It is a beautiful, miniature town with olde timey shoppes and calendar-worthy views to fit the seasons. The crime-rate is low, the people pleasant, and on the off chance some minor discrepancy demands another set of ears, well, Sheriff Andy Griffith walks the streets alongside an eager Deputy Fife, ready to help at a moment’s notice.

Sarcasm? Sans the Andy Griffith bit, not really.

Wellsville is a picturesque place, determined to hold onto simpler times and small-town values. But as Robert Gehrke pointed out in a semi-recent Salt Lake Tribune article, the burg has a bit of a dark side — or at the very least, a wildly warped recollection of its own history.

Gehrke describes in no-really-click-the-link-and-read-his-article detail, an event that takes place during Wellsville City’s annual Founder’s Day Celebration known as the Sham Battle — a yearly reenactment depicting the details surrounding the Bear River Massacre.

To make sure they commemorate the horrific slice of history with the proper level of respect, Wellsville residents paint their bodies red, put on loin clothes or dollar-store quality Indian costumes, and play fight with non-painted white people.

To be clear, this is a moment in Wellsville history where settlers held Native American children by their ankles and smashed their heads open. Gehrke points out “as many as 500 Shoshone were wiped out, and historians now consider the Bear River Massacre the bloodiest Indian slaughter in American history.”

But local residents don’t have time to worry about the story behind the big dance. The Sham Battle is just one stop in a weekend full of parades, game booths and chili trucks. As soon as cap-gun smoke clears from the baseball field, residents mindlessly applaud and get back to having a good time.

In fact, I once asked a neighbor if he thought the city should discontinue the Sham Battle, or if he personally found the way it played out to be offensive. Before I could even finish my question, my neighbor was already shaking his head slowly from side-to-side.

“You’re over thinking this, Travis,” he interrupted. “The Sham Battle is just Cowboys and Indians.”

That’s it.

To him, that was all that needed to be said on the issue. Sure, his statement was just as racially insensitive as the event itself, but in some weird way, he summed up the entire divide in our country. Didn’t he?

This country has become one giant episode of “Frasier.” Martin Crane (John Mahoney) is telling Frasier (Kelsey Grammer), once again, that all of his problems come from overthinking things. Frasier retorts, as he always does, that a life without empathy and perspective is not worth living.

So, who is right?

Frasier, of course. I hope that wasn’t any sort of cliffhanger.

The Martin Cranes of this world are some of the best neighbors this country has to offer. But when neighbor Crane reaches for the red body paint, it’s Frasier’s responsibility to prevent the insanity.  Likewise, there are many, many times the Martin Cranes needs to reel in Frasier’s crazy.

But in this case, Martin has lost his mind, and below is a gallery to prove it.

Back when I was writing for KSL.com, I thought about shedding some light on the event, but it never felt totally appropriate to jump from movie critic to social commentator. Still, the issue bugged me enough that I did take my camera down to the baseball diamond the following year, just in case I ever tackled the article.

As it turned out, Gehrke covered the event far better than I would have, but I did still want to get these pictures up in case nostalgia ever makes people miss the original Sham Battle.

In one of the many “thank, God” moments of this whole weird story, Courtney Tanner of the SLTrib recently reported Wellsville will no longer paint white people red, which is very progressive of them. I’d recommend checking out her article if you’re wondering what the Sham Battle looks like today.

While you’re here however, take a look at the gallery below:

The post Wellsville’s ‘Sham Battle’ is as bad as Gehrke says –with pictures appeared first on Utah.Film.

As it turns out, that’s not even half of the weirdness.

Disney’s recent $52.4 billion deal concerning 21st Century Fox has expanded the Mouse House’s already superheroic library in ways few cared to imagine. For example, did it ever cross your mind that maybe you’d bump into a “Futurama” character next time you’re visiting Tomorrowland? Remember Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Who is to say Sunnydale won’t be the next addition to California Adventure?

Had Mickey and the gang not swapped out the Tower of Terror for their new Guardians of the Galaxy ride, I’d make some “Twilight Zone” reference here. But, in the spirit of this article, let’s just say even Agents Scully and Mulder (yep, now Disney-owned) couldn’t have predicted a world where Main Street parade dancers are doing the Bartman.

Below is a list of five names now owned by Disney.

Deadpool

Do you remember that superhero movie a few years back — that one with endless sexual references, slow-motion graphic violence, and as fellow KSL movie critic John Clyde said, “all the dirty words in the book and a few that aren’t even in there”? Disney now owns that movie, and guests from both parties aren’t exactly sure what to make of the marriage.

If Disney puts its stamp of approval on the Merc with the Mouth, its family-friendly image may take a hit. But on the other hand, “Deadpool” fans aren’t exactly in the market for a PG-13 sequel.

Avatar

For the record, this section is referencing the blue alien Avatar movies and not the blue arrow Avatar TV show. Also, for the record, I really wish it was the other way around so maybe we’d get a decent movie about Aang and possibly a new live-action show like Fantasmic! Only, the new show would include waterbenders fighting firebenders across the lake before an airbender comes flying in for the finale.

Regardless, seeing as Disney’s Animal Kingdom has already created its Pandora attraction, the James CameronAvatar movies make a lot more sense in the Mouse House library than a character like Deadpool. “Avatar” is also a pretty sound financial investment for Disney. When looking at the modern dollar, the original film is the current highest-grossing movie of all time.

Original Star Wars movies

There has been some confusion surrounding what Disney does and does not own concerning the Star Wars universe.

Yes, Disney purchased Lucasfilm back in 2012, but Fox maintained distribution rights to both the original trilogy and prequels. As Chaim Gartenberg of the Verge puts it, “The Fox acquisition also means that Disney finally controls the rights to the original “Star Wars” film (also known as “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope”), which Fox has previously owned full distribution rights to in perpetuity, along with the home video distribution rights for Episodes II through IV (which were originally supposed to revert to Disney in 2020).”

Maybe now we’ll finally get that 4K set of original, theatrical releases we’ve all been waiting for.

Hulu

I should make it clear, Disney doesn’t own Hulu outright; however, as the Verge reports, Disney has purchased Fox’s 30 percent share, which when combined with Disney’s current 30 percent, does make the mega-company the controlling interest over Comcast and Time Warner.

This is an interesting turn of events, considering Disney has plans for two streaming services in the near future.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Disney plans to create both a sports and movie streaming service, and will end its distribution agreement with Netflix as of 2019.

“Instead, viewers would have to go to the Disney service to stream those movies,” the Los Angeles Times reported. “Shows currently produced by Disney’s Marvel Studios such as ‘Jessica Jones’ would still be available on Netflix.”

How this Hulu deal plays into Disney’s streaming plans is anyone’s guess, but I bet Comcast and Time Warner are among the interested parties waiting for more details.

Blue Sky Animation

Blue Sky Animation has been one of the main competitors of Disney and Pixar since they first released “Ice Age” back in 2002. Since that time, the studio has found its place in family video libraries with titles like Dr. Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who!” and “The Peanuts Movie.”

Today, however, according to the Hollywood Reporter, “the future of Fox’s animation business is now in question.”

Disney obviously doesn’t need additional animated titles, and many fear that will also mean Disney isn’t looking for additional animators. On that note, the Hollywood Reporter also pointed out, “Of course, before Disney can decide what do with Fox and Blue Sky, it must first address the leadership question at its own Pixar and Disney Animation, where last month, chief creative officer John Lasseter announced that he would take a leave of absence amid allegations of misconduct.”

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