Has Disney lost its magic?

[bdclark0423]

Has Walt Disney lost his magic?

Obviously since his own death in 1966, his legacy of `Disney Magic' 
seems to be dying as well.   My statement could easily suggest that 
it is I, who is not believing in the magic, but I would hardly 
agree.  I continue to find wonder and amazement in that which 
captures and demands my imagination.  

Admittedly, as a child I was inspired and drawn to Walt Disney.  
Sunday nights were the best way to end the weekend and get ready for 
another week of school, while watching the Wonderful World of 
Disney.  I even remember, sneaking up so early in the morning and 
turning on the TV to watch reruns of the Mouseketeers before my dad 
would wake up and finish his shower.  

However, after few revisions in its name and format, and with cable 
and satellite channels coming into being, this including the Disney 
Channel (and who knows, my own process of maturing) many of the 
captivating qualities so commonly associated, were starting to loose 
their appeal.

As I was flipping through the channels the other day, I saw the 
following promotion: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lECi9Weorw&feature=related 

If you take the time to watch this, you will immediately realize why 
I had mindlessly stopped channel surfing.  My first emotion was that 
I was appalled. My second thought was this is offensive to me and my 
fellow Potter-heads.  Eventually I just asked "How could Disney be 
stooping so low?"

I don't have children.  In fact, the only connection I have with 
being a parent or having a connection with children today is through 
my family:  my nieces and nephews.  My brother-in-law made mention 
during our last family get-together, that he's so sick of watching 
Disney and Nickelodeon.  Unfortunately, after spending only 20-30 
minutes watching those channels, I could only fully agree.

Before I allowed myself to form a true opinion, I did look at what i 
was able to google and wiki regarding what `Wizards of Waverly 
Place' is all about only to determine if, in fact, this was 
just a complete attempt at insulting the general public's 
intelligence.  I do believe this seems to be a bit of a spoof on 
Harry Potter (and perhaps just this one special episode), but after 
watching other clips of the show, it truly seems the 
writers/creators have absolutely no true talent.  The pilot itself 
takes the viewer about six minutes to realize that the main 
characters actually have magical powers, but then they try to keep 
them hidden or secret in order to conform to mainstream society.  I 
then watched an episode in the second series, and you really do need 
to watch up to ten minutes before there's any distinction of the 
difference in what being a 'Waverly Wizard' is and being your normal 
cookie-cutter, hooky joke, sit-com standard family (which is: 
there's no difference at all).

In fact, I'm not only insulted that it borrows off of the newest 
trend in the  global interest in the Potterverse, it continues the 
same `Bewitched', `I Dream of Jeanie' My Favorite Martian' `Mr. 
Ed' `Adams Family `Munsters' mentality that you must at all costs 
hide who you truly are so that you can be accepted. Perhaps these 
shows actually helped us realize we need to stop hiding who we truly 
are, and I would think they've served their purpose.  I think 
nowadays, however, we have changed our view and are learning to 
celebrate our differences, plus to give the message to our youth 
that hiding your differences, in order to fit in, may actually give 
the wrong message.

Whatever the message may end up being, in reality this show is 
poorly written and follows just about every cliché that has been 
done not only on television, but in literature as well.  I'm just 
curious if everyone else is aware of this program because they have 
children, and it really has something to offer.  If I truly had my 
way of giving a message to children it would be, of course:

If you're really interested in being entertained in something that 
is just a little bit beyond the ordinary, look to the 
extraordinary:  like reading (Harry Potter, perhaps?).

Just one more thing, as a child, every time our family went to 
Florida for vacation, we would go to Walt Disney World.  Well, this 
past Fall, my mother and I took a vacation to visit Orlando (we have 
a few old family friends there) and even though our hotel was 
literally at the gateway to the resort, I truly felt that I was not 
missing anything...there were truly other 'magical' things that made 
the trip worth while.

bdclark0423