I took my god-daughter to see Disney on Ice at the weekend. It was the first time I'd been entrusted with the care of a three year-old since my own kids were little.
Fortunately, we got through the day without either of us being mortally wounded, or throwing a tantrum.
At least, until the three hour journey home - Disney On Ice let out at the same time as Wembley Stadium disgorged 100,000 rugby fans - when I inadvertably referred to another driver as a "fuckface".
Admittedly, the show wasn't spectacular. It had its moments, but a lengthy and tedious retelling of the Peter Pan story during the first half nearly lost us both. When she started asking to go home at that point, I nearly let her.
Fortunately, once they got into The Little Mermaid and Frozen, all was forgiven. She was up and dancing along with most of the kids in the audience.
What was really telling for me, though, is that I was sat next to a couple in their 60s, who had come all the way from Portsmouth without any children in tow. They seemed to love it every bit as much as my god-daughter did... and I could relate.
Fortunately, we got through the day without either of us being mortally wounded, or throwing a tantrum.
At least, until the three hour journey home - Disney On Ice let out at the same time as Wembley Stadium disgorged 100,000 rugby fans - when I inadvertably referred to another driver as a "fuckface".
Admittedly, the show wasn't spectacular. It had its moments, but a lengthy and tedious retelling of the Peter Pan story during the first half nearly lost us both. When she started asking to go home at that point, I nearly let her.
Fortunately, once they got into The Little Mermaid and Frozen, all was forgiven. She was up and dancing along with most of the kids in the audience.
What was really telling for me, though, is that I was sat next to a couple in their 60s, who had come all the way from Portsmouth without any children in tow. They seemed to love it every bit as much as my god-daughter did... and I could relate.
See... here's something you should know about me: I love Disney.
Alright, it's an enormous, money-making, corporation, and not perfect. I've known people to get burnt out from working with them.
I know Uncle Walt held some dubious views, which may have been mostly airbrushed out of the corporation's history.
But the product that Disney is peddling, what Walt Disney wanted for the world, is one that I can get behind wholeheartedly: storytelling, transporting us to our own unreality where we can shut out the real world. Where we can have our imaginations ignited.
Isn't that what video games do at their best?
NOBODY DOES IT BETTER
For my money, nobody does story better than Disney. Not only that, but they tell stories in a way that are accessible, uncynical, and life-affirming.
I understand criticism of Disney, but regardless of the corporate engine that powers their product, the end product is surely better than, I dunno, opening a shop where you can pay £5 to stab someone in the hand.
You see this almost flawless storytelling not only in their own movies, but everything that's part of their stable; there's a reason why the Disney-owned Marvel movies are almost universally loved, whereas the likes of Batman Vs Superman are labelled a depressing dirge. Likewise The Force Awakens.
Disney's precision storytelling is optimistic. Good overcomes bad. Relationships matter. Family matters, whether it's biological or more a sense of belonging. There is magic in the world if you just know where to look.
Nintendo is the closest that the games industry ever got to a Disney, but even then I worry that it's losing its lustre somewhat. Focusing on the past is good, but the company needs a storytelling renaissance like the one Disney went through in the late-80s; it needs its own The Little Mermaid to remind people what it's best at.
EASY RIDERS
If you've ever been fortunate enough to visit one of the Disney theme parks, you'll know that the attractions aren't rides like you'd get at Thorpe Park or Alton Towers; even the rollercoasters are wrapped up in storytelling, which starts the second you enter the park, and extends even to the queues and the restaurants.
It's total immersion in a fantasy that's better than where we have to live day to day.
The magic that Disney possesses is its ability to make adults feel like kids, by immersing them in a story. You see it at their parks; people wearing Mickey ears, behaving like happy five year-olds, buying into what Disney is selling.
I struggle to be cynical about that. Disney gives people the freedom to play, the freedom to be kids again. It's a powerful drug that speaks to our sense of wonder and imagination, and a deeply addictive one. Most people I know who've "done a Disney" yearn to go back again and again.
If you'll forgive my geekery, it's like when Malcolm McDowell got a taste of the Nexus in Star Trek Generations; finding a place that's everything you want the world to be. Being spat back out into reality after that can be harrowing.
It might not be real, but as I get older I despair more and more by what we're told the real world actually is. By how people can treat one another. When there is so much hate, where there could be love.
For me, that sort of transporting via story, that getting lost in somewhere else, is also what games do at their best, and part of why I think gamers are often so passionate about their hobby. Games transport us, and make us forget what's out there; the real world can struggle to compete. Threaten that, and you threaten their escape.
Alright, it's an enormous, money-making, corporation, and not perfect. I've known people to get burnt out from working with them.
I know Uncle Walt held some dubious views, which may have been mostly airbrushed out of the corporation's history.
But the product that Disney is peddling, what Walt Disney wanted for the world, is one that I can get behind wholeheartedly: storytelling, transporting us to our own unreality where we can shut out the real world. Where we can have our imaginations ignited.
Isn't that what video games do at their best?
NOBODY DOES IT BETTER
For my money, nobody does story better than Disney. Not only that, but they tell stories in a way that are accessible, uncynical, and life-affirming.
I understand criticism of Disney, but regardless of the corporate engine that powers their product, the end product is surely better than, I dunno, opening a shop where you can pay £5 to stab someone in the hand.
You see this almost flawless storytelling not only in their own movies, but everything that's part of their stable; there's a reason why the Disney-owned Marvel movies are almost universally loved, whereas the likes of Batman Vs Superman are labelled a depressing dirge. Likewise The Force Awakens.
Disney's precision storytelling is optimistic. Good overcomes bad. Relationships matter. Family matters, whether it's biological or more a sense of belonging. There is magic in the world if you just know where to look.
Nintendo is the closest that the games industry ever got to a Disney, but even then I worry that it's losing its lustre somewhat. Focusing on the past is good, but the company needs a storytelling renaissance like the one Disney went through in the late-80s; it needs its own The Little Mermaid to remind people what it's best at.
EASY RIDERS
If you've ever been fortunate enough to visit one of the Disney theme parks, you'll know that the attractions aren't rides like you'd get at Thorpe Park or Alton Towers; even the rollercoasters are wrapped up in storytelling, which starts the second you enter the park, and extends even to the queues and the restaurants.
It's total immersion in a fantasy that's better than where we have to live day to day.
The magic that Disney possesses is its ability to make adults feel like kids, by immersing them in a story. You see it at their parks; people wearing Mickey ears, behaving like happy five year-olds, buying into what Disney is selling.
I struggle to be cynical about that. Disney gives people the freedom to play, the freedom to be kids again. It's a powerful drug that speaks to our sense of wonder and imagination, and a deeply addictive one. Most people I know who've "done a Disney" yearn to go back again and again.
If you'll forgive my geekery, it's like when Malcolm McDowell got a taste of the Nexus in Star Trek Generations; finding a place that's everything you want the world to be. Being spat back out into reality after that can be harrowing.
It might not be real, but as I get older I despair more and more by what we're told the real world actually is. By how people can treat one another. When there is so much hate, where there could be love.
For me, that sort of transporting via story, that getting lost in somewhere else, is also what games do at their best, and part of why I think gamers are often so passionate about their hobby. Games transport us, and make us forget what's out there; the real world can struggle to compete. Threaten that, and you threaten their escape.
HOPEFUL FOR THE FUTURE
I think that's what I want from games; I want to feel hopeful that the world isn't all bad. I want that sense of total immersion in a place that's better. I want to believe that people aren't all bad, even when their actions suggest otherwise.
There might appear to be a gulf of difference between Master Chief and Belle from Beauty & The Beast, but protagonists in games are usually trying to help. People, I want to believe, are fundamentally good, fundamentally want to do the right thing, even if they get it wrong, or are driven by demons.
We might not know all that's driving Mario, but we know he wants to rescue the Princess, and save the Mushroom Kingdom. He's striving to make his world a better place.
It's a message I can get behind, a story I'm happy to live. I don't care if it isn't realistic. Optimism beats cynicism every time.
I want a world where there are no fuckfaces.
I think that's what I want from games; I want to feel hopeful that the world isn't all bad. I want that sense of total immersion in a place that's better. I want to believe that people aren't all bad, even when their actions suggest otherwise.
There might appear to be a gulf of difference between Master Chief and Belle from Beauty & The Beast, but protagonists in games are usually trying to help. People, I want to believe, are fundamentally good, fundamentally want to do the right thing, even if they get it wrong, or are driven by demons.
We might not know all that's driving Mario, but we know he wants to rescue the Princess, and save the Mushroom Kingdom. He's striving to make his world a better place.
It's a message I can get behind, a story I'm happy to live. I don't care if it isn't realistic. Optimism beats cynicism every time.
I want a world where there are no fuckfaces.
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