Inside Disney’s Ugly COVID Reopening Battle in California

When The Walt Disney Co. planned to reopen its American theme parks in July, they released a now-notorious trailer, splicing shots of theme park attractions with a chorus of Disney cast members chiming “Welcome home!” The ad projected an air of insistent normalcy, disrupted only by the workers’ uniform masks. It seemed to contain the latent hopes of the Trumpian COVID-19 era: the desire to not let the virus “dominate” lives, to relax into the open arms of entertainment, to return to business...