D is for Disney+ #AtoZChallenge #PandemicAlphabet

Okay, okay, okay. I know this is cheating, kind of. Can a WHOLE streaming service be a comfort watch?

I think we all know the answer to that is yes.

I mean, it’s DISNEY. All the princess movies are on there, almost all of the Marvel movies and cartoons, almost all of the DCOMs (Disney Channel Original Movies), a bunch of movies you probably forgot that you watched as a kid, and a bunch of Star Wars stuff. Plus, Hamilton! (Also, National Geographic, if you’re into that kind of stuff.)

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Plus, they keep adding new content (like Soul, Raya: The Last Dragon, both Night at the Museum movies, and Upside-Down Magic). Even though I haven’t seen any of these, I know I can watch them and not be stressed out and feel good inside after watching because Disney is generally about getting a Happily Ever After. (There are exceptions to every rule, of course.) They are even keeping Twitter together and somewhat wholesome by providing everybody something to look forward to on Friday night, first with WandaVision and now with The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Whether you’re in need of justice or joy, you know you’ll probably get either with Disney.

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Why, I remember way back at the beginning of the pandemic hearing the transition music from That’s So Raven coming from my neighbor’s apartment and thinking, “Ah, yes. Comfort watching at its finest.”

Here are just a handful of movies and/or shows I have watched on Disney+:

• The Parent Trap (Hayley Mills version)
• various Disney princess movies (multiple times)
• Toy Story
• Hamilton
• X-Men animated series
• WandaVison
• Mickey’s Christmas Carol
• The Incredibles
• Kim Possible: So the Drama
• the That’s So Raven episode I assign to my students
• A Bug’s Life
• okay, basically all of the Pixar movies

Also, at some point during the pandemic, my daughter and her friend watched all of the Avengers movies so I finally caught some of Age of Ultron, which apparently I had never seen, and suddenly the later Avengers movies made so much more sense. It was magical.

THE POINT IS that I could pretty much click on anything on the service and be calmed down by indulging in some escapism that won’t stress me out and/or that I’m already familiar with so the nostalgia would sweep me away, and I can for a little while have a modicum of peace during these times when so much is uncertain.

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For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I have decided that I’m going to focus on comfort reads/watches as we enter our second (!) April in the pandemic. Tune in tomorrow to see what I choose for E!