Walt Disney Is Not A Utopia

“I’ve always been bored with just making money. I’ve wanted to do things, I wanted to build things, or get something going.” (LeeBron) Disney stated that when he realized that he wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. Disney never wanted to be boring or be known as the man who did not have a childhood and was always pushed around by his father. Disney wanted to be successful in life, he wanted the name ‘Walt Disney’ to be remembered, and it will be forever. Disney has achieved many important and exciting accomplishments within his life. He created “full length animated films, short films, live-action features, and television shows” (LeeBron) Disney also introduced theme parks. He created Disneyland in Anaheim, California. He also developed Epcot which stands for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”, and Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida. Walt Disney was an important figure in the 1920s American History because he made a change to the world with the idea of bringing inanimate objects to life with cartoons and created all new kinds of happiness.

Walt Disney’s greatest achievement is the impact he made on America’s mass media industry. Disney took his talent for art and design to the next

Walt Disney once said, “It’s not the magic that makes it work, it’s the work that makes the magic.” (Capodagli & Jackson, 2007). Walt Disney was truly a visionary and ethical leader that used his talents as a transformational leader and artist to dream up a world that has stood the test of time for nearly 90 years. In this paper I will explain why he was both a visionary and ethical leader. It will show that he used inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation to further his clear and easy to follow vision, inspire his personnel, and leverage their creativity. It will also show why I believe Walt Disney fit into the traits of an ethical leader by valuing his team members and creating an environment of mutual trust and respect. Then I will tell you how I have used the same transformational leadership behaviors to lead my people, have made sure not to fall into an ethical trap and take credit for the work others do. All leaders could learn something from Walt’s visionary leadership.

Walt Disney was a very influential man to the entertainment industry. He made animation a whole new type of entertainment. Although Walt went through many struggles and problems, he pushed on and eventually saw results for all his hard work. Many hardships got in Disney’s way such as unsupportive parents and even bankruptcy; Walt pushed on through, always creating, working hard, and persevering to accomplish his dream.

Background: The history of Walt Disney, and the Disney Corporation, is one shrouded in admiration and accolades for the accomplishment of the American dream. Walt Disney himself is an icon for the American work ethic, i.e., hard work pays off. He is seen as a Horatio Alger, "rags to riches," success story. Beginning his work in animation in the 1920s, Walt Disney gained fame worldwide for his films and theme parks. But Walt Disney created more than films and theme parks. By infusing them with an ideological stance glorifying "the American way of life," his brand of democracy and conservatism, he created a cultural institution. The moralistic stance of his enterprise became common knowledge and it is said that his 1933 version of Three Little Pigs was the last of his cartoons in which the film’s moral messages were open to interpretation [3]

On December 5, 1901, Elias Disney and Flora Call Disney gave birth to a man who would eventually change our world by the creation of a little mouse. Walter Elias Disney, who was also known as “Walt,” was born in a small town in Chicago, Illinois, by a father who was an Irish-Canadian descent, and his mother who was a German- English descent. Walt was one out of five children, four brothers and a sister. Their names were Herbert Arthur Disney, Raymond Arnold Disney, Roy Oliver Disney, and Ruth Flora Disney. Walt was the oldest one out of the five. While he attended school, he was introduced to Walter Pfeiffer, who decided to show Walt vaudeville and the art of making movies. Walt decided to drop out of high school, at the age of sixteen, to join the army. He was rejected to join because he was too young of age. He and a friend decided to join the Red Cross, where Walt was an ambulance driver during World War II. In 1919, Walt moved to Kansas City to begin a career in art, and worked for the newspaper, as a newspaper artist. He met Ubbe Iwerks, and he and Disney soon made their own commercial company called, “Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists.”

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.

     Walt Disney; When that name is spoken faces of children and adults alike light up with looks of sheer joy. When debating what to see at the movies the newest Disney flick is almost always decided upon over the others. With Disney people are 100 percent sure to walk out of the theater happy and smiling. From the catchy theme songs to the thrilling theme parks Disney has built the fantasy empire. Although he built the fantasy world Disney was not a man who walked around with his head in the clouds. He used his animation and film making skills to not only make fantastic movies but to also bring joy into times of war, fun into times of education, and excitement into times of vacation

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.

Walt Disney's childhood was not great or any thing spectacular, but he still made the best of it. He was born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. He had four other siblings, a caring mother and an abusive dad. Walt played Peter Pan in a school play and he started drawing cartoons of horses and different made up characters with the help of a few art and drawing lessons. As he was growing up, one of Walt's jobs was to sell newspapers and candy on a train, after a while, he decided that that was not what he wanted to do anymore so he decided to stop. He went through high school, working on a farm that his family purchased, but it only failed, and eventually, after dropping out of high school to join the army, he

Walt Disney himself once said, “Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will want to bring others and show them what you have done.” Animator. Film director. Entrepreneur. Film producer. Voice actor. Screen writer. Entertainer. Business person. Television presenter. Film editor. Television producer. Hero. Walt Disney. He was one of the most extensive models of success to ever live. Walt gave everything he had into creating Disney. Every single minute of every single hour of every single day of his adult life were dedicated to his brand and the people he influenced throughout his lifetime quite literally until the day he died. Walt Disney created a international insignia revolved around a single mouse. If that isn’t success, what is?

Disney’s target audience was young -and children were much more apparent than before, due to the postwar baby-boom-, so by filling his projects with good values and happiness he was able to instill them into his audience at a young age.

Many young children grow up watching Disney films. Many parents do not think that these movies could have a negative impact on their children. Henry Giroux, who wrote the book, “The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence” is a firm believer that Disney films have a negative impact on the children that watch them. For several generations Disney films have been a huge part of children’s lives, but many parents do not realize how these films can negatively impact their children. Disney films can teach young children stereotypes, how to deal with life events such as death and they can learn negative ideas and values from these films.

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

Walt Disney has inspired millions of people across the globe through his success, films and dreams. His bold legacy has lived on past his grave and millions of people have and continue to find joy in his magical works, but how many know his story and how his great legacy came to be? How did he get to where he finished?