Disney+ is just the modern form of The Disney Channel. Remember when they'd unscramble for a week as a promotion and the masses...
Disney+ is just the modern form of The Disney Channel. Remember when they’d unscramble for a week as a promotion and the masses could watch like, Gummi Bears or A Goofy Movie for free?
It did seem that into the ‘90s, direct, unmediated-by-kids adult Disney fandom as an identity was limited to like, Florida and SoCal around the parks. Like, why Anaheim-based No Doubt titled their breakthrough album “Tragic Kingdom”. There were Disney-specific stores in malls but it wasn’t like, a thing to be
I think you’re describing (your sight on) the rise and fall of Michael Eisner’s tenure as Disney CEO, or maybe the “Disney Renaissance”, which Wikipedia claims was ‘89-’99, but really lost steam with Pocahontas in ‘95.
Konty hahha god no, Disney fandom as an adult identity was in fact a Thing back then too, outside of the parks. It was a middle aged middle class mom kind of Thing though. Who do you think was supporting those mall stores by buying snowglobes and shit?! Women who shuffled over to the Hallmark store and Yankee Candle after!
Well it wasn’t an identity, like you couldn’t be Kim the Disney girl, like maybe you bought VHS whenever they were “released from the vault” (I am juuuust old enough to remember when they periodically re-released the classics in theaters) or you made trips to the parks more than once in a lifetime, but there was nothing else to do to let people know. Like, by 2002 you could maybe buy sassy Tinkerbell car seat covers?
Remembering one music class (okay, two) where the band teacher just put on Dumbo, realizing by then I was just taking the ability to watch Dumbo at any given time for granted