Did Disney Predict the Future of the Human Race?

Originally published on www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

It sounds like a strange concept that the Disney company that is primarily targeted towards young children but loved by adults around the world, and is predominately responsible for giving many a false view of love that will have undoubtedly ruined the dating lives of many could predict the future.

However given the recent news that two more big high street stores; HMV and Blockbuster have entered administration this week adding to a list that includes Jessops, Comet, Woolworths and many more, you only have to look at the Disney/Pixar hit Wall-E to see where we may be heading.

In the film the human race has been evacuated to a space ship where they fly around all day on floating chairs hooked up to what is quite obviously the internet, watching films, television and listening to music all day because the earth has been destroyed due to mass consumerism. Now this mass consumerism that has destroyed the planet in Wall-E could be seen as happening because of the very invention that keeps them so greatly entertained, the Internet.

Yes that's right, in statements this week from both HMV and Blockbuster they've mentioned that their custom has been greatly affected by the internet with many choosing to stay indoors and shop on Amazon for the latest DVD, game and music releases instead of heading somewhere such as HMV, or if they have chosen not to buy a film they've instead opted to stream it from LoveFilm or Netflix rather than renting from Blockbuster.

Yes that great invention has truly changed the way we live, we no longer have to leave the house to buy anything as we can get clothes, games, music and even our food delivered straight to our doors thanks to the option of buy online. We don't even have to go out to meet new friends thanks to social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, and if we decide we want to meet a boyfriend or girlfriend there's no need to go out and awkwardly eye up the nearest available person as the internet is littered with dating websites filled with "hot singles" in your area that are just waiting to chat.

Yes it is quite a sad state of affairs when you see these great high street stores disappearing. I for one will be greatly saddened if HMV does in fact vanish from shopping centres and the high street alike, their website has already been disabled due to their current issues, and it all seems to have happened because the internet has given us the ability to be lazy and opt for convenience in every aspect of our daily lives.

For some people one of the main reasons they leave the house is to go to work, but with computers giving us access to work information and the ability to work from home, I wonder if going to the office will one day just mean sitting on the sofa with a cup of coffee in your pyjamas communicating work stuff via email and telephone?

It also brings up the issue of whether we will continue to go out for meet ups with friends and family, after all what's the point when Face Time or Skype could allow everyone to have a night out together from the comfort of their own living rooms? Provided that you have a good Internet connection and your supermarket of choice delivered your wine on time.

Yes the Internet is a brilliant creation and we wouldn't know what to do without it now as it has made everything so much easier. But what's happening is a very sad and unnerving state of affairs, and maybe we won't end up in a space ship hovering above the earth waiting for a plant to be sent up inside a robot in the way that Disney foretold. But sitting in isolation communicating and doing everything via an Internet connection, like the morbidly obese in the animated hit, could become a dreaded reality if we aren't careful.

After all we may only be a few shop closures away from the high streets of Great Britain resembling old western films with tumbleweeds taking the place of the almost extinct high street shopaholic.

The production code may have come down but we still aren't mainstream

Originally published on www.biggaypictureshow.com

After the production code was brought in during the 1930s it became much harder to show several different things on the Hollywood Screen.

There were restrictions on the length of time a couple could be seen kissing, whether you could show a couple in bed together, even a scene from Disney’s Snow White had to be cut because she was shown in bed with the seven dwarfs, and then there was the restriction of showing homosexuals on screen due to what was know as sex perversion.

However after existing in Hollywood for over thirty years the final part of the code, which just happened to be the section concentrating on sex perversion, came down in 1968, finally allowing homosexual characters to be shown in Hollywood films.

There had been gay characters shown in films prior to 1968, but these films were from countries such as Italy and Great Britain, but with the dominance of the Hollywood film they hadn’t made enough of a global impact.

After the production code had fully come down gay people were finally being shown in some films, but we had a very odd portrayal as throughout the 1970s and 80s we were mainly shown in a negative light, usually as villains or victims.

As the 1990s came around gay people finally began to get a slightly better portrayal, that meaning that we weren’t necessarily tragic or villains, as we were now cast in the role of the ‘gay best friend’ in several Hollywood rom-coms, where we minced about helping our girl friends shop for the perfect shoes. Hello stereotype. But we were far from leading characters.

Over this period of time we were getting more of a leading role in some independent films such as My Own Private Idaho by Gus Van Sant, but these were seen by limited audiences and we were once again just missing out on the mainstream, and we weren’t leads in big blockbuster films.

It wasn’t until the 2000s with the release of Brokeback Mountain that we finally saw a mainstream Hollywood Blockbuster depict two gay men as the lead characters, alas they were very tragic figures but it was a true portrayal of the time. But since this we have still not seen many big Hollywood films featuring gay characters as leads.

Yes there was Milk and The Kids are Alright that both garnered much success, but this is only two where there could have been many more.

Maybe its Hollywood’s fear of not appealing to a big enough audience or maybe it is the fear of the actors to not be seen as gay and alienate a large section of their audiences, that we will never know.

But what we can see is, whilst these fears hover around behind the doors of Hollywood it looks as though we haven’t come tremendously far in the last 40 years, so maybe we will just have to wait another 40 and live with the fact that we do have exposure in many indie films these days. Every little counts after all.

More Film News ...

Originally posted on www.thefancarpet.com

Two New Movies From Pixar

This weekend the Walt Disney Company’s D23 convention saw the announcement that there are two films currently in development at Pixar.

It announced that the first will be focused on Dinosaurs, and will be directed by the studio veteran Bob Peterson.

Peterson and John Walker both arrived on stage to announce the project, which currently has the working title of, The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs. The Pixar duo kept pretty hush hush when it came to the announcement of the plot, reiterating what Disney had already announced, ““What if that life-changing asteroid missed Earth? The hilarious tale depicts a world where dinosaurs never went extinct."

The film is said to be arriving on November 27^th 2013.

Unfortunately it looks as though we are going to have to wait a while for this one, and even longer for the second.

The second picture announced currently goes by the name of The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind, which was described as a comic look at how ideas come together and the inner workings of the mind.

The Film is due around May 2014.

It looks as though we have a little wait on our hand for these two, but luckily Pixar has a new film Brave and Monster University a prequel to Monster Inc. for us to look forward to.

Those will be released on August 17^th 2012 and July 19^th 2013 respectively. 

Tim Burton's Frankenweenie Footage Screened

This weekends Disney D23 Expo showcased the first look at Tim Burtons latest film Frankenweenie.

The film has been adapted from Burton’s 1984 live-action short of the same name. The movie version expands on the original plot about the life of outcast Victor Frankenstein and his beloved dog Sparky. After the unexpected death of his beloved dog the young boy bring his dog back to life through the power of science. After attempting to hide the modified pet, Sparky soon gets out demonstrating to the entire town that a newly revived pet can have monstrous effects.

Although Burton was absent from the screen, as he is currently working on his latest project Dark Shadows, he was represented by producers Don Hahn and Allison Abbate, who showcased behind the scenes footage that showed the likes of Wynona Ryder, Martin Short and Martin Landau voicing their roles.

The film has been shot in 3D and black and white demonstrating Burton’s trademark style. Danny Elfman is also on board to act as the film’s composer.

The film will be released in October 5^th next year.

More Film News ...

Originally posted on www.thefancarpet.com

Breslin signs on to indie drama

Abigail Breslin has signed on to new indie drama film, The Class Project.

It looks as though the star is finally stepping away from the sweet and innocent child roles that brought her fame such as Little Miss Sunshine, and is stepping into a much more sinister role for the new project.

The film tells the story of two sisters who become sick of her their mother’s drinking problems and abusive relationships with her equally as drunk boyfriends that they decide to murder her. Not so innocent now is she?

The film’s script has been written by Fabrizio Fillippo and Adam till. The film will be directed by Stan Brooks.

It should be interesting to see the sweet child star take on a role as gritty as this, will she be able to pull it off? We will have to wait and see.

The film will begin shooting later this month.

Still hope for The Lone Ranger and The Dark Tower

Although time has been called on both The Lone Ranger and The Dark Tower film projects, it looks as though there may be hope after all.

At this very moment the director and producer of The Dark Tower Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, are currently trying to gain funding in Hollywood after Universal dropped the project recently.

However due to Howard’s work commitments to Rush and Spy Vs. Spy, it looks as though it could be some time before the project could be picked up again. Grazer told the New York post, “the soonest we could do it would be June next year.”

The Lone Ranger on the other hand could be back on very soon, as director Gore Verbinski plans to drastically reduce the film’s budget of $250m.

CGI werewolves have already been cut from the film’s script in an attempt to save money on the project, and it looks as though Disney may go back to the start with the film and hand the project over to someone else, which would obviously delay the film further.