On Tomorrowland

It would seem that Disney are taking steps to move away from the traditional, patriarchal representations that made them one of the most prosperous studios in global cinema. Tomorrowland is a rare thing: a liberal blockbuster. At one stage in the film, Athena (wisdom and war) the violent robot who takes the guise of a twelve year old girl, tells the female protagonist that in Tomorrowland they need the thinkers; the dreamers; those willing to meddle in government property (anarchists) and those who wish to be free of bureaucratic red tape. 

In the film, Tomorrowland is envisaged as a place where the brightest and most creative from all disciplines can work free from political constraints. Yet, when opening up this utopia to the many, a tyrannical Hugh Laurie dressed like an SS commander shuts it down, turning it into a police state. It takes the anarchist and the jaded to come together and rebuild.

As a piece of cinema, Tomorrowland is a thrilling story, full of imagination, humour and creativity. The pace never lets up and the knowing references to other futuristic, time travelling films are fun. This could easily become the favourite film of a child raised on 80s/90s cinema. However many of those exist.

To entertain and be a spectacle is its first port of call, but Tomorrowland seems also to want to say something about blockbuster cinema. It wants to tell up to question and cause trouble rather than just accept the work of those that govern, simply because they do so. Rarely are children told to go and think differently, break the mould and be subversive (the education system is designed to knock this out of them), but here is a mainstream piece of cinema telling them just that. And it is all the better for it.