The Fourth Age of Disney

I believe that the fourth age of Disney has begun. Now, you’re probably scratching your heads as to what I mean by that. In my mind, there have been 3 previous ages of Disney movies: Classical, Neoclassical, and Pixar. Still confused? Allow me to explain myself a little further.

The Classical Age of Disney is also the longest. It began in 1937 with the release of Disney’s first animated feature film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and ended in 1986 with the release of “Oliver and Company.” It saw the release of 27 Disney animated classics and was the building of an empire.

The Neoclassical Age of Disney could also be called the “Golden Age,” when the Disney Empire was the strongest it ever was and produced some of its finest, most memorable work. It is also the age of Disney we grew up during. For me, this age begins in 1988 with the release of “The Little Mermaid” and ended 11 years later with the 1999 release of “Tarzan.” Though they made many noble attempts at continuing their 2-D animation roots, they couldn’t, beating themselves with their own third age.

The third age of Disney (the Pixar Age), was the age of revolution. Sharing some overlap with the Neoclassical Age, it saw its beginning in 1995 with the release of “Toy Story” and ended just two years ago with the release of “Wall-E.”

Now, after reading that last sentence you are probably confused, asking “Wasn’t ‘Up’ made by Pixar?” It was. But the release of “Up” actually marks the beginning of the fourth, and most current age of Disney. It seems after 10 years, Walt Disney Animation has finally figured out a way to harmoniously create in both 2-D and 3-D animation. “The Princess and the Frog,” released last fall, was only the beginning of this Age of Harmony. In the coming years we will see Pixar films such as “Toy Story 3” and “Cars 2” released alongside new 2-D films like “Tangled,” which is based on the “Rapunzel” story.

This marriage is something people like me have been long looking forward to. As a member of the “Golden Age Generation,” but as someone who loves Pixar animation, I’m excited to find myself in an age that will give me both. The Age of Harmony will give our children the best of both worlds we got growing up, allowing Disney to innovate the world while staying planted in their roots. What could be better than that?

It's All About the Bunnies (the Time-Travelling Bunnies, that is)...

As many of my readers know, I am an avid Lostie...with the airing of last night's episode, "Happily Ever After," I have added a new dimension to my theory about the show. For your picking pleasure:

There are 2 things we currently need to be concerned with: What are Jacob/the Anti-Jacob/the Island? How are the sideways world and island world going to collide? Oddly enough, both these things coincide (a seemingly rare occurrence on Lost). And both have to do with bunnies. Time travelling ones.

In preparation for last night's episode, I rewatched two of my favorites: "The Constant" and "There's No Place Like Home (Part 2)." I couldn't have picked a better 2 episodes. We all know the Orchid station is where they experimented on bunnies with electromagnetism to propel them through time. The bunnies immediately brought to mind Watership Down, which Sawyer and Boone had been reading. But, I claim this connection to be a red herring. We need to think in literary terms of this season.

Earlier this year we saw Jack's son in Sideways World with Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (a story where two worlds collide...the world of what you need and the world of what you want-keep this in mind as I keep writing). In this story, Alice goes down the rabbit hole to get from one world to another. Ben went down the rabbit hole (quite literally, it was a hole made where they used to experiment on rabbits) to move the island. Last night, Desmond went down the rabbit hole a la electromagnetism, similar to what he did in "The Constant" - except this time is was a bit more stable.

We saw the beginning of the end last night. As you so astutely predicted, Desmond is how the world's are going to merge (with the help of Sideways Charlie and Faraday (RIP)). The nuclear blast knocked all of them into 2 different planes. The sideways world is where they've gotten the one thing they always wanted - but isn't necessarily the best thing for them, as it seems to come at a great cost. Luckily for all the Sideways', Desmond's gonna get them together and show them the light - hopefully without Charlie's method of driving off a pier.

All right. Down the Rabbit Hole. Check.
How does this tie into Jacob/Anti-Jacob/Island War?

In a word: Dichotomies.

Lost has always been about dichotomies. Black and white. Good and evil. The past and present. The present and future. What you want and what you need. Science and Faith. Things that can't be reconciled, are about to be reconciled.

War is coming to the Island. Presumably, the last showdown between good and evil. What is good? What is evil? Talking about either is talking about a relative thing. And if you've been paying attention, you've noticed that neither Jacob or the Anti-Jacob are wholly one or the other.

In Ancient Greece and Rome, the gods were not wholly good or evil. They had both sides, like the Island's demi-gods. It was thought, according to mythology, that Earth was simply a giant chess board where the gods pitted humans against one another to see the outcome. Sound familiar?

The difference here is, no one has told them there is no good and evil. They both think they're right and the other is wrong. Which is why Desmond must take all the passengers of Sideways 815 "down the rabbit hole." Somehow, by seeing what they have (what they thought they wanted) in comparison to what the Island has shown them about themselves, they will see there are no dichotomies and there will be no war. Or at least, not a complete bloodbath.

This is what Lost will be: There's no good and evil - only what you think is right. There is no black and white - only shades of grey.


I hope this made sense. Thanks for reading to the end. I could be completely wrong...but after last night, this is what I've come to.