The Mouse That Roared – Walt Disney

The authors of The Mouse That Roaredbelieve that Walt Disney and the Disney corporation are basically out to get us. In one section of the book, the authors quote Walt Disney as saying, “I think of a child’s mind as a blank book. During the first years of his life, much will be written on the pages. The quality of that writing will affect his life profoundly.” The authors make the point to say that this just shows exactly how Walt is trying to brainwash children at an extremely young age into believing in everything Disney. From my perspective, I do not believe that this is what Walt meant. I would like to believe that Walt Disney was not trying to purposely brainwash children into only believeing in Disney. I would like to believe that Walt Disney actaully cared about children and wanted to do things that were in their best interest, such as put out wholesome movies that could be watched by children and adults alike. With this quote in particular, I believe the authors are reading too much into what was said and are just trying to get their point across. Maybe it is because I love Disney and have been brainwashed myself, but I do not believe Walt Disney was a heartless individual who cared solely about his business.

The Lion King – Stereotypes

Before watching The Lion King with a critical eye, I did not believe it would have too many stereotypes. The film was made in 1994, which made me feel as though it wouldn’t show too many racial or sexual stereotypes. I have seen the movie many times throughout my life and never noticed any before. However, after watching the film and looking for stereotypes this weekend, I was surprised by what I saw. For one, I really noticed the portrayal of the hyenas in the film. The voices of the hyenas were from black actors. The hyenas did not speak propor English like Simba did; they spoke more “street” English. This was interesting to watch since the main character and “hero” of the film was played by a white actor. I never paid much attention to this growing up and I am not sure how much of an influence it had on me growing up. My parents never talked to me about how the hyenas were protrayed in the film and that it wasn’t right. I don’t think that this particular stereotype had an influence on me but since it was a very subliminal message I don’t think I will ever know for sure. Another stereotype I really noticed for the first time while watching this film more critically was the idea that women are weak and need to be protected. This can be seen by how the lioness’ let Scar take over the pride land after Mufasa’s death and Simba runs away. They completely give into Scar. Apparently one male lion is more powerful than numerous female lions. This stereotype is important as well because it could give girls the impression that if a man stronger than any number of women. Even though this film was made in 1994, I think the idea that men were stronger than women and that women needed to be saved was still in people’s minds. After looking at The Lion King through a critical eye, I think I will be more apt to explain the film to my children. I think it is important for children to see that this film does have stereotypes that are not true and they should understand what they are seeing. I think it is the parents job to teach their children about these stereotypes and to show them that they are untrue. Hopefully this film could be a tool for parents to teach their children about stereotypes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lion King

This book has been hard for me to read as of yet, but this chapter was especially hard. I have always loved the Lion King and looking at it from such a critical viewpoint was very difficult. I had a hard time telling myself to get past my love for the Lion King and look at it critically. Even the titles of the sections in the chapter were hard for me to get over, one example being “Commodity Fetishism: The Store, the Theme Parks”. Although I understand what the author is saying, I wasn’t able to find myself willing to look at this part of Disney in that way. This particular section within the chapter talked at points about Disney’s “magic” and was very critical of the way people thought of Disney’s “magic”. I understand the author’s point, but I have a hard time believing that many people truly believe that Disney is magical. I don’t think there is a problem with people having something to believe in or to feel happy about when they are so many things wrong in the world today. Even for myself, watching a Disney movie brings me back to my childhood where I can forget about everything negative going on. I don’t see that as a problem as long as people are not living in some sort of fantasy land. I don’t think Disney is out to get us or anything along those lines. Disney could be some evil corportation out to take over everyone’s thoughts but I have a hard time believing it. I think people want to criticize Disney because it seems to good to be true. I hope Disney is truly as good as it appears.

My Crazy Obsession – Mickey Mouse

Wednesday night I was watching TLC and a show came on called My Crazy Obsession. One of the women featured on the show had a Mickey Mouse obsession. This woman had almost 5000 Mickey Mouse items in her house. I believe they said she has the largest collection in the world. The woman and her husband lived in Puerto Rico, but moved to Florida so she could be closer to Disney World because they made a trip there at least twice a year. They have since moved to Celebration, Florida so she could be as close as possible to Disney World. This woman has visited Disney over 200 times since the 1970’s. I thought this was so interesting considering what we are learning in this class. It is amazing to me how even adults can become so involved with Disney. The woman also claimed that Mickey Mouse is her boyfriend and that he remembers her, even though she has a husband. This woman seemed very sane and normal aside from her strange obsession with Mickey Mouse. This show is definitely worth watching whenever it is on TLC!

Annette

I really enjoyed the Annette episodes. They were very different from anything that is on television today. I thought it was very interesting how Disney made an introduction episode that showed clips from multiple episodes. At first, I was confused as to why the episode was being shown again. I was not sure what an introduction episode was. I can now understand the value is making an introduction episode. It made me curious as to what was going to happen in each episode and how the story was going to play out. The episodes were very wholesome as well, which is different even for Disney today. Even the Disney channel today has shows that can sometimes be considered risque. It was interesting to see where Disney came from and what is it today.

Disney Marketing and Promotion

I have always thought Disney is brilliant in the way they market their products and this chapter just made me believe that even more. Disney knows exactly how to market products in order for everyone from children to adults to want their products or to see their movies. I was actually surprised when I was reading the chapter that there weren’t as many companies as I thought that have had a partnership or sponsorship with Disney. There were only 26 companies listed. I thought there would have been more just because I think Disney is everywhere and probably has something to do with everything going on. The part of this chapter that really struck me was how Disney markets their movies. The example that struck me the most was for Toy Story 3. I think it was such a smart move for Disney to market the film to college students. The story line fit in perfectly for college students. They made the film at just the right time for when the kids who grew up with the film were in college. Stein mentions in the chapter how Disney showed the first 65 minutes of the film to students on some college campuses and told them to go see the movie in theaters to see how it ends and said, “the toys need you”. I thought that was absolutely brilliant. By doing that, Disney was able to bring these students right back to their childhood and make them want to see the movie. I would be extremely surprised if 98% of the people who saw those sneak peaks of the film did not go see it in theaters. I think Disney did an amazing job with Toy Story 3 in marketing it to children as well as young adults. I know I was very excited to see the movie because I grew up with Toy Story and this was supposed to be taking place when Andy was going off to college and I was in college. It was very relatable for me and I’m sure it was relatable for children as well because it is of course a Disney film and is Toy Story. I think Disney does an amazing job at marketing their products in such a way that one almost feels as though they have to buy the product or see the film.

Disney Sports

I was not aware that Disney had ever owned sports teams before taking this class. It had been mentioned earlier in class so I was made aware of it then, but it was very interesting to read more about it. I had no idea how big of a presence Disney truly has in America. Although I can’t say I was surprised, I was very interested in hearing about how Disney marketed and dealt with owing the Mighty Ducks and the Angels. As Stein says, Disney really did try to make the hockey and baseball games more of a show rather than an athletic game. I think this is strange because it takes away from the sport itself. I think many people really do watch sports because of the athletes playing and because they like the sport itself, not because of the halftime entertainment or the flashy lights. I think it makes the game you are watching almost seem like fantasy. I tried to picture what it would be like to be at a Mighty Ducks game during the early time that Disney owned the team. I think it would have seemed like it was a Disney on Ice show or something along those lines. I think there sounds like there was too many extra things going on that would take away from the game. I don’t think I would have liked to be at a game like that. I also wonder if all of the flashy extra things contributed to both the Mighty Ducks and the Angels not performing well. Both teams preformed very poorly during the time Disney owned them. It would be interesting to know if anything Disney did contributed to the poor performance.

Disney Characters

This video clip about characters in Disney showed a mix of old, original characters as well as new characters. However, the part of the clip that struck me the most was the choice of songs. A song from Fox and the Hound was used as well as one from Toy Story. Both songs are about being friends with someone and spending time with your friend. The pictures went along perfectly with the song choices because the people in the pictures and the characters looked as though there were friends and had known each other forever. I think this is a part of Disney that many people experience. I think people feel as though they have grown up with many of these characters and are “friends” with them. I think this can be shown by how almost everyone who sees a character at Disney goes up to it and hugs it. The more I think about it the stranger it seems. Most people don’t go around and hug strangers everyday but that is essentially what is happening with the characters at Disney. Although we might feel as though we have grown up with them, that doesn’t mean we “know” them. Nonetheless, I myself feel as though I “know” the Disney characters. I went up to them and hugged them when I was little and if I went to Disney today I’m sure I would do the same. Disney gives people such a feeling of comfort that is all the more shown in the love people have for its characters.

Disney Theme Parks

EPCOT

I always found Epcot extremely boring as a child when I visited Disney. My parents however, loved it. They would bribe my sister and I with more time at the Magic Kingdom if we behaved in Epcot. I can understand the value of Epcot now that I am older and I would love to go back and experience it as an adult. I was shocked to read in the book that Epcot cost $900 million to build in the 80’s. I feel like that is an incredibly large amount of money but it was well spent. I think Epcot was a great idea to include in Disney because it gave people the chance to experience parts of the world they will probably never get to see. Each country in Epcot has its own pavillion with shops, restaurants, and entertainment related to that country. I think this was a great addition to Disney. I do think that it is geared more towards parents or adults instead of children, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Disney is great at making its theme parks geared towards adults and children. I think the exception for Epcot is not having many rides and being more of a sightseeing place. Even though children might not find it extremely fun at the time, I think they can learn to appreciate it later on. I know that is the case for me because although I didn’t have a lot of fun at the time, I do remember some parts of the park and I think it was a good experience to have “visiting” those other countries.

Golden Oaks

 

Disney has recently announced that is it building a new community for people to live in. The new community is going to be called Golden Oak and is going to be somewhat like their first housing project, Celebration. The difference between the two however, is that the homes in Golden Oak are going to be multimillion dollar homes. I found this very interesting because it seems very “un-Disney like” to me. I tend to think of Disney as a family place were anyone can go in order to have fun, regardless of level of income. In this housing community however, only the super rich will be able to afford to live there. The website also states that a very limited number of homes are going to be built as well. The website is very well put together but I did notice something interesting. While clicking through the pictures, almost all of the people were white. I found one picture of an African American couple but they were pictured in the background out of focus with white children in front of them. I don’t know if Disney did this conciously but it was something I noticed. Maybe it was a concious effort because of the prices of the homes and the stereotype that whites tend to make more money than African Americans? Although I hope that is not the case I won’t know. The website is definitely worth checking out!

http://www.disneygoldenoak.com/neighborhoods/carolwood/