I recommend checking how Scrooge McDuck career started. He was absolutely miserable, horrible and alone. I guess as Disney itself grew more popular, and wealthy, it had to change the persona in order to better fit the situation, resolve the discrepancy.
What’s even more ironic IMHO is that… Disney itself is absolutely terrible too. They make money by selling a seemingly endless supply of plastic toys and arguably even worst retrograde ideas, sexism, racism, normality (that they are literally dictating based on their rich) and above all other values, consumerism. It’s an empire of prisons where nothing is what it seems. Even the fairytells it stole have been transformed beyond their initial point and are so locked down via lawyers that they became unrecognizable. See how creators who collaborated with Disney regretted it, from P. L. Travers to Ub Iwerks for the iconic mouse itself.
So… yeah, deconstructing all that as an adult is fascinatingly grim!
I recommend reading The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, which, while not officially considered cannon, is the origin story that is most accepted by fans. It tells the story of how Scrooge got corrupted by greed, resorting to horrible acts for profit (he actually burned an African village, and blew up a historical monument right in front of Theodore Roosevelt), them turned around at the end of his life when he realises his real wealth is his family.
There is also that one page that subtly confirms he isn’t a virgin.
I recommend checking how Scrooge McDuck career started. He was absolutely miserable, horrible and alone. I guess as Disney itself grew more popular, and wealthy, it had to change the persona in order to better fit the situation, resolve the discrepancy.
What’s even more ironic IMHO is that… Disney itself is absolutely terrible too. They make money by selling a seemingly endless supply of plastic toys and arguably even worst retrograde ideas, sexism, racism, normality (that they are literally dictating based on their rich) and above all other values, consumerism. It’s an empire of prisons where nothing is what it seems. Even the fairytells it stole have been transformed beyond their initial point and are so locked down via lawyers that they became unrecognizable. See how creators who collaborated with Disney regretted it, from P. L. Travers to Ub Iwerks for the iconic mouse itself.
So… yeah, deconstructing all that as an adult is fascinatingly grim!
Walt was also a pretty outspoken antisemite.
I recommend reading The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, which, while not officially considered cannon, is the origin story that is most accepted by fans. It tells the story of how Scrooge got corrupted by greed, resorting to horrible acts for profit (he actually burned an African village, and blew up a historical monument right in front of Theodore Roosevelt), them turned around at the end of his life when he realises his real wealth is his family.
There is also that one page that subtly confirms he isn’t a virgin.