Who Told Rescue Rangers it was Roger Rabbit?!

Last year, I started a series on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? You can read the two pieces I was able to complete here  and here as pdfs. (Also, quick side note, apologies for some of the cut off suggested popular entries/ titles at the bottom of the docs).

I originally started this series on LiveJournal, and, because of the events happening with Russia, I am unable to finish them. I started writing it in November of last year, but several things happened between the course of then and now, not just the Ukraine conflict, including multiple deaths in the family. In March, I had intended to work on a piece about Jessica Rabbit now that my life was slowly started to get its way back together, and then the Ukraine conflict happened. There are more pressing things in the world that writing about Jessica Rabbit.

To summarize the two articles above:

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a surprisingly sophisticated examination of PTSD, discrimination, trauma, and trauma-induced substance abuse issues. It is nuanced, empathetic, and, despite, how zany and wildly inappropriate it can be, an incredibly balanced film with a lot of pathos, a lot of heart, and a surprisingly forward-thinking and responsible take on many of the issues it tackles.

Unfortunately, the new Rescue Rangers movie is none of those things.

Spoilers moving forward from this point, obviously. Also, please note that trigger warnings for substances abuse,  as well as child abuse and endangerment are in place for anything past here.

In the new Rescue Rangers movie, a "washed up" and "aged" Peter Pan is the villain of the film, which, of course, also comes with a heaping dose of fatphobia. (I honestly thought we were beyond fat jokes in 2022, but I guess not!) This isn't the first time that Peter Pan has been an antagonistic figure in Disney media. (One could even argue he's one in the original film, but I digress). Peter Pan being an antagonist isn't the issue. I am not bothered by a character I literally cannot stand from a movie I absolute hate being a villain. Peter Pan in Rescue Rangers is not villain for ditching his ride-or-die for some girl he's been stalking, being insufferably arrogant, pitting women against each other, cutting off people's hands and feeding them to crocodiles, et cetera.

It's the fact that the fate of the Rescue Rangers Peter Pan mocks the tragic real life and death of his actor Bobby Driscoll. This Twitter thread does an excellent job breaking down the parallels between Rescue Rangers' Peter Pan and Driscoll, and  both this article, as well as this article will fill in some of the details. Also,  this video goes into great horrifying and deeply disturbing details about child actors in Hollywood,  with Bobby Driscoll coming in around the 30 minute mark. Viewer discretion is highly advised: https://youtu.be/AFRm-h3qLk0

I wanted to make a few things clear before we moved ahead any farther:

• I may not have always had or continue to have the greatest track record of my views on addition and substance abuse, may not have had the best or most Internet "correct" takes on these subjects. Being violently physically and sexually abused, having to spend my First 5 being literally neglected in abject poverty, being trafficked, being systemically punished and being terrorized because of someone else's (multiple people's) substance abuse problems is not going to give me the most nuanced or unbiased perception. It's an on-going process. So I might not have the "best" takes historically or use the best and most correct terminology, but I am at least trying. Do I really owe strangers on the internet this information? No. Do I think "Internet Apologies" are particularly useful or even effective? Not really. But I also think making that full disclosure is important so that you can me a little bit better in an area that I continue to struggle to navigate.
• My distain for the film is in no way a moral judgement or assessment for those who liked it, and blame squarely sits with the people who wrote it, greenlit it, and produced it, and also with those along the way to let it get as far as it did without saying anything about it thinking this was appropriate in any way.
• I did not see the film. A leaked copy of the script was circulating on Twitter, which I read. If you Google "Rescue Rangers script" you should also get results.  I thought it was a hoax. I thought that there was absolutely no way that they would be this vile, this putrid, this wholly and completely disgusting. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I have seen a few clips and the trailers, but reading the script only solidified my sentiments that I have a finite lifespan, and I certainly wasn't losing any more time than I had already given to this script.

Now that we have those things squared away, I can begin to talk about this more.

 In the original film, Peter Pan's animated face was modeled after Bobby Driscoll's, who not only provided the voice for the character, but the live action animation model. Disney's Peter Pan is Driscoll's face.

A face that Disney prematurely terminated over acne. (It also might have been an allergic reaction to the very make-up that was causing it, the make-up that became "too difficult" to navigate with the "acne." Around and round it goes.) This termination took place two weeks after the premiere of Peter Pan in 1953.

The way Rescue Rangers mocks the tragic life of Bobby Driscoll is legitimately cruel.

And, look, I am not an easily offended or offended for the sake of being offended pearl clutcher. I just have standards. I don't know how to explain to a collection of grown ass adults that mocking and villainizing addiction--particularly trauma-related addiction--is not only not funny, but just fucking gross? Like I feel this is a given. I feel like I shouldn't have to even say this. I feel like adults who have been on this planet long enough should--....you know what? Never mind. Clearly they fucking can't.

It's shocking, and frankly a little disturbing, that some people keep suggesting that this film is the "spiritual successor" to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Roger Rabbit dealt with discrimination, segregation, gentrification, survivor guilt, PTSD,  love and sacrifice in marriage, and  personal over-coming bias, and did so in ways that we haven't seen in film, regardless of there being cartoons in it or not. Roger Rabbit never had that meanness, punch down the way Rescue Rangers does. Roger Rabbit has empathy. Roger Rabbit asks its characters, and its viewers, to overcome their personal biases so that a collective can heal and move forward. Rescue Rangers literally mocks a dead man who had been constantly failed throughout his entire lifetime. It has no statement to make about it. It literally treats addiction, trauma, and death like a joke. It's not even making witty, or clever jokes. It's just pitiful edge lord shit. Roger Rabbit has a lot of respect. Rescue Rangers has absolutely none.

I mean, we could talk about the problematic people who are attached to this film, but I don't know how much good it would actually do, or how much relevance it actually has (but don't think it wasn't at the forefront of my mind these last few days).

And, like, look, I wanted to like this movie based on the first trailer I saw.  I will never say no to seeing more of Roger Rabbit, being played by Charles Fleischer again, no less. The Rescue Rangers  show was one of my personal faves, but, no it's not about "ruining my childhood." The Rescue Rangers show still exists and is fun to watch, and this film doesn't change anything about that. I think this bad fanfiction of a movie only solidifies how much I enjoyed the original tv series.

But I didn't like it. I can't like it. I can't get past the same company who threw a literal human being away (for what was probably actually their fault), continues to exploit  this person's literal image to the ends of the earth, is now using this as a  source of ridicule, in a completely cheap and putrid way.

(And if some asswagon on the internet decides to mock me for this piece, I don't really know what to tell them. I think maybe you need to reassess yourself before you starting mocking me. 😌)

Edit: this Tumblr post also articulates this powerfully. https://nileqt87.tumblr.com/post/685095654266142720/disneys-treatment-of-bobby-driscoll