback that they used to get from the box office. (Clay Travis at Outkick has done the same analysis with respect to ESPN.) In the old days, if a movie stunk, the studio would know right away because receipts would be down. But with millions flowing in from cable regardless of whether or not people liked the content–or whether they watched it at all–media companies became untethered from audiences’ responses to their content. They started making movies to please themselves and their cohort. Who cared what those flyover rubes thought about it!
Yes, people are now leaving cable in droves and that income stream is dying, but it’s going to take a while for media companies to shed the mindset they’ve had a for a generation.
Good point about the use of CGI in “live action” movies. So why not go the whole way, and have “All-CGI” movies or, as we used to call them, anime movies?
Of course, it has already been done. A good example was the highly successful Japanese anime TV series “Spy X Family”, which gave rise to a spin-off full length movie “Spy X Family: Code White” (2023). Interestingly, what made the TV series so interesting was the complex plot and the serious moral issues; when it moved to the Big Screen, the graphics and visualization were much improved over standard TV anime … but the plot suffered. Maybe movies simply suffer from the problem of excessive budgets?
I’m sure that Disney management thinks they are pursuing a Low Risk strategy…reminded of @TheAnnaGat’s comment:
“All the risks you didn’t take come and take their revenge”