The woke virus has gripped the country. It’s a new leftism that relies on conformity to achieve its aims. We must all think alike and talk alike. There is no space for dissent.
Rewriting history is an important part of achieving the sameness of thought that the left has in mind for us. Statues of Founding Fathers are pulled down. Books are rewritten to remove objectionable content. Art must conform.
The latest is a rewrite of two songs in an upcoming live-action remake of Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
Disney has famously fallen for the woke pressure. They’ve removed objectionable language such as “ladies and gentlemen” from their parks and have committed to inserting leftist political ideology into their films. The company is suffering financially because of their misplaced priorities but once the ritual cleansing for leftist purity gets started, it’s quite hard to stop.
DISNEY’S REMAKE OF ‘THE LITTLE MERMAID’ REWRITES SONGS TO TEACH CONSENT
Over at The View, Whoopi Goldberg said the revisions to the new Little Mermaid are ok because it’s the composer, Alan Menken, himself making the changes.
At best, Whoopi Goldberg is naive.
In the interview where he revealed the alterations, Menken sounds resigned to capitulate to the woke mob. “There are some lyric changes in “Kiss the Girl” because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel]. We have some revisions in ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ regarding lines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn’t speak out of turn, even though Ursula is clearly manipulating Ariel to give up her voice.”
“People have gotten very sensitive” and “might make young girls somehow feel” are the words of a man who has no choice. Comply, or else.
The changes make no sense with the plot. The audience knows that Ariel, the mermaid, wants to be kissed by Eric the prince. After spotting him on land, she rearranges her entire life to try to be with him. There’s no mystery about whether she wants him to kiss her. It’s a rewrite of human nature to say that consent only comes with verbal confirmation. Ariel has given up her voice to try to be with Eric. She wants the kiss.
And the rest of us want it to still be acceptable for a man to lean in to kiss a woman instead of asking her permission. We’re not robots and not every human interaction needs to be spelled out in words.
As for “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” the villain, Ursula, is deliberately manipulating Ariel. We shouldn’t be comfortable with everything she’s saying. She’s the bad guy, it’s ok that she’s… bad. Cleaning up the language of the villain in the story is ridiculous.
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The previous board that oversaw aspects of Disney World approved a series of agreements that gave the corporate giant a wide range of control. (Getty Images for Disney Dreamers Academy)
But the fact is that no amount of stating that these changes are silly or don’t fit the movie or any other argument is going to alter what’s happening around us. The woke have captured many institutions and companies and the point is to make these organizations bend to their will. That’s what’s happening here. It’s a flex to show who is really in charge. The dejected composer will bend, or else.
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It’s been done before. Throughout history authoritarians have seized power and used it to rewrite the past and change the language to fit their ideological goals. It isn’t a new idea that the modern left has invented, they’ve borrowed from places like the Soviet Union and China, and are foisting a cultural revolution on us all. “He who controls the language controls the masses,” writes Saul Alinsky in his book “Rules for Radicals” that leftists openly use to push their agenda.
The only shocking part is how easily American companies are going along with it and how the American public, so far, isn’t fighting back. Disney is a company in decline, captured by a small, vocal minority who are scaring people into compliance. But Americans don’t have to accept this forced conformity. They can choose to say no. And they should.