Disney is taking trigger warnings off its old films, as CEO Bob Iger continues the kowtowing to the new US President.
Disney CEO Bob Iger is nothing if not a shrewd operator, and he’s certainly seen which way the wind is blowing in the American political and cultural landscape.
Not long after approving a $15m settlement that convicted criminal and US President Donald Trump had slapped on ABC News, Iger has now issued a raft of changes to the way Disney does business. It puts Disney in line with Trump’s demands, which he’s been introducing since the businessman accused of serious sexual assault made if back into the White House.
One of those changes (per World Of Reel) is the removal of all trigger warnings from Disney’s library of classic films on its Disney+ platform.
The trigger warnings, along with occasional stealth censorship, formed an important part of Disney’s strategy to – depending on your point of view – protect its audience from harmful elements in its films and/or protect the company’s valuable library of older titles, making sure they would continue to generate revenue from contemporary audiences.
That was then, however, and the coming of Trump 2.0 has shifted the – sigh – so-called ‘Culture War’ into a new phase. As our own Maria Lattila said in her look at DIsney’s appropriation of the trigger warning strategy back in 2020, it raises ‘lots of questions, not always easy answers.’
While clearly an imperfect device, surely some context is better than no context, but in the face of shifting political sands, Disney has decided to reverse course and present some of its more problematic material without any kind of opening warning.
Obviously said warning costs nothing, and didn’t affect a frame of footage of the films and TV shows concerned. But for lots of American companies at the moment there’s only one person they want to look after, and they must do his bidding. Spine optional.
The move comes amid a wider raft of changes at Disney, which include winding down its DEI programs as it seeks to win back the portion of its conservative audience that it lost during its highly-publicised battle with Ron DeSantis over Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, commonly known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
Of course, these are all short-term changes, but it’s likely that Disney’s longer-term strategies are also moving in a similar direction. What that means for future projects remains to be seen, but it certainly looks like the winds of change are blowing up a gale at the company.
Maybe film studios, if they’re going to capitulate, should just check their planned docket of movies with Mel Gibson, and get him to sign them off.
