Permission To Let It Go

The day Disney+ was released, I came down the stairs to hear Adam singing the theme song for the Gummi Bears. Just to be clear, this isn’t a regular event in my house. He was subtly announcing our plans for the evening, which was to sit down and feast upon the delights The Mouse promised us for months and months. And we did just that. The pilot episode of The Gummi Bears was our first stop.

That might sound like an absurd thing for two adults to spend their time on. I probably wouldn’t have to search hard to find articles and other blog posts banging on about the debilitating infantilization crippling an entire generation. They’d be fun reads, I’m sure, but they’d also be missing the mark.

The content Disney+ released into the digital world is the company trying to sell us back our childhood. They are extremely successful at this. I don’t feel the least bit used by this move, either. Walt Disney’s premise of opening Disneyland in the first place was to do just that after all. Bring childhood to everyone. Having shows like Gummi Bears and Duck Tales available at your literal fingertips gives audiences something they may not realize they need.

One of the programs on Disney+ is a documentary on Disney’s Imagineers and the evolution of the Disney parks. We were watching the third episode, which was focused on the Eisner/Wells years and the development of Disneyland Paris. The work has a strong bent and is shows the idyllic side of the company’s development, but still an interesting watch. Eisner was even featured in the episode and gave bits of his perspective.

The part that struck me was when they touched upon the weight of taking over the legacy Walt Disney had left behind.The documentary creators drew strong parallels between the Disney brothers and the new guard. In the segments that followed, other Disney employees lent their voices and stories to show the kid-like enthusiasm for creation and innovation Eisner and Wells brought to park development. This excitement brought them across the Atlantic and into a whole new world.

The episode was fairly honest in describing the struggles encountered by bringing Mickey Mouse to the European audience, specifically the French. I make the differentiation because, in my travels, the British folks who have brought up the park talked about it with the same delight me and my friends would. Like with the Eiffel Tower and I.M. Pei’s glass pyramids before it, Disneyland Paris, or Euro Disney as it was known then, began it’s life as an abomination in the face of their city.

There was a great discussion about the different perspective the company was running up against. Hubris, as it likes to do, got in the way of the decision making. The Walt Disney company had already installed three other parks with great success. Why wouldn’t Europe be any different? Except, it was very different. As one of the former Imagineers pointed out, there was a difference with the adult audience in Paris. They needed permission to let themselves tap into their inner child.

The French are easy going and enjoy life very much. Cinema, art, food are all consumed with vigor and delight. Taking time to appreciate things, experiences, is a core staple of their joie de vivre. But yet, a seriousness and sense of pride pervade French culture. I can’t quite explain it as it is a feeling you get after being immersed in their culture. Dropping a hyper-American mecca onto the fringe of Paris would definitely grate against those feelings. And, getting enjoyment out of such a thing would require a permit of some sort to be granted.

The particular idea of needing permission to reach your inner child isn’t a uniquely French idea. A lot of people need a pass to turn inwards and reach their inner child. And, this is why people fling terms like infantilization around as sharp insults. As I think we all know, I don’t subscribe to this way of thinking. I hardly need a hall pass to get in touch with my inner child. This has never gotten in the way of me being a fully functional and integrated adult. I go to work, pay my bills, donate time to worthy causes, pitch in when my family needs help. And you know what? Sometimes, all of that is a lot to balance and compartmentalize. Adulting is hard.

That’s not a complaint. It’s a fact.

Tapping into that inner child does a lot to make that fact easier and me to be successful at it. Well, I mean, more successful than I would be without it. But, not everyone has the same open-door policy I do.

What is your own home/apartment/bedroom, if not a safe space for you to let your hair down?

Come on. Admit it. When the doors are closed and you’re alone, terrible dancing in the kitchen happens. Accompanied by off-key singing too. We all do it. And isn’t there a release after? An invisible bag of sand lifted off your shoulders. Dipping into a half-hour or an hour of cartoons last watched with your siblings over cold leftover pizza on a Saturday morning isn’t any different than dancing around your kitchen with the handle of the Swiffer as a microphone or dance partner.

Having the entertainment you sought out as a kid, a click or two away, gives that permission to let your hair down. To forget you are an adult with bills, appointments, and a slew of other monotonous tasks waiting for you. Honestly, if you leave a light on indefinitely, the bulb will burn out long before it should. People are no different than light bulbs. Shutting off recharges the reserves, and often gives you a fresh perspective on what you are working on. What better place to of than a time when magic was real and everything was possible?