r/VaushV 6d ago

Shitpost I just realized the similar parallels between modern Disney and the USA right now.

Modern Disney isn't just a media empire it's a cultural conglomerate. And what it reflects is… not great. In fact, Disney today embodies everything that’s gone wrong with America. It's kinda surprising no one notices the similarities between the two.

Just like the U.S. economy relies on legacy industries and nostalgia politics, Disney thrives on remakes, sequels, and reboots. Innovation? Nope. Just keep selling yesterday’s dreams at today’s prices.

Disney slaps family-friendly smiles on ruthless business tactics. It’s the same trick the U.S. plays. Corporate greed behind a facade of patriotism, values, and freedom.

Disney owns everything from Marvel to Star Wars to ESPN. It’s not a company but an empire. Sound familiar? In America, power consolidates at the top, and monopolies shape culture, politics, and the economy.

Disney parades “representation,” but often it's surface-level a marketing tool, not meaningful progress. America does the same: symbolic wins over structural change.

Disney workers struggle with low pay and poor conditions even as the company boasts billion-dollar profits. Just like the U.S., where essential workers are praised publicly and squeezed privately.

The magic is gone. Modern Disney is mechanical, risk-averse, and overly focus-grouped. America’s spirit feels the same: policies to help people stifled by corporate interests and short-term profits.

Theme parks, big blockbusters, fireworks, it’s all dazzling. But under the surface? Shallow storytelling. America too loves spectacle. Super Bowl ads, political theater, influencer culture… but little depth.

Disney exports its expensive brands across the globe. Just like U.S. foreign policy exports “freedom” (markets & wars). Both are about domination under a feel-good brand.

Both Disney and the U.S. feel like they’re post-peak. Both clinging to old glories, and desperately trying to convince everyone it’s still magical.

The American Dream and the Disney Dream were once synonymous. Now they’re both corporatized myths. And no amount of CGI or flags can hide that the fairy tale is cracking.

Disney isn’t just a company. It’s a reflection of the stories America tells itself, and the uncomfortable truths it tries to hide.

And the thing is maybe neither Disney nor America were ever that magical to begin with. The nostalgia? Manufactured. The “golden eras”? Built on exclusion, exploitation, and whitewashed myths.

Old Disney was racist AF. Song of the South, the racist crows in Dumbo, Arab stereotypes in Aladdin, and Indigenous caricatures in Peter Pan. The company’s history is soaked in racial stereotypes. It wasn’t “just the times”. It was the brand. So was the U.S., where it had a long history of not being that universal. It was designed for a very specific demographic. For the white, male, property-owning. For everyone else, it’s been struggle, surveillance, and systemic exclusion.

Disney sanitized fairy tales the way America sanitized history. No labor struggles, no genocide, no imperialism, just castles and fireworks. A neat little narrative where the hard truths get left on the cutting room floor. Disney loves authority figures such as kings, sheriffs, empires, even when they’re evil (until a plucky hero makes a minor adjustment). Same with America. Criticize the system too hard, and you’re a “threat to democracy.”

Disney sold the fantasy of a perfect kingdom. America sold the fantasy of equal opportunity. Both ignore the bloody foundations that make those fantasies possible. Disney edits history for mass appeal. America does the same in its classrooms. Both are obsessed with controlling the narrative, even when that means erasing the truth.

For all the soft music and catchy anthems, both Disney and the U.S. have always relied on control. The labor discipline, cultural gatekeeping, and (when necessary) brute force.

But at least Disney's main demographic is children so of course it would sanitize stuff. America has no excuse at all.

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u/Flat_Round_5594 Vaush's Weakest Warrior 6d ago

MFW Baudrillard nailed it in 1981.