Today marks one year exactly since my check-in date for the college program at Walt Disney World. I began the day a little sad, because if you know me very well, you also know that I don't want anything more out of life than Disney, and yes, I'll say it again, I feel cheated. But then I remembered that God only has plans to prosper me, not to harm me, and if I listen to Him, he will give me a hope and a future. (That's my paraphrase of Jeremiah 29:11) I believe that my college program was meant to stoke my passion for Disney, and further awaken it within me, and boy, did it ever. Through my college program I learned that achieving my dreams and goals will take some major effort on my part, effort that will perhaps seem monumental compared to that needed by my ambulatory peers. But that is okay with me. After all, if I want it, it's worth the effort right?
Anyway, so much for the introduction. This post is supposed to be a review of the movie Saving Mr. Banks, and I want to stick to that template. Anything else is just extra, and I won't charge you for it. :)
So, Saving Mr. Banks. Where do I begin? I will try to give a thorough a review as possible without spoilers, but I'll go ahead and stick the caveat "read at your own risk" in there, just in case.
In the beginning, before seeing the movie, all I ever heard was, "P.L. Travers (the author of the Mary Poppins books) was a highly argumentative lady who was horrible to Walt and he had a terrible time getting her to agree to anything."
This is a perfectly accurate statement. It took Walt twenty years to get Pamela to even entertain the notion of selling him the film rights. (And this was only because she was so strapped for cash she was on the verge of losing her house.)
Did she have some outlandish requests? Absolutely, especially for a Disney film. Two of her original conditions were no music and no animation. They might seem a little outlandish yes, but now ask me another question: Do I blame her? The answer to that is a resounding no. Not at all. As a writer myself, I know that the characters I write are like my children. In fact, one of my conditions if I ever pen anything that merits a movie is that I either write the script myself, or, like Mrs. Travers, get full script approval. Having said that, I have some friends that take the attitude of, "As long as they pay you, it doesn't matter what happens to your characters." I disagree wholeheartedly. As much as money would help my situation, the love for my "family" of characters supercedes the need for capital. Writing is my escape from the horrors-yes, I said horrors-of my every day life. It was quite the same for Mrs. Travers. Mary Poppins was a tribute to her father, the person she was closest to. She felt that any dishonesty in the portrayal of her characters was an insult to the memory of her father, and I think Walt respected that, that's why he was so patient with her. He probably experienced a similar pain upon losing Oswald, Mickey's long-eared predecessor, who has now been restored to the Walt Disney Company.
Having read all this, you are probably thinking, "But Ryan, there are songs and animated penguins in the Mary Poppins movie. After all that fighting, didn't she lose the battle anyway?"
Mmm, not really. To sort of answer that question, I will give you a quote from the movie by Mrs. Travers, portrayed expertly by Emma Thompson.
"If you think that Mary Poppins came to save the children, Mr. Disney, I'm afraid you've entirely missed the point."
Saving Mr. Banks is an excellent movie with superb performances given by all involved. But, you don't have to take my word for it.
As I look back on my college program and all the emotions it stirs, from immense joy to bitter disappointment, I think of this quote by my uncle Walt:
Around here, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and trying new things, because we're curious, an curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
-Walt Disney
So, yes, I may have to work harder to get back to Disney, but my passion for Disney is a God-given one, and I have never felt that I fit somewhere more in my life, whether my leaders could see it or not. But that's okay. I will work as hard as I can. Because it is my passion, and my passion is worth it, no matter how long it takes, or how many people I have to prove wrong.
"Impossible is not a word, it's just a reason for someone not to try." -Kutless
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Saturday, January 4, 2014
For me it Begins with Mr. Banks: A Retrospective and Review- Part One: Retrospective
A few days ago on Facebook, I posted that I was going to start a new blog wherein I would discuss and analyze the quotes of Walt Disney and the ways in which each quote applies to my life. That is still the overall plan for this blog. However, I picked today to start for a very special reason. Exactly one year ago today I left for the Disney College Program. I know that this has stirred within me a rollercoaster of emotions every time I talk about it; as I look back on it though, I realize that the college program was the best thing that ever happened to me, for the good reasons and the bad.
1. I made so many awesome friends that I will have forever now. All it takes is a kind word or smile from a friend to lift you up even on the worst of days. I made true friends at Disney, ones that saw me for who I was, and didn't see my chair. I realize something else. My Disney friends and I never fought. We were always laughing, sometimes even at our own expense. (Example: Once we went to the Magic Kingdom and I was focusing so hard on not losing Brad and Andy that I smacked right into a pole. Only me. You just gotta laugh.) Maybe it was my loneliness in living alone that made me so happy to see my friends. Speaking of loneliness, that brings me to my next point.
2.Loneliness moves to action
I spent so much time being lonely in my room that I had a lot of time to reflect on the gravity of my situation. The circumstances I am in do not have a singular thing I can blame them on. I am disabled. That is not my fault. Some of the things associated with my disability probably are my fault, but as I was just a kid and didn't realize the gravity of the choice I was making, I cannot take full blame for that and should not beat myself up about it. However, realizing this was key. It was with this realization that I came to this conclusion:
If I don't like my situation, it is up to ME to change it. No one but me.
3. I got to go into the Parks, every day, any time I wanted, for FREE.
Let's be honest. I can talk all I want about wanting to make a difference, or being a dreamer like Walt, or the kids' smiles making it worth it. All of that is TRUE, and I am not trying to lessen it. But what drew me to the DCP, as I'm sure draws thousands of others, was the free park tickets. And that my friends, proves that Disney Execs know precisely what they are doing. In the beginning, I couldn't care less about the meager wage or long hours, I just cared about the magic of being there. I guess somewhere along the way I forgot that.
4. I DID make a difference. Even though "Sticker Guy" was a fabricated title, and at times the list of duties that came with it felt demeaning, as in "let's keep the guy in the wheelchair busy", here's the bare facts. Stickers and pins make kids happy. You can look at the negative or the positive. That's a choice. At the present moment, I am choosing to acknowledge the positive. I probably made the day of every kid that came in that shop, and judging by some of their reactions, there's no probably about it. (Example: One day, I was giving out Snow White stickers and a little girl was ecstatic because Snow White was her favorite. She said, "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" ) And that, ladies and gentlemen, will make even the crappiest of days worthwhile.
5. Darby
Darby was the best thing to happen as a direct result of my DCP. While at Disney, I met my very dear friend Katelyn Martin, who also has cerebral palsy like me. She told me about My Angel with Paws, I signed up in early June, and got the call about Darby on August 6th, four days after my college program ended. It's like Darby was the ultimate consolation prize. I am so thankful. God has brought me through so much in the past year. I've applied for grad school, a teaching job, have started working out at the gym, and am resolved that this will be the year I finish my novel.
2014....to infinity and beyond!
1. I made so many awesome friends that I will have forever now. All it takes is a kind word or smile from a friend to lift you up even on the worst of days. I made true friends at Disney, ones that saw me for who I was, and didn't see my chair. I realize something else. My Disney friends and I never fought. We were always laughing, sometimes even at our own expense. (Example: Once we went to the Magic Kingdom and I was focusing so hard on not losing Brad and Andy that I smacked right into a pole. Only me. You just gotta laugh.) Maybe it was my loneliness in living alone that made me so happy to see my friends. Speaking of loneliness, that brings me to my next point.
2.Loneliness moves to action
I spent so much time being lonely in my room that I had a lot of time to reflect on the gravity of my situation. The circumstances I am in do not have a singular thing I can blame them on. I am disabled. That is not my fault. Some of the things associated with my disability probably are my fault, but as I was just a kid and didn't realize the gravity of the choice I was making, I cannot take full blame for that and should not beat myself up about it. However, realizing this was key. It was with this realization that I came to this conclusion:
If I don't like my situation, it is up to ME to change it. No one but me.
3. I got to go into the Parks, every day, any time I wanted, for FREE.
Let's be honest. I can talk all I want about wanting to make a difference, or being a dreamer like Walt, or the kids' smiles making it worth it. All of that is TRUE, and I am not trying to lessen it. But what drew me to the DCP, as I'm sure draws thousands of others, was the free park tickets. And that my friends, proves that Disney Execs know precisely what they are doing. In the beginning, I couldn't care less about the meager wage or long hours, I just cared about the magic of being there. I guess somewhere along the way I forgot that.
4. I DID make a difference. Even though "Sticker Guy" was a fabricated title, and at times the list of duties that came with it felt demeaning, as in "let's keep the guy in the wheelchair busy", here's the bare facts. Stickers and pins make kids happy. You can look at the negative or the positive. That's a choice. At the present moment, I am choosing to acknowledge the positive. I probably made the day of every kid that came in that shop, and judging by some of their reactions, there's no probably about it. (Example: One day, I was giving out Snow White stickers and a little girl was ecstatic because Snow White was her favorite. She said, "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" ) And that, ladies and gentlemen, will make even the crappiest of days worthwhile.
5. Darby
Darby was the best thing to happen as a direct result of my DCP. While at Disney, I met my very dear friend Katelyn Martin, who also has cerebral palsy like me. She told me about My Angel with Paws, I signed up in early June, and got the call about Darby on August 6th, four days after my college program ended. It's like Darby was the ultimate consolation prize. I am so thankful. God has brought me through so much in the past year. I've applied for grad school, a teaching job, have started working out at the gym, and am resolved that this will be the year I finish my novel.
2014....to infinity and beyond!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)