Abigail Disney’s Documentary About The Walt Disney Company Claims Her Family Created “Racist System,” Describes American Dream As “Nightmare”
Jacob Smith
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Abigail Disney has made headlines in recent weeks going after conservatives in light of her opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law. Despite the fact that she has been calling on companies such as Disney to take a stand against right wing opposition, the heiress is targeting Disney itself for what she is calling “corporate greed.”
Keynote presentation by Abigail Disney, Filmmaker & President and CEO, Fork Films Photo Credit: U.S. Institute of Peace, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The granddaughter of co-founder Roy O. Disney has a new documentary called “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales.” In the documentary which Abigail Disney directed with Producer Kathleen Hughes, the heiress looks at the pay gap between Disney employees and CEO Bob Chapek who made $32.5 million last year for the company.
She also dedicates half of her film to showing the conditions Disneyland workers deal with. According to them, one in 10 Disney Employees have been homeless in the past two years and two-thirds can’t afford to pay for food.
120613-N-LE393-021 NEWPORT, R.I. (June 13, 2012) Abigail Disney, executive producer of the documentary film series “Women, War and Peace,” gives a keynote address during the 2012 Current Strategy Forum at the U.S. Naval War College. This year’s forum explores global trends and the implications they have on national policy and maritime forces. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric Dietrich/Released)
A clip shared to the documentary’s official YouTube channel attempts to highlight this as Abigail Disney is seen questioning a number of workers about whether they know people who worked at Disney who are on food stamps, whether they know a Disney employee who slept in their car in the last month, and whether they have gone without medical care because they can’t afford it.
She also asks if they have children. The short clip then cuts to a woman named Artemis that is identified to have worked for 8 years at Disney. She explains that she doesn’t have any children due to her financial situation.
“There’s a painful irony that somebody working at ‘the happiest place on earth’ is sleeping in their car,” Disney states in the documentary.
“It’s painful and it took me a long time to fully comprehend the role that my family … played in perpetuating centuries-old myths and stories that made this racist system seem perfectly natural and completely benign,” she also said.
Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse Photo Credit: wood26, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The documentary, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival trashes the idea of the American Dream as well. The film’s synopsis as supplied by the Sundance Film Festival calls the United States of America a “dysfunctional and unequal economy and asks why the American dream has worked for the wealthy, yet is a nightmare for people born with less.”
It further states, “As a way to imagine a more equitable future, Disney uses her family’s story to explore how this systemic injustice took hold.“
Interestingly enough, Abigail Disney is worth $120 million as an heir to the company.
Source: CNN’s Reliable Sources
In response to the documentary, The Walt Disney Company issued a statement to the media. It begins, “The well-being and aspirations of our employees and cast will always be our top priority. We provide a leading and holistic employment package that includes competitive pay and comprehensive benefits for our cast members to grow their careers and care for their families.”
It continues, “That starts with fair pay and leading entry wages, but also includes affordable medical coverage, access to tuition-free higher education, subsidized childcare for eligible employees, as well as pathways for personal and professional development.”
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Abigail Disney has made numerous statements in the last few weeks hitting at the company for failing to immediately oppose Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law that bans the teaching of sexual identity and transgenderism to children between kindergarten and third grade.
She even declared that corporations must do everything they can to fight the right-wing agenda, “We need corporations to step up on principle, regardless of what the resulting backlash might look like.”
“The only option for corporate leaders is to stand tall for authenticity, generosity, joy and decency. These things are kryptonite for the right-wing agenda. Fortunately, they are also the heart and soul of the Disney brand.”
Cover by Kari Korhonen
What are your thoughts on Abigail Disney calling the company her grandfather founded out on the issue of corporate greed?
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