Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Music & Entertainment
Being Christian at Disney: A Firsthand Perspective From Animators Tony Bancroft and Mark Henn

Being Christian at Disney: A Firsthand Perspective From Animators Tony Bancroft and Mark Henn

Last updated on: September 22, 2017 at 11:31 pm by Kate O'Hare

Being Christian at Disney: A Firsthand Perspective From Animators Tony Bancroft and Mark Henn 2017-09-22T23:31:17-08:00 Kate O'Hare

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Roy E. Disney Animation Building

It’s the question that Christians who want to be in entertainment always wind up asking: should I plunge right into mainstream showbiz, maybe head to Hollywood, or should I stay on the outside and produce faith-based content for my fellow believers?

I found a couple of guys who’ve both asked and answered that question.

Earlier this year, I headed to 20th Century Fox Studios for a media conference sponsored by L.A.-area Biola University (“Biola” meaning Bible Institute of Los Angeles), a private Christian institution that has as one of its priorities training students to understand and work in media. Click here to see an interview I did there with “Deadpool” creator Rob Liefield, one of the keynote speakers.

But there were lots more folks offering wisdom from the trenches.

Animator and director Tony Bancroft used to work at the Walt Disney Company, where his credits include “Beauty and the Beast” (the animated one), “The Lion King,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Aladdin,” “The Emperor’s New Groove” and “Mulan” (which he directed). He left to create Toonacious Family Entertainment, his own Christian-themed animation company.

Tony Bancroft (left); Mark Henn (right).

Mark Henn still works at Disney, as a supervising animator. His credits include “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” (the animated one), “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” “Mulan,” “The Emperor’s New Groove,” “The Princess and the Frog,” “Winnie the Pooh” and “Frozen.”

Here’s some of what they had to say:

On controversies about Disney movies …

Bancroft: I’ll start by saying that anything negative that’s happened at Disney past the year 2000, it’s Mark’s fault.

Henn: We’ve had controversy back on “The Lion King.”

Bancroft: I remember we even had animators that were Christians that had a hard time on “Aladdin,” because the Sultan said, “Praise Allah!” instead of “Praise God!”

Specifically, regarding the statement by the director of the live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” that the film had an “exclusively gay moment” …

Henn: A lot of times, when they look at doing these remakes, or what they say using the word “re-imagining,” it’s that. They have to somehow take what was there and re-imagine it. They figure they’ve got to somehow update it, unfortunately, to what they perceive as the taste of the world now. So that was their film choice.

Bancroft: And it’s made by very liberal, non-faith-based people that have their own agendas. That’s a human thing; you can’t fault them for that.

On working at Disney, if you’re a Christian …

Bancroft: Here’s the thing, after I left Disney, I started my own animation company. We tried to produce “Veggie Tales”-kind of younger, faith-based content.

We got into a conversation with Focus on the Family about possibly doing a project with them that was all animated. So we flew out to Colorado … and the very first question I got when I entered into the reception area of Focus on the Family was, ‘How could you have worked at Disney for so many years, being a Christian?”

Because, this is back when the Baptists were boycotting Disney for some reason or another; there were a lot of boycotts going on. And Focus on the Family was supporting one of the boycotts.

My response has always been two-fold, which is, one, we may be Christians, but the company is not. Disney doesn’t put themselves out there as Christian. But they do put themselves out there as family-friendly, but it’s from the world’s perspective.

Their focus is on what the world sees as family values, which is changing all the time — and from a Christian standpoint, it’s not for the better.

But the second part of that answer to “Why Disney?” and “Why do you work in entertainment if you’re a Christian?” is, “What better place to have an effect, if you’re a Christian?”

You know, God asked us to be “not of the world, but in the world,” so that we can influence. I can tell you story after story about how Mark and I, as Christians, big or little, are responsible for changing the direction that we could have gone, spiritually, with some of the content of the films that we worked on.

On the notion that you’ve can’t win at the game if you don’t play …

Bancroft: That’s why Mark and I support what we’re doing here today, which is the Biola Media Conference. Biola is putting out students that are Christians, that have creative talents, that want to get into entertainment.

What better thing than to have an effect in those writers rooms, in the director’s hits, the editorial rooms and suites, all across Hollywood — to have Christians in those rooms, to speak up and say, “You know what, maybe not everybody feels that way, that you do. Maybe not everybody wants to see that scene. Or, why do we have to exactly put that character in there to play this dynamic that has nothing to do with the story? Let’s just tell the story.”

Henn: Like Tony said, Christ called us to “be in the world but not of the world.” I sometimes am fearful of creating these parallel entertainment universes, where you have all things Christian versus the rest. I’m not sure Jesus called us to that. He didn’t live a life like that.

He was right there in and amongst everybody. Obviously, He was perfect, which none of us is, but that’s the balancing act. That’s what’s really hard. You can do that, for the most part, but there are going to be lines that, at some point, you may have to stand up and say, “I just don’t feel comfortable with that.”

On the fear that if Christians do stand up, they either won’t get hired or could get fired …

Henn: Certainly, again, Jesus made it very clear. He said, “They hated me; they’re going to hate you.” What are you willing to sacrifice to be a Christ-follower? Thankfully, I haven’t had to experience that yet.

Bancroft: I’ve actually found that it’s more effective for me, personally, to be a Christian in the secular community of filmmaking. I have more of an influence here than I did when I was in the Christian realm.

On finding community …

Henn: There are a lot of Christ-followers at Disney. We’re there. Everybody knows everybody. We get together once a week, at least, for a little fellowship time. It’s just having an influence, how you behave, how you’re professional in this industry, the quality of work that you’re doing

It’s all those kind of things the Bible teaches us to to, as being good at what we’re doing, and being good people in our community, and our community at work, as well.

On being who you are as a Christian …

Bancroft: I’ll brag on Mark. He was my mentor when I got to Disney. I studied and learned underneath him. I was his assistant for years. I learned so much from him, not only from an artistic standpoint, about what an animator is, and what it is to create animation that’s of Disney standard and quality … but more than that, I knew Mark was a Christian because of his consistency day in and day out, the kind of man he was in the department.

He was very dedicated; he was very motivated; he was a good employee. But more than that, he was generous and kind and giving and all the things Christ was on Earth. You can see the attributes of Christianity in him. There’s nobody more consistent than Mark Henn, in his work, and in his personality, and who he is personally.

Henn: We’ll fight the good fight wherever it’s at, whether it’s at Disney or out in the independent market. That’s just what what we’re called to do. So, things come up at work, and people don’t feel comfortable — where we are free at work to voice our opinions, express our concerns. That’s happened in the past in little things. They’ve listened.

But they’ve got a huge chunk of the audience that they’re trying to reach out to, that are Christ followers. They have to be always very aware of that. We’re not in charge, but see what happens.

Images: Wikimedia Commons; Kate O’Hare

Don’t miss a thing: head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at Family Theater Productions; and check out FTP’s Faith & Family Media Blog.

Previous Post

September 12, 2017

'This Is Us': What an Emmy Win Could Mean for Family Drama [UPDATED]

Next Post

September 24, 2017 NFL Anthem Protest: A Catholic, Army-Veteran Steeler Stands Alone

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books breaking news digital media Faith practice food interview jane the virgin media movies music NFL Pope Francis Showbiz 101 social media sports technology television Uncategorized video

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz