This New Disney Movie Is Beyond Offensive

In July 2014, a Virginia man named Jeremiah Heaton traveled to an unclaimed, 800-mile stretch of desert known as Bir Tawil. He stuck a flag bearing his family crest in the ground, which sits between Sudan and Egypt, and declared it his country. He's the ruler, and his daughter Emily is the princess. Got it?  Disney thinks this will make a great movie. And, just in case you think this has to be some kind of unfounded rumor, know that the studio has tapped writer Stephany Folsom to create a script for it, called The Princess of North Sudan. Or, Pocahontas, But In The Desert*. There's no report yet of when the movie is set to release.  Some people are upset by this news. They see it as Disney glorifying colonization and white supremacy. Just look at all these Twitter reactions.  Listen — no one's accusing Disney of making groundbreaking, historically important films that ignite social change. We get it. They're cartoons. But, the fact that this project was greenlit points to a larger issue about who's got the final say in Hollywood these days. As one Twitter user writes, "That Disney had no exec interested or empowered to point out what a disastrously racist idea #PrincessOfNorthSudan is says a LOT."  *Obviously not the actual film title