Starting out here in Chicago during the 20s, even Walt himself might never have imagined all that was to happen. But if today he could, would he approve?
First came the animated classics of the 30s and 40s like Snow White and Bambi. Next, the dazzling theme parks of the 50s and 60s like Disneyland and Disneyworld. Today, Disney has come to mean a fine-tuned cookie factory generating a never-stop assembly line of pre-packaged summertime sensations.
Has Disney Corp learned from America, or has America learned from Disney Corp? Perhaps it doesn't makes any difference anymore, because they both operate the very same way. Find a demographic market (giggly pre-teens or sentimental elders, inner-city poor or country club rich, whatever), crunch the numbers (polls, surveys, focus groups, whatever), then package a product that fits that market (summer blockbuster, television series, touring singer, video game, pc, candidate, whatever).
Is it too cynical to say that this way virtually everything and everyone becomes another product launch? And sure enough, usually in the good old summertime when people have the most time to bite the bait.
American capitalism and free enterprise are part of our proud heritage, but do we cheapen the heritage when we invest as much time packaging as we do perfecting the product? Ahh, but then that's not really a problem is it, because in a throwaway culture, no product is made to last too long anyway. A few cases in point.....
In just the last 12 months, Disney has given us the flashy package called Hannah Montana, now the triple-flash package called the Jonas Brothers, and waiting in the wings the salsa flash called Selena Gomez. But watch closely, kids, in another 12 months the Disney Imagineers promise still flashier products coming off the line.
Not to be outdone in the flash-today-gone-tomorrow game, A,erica during those same 12 months has given us Mitt Romney, Rod and Patti Blagojevich, Drew Pearson, Ron Burris, a dozen new reality shows, and a very gifted but exploited Susan Boyle.
Remember the names, folks, because they're here today, forgotten tomorrow. That's Disney! That's America! And, lets admit it, that's us!
I don't consider the "REAL" Disney to be these new fangled flashes in the pan like you mentioned Hannah Montana etc....that to me is commercialism at its finest (or worst). Disney to me is Mickey Mouse and the original It's a Small World ride that I went on as a child with my parents. That will always be the real Disney to me....everything else is just a lame comparison!
ReplyDeleteI can't argue with that! That's the Disney I too remember as a child. However, Walt Disney has been replaced by big corporate money-players who -- as with all the old studios out there -- are running things with their banks accounts more than with their hearts. Walt was a businessman, but he had dreams...his successors probably have dividends more than dreams in mind. Just a hunch!
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