longlivethekumcanoe:

waltdisneyconfessions:

“I think that people who like Disney that are over 20 years old are childish. The movies were wonderful, but you have to realize when to let it go:”

Let me tell you a story, OP.

I never met my paternal grandfather. He died the year before I was born, from a series of strokes that finally ended up killing him. His favorite movie? Pinocchio.

When I was younger, I never realized that my dad would turn away or wipe his eyes whenever we heard “When You Wish Upon a Star.” When I finally did, however, I asked him why- and he told me that in my Grandfather’s last few months of life, when the second stroke had left half of his body paralyzed and he was very, very frail, My dad and him had gone to rent some movies. At the video store, my dad says he remembered his Dad looking suddenly embarassed, almost shy- and when my dad finally asked what he wanted, he held up a copy of Pinocchio, and asked softly if he would be embarrassed to rent it, so he could see it one last time.

My dad wasn’t embarrassed at the time- and neither was I when he told me, and never am when I see my dad’s eyes watering at hearing that familiar music. In fact, I feel a connection to someone I never met, and when I listen to “When You Wish Upon a Star”, Childish is exactly what I feel, and proud of it.

The magic of Disney is that it is truly ageless, in every sense of the word. Like anything else, the movies and the messages can be conflicted, or problematic- but like any other form of art, it is an incredible catalog of the dreams and hopes and mindset of the generation it was created for, and a true testament as to why it remains a company with products that are still relevant today. Disney has made it’s company on the foundation of dreams, and wishes, and the happy, carefree, magical state of childhood.

It’s not wrong to dislike Disney, if that is your choice. But the ability to feel like a child at any age, and connect to those movies- whether it be an old, dying man, or a five-year old clutching a plushie- that’s the real magic of it all, and it doesn’t deserve to be torn down simply because you don’t understand it.