thedriveintheatre

The ‘Brenda Chapman incident’ discussion continues on the forums. Members’ quotes are in italics, with my responses below.

why the hate on Pixar???
If that was directed at me, I assure you, I have the studio’s best interests at heart, and that I still have faith in them if they do a little soul-searching and be more trusting of its employees. If that was directed at the commenters on Lauren Faust’s blog, they have every right to an opinion, just as you and I are entitled to ours. And we must respect that- being defensive without giving a thoughtful counter-argument doesn’t contribute to a fruitful discussion. :)

Hmm….those blogs were interesting, TDIT. Honestly, I wasn’t really excited for Newt at all. And now that it’s cancelled, I don’t really care. Rio was fantastic, and that’s good enough for me. And personally, I might be biased because he’s awesome, but I doubt Mr. Lasseter’s comment was a smack at Rio. I think he was pretty respectful. Personally, I think the cancellation of Newt was the right way to go.
I was so excited for Newt, so it hurt me initially to hear it was cancelled. I was even angry at Rio for a while, until I saw the spectacular teaser last year. That, coupled with other factors (Dreamworks improving with HTTYD, Shrek 4, and Megamind, intolerant Pixar fans aggressively defending Toy Story 3 against constructive criticisms, Brenda Chapman leaving the Brave project) made me realise that we all have to let go and move on, much like Marlin and Woody learnt in their stories.

And I have also applied the same philosophy to Lasseter’s comment. Being the good-hearted man that he is, I have decided to give him the benefit of the doubt that the remark wasn’t malicious and that a lot of the other websites (including [i]The Pixar Blog[/i]) have misinterpreted his quote as the official reason for Newt’s cancellation. I highly doubt this would be so, as I have said many times, because this is highly uncharacteristic of Pixar to be afraid of a rival film.

And on the actual topic of the thread(HAHAHA), I wish they would just o ahead and tell us why the heck they fired Brenda. I was very interested in another film by her. I know she’s still “co-director”, but that’s not the same. I wish they wouldn’t be such chickens and say WHY. I just want to know why.
I would really love to hear Brenda’s side of the story too- perhaps someone should interview her, although I doubt she will tell the truth as she still has affiliations with Pixar (I think she’s still an employee, just no longer attached to the project). And of course, we can’t trust the PR spokespeople from Pixar, because they of course have a vested interest to make the studio look good.

Perhaps if another employee leaves the studio (like Lou Romano’s rather bitter departure, he has been drawing cartoons that openly mock Disney), he/she will be able to provide a revealing behind-the-scenes look at the unsavoury parts of the studio.

I’m not saying this to ‘hate’ on Pixar. Every studio has its weaknesses. I bet there’s even political back-stabbings happening in the halls of Dreamworks Animation or Blue Sky or Studio Ghibli or whatever. Every company has such corporate fiascos. It’s just that people like to think of Pixar as a ‘hallowed ground’ immune to commercialisation or back-room dealings, when it might possibly be far from the truth.

And few fans like to question that. Reverence blinds you to inquiry.

NOTE: I have just read a post on the forum from a member claiming that the Brave trailer will not be attached to Cars 2 reels in Australia. If this is the case, I am sorely disappointed. I was hoping to see it in all its glory on the big screen, if that is indeed still the case.