The Walt Disney Corporation: Providing Entertainment with Messages

The point to this was simple: study a media agency, find a point about it and argue that point. It seemed a daunting challenge until I thought of Walt Disney and The Walt Disney Company.

Before reading, I want to emphasize the point I aimed to make here: I am not condoning the actions of The Walt Disney Corporation or Disney himself that potentially speak to corruption, greed or other unfavorable aspects. The point I strove to make is that I believe that Walt Disney and The Walt Disney Company, for all of their failings and flaws, are a fundamentally good and beneficial organization.

I chose this angle because I felt I related to Walt Disney as a storyteller. As I write below, Disney never aimed to underestimate his audience's intelligence, no matter how childish his works may have come off as. He also so little reason to hide the ugly nature of the world from the children viewing his films. Since one of my aims is to write fiction, I understand and can relate to this.

It was from that angle that I decided I wanted to write about Disney in a positive way, looking for the inherent good in the apparent ugliness.

The Write-Up

Whether he remains dead or cryogenically frozen is a mystery, but while questions remain about his fate more than fifty years on, one thing cannot be denied about how Walter Elias Disney lived: the man left behind a legacy. For almost a century, The Walt Disney Company played a major role in bringing fantasy to life in the form of animation and the construction of various parks across the world. Despite an optimistic presentation, stories and rumors – both true and debunked – continue to persist painting a darker, unflattering picture of both the organization and the man. Although Disney sought to entertain through fantasy, he wanted to realistically address the complexities of the world to children without underestimating their intelligence. With this in mind, the Walt Disney Company remains an important positive cultural institution that has provided memorable entertainment and positive role models.

To start, what makes Walt Disney and the Walt Disney Company a cultural institution? While the term itself has various definitions and connotations, a short general definition would be an organization involved with artistic pursuits that could be considered valuable or important [Reverso Dictionary]. To further muddy the waters, how does one establish what is valuable or important, since both can be subjective? Often, this is determined by both an organization’s business success and legacy. As of May 2017, Forbes Magazine lists The Walt Disney Company as its fifth top regarded company, ranking it the seventh most valuable brand, 38th in profit, 39th in employers, and 22nd in overall market value [Forbes]. In terms of cultural significance, a number of Walt Disney's films have been listed in the United States' National Film Registry, including Steamboat Willie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Pinocchio, and Bambi, along with some of Disney’s Silly Symphonies shorts [National Film Preservation Board]. Walt Disney’s career earned him 22 Academy Award nominations, although he never achieved his goal of winning Best Picture [Biography.com].

A further method Disney has established its value and importance over the century has been providing memorable entertainment. While Disney encountered various periods of critical, financial and production difficulties for almost a decade at a time, no period deterred either the man or the organization from continuing to produce films. Walt Disney himself produced, directed or otherwise worked on over 100 short, animated or live-action films in his 40-year career and lifetime [IMDB]. Disney’s live-action filmography include 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Great Locomotive Chase, Old Yeller, Mary Poppins, and starting the ground work for what would eventually be the Love Bug series, the first of which would be released two years after Disney’s passing in 1968 [MeTV Staff].

The Walt Disney Company itself hasn’t let up in light of the passing of its founder. Rather, after a period of flops and management cycling in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the company made a major comeback in animation in the late 1980’s that would last into the following decade, starting a “renaissance” period for the company [Jones]. The renaissance period saw the production of several films that contributed to the organization’s clout in animation, including The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan and Tarzan, among others [Jones]. The organization’s clout further increased in the Twenty-First century, with mergers and buyouts of Pixar, Marvel Comics, and Lucasfilm, known respectively for being competition in animation, laying groundwork for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and as managing studio of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises [Goldman, Krantz].

In terms of memorable characters, both Disney and the Disney Company have offered many numerous examples over the years. Many characters generated by both Walt Disney himself and The Walt Disney Company following his passing tend to appear on lists observing animated characters, whether Disney-centered or not [50 Best Animated Movie Characters]. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Minnie Mouse, Walt Disney’s own personal creations, are the most well-known and longest lasting. In the modern era, characters from the “renaissance era” have gained popularity. While they often range from heroes, villains, princesses and side characters, the performers usually play major role in how audiences accept characters. Characters such as the Genie (Robin Williams), Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and Hades (James Woods) in Aladdin, The Lion King and Hercules, respectively, are often cited memorable characters in their respective films. In Empire’s list of the 50 greatest television characters, six rank in the top 10 [50 Best Animated Movie Characters].

Since the renaissance era, though, it has become common to question whether the characters offered forth serve as good role models for their youthful target audience. Some argue that Disney Princesses serve as bad role models, often citing impossible physical proportions in character design and a tendency to be relegated to the roles of searching for love and serving as a damsel in distress in the final act [Culzac]. Modern interpretations appear to have taken advantage of the criticism and seem to be making an effort to make its female characters both more active in the storyline and given more character traits to define them outside the “mold.” As one example, Emma Watson – portraying Belle in 2017’s live-action version of Beauty and the Beast – cited Belle’s intelligence and independence as traits she intended to emphasize and present as both refined and positive in her interpretation of the character [Bamigboye].

A key part of Disney’s providing positive role models for viewers was Walt Disney’s own desire to provide entertainment that appealed to “the six-year-old in everyone” that didn’t paint false pictures of reality. Despite films both before and after Disney’s passing often including darker elements sometimes out of the intended age group, Disney himself had professed to believing in children’s intelligence and sought to present a dark, yet optimistic vision for viewers. In his essay “Deeds Rather Than Words,” Disney writes his perspective: “I don't believe in playing down to children, either in life or in motion pictures. I didn't treat my own youngsters like fragile flowers, and I think no parent should. [...] Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows. Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil, and that is what our pictures attempt to do” [Gammon].

A great deal can and has been said about Disney over nearly the past century. Walt Disney himself strove through his career to be one of the greatest storytellers of his time. Success and conduct will remain hotly debated over time. What cannot be denied, though, is the impact Disney has had. Even following Walt Disney’s passing, the Walt Disney Company remains an important positive cultural institution that has provided memorable entertainment and positive role models.

Works Cited

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