@wondersammy 👀

it can be therapeutic to admit "actually my childhood was deeply fucking awful." not "my parents tried" or "there were good times too" or "I was lucky in certain ways" but solely to acknowledge "I went though some fucking messed up shit what the fuck was that about "

Oh fuck yes Twitter is bringing back the 1970’s Maoist approach to gayness

Gentle reminder here that there are elder queers out there. Real elders, people in their 80s and 90s who survived, who are here. You can get there, old age does exist for us.

I know an old lesbian couple who have been married since the moment they legalized it. One woman can hardly walk anymore but she loves Hallmark ornaments, so her wife supports her against her walker during Christmas so she can look at them more easily.

I know a transgender man who started transitioning only 10 years ago at 60, and he's brilliant and funny and brings his grandchildren by to get sweets.

I know an asexual woman who, beamed and told me she absolutely loved not having a husband, and that she "never once regretted not getting married. I never felt that way about anybody! Why force it?" She lives with her parrot and loves salsa dancing.

Our elders exist. So many of us have been wiped out and erased on purpose, but we're here. And that means you can get there. When you're old and grey, when you're retired and done, there will be people who will love you and will care for you.

The Disney Company has made it’s back-catalog of work the foundation of the corporation since the 90′s. While at the same time, distancing themselves from the ugly realities that plague the companies history. Covering them up in hopes that the public forgets. Racism, animal abuse, and their now-obscure, former-superstar, young Bobby Driscoll. 

The Disney Company, while so-often celebrating their “masterpiece collection” of films, and “Disney Legends” such as Mary Blair, Annette Funicello and Kathryn Beaumont, the name Bobby Driscoll remains conveniently left out. This is entirely intentional.

Who is Bobby Driscoll?

Discovered in a barber shop at the age of 5, Bobby was the first actor to ever be signed under-contract by Disney Studios. In 1946, his starring role in Song of the South made him an overnight sensation. At one point, he was the highest paid child actor in Hollywood. Soon, he was Disney’s golden-goose, with films like Melody Time, So Dear to My Heart and Treasure Island. He even won an Academy Award for his performance in the film noir, the Window.

Today, he is best remembered as the voice and live-action model of the titular Peter Pan.

What Happened to Bobby Driscoll?

Despite his success, Bobby could never seem to please his parents. They physically abused him, and kept him locked in a closet for hours at a time. Sometimes, all night. When Bobby was around 9, the beatings became so bad Disney temporarily moved the boy in with the family of his co-star, Luana Patten. They could not shoot, after all, if their star was battered and bruised.

When shooting wrapped, he went back home. Child abuse was still extremely normalized during this time, and was also an accepted method of getting a good performance out of a child. Many of Bobby’s contemporaries describe being slapped in the face or being manhandled by adults as every-day occurrences on set.

Around this time, Walt Disney himself became fixated on Driscoll, Marc Elliot stating Walt often referred to Bobby as “the living embodiment of his own youth.” He saw the child as an extension of himself, and ignored Bobby’s own identity. Bobby was susceptible to the attention and latched onto Walt as a father figure. He came to see Disney Studios as a family, and indeed “Uncle Walt” encouraged this idea, especially among his child performers. One former animator described feeling uncomfortable by seeing higher-ups kiss Bobby on the face and mouth.

During Bobby’s pre-teen years, he was signed to a new 7-year contract and given a substantial raise of $1750 per week. Bizarrely, Bobby was now making the most money he ever would, while actually working less than ever before. 

He was cast in the leading role of Peter Pan, as both the voice and visual inspiration for the character. Peter had Bobby’s wide eyes, and upturned nose. If you watch any Bobby Driscoll movie, and then watch Peter Pan in motion, you can easily see the character’s every facial expression and mannerism taken directly from Driscoll. His expressive eyebrows, nose-scrunching, even down to the way he positions his wrists.

As Bobby got older, Walt stopped speaking affectionately of him in meetings. He stated Bobby was no longer likeable enough to play protagonists. Meanwhile, Peter Pan was released, and is a massive hit.

In 1953, Bobby began to hear rumours he would be fired. He tried asking the higher-ups he was formerly friendly with, but none would speak to him. He went to Walt’s secretary, asking to speak to Mr. Disney. She refused to call him, and when Bobby asked again, she abruptly told him he was no longer needed and to get out.

Stunned, Bobby burst into tears. She called security, and had the boy escorted off of Disney property. Disney Studios told the press they had let Bobby go due to an extreme case of acne, which sullied his image with other movie studios. 

Personally, I don’t buy the acne explanation. Acne can be covered, and Disney was focusing heavily on television at this time, which had terrible picture quality compared to film. Not to mention, Walt had already talked about shifting Bobby into playing unlikeable bully characters. But the true reason for the cancellation of Bobby’s seven year contract may never be known.

Unable to find work, Bobby’s parents enrolled him in public school. He was mercilessly bullied for his Disney roles, being beaten up by his classmates constantly. He stated he “became afraid all the time”, and it was at this time he began experimenting with drugs.

After being imprisoned for possession of marijuana, he was eventually sentenced to a “rehab centre”. The so-called first of it’s kind, employed no doctors or nurses, and used abusive psychiatric practices now outlawed.

During this time, Disney was making millions off of the heavy merchandising of Peter Pan. Bobby never saw a dime from this, despite his likeness being used.

Bobby’s life remained difficult, and although he had a few more acting roles, and became a talented artist in the beatnik scene, he just couldn’t make enough money to get by.

He died on March 30th 1968, aged 31, without a penny to his name. Alone, and forgotten. He was found on a dirty cot in an abandoned building. His body was unidentified, and police could not find anyone who recognized him. He was buried in a mass grave, unmarked, on Hart Island. 

Eventually, his mother asked Disney to help find him, and he was finally identified through finger prints. Although, his remains were not moved to a cemetery, which would have been possible at the time.

The public did not learn of Bobby’s death until 1973, when Song of the South was re-released in theatres.  After his death had been reported, actress Jane Wyman insinuated in an interview that Bobby had been sexually abused while working for Disney.

Erasure of Bobby by Disney

As mentioned above, Bobby has never been named an official “Disney Legend”, despite fan petitions and letter-writing campaigns since the start of the program in the late 80′s.

Both the Peter Pan VHS, and DVD making-of featurettes only mention Bobby Driscoll in passing. Compared to the Alice in Wonderland DVD, which features an entire documentary about Alice’s voice actress.

The DVD release of So Dear to My Heart was cancelled without explanation. Years later, it was quietly released as a Disney Movie Club Exclusive. Making it rare and difficult to find.

Fan requests for a memorial to Bobby Driscoll in Disney Parks have also gone unanswered. Disney will likely never own up to Bobby Driscoll, or what the company did to him. His story is tragic, and paints the company in an uncomfortable light, going directly against it’s branding of love, family and happy endings. After all, if the average joe-blows and Karens of the world knew what happened to Bobby Driscoll, they might cancel their Disney+ subscription. And Disney certainly doesn’t want that to happen.

I don’t think I could talk about The Sandman on here because, like, Neil Gaiman is here, just hanging out. I’d be like “Oh, I like how they visualized this one scene, it was different from the comics but I don’t think they original comics visualizations would have worked in live action “ or whatever And then Neil Gaiman might appear like “Yeah, we were having trouble figuring out how to do that scene until one of our production designers had a vivid hallucination while eating a 3AM Gyro purchased from an all-night food truck outside the Bass Pro Shop pyramid” and I don’t think I’m ready for that experience. Alternatively, I could say “Dream is a little too scrungly to be a classic Tumblr Sexyman, but he is prime meow-meow blorbo material” and Neil Gaiman might appear and say “Yeah, we were having trouble figuring out the exact ratio of Sexyman, poor little meow meow, and Blorbo, but the final characterization appeared to Tom Sturridge in a vivid hallucination while eating a 3AM Gyro purchased from an all-night food truck outside the Bass Pro Shop pyramid” and I don’t think I’m ready for THAT either.

@wonderingsam @chronosfear is it bad that there's no token straight among us?

“it’s unrealistic for so many of them to be gay’

shut up shut up shut UP every single person in my 3rd grade friend group turned out to be queer (except for one, the token straight guy) and there were EIGHT of us. queer people find each other, even if they don’t know they’re queer.

Geena Davis in "Earth Girls Are Easy" (dir. Julien Temple - 1988)

If you're in a pinch and thread and needles are unavailable, I'd recommend using superglue to hold yourself together

i love having a corporeal form. i love eating warm food on cold days. i love taking hot showers. i love sleeping on clean sheets. i delight in earthly decadence. i wake up and eat warm bread slathered in butter. i own multiple pairs of soft fuzzy socks. this body is so comfy and i'm not returning it any time soon

OH Yeah we have 😂

https://m.fanfiction.net/u/119117/Cithara

This is one of my favorite active authors on Fanfiction.net. This person has 25 stories posted over there, is currently updating a new one titled Call Me Friend But Keep Me Closer(HP/George W.), and just finished one called Memory’s Pale Reflection, which is one of my absolute favorite HP/SS. This author has done an outstanding job of getting me tuned in (and turned on) to DM/Remus L. with the story Just Sex. There’s also a story called One’s Man Treaaon, which features DM/Bill W. that is very well done. You’ll find that this author has done some of the best HP/Ron W. Brave New World (HP/SS; DM/RW) may have been this author’s most popular work, but I’d like to do a special mention to An Honourable Man (HP/SS; DM/RW).

me, soaking up all that gay shit