Abigail Disney on Income Inequality, 'The American Dream and Other Fairytales' and How to Fight for Fair Wages

When Abigail Disney heard from longtime Disneyland employees that they were undergoing financial hardships, including relying on food stamps and not having enough money for basic necessities such as rent and food, she was shaken to her core.

Instead of watching this unfold story from afar, she and filmmaker Kathleen Hughes decided to make the documentary American Dream and Other Fairy Tales to shed light on the subject of wage and income inequality.

It did not hurt that the Disney name was involved. In the film, Abigail Disney explores how systemic injustice takes hold and what we can do to carve out a more equitable future for everyone, including lower-wage workers. This became such a passion that she testified in front of Congress.

She met with a group of Disneyland employees who said they knew workers who had slept in their cars, did not have a safe place to live, had to be on food stamps, or did not have access to medical care.

Abigail's documentary asks why the American Dream has worked for the wealthy, yet is a nightmare for people born with less. As a way to imagine a more equitable future, she uses her family’s story to explore how this systemic injustice took hold.

In 2009, Abigail founded Peace is Loud, a nonprofit that inspires action through media and live events that spotlight women leaders on the frontline of peacebuilding worldwide. She is known for her generous philanthropy.

Abigail's directorial debut, Emmy-winning The Armor of Light, co-directed by Kathleen Hughes, premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. The film follows Reverend Rob Schenck, an Evangelical minister, and Lucy McBath, the mother of a teenage shooting victim, who asks, is it possible to be both pro-gun and pro-life?

In addition to producing original films, she is the president and CEO of Fork Films, which awards grants to non-fiction movies that promote peacebuilding, human rights, and social justice with a particular emphasis on projects with women who are either behind or in front of the camera.

Related: Behind the Scenes With Walt Disney: 13 Rare Photos of the Legendary Animator

The granddaughter of Disney co-founder and Walt Disney's brother, Roy Disney, Abigail said her motivation to make the film came from a deep affection for the theme parks and the employees that made them operate that she has fostered from an early age.

“When I was growing up I truly loved those people. They were so sweet and they would crowd around my grandfather, and he would know names and ask about families,” Abigail Disney exclusively tells Parade.com. “It was a very family-type environment, and he’d say, 'Don’t you dare be rude to these people. They are the best people; they work so hard.' So, today, it feels so wrong for somebody who’s helping families have the best day of their lives to go home and not put enough food on the table for their own family.”

Read on for more on Abigail Disney’s fond childhood memories, how the Disney name opens doors, and what her push for pay equity has done for workers at Disneyland and beyond.

Why did you want to make The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales?

Abigail Disney: The project started because I heard from someone at the park, and I love those people. We were taught from a very early age that these are fine people, you treat them well. And so, when I heard from somebody, and I heard about the treatment it just felt like a violation of such a long-term unwritten agreement that Disney’s special and they’re not going to be like other companies, they’re going to treat people like family. So, it just felt like being betrayed by family.

Kathleen Hughes: I have been in different journalistic places that had me thinking, writing, and making documentaries about this subject. It’s one of the most important issues facing us all today and I feel like we can’t talk about it enough.

When Abby started hearing from people working at Disneyland, she started to worry about it, write and talk about it, she got such powerful feedback. So, I just thought, “We've got to do this. This is a great way to make people stop and think about it.”

Abigail, did you go back after the film was completed and talk to some of those people who were on food stamps and who had opened their hearts to you?

Abigail Disney: Yes, and just so you know, we wouldn’t have anybody on screen without their full permission and understanding and all of that. We’re going to show the movie in Anaheim, we’re going to have a red carpet and everybody in the park is invited. And any other park they work in, or anybody else wants to come and be part of that, everybody should be there. Because the folks that work at that park should be honored and they get to have a red carpet for a change. We know that Disney has gone to a base wage of $18.50 an hour, which will start in early 2023. So, progress is being made. I am hopeful that more progress will be made.

Kathleen Hughes: There are rumors of higher numbers to come.

Abigail Disney: Yes, there are good rumors that the numbers are going to be higher. We’ll see what comes out. But I don’t think that Disney can continue in this vein and not lose a lot of their fandom.

Kathleen Hughes: Someone mentioned to us the other day, “Oh, it’s just a bunch of people with summer jobs and part-time jobs.” And the fact is, these are careers and full-time jobs for people. And it’s the kind of job that our service economy is offering to many, many people around the country; not just at Disney.

Abigail Disney: Honestly, it should not matter why you have a job. You should be compensated fairly for the work that you do no matter the circumstances that brought you to that work.

Related: 7 Stars Who Got Their Start Working at Disney Theme Parks and Cruises

I would imagine that having the last name of Disney came with advantages and disadvantages over the years.

Abigail Disney: Well, the advantages are somewhat obvious, and the doors opening and the nice tables in restaurants, and somebody you can finagle for free tickets to whatever. And I’ve certainly done that from time to time. The disadvantages are complicated and hard to talk about because it comes with the scrutiny that you maybe aren’t always prepared for.

It drives neutrality out of people's reactions to you. So, there are people who will dislike you far more than you have deserved to be disliked, but there will also be people who like you far more than you deserve to be liked. And that is unnerving on both sides because you’re a little living in an Alice in Wonderland world, you don’t really know what you really do deserve for good or ill, and you need to have a really strong sense of self.

Kathleen Hughes: I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it when I traveled with Abby. She turns over her driver’s license at the airport just to get through security and all of a sudden, the security guards are like, “Oh Ms. Disney, it’s so great to see you!” And then I’m like, “It’s just Abby,” but for them, it’s a huge deal.

Related: Test Your Disney IQ! How Many of These 250 Disney Character Names Do You Recognize?

I have to know, do you have a favorite Disney movie?

Abigail Disney: That’s so hard to pick one, but my heart is in Dumbo. I just think Dumbo is one of the most beautiful, perfect films ever made. I love it so much. Racism notwithstanding; except for the crows. Otherwise, it’s fantastic.

What are a few things that growing up, and as an adult, you’re proud of that Disney has done?

Abigail Disney: Oh my God, where can I possibly start? I stand in front of the park, by the front gate, this is my favorite thing to do, and I just watch people come and go. Because it just brings tears to my eyes. This was an impossible thing to do, what they did when they built Disneyland and Disney World. It was crazy, and I remember the press when Orlando was getting ready to open. I remember the press saying, “This is ridiculous. No one will fly to the middle of nowhere in Florida.”

So when I stand at the gates and watch the families come and go having just had the best day of their lives, and one that they’ll remember and refer back to for generations, I feel so proud. And I believe so deeply that an America without Disney would be unrecognizable to me, and I don’t want to live in that country. Disney needs to live over the long term and that’s why it needs to change.

Kathleen Hughes: And they’re not going to get a huge tax break.

Abigail Disney: In fact, it cost them $18 million in taxes to do it.

What other changes do you want to see? And how hard is it going to be for those changes to come about?

Abigail Disney: Well, you know, what I wish for is for the corporate culture in the United States to change radically. Because that’s really what this is about, right? Disney is only doing what every company in America does, which is to pay as little as possible for the labor that they need to make profits. So there is going to have to be a re-understanding of what an economy is for, why companies exist, what profits are and whom they’re for.

Yes, they are in part for managers who are very good and who deserve to be rewarded for what they’re good at. Yes, they are in part for shareholders who risk capital and leave it in there in faith that the company’s going to do well. But some of them belong to workers, and so we need to really rethink how we’re understanding the nature of the revenues that come in and who they belong to.

Kathleen Hughes: And it goes back to what Abby often says when we talk about this stuff. Abby just stops and says, “How much is too much?” How much money is just too much money for any one person, or corporation?

Are you aware of the movies and the impact of Disney movies on children with autism?

Abigail Disney: Yes. Have you seen the documentary, Life, Animated? I have. It is a lovely and impactful movie.

Abigail Disney: I wept. If you ask me what I’m proud of what those films did for that kid precisely because they are all heart, and that’s the key, right? It’s about reaching the heart, whatever way you can reach it. And that was the wavelength he picked up on, and the wavelength that opened him up and opened so many other kids with autism up. That’s just exactly what I’m saying—life without Disney would be so much poorer.

What can the average person watching your film do to help make change happen in the labor force?

Abigail Disney: Well, if you’re working one of these hourly jobs at minimum wage, join a union. Join the union. There is no way out of that situation without collective bargaining. And I don’t care whether it’s this union or that union, or something that’s not really a union but is still doing collective bargaining.

The only thing that ever-protected workers are collective bargaining. And right now, we’re asking workers to rely on CEOs' kindness. And there are kind CEOs and that’s great, but there’s never going to be enough to make sure that profits are divided fairly. So that’s for the people who are in that position.

People who are fans of the company, and consumers, ask for better. Make sure the company knows that you don’t believe that they’re doing things as well as they should be doing them. Sell the stock if you think that they’re really doing things wrong. Personally, I’m going to go buy a stock because the price is really low and I really believe Disney can do a better job. And I’m in here for the long haul to hopefully reform the way they operate.

Are changes happening that can serve as examples to other corporations?

Abigail Disney: Yes. The owner of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, is somebody who really thought creatively. Instead of staying on the hamster wheel with all the other billionaires and running as fast as he could to grow his fortune as much as he possibly could, he asked himself, “Well, why am I on this Earth? What is the point of what I’m doing here?”

He and his family, at great expense to themselves, have basically gifted the company and all the future profits, to the Earth, to preserve the environment. I keep seeing new details that blow my mind. They had to invent a whole structure to do it. I know how complicated this can be because I’ve tried things, and it’s a way of understanding what businesses are for and about that we need much more of.

The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales is playing in New York and Orlando, additional markets, and on VOD starting Friday, Sept. 23.

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