"Mean Dean" Doesn’t Have the Last Word

 

So many of you are probably already aware, by the fact that it's going viral, about the Disney+ new Chip 'n Dale film that was just released on the platform a few days ago...

...And how it seems to have totally exploited and downright mocked Bobby's own harrowing story. 

You can read article after article about it almost anywhere on the internet right now, but here is a good one, complete with Twitter links, if you want the full story.

By now we all know my devotion to Bobby's memory--hence my starting this blog--but I consider myself a pretty objective person, probably to a fault. If anything, I tend to always assume people have the best and purest of intentions when they often don't. But I seriously took issue with this. 

My initial impression, when first introduced to the character of "Mean Dean" one morning when I was scrolling through my news feed, was that it was pretty careless of Disney to create a character intended to be a grown-up Peter Pan whose life had gone sour--a "nod", if you will, to Bobby's own fate. I didn't necessarily think it was a complete attempt to be mean-spirited, simply that it was careless. I was disappointed in the whole thing, and more than a little annoyed.

Then, we learn that the character is not only a drug-lord, he was apparently kicked to the curb by "the studio" because he developed acne as he grew up. 

Okay--that is no coincidence. 

Do I think the writers were trying to be Grade A jackasses? Not necessarily. They didn't know Bobby personally, and there would have been no reason for them to be spiteful and vindictive. But I do think they must have thought the whole thing to be clever and funny, and maybe even thought that if they used Bobby's story in this tacky way, nobody would care. 'Cause, you know, it's been seventy years. Right? To boot, this was all done by people who haven't even bothered to list their first live-action star in the Disney Hall of Fame. 

Well, newsflash: there are fans. 

And guys, I cannot tell you how proud I was of the Bobby Driscoll fan base, which may have even included some of you, who stood up for Bobby on social media and let the world know this wasn't going to fly under the radar. Up until now, I honestly thought Bobby's fans were few and far between. But now I know better. Bobby's pain was very real, and has clearly reverberated through time to strike through the heart of some of us living decades later. His profound suffering may not have been realized during his lifetime, but it is now. And I believe that counts for something very big.

So, a few thoughts here:

I was asking myself this morning, feeling heartbroken over the whole thing, what would Bobby have thought about all this? How would he react if, over time and space, he was able to know the extent to which Disney has disrespected his legacy? 

The first thing I feel would happen is, he would hang his head in shame. Bobby never intended to lead the life he ended up with. Yes, he made his own choices--that's true. I tend to give a lot of grace here, however, because you guys have got to remember, we cannot look at addiction in the 1950's through the lens of what we know now. It was a totally different world back then, and programs like AA--which was pretty much all there was--were just gaining momentum. There are systems set up now, however flawed they may be, to help people caught in the throes of addiction to get clean and stay clean. But back then? Drugs, to Bobby, were an escape. And by the time he realized they were killing him, he probably had no idea how to stop. Yes, there was Chino, but in the early days of substance abuse treatment, how effective was it?

I guess all that to say, I think Bobby might have been harder on himself than anybody else ever was on him. And realizing that his life went up in blazes due to a few bad choices must have hurt him deeply when he had moments lucid enough, through the haze of heroin, to think about it. Bobby was known to have been very sensitive, in constant search of purpose. Knowing what others ended up making of his life, reducing it only to his bad decisions and eventual demise, I tend to think would cause him grief to no end because he isn't here to explain to them, "This is my story--this is how it all happened. The fact that this is all that's left of me to talk about isn't the way it was supposed to be." Therefore, I think his posture would be one more of sorrow than of anger.

Something I think would make him angry, however, is the fact that this is all incredibly disrespectful to his family. As we know, his daughter Aaren died recently, but he still has two more living children. And grandchildren, who never knew him and might be a little farther removed from the situation, but are probably still sensitive to their parents' pain. Bobby may have made some poor decisions regarding his family during the height of his drug use, but I believe he loved his children and would not want them hurt by the cruelty of people mocking him. His fatherly instincts, I think, can best be shown by the way a magazine (or newspaper) article published after Dan's birth but right before Aaren's quoted him as saying, "[His children] would NOT be child actors." This shows his protective spirit in regards to his kids. They've been through plenty, having gone a lifetime unable to relish the comfort of having both their parents with them. If anything would cause Bobby to lash out over all of this, I think it would be concern for his children's emotions. 

But, in the end, this: 

I think he would feel incredibly honored--not by the depiction of his life, issued him by Disney in this new movie, but by the fact that so many people DO see his value, enough to take up for him...love him in spite of his mistakes...

...remember him. 

Time is passing, and the flame of Bobby's memory is flickering. Most who knew him well have died, and people nowadays seem to have shelved his story to the archives of history--a sad legend from long ago, but one that has no bearing today. And we can't change that. But in speaking up despite it all, and reminding people that Bobby lived once, that he was an actual human being with a story we can never truly know the depth of, we can counteract all the negative impressions of him that are probably not finished being given. 

And I know that, wherever he is, that would give him something to smile about.