#bentkey

Everybody heard and talked of the upcoming live-action remake of Disney's Snow-White. Everybody had a part in the never-ending debate this caused. This seemed to be all rounded up, and we were awaiting for the movie to be released to be finally able to speak about it...

And then, something came up. This to be precise:

A trailer for an upcoming movie called "Snow-White and the Evil Queen". This is set to be released on Bentkey, a new streaming platform part of the DailyWire+ group - basically DailyWire has recently decided to create a whole branch dedicated to the making of kid content. Children-aimed movies, children tv shows and cartoons, all that. And what everybody has been talking about is how this movie was made with one specific design: to oppose and contrast Disney's own Snow-White release.

The people behind this movie, openly dismissing and disdaining the live-action remake project of Disney, decided to create their own movie adaptation of the fairytale, which would be more traditional and closer the folktale, and thus show what an "actual" live-action remake of the Disney cartoon might look like. A lot of people have been chering and celebrating at this "anti-woke" and "anti-Disney" move, and they're all amused and all that...

And if you don't know who or what is behind Daily Wire and Bentkey, you might be tempted to support this movie. Well, please, DO NOT. Because I personally did not even know what DailyWire was - but I went searching for Bentkey, this "brand new streaming platform". And I found the Youtube video posted on the DailyWire channel introducing Bentkey, where the platform's creator explains why they launched this project and... And this is vile and frightening. You can see it down there but if you don't want to give more views to this I'll give you a little breakdown below:

I only watched one minute and a half of this nauseating thing, and it was already enough to make me identify this whole project as just pure evil. Under the pretense of fighting against "woke extremes" and "far-left politics", the creator of Bentkey and its team explain very clearly their homophobic, racist and misogynistic views. The guy literaly opens up by saying that Disney is pushing a "queer agenda" to "brainwash" and "indoctrinate" children into the "LGBT cult". He also criticizes some of the things the Disney company does such as "paying for abortions" as dangerous political extremes ; and to add a cherry on top, he accuses the fact of Disney making shows acknowledging the existence of racism and discrimination in the USA as being "anti-American" and against everything Walt Disney stood for.

So, funnily enough, while we all mocked and insulted and accused Disney of being an homophobic, racist company... Turns out THIS, DailyWire and Bentkey, is the actual "evil Disney" people have been denouncing and criticizing all along. As in... Our fear of a massive corporation making tons of kids' shows and movies while pushing forward homophobic, racist and far-right agendas is now real. These guys do not even hide their intentions, they blatantly say "We will make kids movie so that they will grow up straight and only straight, we will make kids show that will not mention anything about racism or discrimination, and we will certainly not allow any of our employees to have any abortion".

I saw that! I’m learning that movies should communicate values; the studios making them should let those movies speak the values for themselves.

Example: one of my friends was shown a screening of Zootopia while it was still in development and he said that the Disney execs working on it introduced the clips like “check out this movie we’re making! It will have amazing worlds designed totally by animals, for animals.” And all the scenes were of animal puns and chases through the mice town, et cetera.

Now, we know that Zootopia’s values and themes are all about trying to make the world a better place, and racism, and how everyone actually has a lot in common. But none of the trailers or promotional material made that the sole focus. It was more about how the world was entirely “animal.”

Everybody likes animals. Everybody is likely to have very little problem with going to see a movie about animals. Left or right, liberal or conservative, they’ll go see a story about animals. And the they’ll let their “guard” down. And they’ll be open to learn what the story has to say about what might otherwise be considered “political.”

But if Disney had come out and said (like they do in a lot of their promotional stuff for new movies like Snow White) that the movie was ABOUT racism, or sexism, or oppression, less people would have given it a chance. Only people who agree with Disney’s views on racism would have gone to see the movie; and they would have done it without objectivity, because they would’ve walked in, ready to champion a movie that represents their values, no matter how good or bad the movie actually was.

The problem with Daily Wire’s Snow White is that it is so obviously a political move, or a swipe at Disney, or a swipe at “woke” values. It is being made to do that, or it will be associated with that, no matter what. So people who think poorly of Daily Wire will not go see this movie, unless it’s to hate-review it, because they know it’s made by Daily Wire. The movie isn’t allowed to speak for itself.

That’s the problem. The stories are becoming all representation of politics and sides, and no genuine communication.

The whole point of a movie is to convince people of a truth statement. The story of Snow White should say “Innocent love is valuable.” It should not say, “I believe that innocent love is valuable.”

See the difference?

The first example of a statement is about the value. The second statement is about the person making the statement about the value. One is virtue-signaling, and here’s-the-side-I’m-on. The other is simply a demonstration of truth, regardless of who’s side you’re on.

Nobody who is liberal or left-leaning or just plain doesn’t like the Daily Wire will go and see their Snow White in good faith. Instead, they’ve probably pushed liberal people toward the Disney version, out of a desire to demonstrate who’s “side” they’re on. Just like nobody who is conservative or right-leaning will go see the new Disney Snow White in good faith. Instead, Disney’s pushed conservative people toward the Daily Wire version.

Cuz it’s not about the story anymore. It’s not a story. It’s just an obnoxious political flag to rally under.

Stories are supposed to be HOW you open your mouth and talk about values. Whether it’s through your company’s press or the trailers or whatever, you’re not supposed to say what the story is really about; it’s supposed to say that for itself.

Ari Drennen at MMFA:

Bud Light. Hershey’s. Target. Nike. Jack Daniel’s. The Los Angeles Dodgers. Adidas. Walmart. The North Face. While Pride 2023 featured a seemingly endless wave of boycott efforts from right-wing media personalities angry at corporations marketing their wares to LGBTQ customers, this year’s cancelation attempts have so far been more restrained, with a number of familiar right-wing media faces focusing on Ms Rachel after the popular children’s YouTuber posted a brief Pride message on TikTok.  With 10 million subscribers on YouTube, Rachel Accurso bills herself as “a passionate educator who creates research-based videos” which “infuse songs, games and nursery rhymes with strategies from experts to help children reach important milestones in the crucial early years of learning.” She also has nearly 5 million followers on TikTok, where she posted a 25-second clip on June 1 wishing a “happy Pride to all of our wonderful families and friends.” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh shared the video to X (formerly Twitter), calling it “a message to conservatives parents.”  [...] Other right-wing media figures piled on, with anti-LGBTQ account Libs of TikTok accusing Ms Rachel of subscribing to “the child m*tilat*on cult,” conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec pointing out that she’d invited trans TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney onto her show, and Daily Wire host Michael Knowles suggesting that her use of the title “Ms” was a red flag in itself.

So as to not promote or give attention to their post which made it seem as if everything was okay, I will post my original reply underneath so that it won't go to waste:

Yeah! Try this movie by a new company whose introduction video carefully explains how they are convinced the queer community is a cult that is trying to brainwash children with the help of Disney!

I am certain supporting the spite-production of a platform who proudly and openly says that abortion is evil is the best way to show respect to the fairytale!

And please do not look at Bentkey's introduction video on Youtube where they openly say that claiming the USA used to rely on slavery is an anti-American call for racial war...

If you didn't know about it, OP, Bentkey and the DailyWire company behind these two productions are paranoid conpiracy-theorist organizations on the extreme-right political spectrum - and who very openly advertise their product as political pieces that will keep your children straight and your girls abortionless and your Black people docile. Just look at the promotional videos on their Youtube channel, they do not hide it.

If you knew about this and still decided to advertise them because either A) you share their view or B) you think having a more "faithful" depiction of a 19th century German fairytale is more important than not supporting people obviously even worse than Disney ; then fuck you.