Disney Issues Warning For Parental Controls On Disney+ Media

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Dear Disney,

I have loved you all of my life.

Growing up in California, I cherished the childhood memories I have of Disneyland and donning my mouse ears to watch The Mickey Mouse Club. As an adult, I shared my love for you with my own family.

Every time you “opened the vault” I took my children to the theater, to share the wonder of your stories and animation. Then came Pixar. The opening of a new Disney movie was a grand annual event that became a tradition.

When our family supersized to nine children, it would have been cheaper to feed a small village than to take our crew to the theater. Nevertheless, I did what it took to make it happen. Smuggling popcorn, candy, and two-liter bottles of Coke past the concession counter. Yes, I reduced myself to a candy mule for my kids–and you.

I believed you were worth it.

For my 25th wedding anniversary we took our entire family, including one son-in-law, seven children, and a grandson to Disney World for 10 days, just to show you off and share my love for you with another generation.

It’s not important to mention that I’ve worn a Mickey Mouse watch for most of my adult life, or that I have unashamedly worn the label of a Marvel geek. I’ve never hidden my love you, Iron Man or The Guardians of the Galaxy.

But, it’s not about me.

It’s about you.

There are times when lines are crossed. And you have crossed too many lines. So I must draw mine. There is a line I will not cross over, not even for you.

Disney+ needs a filter for Christmas

Adam Holz over at Plugged In recently wrote, “There’s nothing special about Disney anymore. Nothing different. Nothing trustworthy. Just another media behemoth aiming images and messages at young minds and hearts that even Bob Iger admits parents will want to filter out.”

Now, the final betrayal. Not just to me, but to loyal parents around the world came when you decided to merge your new acquisition, Hulu with Disney+.

Holz goes on to explain:

“Though Disney+ has quietly shoehorned a handful of R-rated Marvel properties into its lineup (Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and Logan), the company’s value proposition to consumers has always focused on Disney’s family-focused brand equity. And Iger knows it. Now, Disney+’s content menu will exist side by side (one supposes) with far racier fare. I’m talking about shows such as The Bisexual, The L Word, Mistresses, Harlots and American Horror Story, among others. These are all M-rated shows with steamy, profane, or violent content.

Prepare parents

Iger told investors, quite bluntly, that parents need to get ready: ‘We are basically putting it in beta so that we can prepare parents, largely, to basically implement parental controls, because you’ll be able to access Hulu programming on the same app.'” Plugged In blog

Prepare parents? Thanks for the heads up sir. I’m out.

Don’t get me wrong. Parental controls should always be in place. (Here are step by step instructions.) Expecting parents put parental controls in force on Disney+ in hopes of shielding children from the world’s filth speaks volumes. Holz was right. Disney has lost its uniqueness, The House of Mouse has gone dark. It’s been a slow, gradual leak, and no amount of pixie dust can bring back what they’ve lost: parental trust.

First, it was the brazen admission by a Disney executive that she is “not so secretly” adding queerness into children’s programming wherever she could. Although Disney has lost many of us over it, the company still hasn’t gotten the message.

It took One Million Moms issuing a warning to parents over Disney’s FX series ‘Little Demon’ before it was pulled. With a storyline where ‘Satan impregnates a woman who gives birth to an Antichrist daughter’, is it really a surprise that parents were upset?

Good versus evil

Good and evil clash. I get it. That’s what makes good stories, and Disney has had some of the best villains. Nonetheless, in much of what is currently being produced and served to our children, this is no longer the case. Evil is celebrated; lines are deliberately blurred; and childhood innocence is no longer respected, let alone protected.

Some suspect Disney is trying to throw Disney+ a lifeline by merging it with Hulu. Perhaps. I have a different theory.

Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

Disney, after 100 years of serving families, you have lost your way. You are stumbling around in a dark, woke world and you can’t see the evil in front of your face. What’s worse, is now you want to swirl the filth of that world into your best offerings and stream it all together.

It may not be a big deal to some younger parents who didn’t know you in better times. They didn’t grow up watching Walt Disney himself introduce The Wonderful World of Disney weekly or visit Disneyland before there was a need to check for a Pride Day when buying tickets. Perhaps these parents are unaware that Walt Disney’s founding dream was to create a safe, family-friendly environment for entertainment that would delight both parents and their children. They don’t know who you were meant to be.

But I do.

Good parental controls

The Disney that filled my childhood with wonder and creativity no longer lives. The next generation of childhood memories created by Disney, may very well become nothing short of a molestation of innocence.

Parental controls are good, but the best parental control is the filter of Scripture.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things,” Philippians 4:8.

Sincerely,

A former Mouseketeer