How Does Disney Show Social Diversity

For more than nine decades, the name Walt Disney has been preeminent in the field of family entertainment. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to today 's global corporation, Disney continues to proudly provide quality entertainment for every member of the family, across America and around the world. The company is diversified, focusing on its mass media headquartered in Burbank, California (Iger, 2012). In terms of revenue, it is the largest media conglomerate in the world (Silkos, 2009). Founded on October 16, 1923, by the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in

Unlike most people today, I rarely watch TV and do not follow any shows; therefore, I decided to evaluate my favorite film franchise, Disney. The Disney Corporation began creating movies in a rather non-inclusive time, the early 1900’s; thus, several of their movies depict racial and gender stereotypes. The problem does not revolve around the actual making of the movies but that Disney still holds on to several of these iconic movies. For example, Dumbo and Peter Pan are two movies still admired today with racial stereotypes.

Janet Waskos the author of “understanding Disney: The manufacture of fantasy” this book uncovers many truths about the business of Disney and their motives behind the company. In order for Waskos to provide her readers with a deep understanding of Disney’s invisible motives behind their actions, she investigates ways in which Disney constructs society. Waskos first provides the audience with an analysis of Disney and synergy. She then focuses on how Disney promotes the idea of capitalism. Waskos supports this notion by using examples, such as, Disney theme parks, the concept of mass production and mass merchandising. In addition, Waskos outlines ways in which Disney fails to meet reality, and inflicts social norms on society. Janet

Jack Zipes, in his essay "Breaking the Disney Spell", directly addresses the issue of what happens when a story is taken from its original oral form and written down. Zipes discusses in depth what Walt Disney has done to fairy tales and the consequences of Disney's actions. Zipes addresses many issues, including those of context, society, and alteration of plot. He accuses Walt Disney of attacking "the literary tradition of the fairy tale" (344). While many scholars disagree with Zipes' accusations, his essay makes very solid and well-presented points that he promptly backs with fact. Regardless of what the scholars say, Zipes was right: Oral tradition is important, and Disney's representations of historical folktales damaged fairy tales

Disney’s long-run success is mainly due to creating value through diversification. Their corporate strategies (primarily under CEO Eisner) include three dimensions: horizontal and geographic expansion as well as vertical integration. Disney is a prime example of how to achieve long-run success through the choices of business, the choice of how many activities to undertake, the choice of how many businesses to be in, the choice of how to manage a portfolio of businesses and the choice of how to create synergies between those businesses (3, p.191-221). All these choices and decisions are

What images come to mind as one reflects upon his or her childhood? Playgrounds, blackboards, and soccer balls may be among the fondest of memories. Yet, for many, mermaids swim their thoughts, princesses get swept off their feet, and lions roar to their royal place in the animal kingdom. Disney films have captivated the American culture for years and have become a pivotal part of popular culture as well as a form of education. However, these films have devoured the youth of America and, in the process; have perpetuated an institutionally racist society based on harsh stereotypes. Minorities are often underrepresented, and even completely left out, of many Disney films such as Dumbo (1941), The Lion King (1994), Aladdin (1992), and

For my final paper where we had to pick a topic from current popular culture, I decided to write my paper with the focus on Disney movies. More particularly with the focus on the Disney princess movies. When it comes to the Disney movies they have always been and will always be such a huge part of our society. While growing up most children grow up watching these movies and get the idea that that is what they want to be when they grow up. When you ask a young girl what she wants to be when she is older there is a good chance that she will say that she wants to be a princess when she grows up. I have always been such a huge fan of Disney movies and I have a feeling I always will be. I found it very interesting this semester when we spend the short class period talking about the Disney female and male characters. It is rather interesting and something that I can say that I really never noticed before but the fact that the majority of all the female characters all had the same face shape. Whereas the males there were none two that were the same. However for this paper I will be looking into the relationship to cultural meanings about gender and other identity markers, such as race, sexuality, and cultural norms as seen in some of the more classic well known Disney movies.

However, there is debate online from the public as to whether the film still perpetuates racism. It can be argued that although Disney has created a black princess, she spends most of the film as a frog anyway, unlike any other previous princess. The witch curse in the movie has African American masks insinuating that African Americans are magical and spooky. This is a misrepresentation and can be seen as racism.

Disney princesses are fun for all ages, but their target audience is young children and “as children grow and develop, they can be easily influenced by what they see and hear”. Therefore, what they see and hear in Disney movies leaves an impression on them. The first princess, Snow White, was created in a time where each gender and race had a specific role in society. Recently, many believe that Disney has come a long way in regards to gender and race since Snow White, as several multi-cultural protagonists have been introduced subsequently, and gender roles do not appear to be as stereotypical as they once were. However, many of the apparent innocent messages about race and gender in these movies, can be exposed as otherwise. Despite

Starting its movie premiered in 1937 and introduced the first princess who is Snow White kind, sweet, and generous so that people knew the story about her escaped the witch and went to the forest, then she found a refuge in the seven dwarves’ house which so dirty everywhere. So, she cleaned all rooms and cooked a good porridge. Finally, the witch sought and got her. She ate a poisoned apple which had a

Disney creates gender roles, racial roles, and white supremacy through socialization within their motion pictures. For example, Walt Disney’s “Snow White”, “Fantasia”, and even “The Little Mermaid” all show females as obscenely beautiful, male dependent and flirtatious creatures who couldn’t save themselves from a Chinese finger trap. Males are the perfectly sculpted rescuers who can be easily wooed by a woman’s body; and these exaggerated roles create a false standard for children and can lead to severely underdeveloped sociological skills. Moving onto the racial roles; in the movie “All dogs go to

The Walt Disney Company has created theme parks throughout the world for guests to undergo a specific experiences that recalls the guests’ inner child through rides, visuals, and music. Disney has proved to be more than just a theme park; it is portrayed as a “world” or “land” of acceptance and integration of all cultures into one place. The universality aspect is what draws people in from different countries to visit the parks. Ultimately, the Disney parks are based off of two key concepts: commoditization and Americanization. Since Disney is an imagined utopia, guests buy into, literally and figuratively, the commodities and experiences it offers. Through music and visuals, Disney intertwines a message of Americanization through a single world culture that the guests accept. Disney’s limited understanding of cultures became much more apparent as theme parks were erected in different countries with cultural values that differ from American norms. Disney is a utopian society that exposes a narrow interpretation of the different cultures throughout the world.

The first Disney princess is Snow White. She is in the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; which aired in 1937. The Movie is about a Young beautiful princess who is sent in the forest to be killed, orders by her evil mother, the queen, because she is unhappy that she isn’t the “fairest in the land”. While wandering in the forest she finds the seven dwarfs’ home, after she is released from the huntsman who was sent to kill her. Once the dwarfs arrive home the realize that a stranger is in their home and find Snow White then she explains to them what has happened and they agree to let her stay under the condition of, “If you will keep house for us, and cook, make beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything that you want,” they

When most people think about Disney movies, their mind often goes to the stereotypical princess movies in which the protagonist wears a pink ball gown. Time and time again these princesses must fight their way through the story in a luxurious ball gown in order to end up with a prince. However, there are many Disney movies that work to challenge these gender stereotypes. The movie Moana is a recent example of a Disney production that works to break the imposed stereotypes placed on children from an early age.

Disney has become a marketing goliath and the #1 entertainment company in the US. They have been able to develop a creativity-driven philosophy that over time was tempered by financial responsibility and that benefitted from powerful synergies between its divisions. From the very beginning, Disney has been synonymous with innovation within the children’s entertainment industry, from their introduction of animations with synchronized audio, full-length animated feature films and then later into theme parks and on-ice and Broadway shows. One important element of Disney’s success was the extent to which they integrated and expanded into different