From a press release quoted by Salon:
MOVE OVER MICHAEL MOORE…
Disney & Move America Forward
Team Up to Show a Brighter Side of America(SACRAMENTO) — Move America Forward is teaming up with Walt Disney Pictures to present an exclusive screening of Disney’s “America’s Heart & Soul” on Monday, June 28, 2004 at the Crest Theater in Sacramento, California. The private screening takes place at 1:00 PM and members of the news media are invited to attend. “Americas Heart & Soul” opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, July 2nd.
Unlike the negative and misleading storyline of Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Disney’s “America’s Heart & Soul” features a collection of upbeat storylines of real life Americans who pursue their passions in a way that underscores what makes America a great nation.
WHAT: Screening of Walt Disney Pictures’ “America’s Heart & Soul”
WHO: Representatives of Walt Disney Pictures
Howard Kaloogian, Chairman, Move America Forward
Melanie Morgan, Vice Chairman, Move America Forward
[Melanie is also a talk show host on KSFO 560 AM San Francisco]
Eric Hogue, KTKZ 1380 AM Sacramento
Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck
Political Leaders
Business Leaders
Invited members of the communityOn its Web site, Move America Forward complains that: “Those who oppose the War on Terror have the mouthpiece of the mainstream media to disseminate their propaganda to the entire nation in an almost unchallenged effort. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week it is bash America, bash the military and bash the Bush administration.”
You know, all of a sudden I just got this chill. In the place of “media propaganda” we’ve got “mouse propaganda.”
I don’t think I want to go back to Disney World or Disneyland anytime soon. This use of beloved icons, from a company whose image has always been so carefully cultivated as being from a magical world of imagination itself is far too disturbing – now they’ve got Mickey and Donald shilling for the “dissenters are traitors” worldview of the “move America forard” spin machine.
Imagine if they started putting their upbeat stories of real-life Americans, suitably RE-imagined and RE-packaged, into the product that they pump into millions of homes and millions of minds. Of course, the shiny, happy stories are not that different from the ones they’ve always told, but they’re just a bit shinier and happier, and there are more pretty flags waving.
Can you imagine what the Disney imagineers could do with a little magic, a pinch of fairy dust, and just the teensiest bit of thought control? As much as I love the happy memories associated with watching “Wonderful World of Disney” as a kid, I can.
It’d make a hell of a scary movie. One that Walt would never have made. In fact, what would Walt do if he were still alive? Probably, he never would have hooked up with Michael Moore in the first place. Which makes me wonder; what the hell were the folks at Disney thinking when they made the initial deal with Moore in the first place? Did they not know that he’s the giant-killer of Big Corporate America, and Big Political America?
