This is going to be fun...

Originally posted by 96RedSE5Sp:
Since you're interested, here are some interesting analyses of the Disney Empire
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"We have no obligation to make history.
We have no obligation to make art.
We have no obligation to make a statement.
To make money is our only obligation."
*edited* -Any CEO, Any Company, Any Year *edited*





Eisner summed up what any and every company is out to do, and didn't BS anyone about it in that statement, which is why I changed it to suit the argument.


Quote:



Disney's influence derives from its association with playfulness based on animation, films, parks as
films, and its promise of making childhood dreams come true- for both children and adults.





Amazing... and to think a company wants to put out a good image and draw people to its product. What a concept!

Quote:



This playfulness consists of predictable, controlled experiences- the negation of play which is
unpredictable, spontaneous and controlled by the participants. The corporation's misty nostalgia serves
to disguise consumption, obscure the inadequacies of the present and bridge the gap into a higher
future care of technological progress managed by General Electric, General Motors, Coca Cola and
their corporate mates.





Oh no, Disney has other corporate sponsors, too! The horror! And negation of WHAT play? Negation of kids' playing? Has nothing to do with Disney, that's the parents' fault.

Quote:



The myths of childhood, family and progress are a powerful drug. We need to wake up to the smell ...
and collectively seize and create the present and future.




Wow, what an amazing dissertation on the current social state. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with Disney.


Quote:



And yet Disney's pretense to innocence appears to some critics as little more than a
promotional mask that covers over its aggressive marketing techniques and influence in educating
children to the virtues of becoming active consumers.





Again, I say... a company wants to make money?! Outrageous!

Quote:


For example, Jon Wiener, argues that Disneyland's version of Main Street America harkens back to an
"image of small towns characterized by cheerful commerce, with barbershop quartets and ice cream
sundaes and glorious parades." For Wiener this view not only fictionalizes and trivializes the history or
real Main Streets at the turn of the century, it also represents an appropriation of the past to legitimate a
present that portrays a world "without tenements or poverty or urban class conflict....it's a native white
Protestant dream of a world without blacks or immigrants."




Bwuaahahhahhahhhhahhhhahahahhah! Thanks, that's one of the funniest things I've read all week. It presents an ideal place- a place where nobody HAS to deal with poverty, nobody HAS to deal with the ugly side of the world... it's a place to leave all of the crap of everyday life behind. Hence the name Main St., USA. It's amazing what people will try to pin on "evil companies."

Quote:


...[W]hile it is indisputable that Disney provides both children and adults with the pleasure of being
entertained, Disney's public responsibility does not end there.





The only thing wrong with that statement is that you assume that Disney has some sort of responsibility for the way kids are raised. Again, they do NOT. That's their parents' fault. Quit placing social responsibilities on a company that does not have them. Disney's sole responsibilities ARE to make money... they ARE a company, after all. This isn't some utopian world where every company is out to make the world a better place.


Quote:

...it points to the need to address the role of
fantasy, desire, and innocence in securing particular ideological interests, legitimating specific social
relations, and making a distinct claim on the meaning of public memory. Disney needs to be held
accountable not just at the box office, but also in political and ethical terms.




Why political or ethical? Political and ethical views vary person to person. Disney's not in charge of that, and isn't going to try to be in charge of that for everyone.

[quote
And if such accountability
is to be impressed upon the "magic kingdom" then parents, cultural workers, and others will have to
challenge and disrupt both the institutional power and the images, representations, and values offered
by Disney's teaching machine. The stakes are too high to ignore such a challenge and struggle, even if
it means reading Disney's animated films critically.




Parents begin teaching their children before they're able to even recognize what a TV is, let alone what's ON the TV. If Disney can exert that much control over your kids, you've failed as a parent, IMO.

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