Vine Ripened Jungle Boy Finds Support
at the Happiest Place on Earth
An Interview with Thomas Schumacher,
President of Feature Animation at Disney
By Lewis Tice
How's Disney's new Tarzan?
It has Disney's usual high production values and
basic story structure. What makes this Tarzan "rock" is the emotional
strength of the story. You see, this version is about family but not
your "mom and pop with two kids" variety. It doesn't belittle the
concept of a straight family unit but it leaves the idea ambiguous
enough to include all definitions of "family". But who's the big "cheese"
helping Disney approach the future with a friendlier gay spin on things?
Meet Thomas Schumacher, President of Feature Animation at Disney.
He's the guy who greenlighted Disney's new version of Edgar Rice
Burroughs's Tarzan and he also gave the "okay" for Disney's last
feature, the gender bending, super heroine Mulan. We chatted a bit
about the animated hunky apeman (this Tarzan even has cartoon nipples!)
but our conversation also touched on Disney's stance on lesbian and gay
policies, Thomas's very open approach to business, and even Rosie
O'Donnell's role of the prerequisite Disney sidekick, Terk.
PopcornQ: You grew up in the San Francisco bay area?
Schumacher: Actually in San Mateo. San Francisco has shaped my whole
view of the world because of the "arts" here. The Seventies was the "hey"
day of public funding for the arts. For my sixteenth birthday, I got my
driver's license and tickets to American Conservatory Theatre; I was so
excited. If you were into the arts, it was completely phenomenal. I was
the only sixteen year old that I knew of who would be giddy seeing a new
production of The House of Bernardo Alva. [Laughing] I could tell you every
single way to get into the Geary Theatre.
PopcornQ: Trust me, I can relate to you on that subject. Before the interview you
were talking about meeting an old friend from the boy scouts. Do you remember the oath?
Schumacher: Yes, I was with Troop 21. Let me see, trust, loyal, helpful, friendly,
kind [recites oath verbatim] to keep myself physically fit, mentally straight
and morally awake. [Giggling] It was the "mentally straight" and "morally awake"
that I had no association with.
PopcornQ: What's Disney's stance about Lesbian and Gay days at Disneyland? They
seem very popular nowadays.
Schumacher: You have to be careful at how you look at the whole world of Disney.
The Disney theme parks are open to the public. If you are a gay association
and you want to buy a block of tickets you can. Disney has no more sponsored
Gay Day at Disneyland anymore than sponsoring Plastic Surgeon Day at Disneyland.
That's one thing.
PopcornQ: And the Disney corporation, the same stance?
Schumacher: Disney as a company is very solid and strictly adheres to its anti-discrimination
policy. For domestic partners benefits, Disney was one of the companies that led the way.
The Walt Disney Company position proved to be controversial because CEO Michael Eisner
took the position that there are fundamental issues about human rights including
non-discrimination in the workplace. He honored the clause because it was the right thing to
do. For many years we've honored the domestic partners benefits. Even my partner of
seventeen years is insured through that.
PopcornQ: I can see the company being gay-friendly, but what about daily interaction with your
peers?
Schumacher: The Disney culture is a little harder to read. With 100,000+ people in the world,
who would you turn to to say, "What's the Disney culture?" If there were a Disney retreat for
Senior Executives like myself, my partner Matthew would come with me. I've been with Disney
for 11 years and it has never been an issue. I work freely and openly within the company.
When The Advocate interviewed me, it was reprinted in the Disney News Summary.
PopcornQ: Fantastic! I enjoyed Tarzan and one of my favorite characters is the wisecracking best
friend of Tarzan, Terk. I couldn't tell if the gorilla was a boy or a girl, though. If I didn't
know Rosie O'Donnell was the voice, I wouldn't have identified the gender of the animal so easily.
Honestly, Terk was the butchest Disney character I've seen.
Schumacher: The animators made a conscientious decision to create the character without any gender
definition. If you look closely, you see Rosie's eyes in Terk's and her wisecracking smirk.
But if you look at animals, there isn't any specific gender identification. Terk is genderless.
PopcornQ: Okay. There are at least 32 versions of Tarzan that have been done movie/television-wise.
Why another one?
Schumacher: The Disney way of visualizing Tarzan has never been done. I grew up watching Tarzan
films and I knew the material but I've never seen a faithful version to Edgar Rice Burroughs's
book. Talking animals, the adventure, and the animal-like Tarzan are great components for
an animated movie. What makes this Tarzan different is the emotional theme of family.
I think that is really powerful. The idea of family: is it what you were born to, those
who raise you, do you create the family around you, or is it the family with the genetic
connection? For example, there's a moment where Tarzan discovers finds a photo of the
family he was born into. Kala, who has been Tarzan's surrogate mother, will have to
give up this kid because Tarzan has rediscovered who he really is. I love it when she
tells Tarzan, "You do what makes you feel happy." My mother basically said the very same
words to me: "All I want is for you to be happy." To me, that is what Disney's Tarzan is
about.
* Read the PopcornQ review of Tarzan.
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