I found this on my can of spaghetti-Os at Winco. I found it appropriate considering the whole theme of my blog. Disney has even infested our food.
The rest are just fun pictures from my trip back in 1996, which was what had initially started my whole fascination with Disney. Included is The Haunted Mansion, Toon Town, the Disneyland sign from across the street, it was SO foggy that you can barely make it out. Also included is my brothers and me with the infamous mouse himself (I know I look not so hot in that pic ha ha) and finally a nice memorial to Walt Disney himself with Mickey Mouse. Enjoy!
Okay, so I know how I mentioned that the Disney films tend to have subliminal messages in them. So I was searching for some clips that demonstrate examples of these. In this clip, the Little Mermaid scene is a little too obvious to dismiss as accidental. The Aladdin one, especially the one with Jafar seems like someone just trying to find something to put out there. With The Lion King, I dug up some research, and the company who edits the audio is called SFX, and they were known to hide their name in films before. So that possibly rules that one out. However, the possibility of these messages are non-disputable, especially with the examples included.
Okay. Since I am dedicating this blog to Disney consumerism and how it has dramatically influenced our culture from the films we watch to the items we purchase, I thought it only appropriate to have a post actually giving a brief history of the Disney Company and how it came to be. After all, the Walt Disney Company did not become the global giant it is overnight. The Disney Company has been influencing culture since back in 1937, when the first full-length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released.
The company was founded by Walter Elias Disney and his brother, Roy. Walt had always been fascinated with cartoons and by making them. His first short-animated cartoon, Alice’s Day at Sea, was released in 1924 under the company’s name of Disney Brothers Cartoon Studios. Four years later would introduce the debut of the now infamous character, Mickey Mouse. With Snow White a huge success, and a studio name change to Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney began to serve as a bright light in a dark time, so to speak, releasing such films as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi during World War II.
Disney then made the monumental move of opening a theme park based on its films and fantasy, named Disneyland in 1955. Disneyland has grown to be one of the most popular theme parks of all time. They also followed with opening Walt Disney World in 1971, as well with international parks in Tokyo and Paris, all while continuing to make modern classic after classic with its films.
From the start of short-animation cartoons to the release of Academy-Award nominated films like Beauty and the Beast and giant theme parks, Disney continues to be one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. It also shows no sign of stopping, as evidenced by my other posts!
One of Disney’s biggest marketing advantages is in their films. Through its history, Disney films have generally been perceived as films which are family-friendly fare, with positive and uplifting morals. However, when you actually stop and take a look at the films, there is more than meets the eye. There are those who claim that Disney films are filled with subliminal sexual messages, as well as representing minorities negatively.
There are also huge concerns about how they portray men and women. Women are almost always seen as submissive, pretty, young women. The men on the other hand are also typically seen as strong, strapping young dominating men. The concern is that this impacts how society expects us to act in our gender roles. The reason for this is because these films most definitely do have a target audience....children. This makes them susceptible for seeing these stereotypes and expecting all men and women to behave this way as well.
Perhaps even more damaging than this could also is its claim that Disney shows its characters in a negative manner regarding race. Have you ever seen an African American character in a Disney film? None come to mind. Let me know if anyone can think of one.
Regardless, is it safe to assume that these films could actually be encouraging racism and sexism in our society? In the Disney films, where the heroes are often portrayed as white with American voices, and the villains are often portrayed as English, Middle-Eastern, and even African American. For example: In the film The Lion King, the hero, Simba, is portrayed by two different “obviously” American actors. The villain, Scar, is portrayed with an English accent, very effeminate, and is perceived to be representative of homosexuals. The hyenas are voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, who is African American, and also by Cheech Martin, who has a distinct Hispanic dialect.
The video below goes further into detail about how Disney’s films are perhaps negatively impacting our society. I encourage you to take a look further. Very interesting!!!!!!
I have to admit. I have had Disney on the brain for the past three months now. My thoughts and feelings about Disney have completely evolved in this time frame too. I initially used to think of Disney as this magical and wonderful thing. Who doesn't have fond memories of watching countless hours of the Disney films and anxiously waiting for their trip to Disneyland? On the other hand, I've begun to slowly, but surely, start to turn on Disney. I think that my recent exposure to all things Disney has tainted my idyllic vision of Disney. I've certainly noticed every little time Disney comes up in mainstream media, and have began to see what an impact it has on our society.
As a little "experiment," I decided to go to the Boise Towne Square Mall. I decided that I would walk around, very causally, not necessarily seeking anything out, and try to see how much Disney propaganda I could see. I must say, I was surprised at just how much I was able to find. My inspiration hit me like a ton of bricks when I walked through the doors and saw a woman walking out with about five huge bags from where else....The Disney Store! My point exactly.
Disney is such a huge corporation that even in PO-dunk Boise, Idaho, we have a store made to sell Disney products. To anyone who has never actually stopped and looked at all the store has to offer, be grateful. I walked in and immediately felt like I stood out. I think the fact that I also didn't have a child under the age of eight there made me feel a little bit more uncomfortable. Never in my life, except for maybe actually at Disneyland (which makes sense), have I seen so much.....crap. Everywhere I looked I saw costumes of every Disney character imagined. Things from dolls, toys, stuffed animals, overpriced videos, and the preview for High School Musical 3 repeating over and over again.....I felt overwhelmed. You can imagine how awkward I felt as a grown man taking photos by myself at the Disney Store.
That was pretty much it for me. I wandered into Borders, and noticed that there is a whole entire DVD section dedicated to Family Films, which the majority is made up of Disney movies. I realized that Disney is exactly what I began to fear. A product. An idea. Nothing more. I began to realize that I did not buy into this idea of Disney anymore. I had been tainted. Disney has infiltrated our homes and has turned us all into mindless consumers purchasing anything that has those special Mickey Mouse ears on them. This was also made only the more obvious when I later went to my parent's house, and saw to my surprise: Disney Trivial Pursuit. My parents youngest child is fifteen. For the life of me I can't think of what possessed them to purchase that game. I could only laugh, and realize that my point was proven. Even my parents, who only have adults and teenagers as children, were still trained to purchase anything with the words "Disney" on it. I guess they've won.
I say "Wonderful World of Disney" with a question mark, because that is the question I am posing. Is Disney wonderful? I've been doing a lot of investigation over the last few months, and I have begun to doubt this. My blog is used as an example of Disney's effect on consumerism and influence over our culture with its products. So once again, is it wonderful? You be the judge of that.
