The Disney Legends Bracket -- The Final Four
Happy Friday, friends.
Well, friends, we survived through yet another tumultuous week. I’m proud of you! I know I’m proud of myself for getting there. And at this point, I’m proud that Twitter is still a thing today (editor’s note: I am writing these words on the afternoon of November 10, and it is entirely possible that Twitter is no longer a thing).
While the future brackets will all take place right here on Substack, the Disney Legends bracket is now in the Final Four and definitely wrapping up on Twitter! (editor’s note: see previous parenthetical and replace “Twitter is no longer a thing” with “this bracket may have to wrap up on Substack”).
In all sincerity, the week has been both eventful and not quite as painfully disastrous as I feared it would be. So for now, let’s look at the Final Four of the bracket and couple that with a) the realization that I would have done a terrible job predicting this Final Four and b) the fact that I do not agree with this Final Four. Who among these folks would I send to the big finale on Sunday? Let’s see.
Mary Blair vs. the Sherman Brothers: I realize that the matches in the previous round were difficult, but I must tell you that I firmly disagree with the resolutions at which the voters arrived . I accept that this is where we are, I realize there’s nothing to do to fix it (except for me to concoct some cock-eyed Second Chance bracket in the future, an idea so wild that it just came to me as I typed this sentence, and I kind of like it).
But at the very least, Howard Ashman ought to be here. Alas. He is not! And so, while I know my personal choices for this matchup would be different, this matchup? This matchup is real easy. I vote for Mary Blair. The Sherman Brothers’ discography is excellent, and it’s likely that more voters are aware of their work than that of Ms. Blair, since so much of what she did was at the Disney theme parks.
If you’re not a parks person — and while some of you may be shocked, there are others who I know do not give a whit about the Disney theme parks even as they follow along with some brackets — you probably lean towards the Shermans. They did the songs for Mary Poppins!
Yet I lean quickly towards Mary Blair. No dismissing the work the Shermans did, because it was remarkable and almost as foundational as the work Howard Ashman did. (Can you tell I’m sore he didn’t get to the Final Four?) For me, it’s that Mary Blair’s work spanned not only decades, but media. Yes, just as the Shermans wrote the song for “It’s a Small World”, she designed the characters and layouts of the attraction. But Blair also did immense work on Disney films from before the parks existed, throughout the 1940s and 1950s. You want to talk about how someone sets the tone for the studio? Mary Blair set the tone in a lot of ways. She gets my vote.
Tony Baxter vs. Ub Iwerks: If there is a genuinely challenging matchup in this Final Four, it is this one. I’m not fully sold on how challenging this really is (I hesitated just slightly), but it’s not as easy as the one above. I will vote for Ub Iwerks here, because here’s the thing: yes, Tony Baxter has done amazing work as a Walt Disney Imagineer. The work he created over decades is wildly influential and impactful to countless people as well as rival companies.
But Ub Iwerks co-created Mickey Mouse. Stop for a second, and think about Mickey Mouse. I’m not here — at least in this newsletter — to tell you that Mickey Mouse is great or boring or a beacon of hope or a beacon of corporate greed, or anywhere in between. Just think about the omnipresence of Mickey Mouse as a face, as an icon. And think abou the fact that this guy was instrumental in creating that character. (I suppose those of you who think Mickey is a beacon of corporate greed would want to vote against Mr. Iwerks, but then, if you’re reading this newsletter and you think that…what the hell are you doing here?)
It’s a toughie, and if it ends up that Mary Blair faces Ub Iwerks in the Top Two, I may not be as willing to give him the vote. But for now, between Messrs. Baxter and Iwerks, I vote for Iwerks.
One More Thing…
Whenever prudent or possible, I’ll link to my recent work at other publications just in case you’re curious, you want to read what I’ve got to say, etc.
Andor, “One Way Out”: Over at Episodic Medium, I’ve been doing weekly reviews of the Disney+/Lucasfilm series Andor. Short version: I am a lot more skeptical of the show’s overall success as television than some viewers are, but the last three episodes have been legitimately excellent.
Spirited: I love, love, love, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I mostly do not love, love, love many of the adaptations inspired by the book, and the new Apple Original Film Spirited is one such adaptation I did not love, love, love. I went into detail at Slashfilm, but you should skip this one.