Disneynature's Earth Brings Interest Back to Disney's True-Life Adventures

As much as Disney can take credit for starting nature conservation through their classic and entertaining True-Life Adventures films, the philosophy behind the movement seems slightly different now from what it was when Walt Disney ran the company. It's quite clear that even though Walt himself was conservative politically and upheld those values through his work, the legacy of his studio today doesn't go along with the mostly conservative view recently that global warming is a myth. Evidence of that is shown through the recent promise of the studio to plant a tree in someone's honor whenever that someone bought a movie ticket to see Disney's latest live-action film, "Earth." And the content of the film is just the beginning of the studio saying through their Disneynature production arm that saving the world is imperative to keep the nature captured on film thriving.

While global warming wasn't even a glint in Al Gore's eyes in 1948, it might be considered coincidence that he was born that same year when Disney did their first True-Life Adventure film. 1948's "Seal Island" reminded kids and adults of the sometimes brutal life of seals in the arctic regions, but also packed an emotional wallop in how fragile nature was and how it could theoretically disappear in a snap if things went awry. Through their brilliant mix of humor, action and compelling imagery, Disney started a whole new film franchise as well as movement to preserve nature from the threats of human beings.

Today, making such a film would be accused of being a typical liberal-slanted, Al Gore butt-kissing propaganda piece out of Hollywood. Back in 1948, the Oscars didn't play up a liberal v. conservative battle as they increasingly do now. They gave an Academy Award to Disney for "Seal Island" because of its innovation and profound entertainment value rather than because it was giving hints that we should be paying attention to nature and its role in balancing everything else.

In hindsight for Walt Disney, it might appear in a modern political picture that he was a perfect balance of conservative and liberal values. Of course, back then, there wasn't any thought to the idea of divisions politically over the prospect of global warming. Little did any conservative know then that the only reason global warming would eventually have such a political divide was because of the power of big business and those who support it thinking alternative fuels would hurt the ever-lobbying oil industry.

Ultimately, the lack of politics made Disney's True-Life Adventures so enjoyable. There was mutual agreement on what the films stood for and no prospect of Greenies being sent to the crazy side of the line by conservatives who increasingly think saving a tree is something resembling fanaticism. Even though conservative values were more or less the dominant force in America during the peak of the True-Life Adventures, a whole new generation who went on to become nature documentarians on their own were influenced by these films. Having them shown frequently on TV (and in grainy 16mm prints sent to public schools during the 60's and 70's) arguably set up the road to liberals being painted as environmentalists.

Only when the True-Life Adventures started to disappear from major media by the 80's and 90's did the next path get paved to a wider divide politically. Despite all the True-Life Adventures finally getting released on DVD in 2006, they should have been released much earlier to remind those embroiled in our political divisions of a time when there was more balance on our views of nature.
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It was in December of 2006 when Disney (or more specifically, Roy E. Disney) decided to release all of the True-Life Adventures on DVD in a series of four volumes. This was part of a proposed new DVD line called the Legacy Series that ultimately became defunct after the release of the Adventures. But the care in restoring all of these classic films brought them back to their former brilliance and into the consciousness of the public--at least in limited degrees. Disney probably isn't afraid to admit that they didn't sell hugely at the time and only to those who prefer the Walt era of Disney to the current one.

Whether it was politically motivated or not, the success of shows such as "Planet Earth" on Discovery Channel and similar movies and TV specials from other documentarians persuaded Disney to get back into the fray. The Disneynature production arm, though, may have been created purely for business reasons rather than political philosophy at the studio. Nevertheless, the talk has already been heating up that Disney set a film agenda at Disneynature as a part of jumping on the global warming bandwagon. It's easy to say that those who run Disney now are a part of liberal Hollywood and want to remind the world of global warming through a diffuse slate of movies celebrating nature. There isn't a doubt that the release of Disneynature's next feature ("Oceans") alone will infuse environmentalists to preserve and protect our environment from industries out to destroy it.

Other critics of the whole endeavor might be quick to point out that it's the French who are actually at the helm of Disneynature through former Disney France honcho Jean-Francois Camilleri and British nature documentarian Alastair Fothergill. France seems to be long on board for alternative energy and stopping the onslaught of global warming, which only adds more controversy to their set of beliefs.

Whatever the true motivations are behind the Disneynature slate of films, it's likely a lot of people who haven't seen the True-Life Adventures before are likely going out to find them now on DVD. Unfortunately, two of the four volumes are out of print and going for the usual exorbitant prices on the rare Disney DVD market. You can probably find some good deals, however, and shouldn't have a problem acquiring new copies of volumes Two and Three through Amazon.com. What you'll see there is the only time in Hollywood history when a nature film didn't take any side other than to entertain and make us aware of nature's fragility.

If Disneynature is out to do the same thing, it'll have to take the deduction methods of America's audiences to determine that balance. As long as there's an ever-widening political divide, someone who's out to do a truly balanced portrayal of nature and the dangers of global warming will unfortunately always be suspect through too many eyes...

Source:

http://disney.go.com/disneynature/