Examples Of Obsession With Disney Movies

For most of society, the word Disney elicits warm feelings: memories of early Saturday mornings with family watching cartoons, family trips to Disney World, or a movie that was so encapsulating it was watched over and over again. Disney achieves a high level of regard from most of society unparalleled by other companies. Penn State education professor, Henry A. Giroux, accompanied by Grace Pollock, argues in his book The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence that society is blinded by Disney’s façade of “childhood innocence” and that Disney’s marketing tactics are far from innocent at all.

Disney films are more than just magical fairytales. They are gateways back into our childhoods where dragons needed to be defeated and where fairy godmothers granted our deepest desires. These magical films also encourages little girls to feel confident about themselves.

After a while these images begin to shape what young boys know and what they understand about the world around them. This is not an immediate effect, but instead a slow accumulative effect that is much more subtle than we are aware of. One of the biggest problems with this process is that the Disney conglomerate has spanned over nearly five generations, so no one thinks to challenge the idea that an animated Disney movie is a great way to entertain children while simultaneously sharing with them a piece of traditional culture.

With the massive amount of appreciation and love for Disney movies from all types of people, it is hard to criticize or analyze any film without serious backlash. Recently, many Disney enthusiasts have theorized that the characters from these beloved movies present characteristics of mental disorders. Theories such as these have thrown people into intense discussion and vigorous debates, some arguing that these characters strongly show mental disorder symptoms and others disproving that their cherished childhood characters could never show signs of mental disorders. Although many people would argue that Disney movies are simply just movies and do not have connections to mental illness, I hypothesize that there are many characters with personalities that correlate with mental disorders and have strong connections to psychological conditions.

There are plenty of hotbed issues on how the Disney corporation’s sociological and socio political ideologies are embedded into their products and how they affect children, but very few ask why Disney would place hidden ideologies in their movies/shows. What reasons would Disney have to program children with outdated morals while trying desperately to uphold a model image of innocence? What practices has the disney corporation practiced that some would consider immoral or even illegal? To answer these questions the following issues must be explored in more depth: The history and actions of Disney from its inceptions to the present,Walt’s strict “moral” code along with the legacy he left behind, the policies of Disneyland

There is a website on which one can upload a picture of themselves or someone they know and they will receive a Disney-fied version of the picture. Known specifically for its unrealistic portrayals of humans and society in their films, Disney is still considered the most influential film company in the world. Their films tend to lack substance and complex plot lines, yet their empire is globally renowned. From animated films, to theme parks, to live-action films, to action figures and universally known characters, Disney has established itself in the realm of media and product recognition. Throughout the years, their characters have become symbolic and easily identifiable across the globe. Parents cringe at the unrealistic expectations that Disney films present – the forerunner in the fairy tale with archetypical characters and a

Though Christ does not directly speak to this issue, He clearly reveals that Christians should not be spending time on worldly entertainment like Disney. In His Word, God says that His followers should fill their minds with “whatsoever things are true” (Philippians 4:8). Just a glimpse of Disney’s entertainment shows that almost all

After watching the movie a few more times, Rome noticed that her daughter was always wanting to go on daring adventures and recuing her stuffed animals. Rome’s perspective on Disney princesses started to change as she realized that her two-year-old daughter was learning how to be strong and brave instead of how to be pretty and sparkly (Rome, 2-3). Stories like the one of Violet show that Disney has become a cultural stimulant for young children. Movies, toys, amusements parks and ice shows are just a few things that have helped to intensify the popularity of the Disney princess phenomena. The popularity of Disney and its princesses are clearly shown in the 1990s when it accumulated $598.8 million in box office tickets alone with the release of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

To consider children as consumers of Disney is not a new idea. Princess culture “includes a vast array of material objects and media representations, but also marketing rhetoric and weighty expert studies of children as consumers” (Orr 9). If a company gains the loyalty of a child then they have a customer for life. Marketing campaigns “that accompany each new animated feature” for Disney have admitted to “the targeting of children as consumers” (Lacroix 226). Not only do children consume Disney merchandise, like the toys marketed through McDonald’s Happy Meals, but they are also “taught to consume ideas” (226). Henry Giroux calls the films “teaching machines” and “producers of culture” (“Are Disney Movies Good” 53). Disney is the biggest producer of princess culture and the Disney Princess films “comprise five out of six top revenue-generating Disney films of all time” (Wohlwend 10). When it comes to Disney animated films, the princesses are the popular kids in school.

“ Every time she finds a minute, that's when they begin it, Cinderella ! Cinderella ! Cinderella !” Cinderella, a domesticated woman, a slave to the scrubbing brush, and the kitchen. “ Look at this stuff, isn't it neat ? Wouldn't you think my collections complete ? Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl, the girl who has everything ?” Ariel a girl who sings about all the domesticated items she has collected. “Well it’s my favourite! Far off places, daring swordfights, magic spells, a prince in disguise.” Belle the girl who reads fairy tales and expects life to be like the stories. These are only three of the many messages these stereotypes are sending young viewers. As a little girl watching these Disney films you want to do anything and everything to become like these princesses. You want the glitz, the

While making animated films projected at youth and at others who Disney hoped to infuse innocence into, being the entrepreneur he was, he also had to keep in mind the business of his company. Disney wanted to promote the carelessness of being young, and desired to show even adults that they, too, could be happy and relaxed. Being able to do so and keep audiences of all ages interested enough to save his company from bankruptcy is indeed a challenge. Nevertheless, Disney was able to generate films that people of many different generations to enjoy, and all the while become extremely successful.

The Disney Corporation has had both positive and negative effects on American society. Disney has majorly affected both the youth and adults in America by way they interact with each other, what they expect from each other, and how parents bring up their youth in harsh and unrealistic expectations according to Disney. Disney has fostered a strong sense of imagination in the past, present and future youth of America. This sense of imagination is necessary to the development of children when it comes to success in life and self-confidence. The Disney Corporation knows how to work it’s audience for a profit and mastering that skill has allowed Disney to accumulated billions by advertising and selling fantasies to young children and their parents. It’s also these very ideas that influence what Americans believe our government and policies should be founded on. In “The Mouse That Roared” the author states “Education is never innocent, because it always presupposes a particular view of citizenship, culture, and society. And yet it is this very appeal to innocence, bleached of any semblance of politics, that has become a defining feature in Disney culture and pedagogy” (Giroux 31) This quote defines Disney at large. Disney has created the idea of ‘imagination’ in American society and perpetuates it in everything America does and influences everything America stands. In everyday American life, politics and business, The Disney Corporation has a hand in it.

Tie to the Audience: We all have our favorite Disney movies and characters. Many of you were probably bribed with the promise of endless reruns of your favorite

Perhaps, the reasons these films are so popular and influential to children is simply because their focus is directed distinctively towards them. Each character in Disney films possesses a distinct personality wherein children who watches these films may tend to characterize themselves as the character also.

Disney is one of the most successful and largest companies in the world. They have their hand in nearly every form of entertainment as well as media, and broadcasting. Disney is best known for their animated films, unique cartoon characters, catchy musicals, and fairy tales that most of us were first introduced to as children. They are one of the few entertainment companies in the World whose primary demographic is children and teens. Nearly everybody is familiar with the Disney name and its brand, and its realistic to suggest that nearly everybody has experienced a Disney film and animated character at some point in their lives; which may have helped to influence them or their behaviors or even their