Meryl Streep Throws Walt Under the Bus

[Dixie Springs]

Perhaps she was passed over for the PL Travers role?


From Parade Online:

The Walt Disney Family Museum isn’t too happy with Meryl Streep.

The actress blasted Walt Disney at a recent awards gala, calling him a “gender bigot” and anti-Semite with “racist proclivities.”

“Some of his associates reported that Walt Disney didn’t really like women,” Streep said during a ten-minute tribute to Saving Mr. Banks star Emma Thompson.

At one point, Streep read aloud a letter that Disney wrote in 1938 in response to a young woman who had applied for a training program in cartooning. “I’m going to read it here in Emma’s tribute because I know it will tickle our honoree, because she’s also a rabid, man-eating feminist, like I am,” Streep said.

The letter read:

"Dear Miss Ford,

Your letter of recent date has been received in the inking and painting department for reply. Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that task is performed entirely by young men. For this reason, girls are not considered for the training school. The only work open to women consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink, and then filling in the tracing on the reverse side with paint, according to the directions."

Streep’s speech took the Internet by storm, and a few days later, the Walt Disney Family Museum, which was founded by Disney’s heirs, responded to her remarks with a sarcastic Tweet to @officialMStreep (a fan-created handle):

The museum also linked to a blog by veteran Disney animator Floyd Norman, who worked on 1958’s Sleeping Beauty, 1966’s The Jungle Book, and other Disney classics. In a post titled “Sophie’s Poor Choice,” Norman defended the legendary animator:

“To be sure, Walt Disney had his faults like the rest of us. He was not a perfect man nor did we expect him to be,” he writes. “Like most of us, he continued to grow as he moved through life and in time he recognized women could compete alongside men. He knew that talent had no color or ethnicity and he judged people by their ability to do their job and do it well. Walt Disney was a man of his time, but he was determined not to be imprisoned by it. He dreamed of a better world and even had the audacity to try and build it. Hardly an American to be vilified. Walt Disney deserves to be celebrated.”

[goofy for pluto]

[QUOTE=Dixie Springs;]

At one point, Streep read aloud a letter that Disney wrote in 1938


THIS

Comparing what someone said or did over 70 years ago
to the social mores of today is unfair.
I would love to hear what Mary Blair would have to say about this.

[goofy for pluto]

This from another sight:

She..(Meryl Streep) had no trouble cashing all
those hefty "Doubt" checks, from "Marvin's Room," in which she visited
Disney World and was assuredly treated to
complimentary luxury Disney hotel suites, gourmet food and no lines at rides.
She has no trouble with all the money and perks
attached to "Into the Woods"
Ms. Streep again is brilliant at
interpreting a script but clearly not adequate at gathering information. ..
she hit every hot button and thus succeeded at getting press and attention. by using Walt Disney, a sure-fire attention getter.

Who is exploiting whom this year?

[Kenny1113]

[QUOTE=goofy for pluto;2394261]

At one point, Streep read aloud a letter that Disney wrote in 1938


THIS

Comparing what someone said or did over 70 years ago
to the social mores of today is unfair.
I would love to hear what Mary Blair would have to say about this.

It was a different time....

[1DisneyNut]

Who really cares what Meryl Streep says anyway?

[Dixie Springs]

I really do not. Just posted it for its absurdity-value. Not only was it a stupid and bitter speech, but the occasion upon which she chose to grandstand makes it even worse.

By the way, I don't read Parade - it was brought to my attention by my sister, a fellow Disnerd who "used to like Meryl Streep".

[d_m_n_n]

Who really cares what Meryl Streep says anyway?

I, for one, could not care less

[SBETigg]

I don't mind that Meryl spoke her mind, though. It's okay to have a different opinion.

Also, she didn't really "throw him under the bus." That would imply that she's sacrificing him for personal gain. I see no gain for her in this, except that she has strong personal feelings that she wanted to express and she felt it was the right forum for it considering the movie might have been a tad forgiving of Walt. We tend to glorify him, but he had his faults.

Even in Walt's time, different as it was, he could have used his power to advance women and he chose against it in a detrimental way-- though he might have eventually come around a bit. Misogynistic? Some of his movies could make the argument for that, with female characters often reduced to stereotypes, innocent or evil with few or no in between. And antisemitism, even in a different time, was ugly and bigoted and certainly never something to celebrate. Yeah, Walt wasn't perfect. In a movie that certainly brings out the warts in PL Travers, I see nothing wrong with making a similar study of Disney himself. It doesn't necessarily lessen the love to have some understanding of the man and who he really was. Though of course the people in charge of Walt's legacy would, and should, defend him and emphasize the many positives of the man.

[kakn7294]

Everyone's entitled to an opinion. It's my opinion that Merle Streep's opinion is stupid. I certainly wouldn't have called anyone out based on his reply to that young woman. This was a different time from today's standards and his response was the generally accepted attitude of the time from which that letter was written.

I do agree with Sherri - he could have used his considerable influence within the industry to advance women rather than stick with the status quo but he didn't really do anything differently from any other studio at the time.

[Dixie Springs]

To 'throw someone under the bus' is an idiom used in many ways, depending on where your Google takes you.

[Removed reference to outside site], it means "to get the person in trouble either by placing blame on that person or not standing up for him."

But don't let the tagline obscure the point, which is that a famous actress spoke ill of an entertainment legend in an awkward setting. I think that's what most folks are seeing in the story.

[Terra]

Agree. Very different time. Not that I think it's "right" per say. But there is something to be said for cultural norms and relevance of any time period.

Doesn't change my opinion of Disney. However it does change my opinion/view of Streep. Not that I was big fan, but a few movies were pretty good.
But statements like this, just demonstrate the ignorance and lack of education to know the difference between cultural norms of the times.

[Tiggerlovr9000]

I am just amazed that if she is that morally superior, how she would even consider working on a Disney project.

[TinkerbellT421]

I wasn't very good in history class, but wasn't 1938 an era where pretty much every women was low on the totem pole to say. I think ever business man from that era pretty much had that state of mind towards women...if that was a letter from yesterday I'd probably be more upset about it, but to bring up a letter from a bad era towards woman that would pretty much put any man in that category of a bigot, etc., is a poor taste of an example. Meryl Streep has always annoyed me, this didn't help.

[Mrs Bus Driver]

And then WW2 happened and the boys went off to war. Women had to take over jobs because there weren't enough men around to do them and guess what many men found out women could do the job. It was a time in history that gave a boost to the women's movement. But even in this day and age there are many jobs that pay men more than women. Back to the OP I think it was very bad taste to read that letter there. Meryl Streep is someone who has many opportunities to speak out and can even create her own opportunities. She should have done it somewhere else. Unless it was her intention to insult her host. Just my 2 cents

[Tekneek]

It is important to put the letter in the context of the time period, but it still was his position at the time. Pointing out an imperfection in a human being does not make them evil, but we shouldn't pretend the imperfection did not exist. I am sure that Meryl Streep has her own flaws, perhaps including the way she expressed herself in this incident. It is the nature of humans to make mistakes and, hopefully, get the chance to learn from them.

[pdrlkr]

Sounds like a dying career. Saying something to try to get attention. It only matters what Disney fans think anyway.