'We have lost the plot': A doc from the Disney family takes aim at the Mouse House

NEW YORK (AP) — Abigail E. Disney has been critical of the company that 
bears her name before. But for the first time, Disney, the granddaughter 
of co-founder Roy O. Disney, has put her views into the medium the Mouse 
House was built on: a movie.

In the new documentary “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales,” Disney 
argues that the Walt Disney Co. has lost its moral compass. As one of the 
company’s most prominent and outspoken critics — one who happens to be 
from within the Disney family — Disney lays out an unflattering portrait 
of the company, particularly in regard to pay inequity and the struggles 
of some theme park employees to sustain their families on minimum-wage 
salaries.

“They have gone the way of most every other company in this country. They 
started with a bigger idea of themselves than that,” Disney said in an 
interview. “The Walt Disney Co. was better. It was kinder, it was gentler. 
It was a human company.

“We have lost the plot,” said Disney.

“The American Dream,” which is playing in select theaters and debuts 
Friday on video-on-demand, is directed by Disney, an activist and film 
producer, and the filmmaker Kathleen Hughes. It was made on the heels of a 
series of tweets from Disney in 2019 in which she slammed Bob Iger, then-
Disney chief executive, for compensation that in 2018 surpassed $65 
million. Disney’s siblings, Susan Disney Lord and Tim Disney, are also 
executive producers on the film, which was made without any interaction 
from the company.

“No one’s reached out to me. I’m a little mystified by it, frankly,” said 
Disney. “I’m happy to talk if that’s what they want to do. I am rooting 
for them. I love this company. This is a love letter to the company. But 
when you really, really love something and see it going off the rails, you 
can’t be silent.”

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The film follows four Disneyland custodians who on a salary of $15 an hour 
struggle to make ends meet in the high-priced Anaheim, California, area. 
Growing pay gaps between executives and low-rung workers is an issue 
Disney knows goes far beyond the company her film concerns. At one point 
in the film, she describes her hope for change as “a little Disney.

“I know that people think I’m just living out here in abstract land,” 
Disney said. “But the abstractions matter a lot, and the sensibilities 
must change.”

Wages for some Disney workers have been changing. Unions representing 
9,500 workers at Disneyland averted a strike by ratifying a contact that 
raised pay from $15.45 an hour to $18. A union representing hotel workers 
at an Anaheim hotel also recently reached agreement on $23.50 an hour. 
(Anaheim’s living wage ordinance, which is $23.50, was earlier ruled not 
to apply to Disneyland.)

In response to “The American Dream,” a Disney spokesperson replied with a 
statement.

“Our amazing cast members, storytellers, and employees are the heart and 
soul of Disney, and their wellbeing is our top priority. We work hard to 
ensure that our team is supported in ways that enable them to grow their 
careers, care for their families, and thrive at work — which is why so 
many people choose to spend their entire careers with us.”

The spokesperson also cited medical coverage, access to tuition-free 
higher education and subsidized child care as worker benefits. “We are 
committed to building on these impactful programs by identifying new ways 
to support our cast members and communities around the world,” said the 
spokesperson.

When Roy E. Disney, who founded the company with his brother, Walt, in 
1923, stepped down from the board in 2003, the family ceased participating 
in running the company. Since Abigail Disney made her documentary, which 
first premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, Iger has been 
succeeded by Bob Chapek, who had previously run parks for the company. In 
that period, prices have risen sharply at the company’s theme parks — 
another point of contention for Disney.

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“I just don’t think it’s a good idea for Disneyland to become a luxury 
vacation that most Americans can’t access,” she said. “I don’t know how 
much more the brand can take.”

Disney, though, was encouraged by workers who protested Chapek’s response 
to Florida legislation that critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. 
To Disney, the situation reflected the corporation’s struggle to maintain 
a role as any kind of moral authority amid such politically polarized 
times.

“There is no such thing as not having a position on this question,” she 
said. “There is no neutral ground. To pretend you can stand still on a 
moving train is a terrible mistake.”

Ultimately, Disney increasingly doesn’t recognize the company that for 
much of her life was the family business. Making a movie about her 
disapproval, she says, was “exquisitely uncomfortable.” But she hasn’t 
given up a happily-ever-after ending.

“I really do mean well,” Disney says. “You can say a lot of things about 
me, but I mean well.”

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