Disney is winding back its DEI initiatives, revealing major changes to the animation empire's approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion. After US President Donald Trump’s executive order targeted DEI programs within federal agencies many companies are following suit and making changes, which could impact creativity.
The visible change will be the removal of the content advisory warnings from the start of a classic film to the 'Details' box on Disney+. But Disney is making deeper changes to its structures and internal programs, so how will this affect its approach to character design, talent promotion and the kinds of stories Disney could now tell? What does the future of animation look like?
Internally Disney is revising its structures, replacing Diversity & Inclusion performance ratings with a new Talent Strategy category, but the big change is the cancelation of the Reimagine Tomorrow initiative, which was designed to promote underrepresented voices.
Over the years Disney has made great efforts to promote new stories and represent diversity in its animation, starting with The Princess and the Frog but in recent years has included the casting of Black actor Halle Bailey as a Ariel in the The Little Mermaid, Pixar's Elemental featured the first non-binary character in a Pixar film, Turning Red focused on a Chinese-Canadian girl's journey through adolescence, and much more.
Disney and Pixar's drive to tell different stories and design unique characters gave us Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World and the most 'woke' of them all, Frozen (yes, remember when two female leads and a sensitive male sidekick was lambasted).
So does Disney turning its back on DEI spell the end of original and inventive storytelling and character design in its animation?
Let us know your thoughts below and we'll feature the most insightful comments in an upcoming article.
