“Maybe Satan just needs a little love. Maybe that’s why he does bad stuff all the time.”
I&#8217;ll never forget my devout Catholic mom&#8217;s reaction to that suggestion, which I made as an innocent child. I was living in a world of 1990s Disney princesses, where bad guys could only be reformed or banished, and the heroes always won in the end. My mom made it clear that the devil can&#8217;t be redeemed.
These days, entertainment companies are selling children something very different. There&#8217;s a trend in movies for yesterday&#8217;s villains to embrace their darkness — painted as edgy and attractive — while dragging the hero along a less conventional path with them.
There&#8217;s nothing wrong with a redemption story, and no sinner is beyond forgiveness. But this subversion is doing something else entirely. Now the villains are the main characters. They&#8217;re hip and cool. They&#8217;re not turning away from darkness; they&#8217;re figuring out how to channel it into the mainstream.
A new <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0RW8EW08Dk">trailer</a> for the upcoming Netflix movie &#8220;Steps&#8221; highlights this trend perfectly. The film is pitched as a fresh twist on Cinderella, told from the perspective of Lilith, one of the so-called &#8220;evil&#8221; stepsisters.
&#8220;So-called&#8221; evil. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith">Lilith</a>. Do you see what they&#8217;re doing here?
In the trailer released last week, Lilith breezily introduces herself as a misunderstood character, telling viewers they&#8217;re &#8220;smart, good-looking people&#8221; who &#8220;deserve to know the real story.&#8221; The animated character is dressed in black, chopping off her long hair, stomping a combat boot, and applying dark eyeliner and lipstick. Her skirt features a peek-a-boo skull. &#8220;This one&#8217;s for all my mean giiiiiiiirls,&#8221; the musical accompaniment from Charli XCX swells as Lilith finishes getting dolled up and kicks through the door.
There&#8217;s no mistaking that this is goth-lite for young kids and that Lilith Halloween costumes aren&#8217;t far behind. Notably, comments are turned off for the trailer on YouTube.
The movie isn&#8217;t out yet, so it&#8217;s unclear where her fate lies. There&#8217;s a chance Cinderella — a character revered for her beauty, kindness, and selflessness — convinces Lilith to quit her mean-girl ways.
The synopsis suggests otherwise.
&#8220;Tired of living in Cinderella&#8217;s shadow, Lilith (Ali Wong) steals the Fairy Godmother&#8217;s (Bette Midler) magic wand and hijacks the royal ball with her sister, Margot (Stephanie Hsu). This dooms the kingdom to the tyrannical rule of the villainous Priscilla (Nikki Glaser), who swoops in and snatches the throne.&#8221;
It continues: &#8220;Lilith must team up with Cinderella (Amanda Seyfried) to fight biker trolls, outrun evil henchmen, and escape the Screaming Woods. Breaking with the Cinderella story as we know it, they go on an epic quest to save the kingdom — but most importantly, to save their relationship.&#8221;
Netflix <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/steps-cast-release-date">describes it</a> as &#8220;equal parts classic fairy tale and badass quest.&#8221; Co-director John Ripa said the goal was to break the fairy-tale mold by making every character three-dimensional and worthy of a happily ever after. Co-director Alyce Tzue said her own life inspired the narrative — growing up as an artsy Taiwanese kid in suburban New Jersey, she often felt like an outsider and wanted to make a film for anyone who&#8217;s ever felt like &#8220;happily ever after&#8221; wasn&#8217;t meant for them.
But the original Cinderella story isn&#8217;t about out-of-place kids from New Jersey. It comes from ancient folklore and, like so many Disney adaptations, from the much darker Brothers Grimm version. In &#8220;Aschenputtel,&#8221; Cinderella&#8217;s stepmother and stepsisters have &#8220;black and ugly&#8221; hearts. 
They force her to do heavy chores, mock her, and make her sleep among the ashes. They cut off parts of their own feet trying to force them into the gold slipper, and are punished for their cruelty when birds peck them blind on Cinderella&#8217;s wedding day.
That version is less appetizing, but in many ways more honest, than the subversive reboot Netflix is brewing. One important thing it does is draw a line between good and evil, leaving no room to question where one ends and the other begins.
This inversion of moral clarity is happening everywhere. In the upcoming adaptation of C.S. Lewis&#8217;s &#8220;The Magician&#8217;s Nephew,&#8221; Uncle Andrew is painted as bumbling and possibly well-intentioned rather than outright evil, as he was written. Lewis meant the character as an allegory for the inevitable outcomes of selfishness, cowardice, cruelty, and moral blindness. Daniel Craig&#8217;s version isn&#8217;t quite so dark. 
&#8220;I&#8217;d like to say that his intentions are good, but I&#8217;m not sure that they are,&#8221; Craig said of the character in a recent <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/narnia-magicians-apprentice-daniel-craig-first-look-exclusive/">interview</a> with Empire. &#8220;It&#8217;s not to say that he&#8217;s cruel and mean and awful. He gets overexcited about what could be, and therefore overlooks the people around him and the consequences of what he&#8217;s doing.&#8221;
This treatment isn&#8217;t confined to fairy tales. Another example: the effort to paint Cathy Ames, the villain of John Steinbeck&#8217;s &#8220;East of Eden,&#8221; as merely misunderstood. 
&#8220;[Showrunner Zoe Kazan] wasn&#8217;t interested in making her just a monster,&#8221; actress Florence Pugh, who plays the role in an upcoming Netflix adaptation, <a href="https://x.com/TheAtlantic/status/2101060827801686287">told</a> The Atlantic. &#8220;She was interested in understanding her, and digging deeper, and giving her maybe just a moment for the audience to recognize, or for them to have empathy for her …. That was just so thrilling to me, because then it is my job to try and make that happen, and it is my job to try and get you guys to sympathize and maybe fall in love with her a little bit.&#8221;
Kazan confirmed Pugh&#8217;s read on the character, describing her work as staying true to Steinbeck&#8217;s original while &#8220;unfolding&#8221; Cathy&#8217;s nature rather than inventing something new. &#8220;Everything that&#8217;s in the series has at least a root in the book,&#8221; Kazan said. But Steinbeck meant Cathy to be a psychotic monster. He wrote her as someone born without a normal human soul, empathy, or conscience, a malformed creature who views humanity with total contempt.
Hollywood wasn&#8217;t always this way. Superhero movies used to give us bad guys vanquished by good guys. Even would-be villains found their way to the light. In Disney&#8217;s &#8220;Descendants,&#8221; which premiered in 2015, the children of storybook villains attend a magical boarding school on an evil mission from their parents. It easily could have become a statement on how bad isn&#8217;t really bad and good isn&#8217;t really good. Instead, the kids realize their parents are actually evil — and choose to embrace their own innate goodness.
In 2026, Disney would never.
The problem isn’t a matter of complexity. Real people are complicated. Real stories can and should explore why someone becomes cruel and whether redemption is possible. The danger is when the culture systematically refuses to call darkness what it is. It’s when “misunderstood” becomes the default setting for every villain and the only unforgivable sin is judging that darkness or expecting people to turn away from the bad to embrace the good.
Fairy tales once taught children that evil exists, that it has consequences, and that goodness is worth defending. When we invert that lesson, when we dress the stepsister in combat boots and call her the protagonist, we are confusing the obvious. It’s hard to believe that’s not intentional. 
***
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

steps_zmk01_0100_Paint_lilithDressChangeRGBFlatPNG_v008

Sorry, Cinderella. The Evil Stepsister Gets The Spotlight Now.

arts

cinderella

disney

east of eden

hollywood

netflix

When my children return to school each fall, I have a few rituals. Among the least fun: Deep-clean the mudroom. Among the most fun: Watch &#8220;You’ve Got Mail,&#8221; the movie equivalent of a pumpkin spice latte when it comes to cozy autumnal cheer.   
Its dated, AOL-centered plot notwithstanding, &#8220;You’ve Got Mail&#8221; is a timeless rom-com in the way that matters most: Both main characters have to grow and change in order to make “happily ever after” happen.
Today, that kind of romance-centered ending itself can seem like a relic of an earlier time. Romance is on the downswing, both on screen and in real life. Could making “happily ever after” great again help to re-enchant our love-starved culture? 
I think it’s past time to find out. Movies and television shows — for both kids and adults — should bring back the fairy tale ending. 
How coupling up became cringe
In some ways, it’s understandable that girls’ and women’s media have moved away from the dominance of the marriage plot. Many such stories revolved around less than compelling leading ladies, whose own character formation — to the extent it was depicted at all — remained secondary to the romantic finale. The popular culture of my own 1990s and 2000s childhood and adolescence centered on depictions of <a href="https://lawliberty.org/the-tangled-legacy-of-gloria-steinem/">alleged female empowerment</a> that looked in practice like vapid boy-craziness. 
&#8220;The Little Mermaid&#8221; was my favorite movie when I was in preschool, but I would be hard-pressed to make a case that Ariel’s infatuation with Eric is interesting, instructive, or aspirational. Her character chases some random guy against all common sense and contra paternal admonition — and eventually gets him to marry her without ever learning anything of substance or evincing any mature regard for others. 
A similarly facile arc was at work in &#8220;Sex and the City,&#8221; which remains the iconic depiction of upper-middle-class women’s lives and loves at the turn of the 21st century. Protagonist Carrie Bradshaw sleeps around to fill the time, ditches a good guy to chase a bad one, yet eventually lands her elusive prince charming (and even eventually marries him in the 2008 film). 
In the 2010s, media for girls and women moved away from these kinds of “girl gets boy, which is all she cares about” narratives — and rightfully so. But instead of portraying female characters who mature as whole people and find love along the way, contemporary stories about girls and women have largely moved away from the love plot altogether. 
Unfortunately, this leaves kids’ protagonists such as Mirabel from &#8220;Encanto&#8221; and the titular heroine of &#8220;Moana&#8221; chasing self-actualization rooted in their ancestors’ troubled past rather than pursuing self-development that looks toward a brighter future. The same can be said of many more recent protagonists written for women, such as Hannah in &#8220;Girls&#8221; and Jo and Raissa in the forthcoming &#8220;Forgotten Island.&#8221;
Ideals that inspire
Is this what we want for our daughters — or ourselves? To be obsessed with some aspect of a collectivist yesterday rather than focusing on one’s own tomorrows? To remain indefinitely uncoupled? I hope not. It’s not what I want for my sons, either. 
Yes, it’s good to broaden women’s media beyond the marriage plot. Girls and women deserve and warrant depictions that reflect and inspire womanhood in its wholeness, which surely includes more than marriage.
But womanhood in its wholeness includes marriage, too. We’ve been so busy making sure that girls are consuming more than “just” a marriage plot that we’ve abandoned the centrality of marriage altogether, both in cinema and <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/whats-killing-marriage-unmarriageable-men-or-liberal-women">in life</a>. Today, only 61% of 12th grade girls in the U.S. say they are <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/11/14/12th-grade-girls-are-less-likely-than-boys-to-say-they-want-to-get-married-someday/">likely to get married</a> someday. While it’s true that marriage rates are dropping and that the young men in their cohort have <a href="https://familycouncil.org/2026/09/01/study-shows-staggering-number-of-young-men-trapped-in-addiction-economy-of-gambling-pornography/">all kinds of problems</a>, these girls are also reflecting the norms (or lack thereof) of the media they consume. 
Obviously, “happily ever after” was never a universal guarantee. But it was, not so long ago, a near-universal aspiration. When we decided to make women’s media about something other than “just” marriage, we threw the proverbial baby out with the bath water. 
If our art reflects our ideals, it should depict and celebrate women who pursue both individual formation and ultimate coupledom — rather than adopting a facile, trendy indifference to the irreplaceable institution of marriage.
Once upon a time — and not all that long ago — we understood as much. 
“Happily ever after” done right 
There are plenty of <a href="https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2025/05/97967/">women’s stories</a> that put “happily ever after” in its proper context, from Jane Austen’s &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/forget-pride-and-prejudice-modern-women-need-the-hard-truths-of-emma?author=Elizabeth+Grace+Matthew&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Jane+Austen%E2%80%99s+Most+Uncomfortable+Lesson+For+Modern+Women">Emma</a>&#8221; to Louisa May Alcott’s &#8220;Little Women&#8221; to Disney’s &#8220;The Princess and the Frog.&#8221; These narratives take female formation seriously in the context of what does not begin as, but ultimately becomes, a love plot.
An emphasis on female protagonists’ formation that ends with marriage is not sexist or reductive, but holistic and aspirational. We need to return to the idea of a suitable marriage as the most important thing, but not the only thing, that young women (and young men!) should typically aim for — both on screen and in life. 
In other words, character development and romantic success are not opposites, <a href="https://ifstudies.org/insights?id=3832">but complements</a>. The fact that we produced a lot of ditzy, uneven marriage plots for a while does not mean that we can’t do better and produce worthier, more egalitarian ones. 
And then, we can hope that life really does imitate art. 
***
Elizabeth Grace Matthew writes about books, education, and culture, including <a href="https://elizabethgracematthew.substack.com/about">on Substack</a>.
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

GettyImages-3294142

The New Fairy Tale Has A Pretty Depressing Plot Twist

lifestyle

marriage

romantic comedy

sex and the city

you've got mail

Jimmy Kimmel’s 24-year run in late-night television may end next year, according to a report that ABC is flatly denying. 
<a href="https://pagesix.com/2026/09/08/entertainment/jimmy-kimmels-late-night-show-set-to-end-after-next-season-after-24-years/">Page Six</a> reported Tuesday that ABC does not plan to extend Kimmel&#8217;s contract after it expires in May 2027 and that the upcoming season of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is expected to be the show’s last, citing sources familiar with the situation. 
“His contract is not getting extended,” one source told the outlet.
ABC pushed back on the report, saying it has not made a decision about the show&#8217;s future.
“This information is inaccurate — any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative,” a network spokesman told Page Six.
Kimmel, 58, signed a one-year extension with Disney in December 2025 after his previous contract was set to expire in May 2026. He has maintained an unusual arrangement with ABC, frequently signing year-to-year contracts rather than the multiyear agreements common among major television hosts, giving him more flexibility as speculation about his eventual retirement continues.
If the Page Six report is accurate, Kimmel’s final episode would air in May 2027, bringing a run that began in January 2003.
The report surfaced as Kimmel prepares to return to ABC on Tuesday night following his summer hiatus. The network has scheduled Andrew Garfield and Joey King to join him for his return. ABC’s schedule confirms the show will continue to air at 11:35 p.m. throughout the week.
Kimmel&#8217;s potential departure follows a turbulent year for the late-night host. In September 2025, ABC <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmels-late-night-show-indefinitely-after-charlie-kirk-comments?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=ABC+Pulls+Jimmy+Kimmel%E2%80%99s+Late+Night+Show+%E2%80%98Indefinitely%E2%80%99+After+Charlie+Kirk+Comments">pulled</a> his show from the air following controversial remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
ABC initially said the program would be preempted indefinitely before Kimmel returned to the air several days later.
Kimmel has also remained one of President Donald Trump’s most frequent critics in late-night television, while Trump has repeatedly called for ABC to take action against the comedian. The political dispute has continued into 2026, although the sources cited by Page Six reportedly do not believe politics is the reason for the alleged decision to end the show.
Instead, Page Six reported that cost-cutting and restructuring at Disney could be a factor. The company has undergone broader restructuring under Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, including efforts to reduce costs.
Kimmel’s potential departure would come amid a broader shake-up in late-night television. CBS recently ended “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” another long-running program hosted by a comedian who has frequently targeted Trump and his administration.
&nbsp;

JIMMY KIMMEL

Jimmy Kimmel May Be Running Out Of Late Nights

charlie kirk

jimmy kimmel

jimmy kimmel live

late night television

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez must have rehearsed the line she may live to regret.
The New York socialist recently told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl how she remembers the recent past and some of her party’s excesses.
“Woke 1 was crazy,” she said with a sheepish grin, allegedly quoting fellow socialist New York City Councilman Chi Ossé.
Yes, we know. And Hollywood embraced that craziness as much as any institution. So while Ocasio-Cortez hopes to memory hole woke’s political implications, it’s worth revisiting exactly why “woke 1 was crazy” in La La Land.
It crushed the Hollywood brand, hurt the U.S. box office, and coaxed celebrities into betraying their art.
The worst example remains the 2025 “Snow White” debacle. Disney decided to update the classic story, the first animated film in the studio’s history, for a modern audience.
That meant no dwarfs, since casting little people in a major Hollywood movie would be deemed offensive in some quarters. Just ask <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/jan/25/peter-dinklage-disney-remake-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs">little person superstar Peter Dinklage</a>.
But other little-person actors, who struggle to find recurring gigs, raged at the decision. They watched that oh-so-rare Hollywood door slam in their faces.
The story’s “dwarfs” would have become full-sized magical humans, at least according to a viral image that <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/07/18/disney-backtracks-on-politically-correct-snow-white-pics/">Disney unsuccessfully tried to downplay</a>. But the Mouse House quasi-backpedaled, using CGI to create animated dwarves at the last minute.
It wasn’t woke enough to cast someone of Colombian descent in the title role. Rachel Zegler, the film’s leading lady, took it upon herself to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disneys-snow-white-star-slammed-as-she-continues-bashing-original-film-in-another-resurfaced-video">mock the source material</a>, angering Disney loyalists in the process.
The finished film downplayed the story’s romantic angle because female empowerment, a woke staple, doesn’t require a man for “Happy ever after.”
The result? “Snow White” lost Disney a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinereid/2026/02/10/disney-loses-170-million-on-snow-white-as-studio-reveals-movie-blew-its-budget/">reported $170 million</a> after it belly-flopped in theaters.
The Black Lives Matter movement spiked in 2020 following George Floyd’s death. Hollywood studios and stars bent over backward to accommodate the far-Left cause, racing to social media to flex their woke platitudes.
That partially explains a cringe-worthy video where famous faces like Aaron Paul, Kristen Bell, Debra Messing and other white actors “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdsmxzaHtSQ">take responsibility</a>” for systemic racism.
They apologized for racial stereotypes, racially-charged jokes and so-called police brutality, even if the facts didn’t line up with their pleas.
“Black people are being slaughtered in the streets,” Julianne Moore said, ignoring how that’s sadly true as black-on-black crime, often in Democrat-run cities like Chicago, and is not a racially-charged development in the vast majority of America.
That BLM fever dream coaxed some artists to censor themselves. Tina Fey of “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” fame once told an interviewer <a href="https://www.phillymag.com/things-to-do/2015/12/21/tina-fey-jokes/">she’s against explaining jokes</a>. That attitude flipped post-Floyd.
Fey instructed streaming platforms to censor four “30 Rock” episodes that had <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53148316">blackface-like moments.</a>
Desus &amp; Mero, two minority comedians who briefly enjoyed a successful Showtime pairing, admitted they <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/desus-mero-self-censor-cancel-culture/">self-censored</a> for fear of a woke backlash.
Woke also infected beloved franchises like “Star Wars,” “Doctor Who” and “Star Trek.” The first saga suffered the most, shedding decades of goodwill by incorporating woke elements in “The Last Jedi,” “The Acolyte” (<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/06/07/the-acolyte-creators-joke-about-making-gayest-star-wars-series-and-lesbian-r2-d2-angering-right-wing-critics/">the “gayest” title in the saga</a>) and “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
“Jedi” had female commanders dressing down male heroes like Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and an income inequality subplot, while “The Acolyte” featured lesbian space witches as central to the story. “Solo” showcased a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/05/the-soul-of-solo-is-a-droid/560969/">woke droid</a> who prattled on about robot rights.
The fallout? “The Acolyte” earned a swift cancellation, and the most recent “Star Wars” film, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” became the lowest grossing film in the franchise.
Original films also sank thanks to extreme woke content. Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, 2019’s “Booksmart,” might go in a time capsule for the most overtly woke comedy. The film featured two high school seniors who dressed like Fidel Castro junkies and pushed endless female empowerment. The box office? A tepid $22 million stateside.
Hollywood tried to reboot the “Charlie’s Angels” IP, but it did it during peak-woke mania. Out went bikini-clad crime fighters, in went social justice warriors marching against The Patriarchy.
“I think women can do anything,” star <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/charlies-angels-review-2019/">Kristen Stewart says in the film’s opening sequence</a>.  “I want all my options available so I can decide for myself.”
The revived franchise stalled with a paltry $17 million U.S. total.
Woke culture proved so suffocating that even the industry’s biggest stars couldn’t escape it. Lovable Kevin Hart, one of the few bankable movie stars at the time, got picked to host the 2019 Academy Awards telecast. That is, until someone dug up a nearly decade-old comedy routine where he protested his child possibly being gay.
The Outrage Mob did its social media thing, and Hart sheepishly quit the assignment before the <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/awards/kevin-hart-says-the-film-academy-has-given-him-an-ultimatum-apologize-or-well-find-another-oscars-host-1203083698/">Academy could fire him</a>. The process took 48 hours.
“The Tonight Show’s” Jimmy Fallon endured a woke struggle session on his own program in 2020. A 20-year-old clip “resurfaced” where Fallon donned black makeup to imitate Chris Rock. He begged for forgiveness on-air.
<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/09/chris-rock-jimmy-fallon-blackface?srsltid=AfmBOoplVWDNM3WKdSdiT8e3oLpXzr-aDQb_-pTfjsw8jlDNGYhc8Yin">Rock later defended Fallon</a>, but only after the humiliating “hostage”-style apology. He likely feared the blowback if he spoke out earlier.
No star was too big to be taken down by the woke mob. Consider A-lister Scarlett Johansson, who briefly signed on to play a trans character in “Rub and Tug.” News of the gig enraged the woke Left, who demanded the role go to an actual trans actor.
Johansson apologized and <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/news/scarlett-johansson-exit-rub-and-tug-trans-backlash-1202872981/">quit the gig</a>. “Rub and Tug” never got made. Halle Berry similarly signed on for a trans role but swiftly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jul/07/halle-berry-drops-out-of-trans-role-after-protests-over-misgendering">quit under similar pressure</a>.
Hollywood has learned some lessons from the Peak Woke era. Movies have less overt progressive messaging than before. Comedians have more room to say what they want, when they want.
Woke remains in the industry’s DNA. Should Ocasio-Cortez’s party come out on top in 2028, the movement might get a Hollywood sequel.
***
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News&#8217; Big Hollywood. He&#8217;s also the host of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hollywood-in-toto-podcast-w-christian-toto/id1186449155">The Hollywood in Toto Podcast</a>. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en">@HollywoodInToto</a>.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” New York Premiere

The Post-Mortem Of Hollywood’s Most Expensive Trend

alexandria ocasio-cortez

opinion

snow white

star wars

woke culture in hollywood

The Walt Disney Company and ABC sued the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, accusing the agency of violating the company’s First Amendment rights through an unprecedented early review of its broadcast licenses.
The lawsuit marks one of the most aggressive legal challenges yet by a major media company against the Trump administration and comes amid an escalating fight between Disney, ABC, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, and President Donald Trump over the network’s programming — centered on late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Disney’s eight ABC-owned television stations <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kimmel-uproar-spills-over-abc-stations-now-under-review-what-it-means-for-your-tv">were ordered</a> by the FCC in April to begin the license renewal process years ahead of schedule. The stations’ licenses were not otherwise due for renewal until 2028 at the earliest.
Disney argues that the FCC’s action is an unconstitutional attempt to pressure the company over the content it broadcasts. “Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” Disney attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.
The company is asking a federal court to immediately block the FCC from taking or threatening action against Disney’s ABC stations in connection with the early renewal process. ABC has also requested a speedy hearing and a temporary restraining order.
Trump has repeatedly called for Kimmel to be fired, including after the president accused the late-night host of making a “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-wants-kimmel-fired-over-despicable-assassination-comment">despicable call to violence</a>” about the president and first lady Melania Trump. The FCC’s early review, however, formally centers on ABC’s broadcast licenses and the agency’s authority to determine whether broadcasters are operating in the “public interest.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has defended the agency’s actions, arguing that broadcasters using the nation’s public airwaves have obligations that do not apply to cable channels, streaming services, or podcasts. “If you want to uniquely be on the public’s airwaves, you have to comply with those obligations,” Carr told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/first-on-cnbc-transcript-fcc-chairman-brendan-carr-speaks-with-cnbcs-squawk-on-the-street-today.html">CNBC</a> in July.
Carr has argued that the FCC is not attempting to dictate what broadcasters say but is instead seeking to ensure that companies holding broadcast licenses meet their obligations to the public. Disney and ABC have rejected that characterization, previously accusing the FCC of attempting to chill constitutionally protected speech.
The conflict over ABC’s licenses intensified after the administration’s public clashes with Kimmel.
In September 2025, Disney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmels-late-night-show-indefinitely-after-charlie-kirk-comments">briefly pulled</a> “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from the air after Carr publicly criticized Kimmel over comments he made following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Kimmel had questioned the motives attributed to Kirk’s alleged killer and criticized Republicans for their response to the killing.
The network ultimately returned Kimmel to the air, but the episode became a major flashpoint in the broader dispute over whether the government was improperly attempting to influence the content of broadcast television.
Disney’s lawsuit now argues that the FCC’s actions represent an “existential threat” to the company and its First Amendment rights.
“The Commission issued an unprecedented order requiring the Stations to file early applications to renew their licenses — years before any of their licenses would have come up for renewal in the ordinary course and allowing only thirty days to file applications which ordinarily take months to prepare,” Disney attorneys Beth Wilkinson and Paul Clement <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/abc-disney-sues-fcc-trump-administration-first-amendment-rcna593088">wrote</a>.
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro signaled last week that the company was prepared to continue fighting the administration. “We’re going to stand up to what we believe is journalistic integrity,” D’Amaro told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/14/first-on-cnbc-transcript-disney-ceo-josh-damaro-speaks-with-cnbcs-julia-boorstin-on-squawk-on-the-street-today.html">CNBC</a>. “And we’re not going to be told how to run that side of our business.”
“I like what we do. We tell incredible stories. I think we do it well. We do it around the world. And we’re going to stay committed to that,” he added.
The FCC has not indicated that Disney’s licenses will be revoked, and the agency’s review itself does not establish that ABC has violated federal law or FCC rules.
But the legal battle pits the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive approach toward broadcast media directly against one of the country’s largest entertainment companies.
The case could ultimately force the courts to address how far the federal government can go in enforcing the obligations attached to broadcast licenses without crossing the constitutional line into government control over protected speech.
Disney is asking the court to halt the FCC’s early renewal process while the broader dispute plays out.

Disney

Disney Goes To War With Trump’s FCC Over ABC, Jimmy Kimmel

brendan carr

federal communications commission

politics

CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman is facing sexual harassment allegations in a lawsuit filed by a former ABC News colleague, who claims he made inappropriate sexual remarks on two assignments during his time at that network.
Former ABC News field producer Samira Said named Gutman, ABC News and parent company The Walt Disney Co. as defendants in the <a href="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/gutman-suit.pdf">suit</a> filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Said, who worked in ABC&#8217;s Los Angeles bureau from May 2021 until March 2025, alleges discrimination, hostile work environment harassment, retaliation, failure to accommodate her medical conditions and wrongful termination.
Said alleges she was &#8220;placed on a male-only team including on-air correspondent Matt Gutman&#8221; and two other male crew members. &#8220;While the team waited in a public queue during the assignment, Gutman initiated a discussion rating a female correspondent&#8217;s appearance and reducing her professional standing to a numerical score based on her physical attributes,&#8221; the complaint states. The other crew members allegedly joined in and tried to draw Said into the conversation; she declined and said the discussion was inappropriate, according to the filing.
In a second alleged incident, Said and Gutman disagreed during a press day for a film release about whether the team should leave the site. &#8220;In front of multiple coworkers, Gutman responded by making a sexualized insinuation that Said must have an after-hours date in the city and that this is why she did not want to relocate,&#8221; the suit says. The remark, &#8220;made audibly to others, demeaned Said and reduced her professional judgment to a sexualized stereotype,&#8221; her attorneys wrote.
CBS News did not immediately respond to the Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment. Representatives for ABC News and Disney also did not respond. The allegations have not been tested in court, and Gutman has not publicly responded to them.
Said was assigned in May 2022 to cover the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, while still experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, and was required to interview child survivors, the suit alleges. She reported severe psychological symptoms afterward and asked her supervisor for a short leave, which was declined, according to the filing.
She was granted medical leave from August 2022 through January 2023, the suit says, though her bureau chief allegedly continued sending her assignment requests. Her psychiatrist cleared her to return in January 2023 subject to accommodations, but the complaint alleges ABC denied them and HR gave her an ultimatum: return without accommodations or not at all.
Said also alleges she was struck by heavy equipment while covering severe weather in 2025, causing a bone contusion. She reported it, but a Disney physician determined the injury did not require leave, according to the suit. ABC fired her in March 2025, shortly after.
She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorneys&#8217; fees.
Gutman joined CBS News on Jan. 5 after 17 years at ABC News, where he was chief national correspondent. CBS Evening News averaged 4.1 million viewers during the week of July 27 while he filled in for vacationing anchor Tony Dokoupil — the show&#8217;s best week in 17 weeks and the first above 4 million since late March, per Nielsen data first <a href="https://www.status.news/p/cbs-evening-news-ratings-tony-dokoupil-matt-gutman">reported</a> by Status. A CBS spokesperson attributed the bump to a heavier news week across all broadcasts.
Gutman was the first major on-air hire by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, who took over the division in October 2025 and installed Dokoupil at Evening News shortly afterward.

19th Annual Stand Up for Heroes

CBS News Star Matt Gutman Accused Of Sexual Harassment In New Lawsuit

abc news

bari weiss

cbs news

matt gutman

The Walt Disney Company will hold one of its largest annual events this week, but it isn’t for children. D23, held in Anaheim, California, is “The Ultimate Disney Fan Event” that showcases upcoming movies, theme park additions, and cruise line offerings. Many attendees will cosplay as their favorite Disney characters and travel across the country for the event’s exclusive merchandise, pin trading, and panels. With special tickets priced as high as <a href="https://deadline.com/2024/03/disney-d23-tickets-on-sale-dates-presentations-1235862902/">$2,599</a>, D23’s premium pricing structure reveals that this isn’t a family-oriented experience.
Disney’s D23 is a convention for adult superfans. This is antithetical to the vision of its founder, Walt Disney, who wanted to build theme parks where parents and children could spend time together. “We believed in our idea: a family park,” he famously said when asked why he built Disneyland. 
In the years since Walt’s passing, the company has cycled through several executives and branding strategies, trying (and sometimes failing) to find new ways to engage families. However, it has found a new, far more profitable target demographic: Disney adults. Armed with far more disposable income than the parents Disney once tried to court, these adults are trapped in their nostalgia. They are willing to shell out thousands of dollars on exclusive merchandise, visits to the theme parks, hotel stays, vacation clubs, and “special events” like D23. Certain parks will hold “festivals,” which primarily consist of offering themed craft cocktails, which can cost up to <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ultimate-guide-drinking-around-world-100000997.html">$39</a> each. Two adults can easily spend as much as <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/travel/learn/disney-world-cost-2-adults">$10,000</a> for a week-long stay. For middle-class American families, these prices make a trip to Disney World totally out of reach.
Hardcore Disney adults can live in a planned community controlled by the company. Disney&#8217;s first town, Celebration, Florida, opened in the 1990s. It was crafted to emulate the same small-town nostalgia of Main Street, USA, with extremely strict homeowners association guidelines and carefully crafted parks and boulevards that many residents compared to “The Truman Show.” Golden Oak, another residential community built inside Disney World property, has luxury homes that sell for between <a href="https://maxliferealty.com/golden-oak">$4 million and $15 million</a>. Additionally, their HOA fees can be up to $34,000 per year, a price that hundreds of residents are willing to pay to live in the shadow of Cinderella’s castle.
Disney adults are willing to invest an exorbitant amount of money into the fandom. Average families can’t compete. Disney’s adult-oriented pin trading fandom has also exploded in popularity, with collectors of rare pins spending hundreds of dollars. A Wall-E pin that originally cost $12.95 recently sold for <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/rarest-disney-pins-and-prices/">$1,499</a>, while an Elsa pin sold for over $1,300. 
The high costs of vacations, merchandise, and even houses are worth it for thousands of die-hard Disney devotees. At least <a href="https://gitnux.org/disneyland-visitor-statistics/">35%</a> of the people visiting Disney parks have no children, but estimates believe that figure <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-disney-parks-top-destinations-millennials-gen-z-2023-9">may be</a> closer to 50%. Adult fans have launched full-time careers as Disney influencers, filming themselves walking around the parks or “DisneyBounding,” which allows adults to dress up as Disney characters without breaking the parks’ rules restricting adults from explicitly wearing character costumes. One group of influencers known as the “Plus Size Park Hoppers” has exploded in popularity. Their content revolves around their experiences being “plus-size” at Disney World, and they will film themselves testing whether or not rides and roller coasters are “size inclusive.”
They <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2026/03/05/plus-size-park-hoppers-interview/88989156007/">claim</a> they do it to “be as happy as possible,” a message that has been parroted by other Disney influencers. “It’s a place to go back to your childhood and relive all of the good things that come with being a kid,” <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/theme-parks/2025/04/20/disney-adult-repeat-visits/82756391007/">said</a> one fan. Another <a href="https://www.bustle.com/life/disney-adults-psychology">said</a> she relied on Disney &#8220;to fill gaps for issues I didn’t want to face, including personal trauma.&#8221; One fan has taken her obsession so far that she is currently going viral for seemingly <a href="https://thetab.com/2026/08/12/a-deep-dive-into-what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-the-27-year-old-stalking-peter-pan-at-disneyland">stalking</a> the park&#8217;s Peter Pan actors over the course of years.
Disney has played into the growing popularity of Disney adults. Recent movie releases have pushed storylines that appear aimed at adults more than children and families. Films such as “Inside Out 2” and “Turning Red” made major plot points out of emotional turmoil, and “Soul” talked extensively about death. These topics are far too complex for young children, yet Disney still integrates them as a way to appeal to adults who want to stay in the comfort of Disney’s bubble.
By moving in this direction, Disney has destroyed Walt’s original vision of providing a joyful place for families. While he wanted his products to <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1287-you-re-dead-if-you-aim-only-for-kids-adults-are">appeal</a> to adults as well as children, it seems doubtful that he would be satisfied with the takeover of childless fans. Online, many Disney adults will make videos and memes about how they find children annoying and “<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jayka.noelle/video/7650549379924856077?_r=1&amp;_t=ZP-98noTNewFFn">hate</a>” kids. The current culture believes that children are a burden, and we have a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/topics/births.htm">declining birth rate</a> to prove it. Disney is only making this crisis worse by shifting its business model away from families and toward adults who are lured in by nostalgia and escapism.
D23 is the perfect example of the company’s changing demographics, relying on obsessive adults to pay exorbitant prices to see a sneak preview of the newest theme park ride or animated movie. With the time they should be investing in starting families, Disney adults are instead trying Snow White-themed cocktails and buying Wall-E pins. Our culture should expect better. Disney adults are trapped in their own adolescence, and we are all worse off because of it.
***
Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is a senior contributor at New Guard Press, a publication she joined while attending Hillsdale College.
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

GettyImages-2183879328

How Disney Ditched Families To Profit Off The ‘Disney Adult’

disney adult

theme park

Disneyland guests in Anaheim, California, were sent into a frenzy Tuesday after restaurants and restrooms were forced to close due to a water pressure issue affecting the city.
City officials told KTLA 5, ABC 7, and CBS LA that staff members at the park reported problems drawing from groundwater wells causing a drop in water pressure around 6 p.m. PT. Other establishments in the city stated that they had little to no water pressure available at the time.
Parkgoers visiting at the time of the water complication told <a href="https://ktla.com/news/california/anaheim-water-pressure-issue-affects-disneyland/">KTLA</a> that employees were standing outside of bathrooms to inform visitors that they are closed until further notice. Tiffany Christensen told the outlet she attempted to enter several bathrooms before realizing it was a city-wide issue, not just the park.
When bathrooms started to slowly reopen, long lines began to form across the park at the few that had opened.
One person on social media also claimed that the restaurants in “Downtown Disney,” a shopping district outside of the park, were being shut down as well.
“They were as helpful as the situation could allow,” Christensen said to KTLA. “Most guests understood it was out of Disney’s hands, while others were upset with the inconvenience. It was a little chaotic, but they handled it the best they could.”
Residents of Anaheim even reported water pressure issues beginning as early as 5 a.m. on Tuesday. City officials released the following statement when the drop in pressure was noticeable across Anaheim.
“We are offsetting the issue by using additional river water. Other wells across the city are not impacted. Those impacted should see improving water pressure over the next hour or so.”
By Tuesday night, KTLA reported that the problem was resolved and park operations returned to normal.

Anaheim Exteriors And Landmarks – 2025

Disney Shuts Down All Restaurants And Bathrooms In Dead Of Summer

Anaheim

disneyland

The Walt Disney Company, particularly Pixar, has cut hundreds of jobs on Tuesday despite the success of “Toy Story 5.” 
This marks the third round of employee cuts this year, which affects Disney Entertainment Television, Disney Studios, ESPN, and corporate divisions, the SFist <a href="https://sfist.com/2026/07/21/pixar-announces-large-round-of-layoffs-as-disney-moves-to-cut-hundreds-of-jobs/">reported</a>. 
The layoffs affected The Pixar animation studio in Emeryville, California, the most, mainly in production and operations. The studio has already experienced multiple rounds of job layoffs. 
Disney has not confirmed the exact number of Pixar employees who lost their jobs, but a source <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/business/disney-pixar-layoffs-2026/?auid=278662d1-128c-4a13-a4dd-97370bad5a5a">told</a> TheWrap that about 116 employees were let go. Disney reportedly employs around 230,000 people worldwide as of late 2025. 
In 2024, Pixar cut around 175 employees, which account for roughly 14% of the studio’s workforce, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/business/mass-layoffs-hit-disney-animation-movie-giant-being-gutted-again/">according</a> to the New York Post. The previous year, they cut 75 workers because of Disney’s shift toward theatrical content rather than streaming content.
In April, another round of cuts eliminated roughly 1,000 more jobs in television, ESPN, technology, marketing, studio operations, and corporate teams.
 “These changes are part of our continual evaluation of how we manage resources and reinvest across the company as our industry continues to evolve,” said a Disney spokesperson.
These cuts follow the success of “Toy Story 5,” which premiered on June 19 in theatres and amassed around $312 million worldwide during the movie’s opening weekend. This included a domestic franchise record of $160 million. 
Other original movies from Pixar, including “Hoppers” and “Elio,” reportedly produced weak and mixed reviews during their premieres. “Elio” generated the weakest opening weekend in Pixar history, and “Hoppers” fell short of other franchises created by the studio with slightly better ticket sales and reviews, according to The Post.
Even with the cuts, Pixar’s upcoming movies include “Incredibles 3” and “Gatto,” an original story directed by the “Luca” director, Enrico Casarosa.
Employees were informed of the layoffs on Tuesday morning.
“We’re building a company that’s more agile and better equipped for how the entertainment business is changing,” Josh D’Amero, Disney’s CEO, said to employees in April.

Disney World

Even ‘Toy Story 5’ Can’t Stop Disney’s Latest Round Of Layoffs

Pixar

Disney’s live-action version of “Moana” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson did abysmal numbers at the box office over the weekend, thanks in part to poor pre-sales and terrible reviews. 
The film brought in $43 million across 3,827 North American screens, barely making a dent in its massive $250 million production budget, which doesn&#8217;t even include the astronomical cost of marketing efforts.
Many of these remakes have earned a massive haul for Disney, notably “Beauty and the Beast” (2017) and more recently “Lilo &amp; Stitch” (2025). But there have also been some fantastic flops like “Snow White” last year. 
As of last month, &#8220;Moana&#8221; was <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/moana-live-action-movie-box-215720407.html">predicted to pull in</a> $80 to $105 million during its opening weekend. But those numbers dropped as its July 10 release day grew closer. 
It currently has a 33% critical score on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. “Virtually every line, beat, and song in the new movie is identical to the 2016 version, apart from a few minor punch-ups or extra comedy tags here and there&#8230; There’s no artistic or aesthetic reason for the live-action Moana to exist,” one <a href="https://www.polygon.com/moana-review-live-action-2026/">review</a> says. 
“The film doesn’t worry about novel turns. It just walks us through the familiar avenues like a dutiful tour guide. A lazy, lazy work that sullies the good name of ‘content,’” <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review/2026/07/08/moana-review-lazy-disney-live-action-remake-sullies-the-good-name-of-content/">says</a> another.
“It evoked in me a similar reaction to AI slop, where I cringe at the unnerving blend of the familiar and the not-quite-right,” a third <a href="https://mashable.com/entertainment/moana-live-action-2026-review">reviewer</a> agreed.
Movie fans point out that something is lost when animated films are redone with real actors — a criticism that keeps coming up in the early reviews of Moana, too. “From start to finish, ‘Moana’ stands out as one of the ugliest films of the year. The cinematography is washed out and dull, even when it is simply attempting to capture the beauty of Motunui, shot on location in Hawaii,” one <a href="https://discussingfilm.net/2026/07/08/moana-review-heartless-remake-disney/">review</a> says. 
“There are visual gags from the original film that look bizarre in live-action, such as the way Maui repeatedly tosses Moana off her boat. The non-human characters, once full of expression and personality, have lost all their charm.”
Interestingly, the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is far more positive, holding strong at 90% as of Monday morning. This includes verified viewers.
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&#8220;Same as the animated film. Nice summer movie, however if you’ve seen the animated film you’ve seen both!&#8221; one reviewer wrote, echoing what many others have said.
But another movie fan disagreed, writing, &#8220;Where’s all the hate coming from? Moana is a really good movie that’s [sic] best decision is to stick to the original.&#8221;
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Moana

Disney’s Latest Live Action Bombs At The Box Office

Disney's Live Action Moana Totally Bombs At The Box Office

box office

entertainment

Movies

Actress Daveigh Chase, who died in mid-June at the age of 35, died of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and prolonged drug abuse.
Chase, best known as the voice of Lilo in Disney&#8217;s 2002 smash animated feature &#8220;Lilo &amp; Stitch,&#8221; died in a Los Angeles hospital, and according to a medical examiner&#8217;s report reviewed by E! News, the manner of her death was listed as &#8220;natural,&#8221; and the cause of death was AIDS. Years of substance abuse, the report also noted, had been a major contributing factor in her death.
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lilo-stitch-voice-actress-dead-at-35-after-addiction-struggles">reported</a>, Chase had been living on the streets for some time prior to her passing. Initial reporting from entertainment news site TMZ quoted Roy Hernandez, who claimed to be her boyfriend, as saying that she&#8217;d died from meningitis and an infection in her blood that led to sepsis.
Chase, who also gave a terrifying performance as the ghostly Samara Morgan in “The Ring,” had been struggling with addiction for years and had recently been hospitalized in Los Angeles due to malnutrition.
The actress&#8217;s longtime manager, John Ryan, told The California Post at the time of her death that Chase likely still had <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/17/entertainment/lilo-stitch-actress-daveigh-chase-reportedly-had-millions-in-residuals-at-time-of-death/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions</a> in uncollected residuals. He explained that the deal Chase had signed when she got the role of Lilo — at just 8 years old — had included residuals and a cut of any future toys or theme park attractions that featured her voice. That money, which has continued to roll in, was apparently left uncollected as she was “too far gone” to accept her payments.
Years earlier, Ryan said that he and Chase&#8217;s stepsister Gaia Brown had hired a private investigator in the hopes of tracking Chase down and forcing her to get treatment for what they believed was addiction to heroin and fentanyl.
When a 2025 video circulated on social media, showing an emaciated and barely conscious woman who looked a lot like Chase on Skid Row, they went there to search for her. Ryan said at the time that he even spoke to her on the phone, but by the time they got to Skid Row, she had left.
“We were so close to finding her. Daveigh was the sweetest and brightest light in Hollywood. I can’t believe this is real. Her legacy and work will live on forever,” Ryan said.
Chase’s final role was in 2016’s “American Romance.”

Cause Of Death Revealed For ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Actress

Cause Of Death Revealed For 'Lilo & Stitch' Actress

AIDS

drug abuse

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
In Pixar&#8217;s original 1995 Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear completes his character arc from arrogant, wannabe space ranger to humble yet confident toy who straps himself to a rocket and saves the day with his new friend Woody. Fast-forward 30 years, and the story couldn&#8217;t be more different.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-lesson-toy-story-5-gets-dangerously-wrong">&#8220;Toy Story 5&#8221;</a> ends with a marriage scene where Buzz, wearing a kilt, is escorted down the aisle while his bride waits for him at the altar before tipping him over for a kiss after they are pronounced husband and wife. Were the writers intentionally trying to feminize Buzz? Or was all this done for comedic effect? I went viral on TikTok and Instagram for asking that very question.
As I type this, my video titled “Toy Story 5 And The Feminization Of Male Characters” has over 2.5 million views between <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@claytonkeirns/video/7654016602131729677">TikTok</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reels/DZ3mkAwNKjh/">Instagram</a>. As the views and comments continue to rack up, it’s clear that I struck a nerve on both sides of the aisle.
Many on the Right are thanking me and saying they now refuse to see the movie. Meanwhile, the Left is saying I’m “overreacting” and that I need to get a life. However, the truth is that I genuinely enjoyed &#8220;Toy Story 5&#8221; and am by no means calling for a boycott. And no, liberals, I was not “triggered” or “offended” by this movie.
There were simply a few over-the-top optical choices the writers made when it came to feminizing Buzz’s character that appeared to go beyond writing for “comedic effect.” It was too on the nose. Too deliberate. They’re the kind of things you include in a script when you’re really trying to hammer a message home. As I left the theater, I didn’t get the sense that these scenes just “accidentally” made it into the final cut.
I also tried watching this movie from the lens of a parent. Since I don’t have kids myself, I had to imagine how I would feel if I had kids and they saw their favorite strong male characters slowly fade into irrelevance, weakness, and, quite frankly, femininity.
For context — spoiler alert — Buzz’s main “bit” throughout the film is that he is trying to muster up the courage to ask Jessie (the tomboy cowgirl introduced in &#8220;Toy Story 2&#8221;) to marry him. I obviously had no problem with him being “nervous.” I’d be lying if I claimed I never got nervous in situations like this. Heck, last year in Barcelona I had to circle the block twice before marching back into a clothing store to ask the cute sales associate for her number. We’ve all been there.
So in the first two acts, Buzz is practicing his proposal. He rehearses his speech, his cadence, and his kneel. Fun and humorous. Still no problems.
Then, in the third act, as the toys are on their way to save the day, Buzz stutters while attempting to pop the question. Before he’s able to ask Jessie, she kisses him. During their kiss, Buzz kicks his leg back as a woman would traditionally do in movies.
Was this done for comedic effect? Maybe.
In fact, I’d be very inclined to say “yes” if it weren’t for what came next. Because, as I said at the beginning of this piece, the movie ends with the two main human characters holding a “wedding” for Buzz and Jessie. And that is where they really dialed things up to an eleven.
The wedding scene takes all of the classic imagery of the groom and applies it to Jessie. As you can guess, all of the “bridal” imagery is applied to Buzz’s character. Mind you, Buzz is a character that children have previously seen depicted as a competent, masculine hero in several movies before it.
As the wedding music plays, Buzz is escorted down the aisle while Jessie waits for him at the altar. Buzz is wearing a kilt, making him look even more feminine. Then, Jessie gives Buzz a diamond ring. And when they are announced husband and wife, Jessie is the one to tip Buzz over to kiss him.
Now I’m not saying that this scene is going to make or break your children. But if there was ever an agenda to weaken and feminize strong male characters for all young boys to see, this is how they would do it. Brick by brick, with scenes like this.
But this scene is just one piece of the very large puzzle. Our kids are being exposed to hundreds of woke messages every single day in mainstream programming. Some of it is subtle, some of it is very deliberate. Either way, the seeds are being planted, and they’re having an effect on the minds of the youth, whether they know it or not.
In response to my commentary on this scene, liberals have tried pointing me to a scene in &#8220;Toy Story 1&#8221; where they claim the writers even feminized Buzz way back then. But as is so often the case, not only did they not make their own point; they made mine.
The scene they’re referring to is when one of the children dresses Buzz in feminine tea party attire. When Woody comes into the room, a distraught Buzz calls himself “Mrs. Nesbit.” Now, why is Buzz acting like this? Simply put, he’s not being himself. In fact, he’s going a little bit crazy. He has just found out that he is a toy, not a real superhero from outer space.
When Woody slaps Buzz back to reality, he snaps out of it and then admits he’s “depressed.” Then poof, the bit is over. That right there is an example of something being done for comedic effect. Not whatever they did to Buzz in this movie.
I enjoyed &#8220;Toy Story 5&#8221; as a whole. The movie also had a few classic, heartfelt “Toy Story” moments, one of which was an absolute tear-jerker (if you know, you know). I thought the movie did the best it could to remind kids of how fun it can be to imagine, play, and rely less on their screens. I thought it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-lesson-toy-story-5-gets-dangerously-wrong">could have done a better job</a> “villainizing” technology for kids through the end of the movie instead of giving it a redemption arc, but that’s a topic for a different time.
Finally, one scene won’t break your child’s view of traditional gender roles in a wedding. But 30 years ago, Buzz taught a generation of boys what it looked like to be brave, to lead, to charge in when everyone else froze. Ask yourself what the new Buzz is teaching them.
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Clayton Keirns is a conservative political commentator and cofounder of Trending Politics &amp; Quantus Insights. You can find his videos on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090710613645" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id%3D100090710613645&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782489277071000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0dH84VunXJaxB6WIXQMBSX">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/clayton.keirns/?hl=en">Instagram</a>.

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How ‘Toy Story 5’ Stripped Buzz Lightyear Of His Masculinity

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