"Don't teach your babies about Crispus Attucks. Crispus Attucks
was the first one to die in the American Revolution. Hell, he should have died. Fightin' for them white folks. And our people weren't free. Teach your babies about Nat Turner, teach your babies about Denmark Vesey, teach your babies about Gabriel Prosser"
-Dr. Khalid Muhammad
The four-minute opening of The Lion King, with no dialogue and no human characters, would never have survived a Disney committee that was paying attention. The B-team was the gift.
Disney was making two animated features in parallel for 1994 and 1995 release. Pocahontas was the prestige bet, a historical romantic epic styled on Beauty and the Beast, which had just become the first animated film Oscar-nominated for Best Picture. Jeffrey Katzenberg was openly betting on Pocahontas for the same achievement.
Glen Keane, the most respected animator at the studio, picked Pocahontas as his next project. Everyone else who could choose chose accordingly. The Lion King was left with a so-called B-team the directors had to beg and scrape to staff.
The pitch was Hamlet in Africa. Internally the film was called "Bambi with Lions." It was the only project in the Disney Renaissance with no human protagonist, which broke the studio's house style and made it sound niche and weird inside the building.
What I keep coming back to is what no one paying attention enabled. The Circle of Life sequence, four minutes of African landscape and animals walking across a savannah with no dialogue and no setup, is the kind of opening that gets killed in a development meeting. The B-team had no development meetings to worry about.
The Lion King grossed $763 million in its original 1994 run on a budget of $45 million. Pocahontas, with the better animators and the bigger expectations, grossed $346 million on $55 million.
The B-team made the better film because they were the ones the studio forgot to manage.
Rest in peace, Professor โค๏ธ Thank you, Tom Kane, for lending your voice to the father of three perfect little girls and bringing The Force to millions of fans. You'll live on in our childhood memories forever.
girls can like boys
boys can like girls
girls can like girls
boys can like boys
girls can like both
boys can like both
girls can like neither
boys can like neither
and it will NOT affect you. stop being so hateful.
People who think weed is dangerous are brainwashed by government propaganda. Reefer Madness lies, racist Nixon-era tactics, and fear campaigns ignoring science that shows no fatal overdoses and less harm than alcohol. The real danger was never the plant; it was the brainwashing.
Not all men are rapists !!
Not all women are false rape accusers !!
Rapists deserve severe punishments !!
False Rape accusers deserve severe punishments too !!
Jesse Jackson appeared on Sesame Street in 1973.
During his appearance, he famously led a group of children in reciting his well-known poem โI Am Somebody,โ a message focused on self-worth and empowerment.
The segment became one of the most memorable celebrity appearances from the early seasons of the show.
RIP Jesse Jackson.
Rest in Power, Claudette Colvin.
At just 15 years old, you refused to give up your seat on a segregated bus in Montgomeryโnine months before Rosa Parks. Long before the movement found a version of courage it felt comfortable presenting to the world, you stood firm, clear in your conviction that your dignity could not be negotiated. Young, Black, and fearless, you spoke truth in a moment when doing so came with real danger.
Because of who you were and how plainly you spoke, history tried to push your bravery aside. But your stand mattered. It helped set the stage for the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the legal fight against segregation. Today we speak your name with the respect it always deservedโas a pioneer whose courage came before recognition. May you rest in peace, and in power. ๐๏ธ
4 years ago today, Isaiah Williams was killed by LVMPD while sleeping on his couch. Wrong house. Wrong target. But he dared to defend himself. DA ruled it justified. The same people who cheered Rittenhouseโs โself-defenseโ were silent.
Justice for Isaiah Williams. Video ๐
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RFK Jr. Says People with Autism 'Will Never Pay Taxes, Hold a Job, Go on a Date,' Sparking Fierce Backlash https://t.co/hKw8RenfWu via @people