Viral Reddit Post Ignites A Debate About ‘Disney Adults’

What’s the difference between a cult and a fandom?

Online, it’s increasingly hard to tell, with hoards of simpering fans who loudly dedicate themselves to their chosen franchise, product or celebrity. Out of all of the most intense fandoms – Marvel, K-pop, Johnny Depp – Disney adults might be the most widely mocked.

A Disney adult is, well, exactly what it sounds like – an adult Disney enthusiast who spends an alarming amount of time, money and attention on all things Disney, such as sobbing at the sight of the plastic spires of Cinderella’s castle, buying an excessive amount of merchandise, or being overly intimate with costumed performers.

A recent post on the subreddit, r/AITA (a place where anonymous Redditors can ask if they were in the wrong after an argument), saw a Reddit user claim to have spent the entirety of their wedding catering budget on a brief appearance from Mickey and Minnie Mouse, leaving hungry guests to fend for themselves, via the surrounding vending machines and massively overpriced restaurants of Disney Land.

The inhabitants of Reddit unanimously found the original poster to be in the wrong, for obvious reasons, but the post was screenshotted and posted on Twitter, where it went viral after a religion studies professor retweeted it with a lengthy, sternly worded plea to “stop pathologizing Disney adults.”

The professor went on to defend Disney obsession as akin to religious belief, and triggered an avalanche of mockery, as Twitter users doubled down on their right to poke fun at people who find meaning in the hallowed halls of the Haunted Mansion, and weep at the sight of a performer wearing a Goofy costume.

The jokes sparked a backlash of defenders, who asserted the right of Disney adults to enjoy their hobby without being relentlessly mocked.

And to be fair, Disney adults certainly aren’t harming anyone (except for those hungry wedding guests) – they’re just enthusiasts, and aren’t particularly far removed from hardcore sports fans, anime fans, or any other fandom, really.

But something about the sight of middle-aged men and women embracing the sickly, saccharine Disney aesthetic, designed for young children, seems to trigger a certain amount of revulsion. But are Disney adults really any different from the grown men who are overcome with incandescent rage at the mere mention of The Last Jedi? Ironically, it’s all the same fandom, now that Disney has swallowed up Star Wars in its never-ending quest to monopolize the entertainment industry.

Perhaps it’s the slack-jawed subservience to a megacorporation that really sparks the mockery, as Disney adults don’t seem interested in criticizing their beloved brand – they’ll happily sit through a tepid live-action remake and applaud obediently at the sight of those iconic ears (the Star Wars fandom, on the other hand, is infamous for hating their favorite franchise).

Disney adults don’t have a reputation for aggressive gatekeeping, or infighting – it’s their boundless enthusiasm that seems to weird people out.

Or rather, their willingness to engage in Disney’s cynical facade; it takes a special type of individual to embrace a stranger wearing a plush costume, and tell themselves that they just met Mickey Mouse.