As kids, many of us grew up watching channels like Nickelodeon, Boomerang, and Cartoon Network, but one in particular raised the bar for future shows and movies across the platform: Disney. Like us, Disney Channel evolved and changed throughout the years, but whether that change had a good or bad result, that remains to be seen.
Beginning with the basics: based on the ages of people attending AFHS, the old Disney Channel can range from shows that aired in the early 2000s to the mid-2010s, while the new Disney begins in late 2015 to present time. Shows like Jessie, Good Luck Charlie, Wizards of Waverly Place, and Hannah Montana had been some of the most popular shows during the 2000s. What do all of these shows have in common? All of them have a tight-knit family or group of friends that a large variety of people can relate to, especially teenagers. The shows vary from a group of friends, a single mother raising two kids, and a family of adoptive siblings of various races. There had been no typical stereotype or specific expectations, making it more fun and exciting to watch.
As the years went on, shows became more predictable. Disney directors went the simple route; instead of having a plot that had an actual meaning or lesson to learn, they resorted to irrational and unrealistic situations that served no real purpose other than to get a few laughs out of the viewers. For example, when the famous Disney show Jessie, first aired in 2011, the show proved to be about more than just getting laughs out of the audience. Debby Ryan 一 who first got her start on Disney’s sequel to the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Suite Life on Deck 一starred as Jessie Prescott, a young wannabe actress trying to make it big in New York City. Life changed when she met the Ross siblings, four racially diverse kids who live in a giant penthouse in Central Park. Jessie hadn’t only been about displaying typical teenage situations: getting boyfriends or girlfriends, navigating middle school, staying awake in classes, and dealing with mean teachers. Jessie focused on so much more than that. None of the Ross siblings shared any blood; their races varying from black, white, and Indian. Older Disney shows taught many viewers that family shouldn’t always be only biological; instead it can be about friends who have your back and who you go to when you need a shoulder to cry on.
Let’s look at a newer Disney TV show: Bizaardvark. Bizaardvark stars Olivia Rodrigo and Madison Hu, who play best friends Paige and Frankie. The whole TV show revolves around social media, specifically YouTube. The two friends do very bizarre and crazy things to get views and become famous YouTubers, which constitutes the entire plot. The cast lacked diversity, with only one non-white character 一 Madison Hu. No lesson or moral can really be learned from the episodes. It seems as the days go forward, the diversity slowly desiccates, and the meaning of the shows become pointless, like shows Stuck in the Middle, Sydney to the Max, and Best Friends Whenever. When AFHS students had been interviewed, none of them said they watched or even liked any shows that came out after 2015. Shows like Jessie and Good Luck Charlie had been the most popular, and 100% of people interviewed said the “old” Disney had been better than the new face of Disney.
Maybe it could be that as kids, we grew up with the characters we watched and that Disney hasn’t changed, but the people who have watched it have. Or maybe it could be that with everyone dissecting TV shows these days, Disney wanted to play it safe and do what they seemed comfortable with. For whatever reason, students at AFHS agree that the older shows have been a lot more entertaining and successful than the newer ones.
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