Disney's Magic Becomes Stockholders'
Profit
by James Hall
December 19, 2001
"Leaning Left"
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This past week marks the 100th Anniversary of Walt Disney, an American genius.
A giant in the fields of animation and entertainment, Disney also thought creatively
in education and even delved in that most American of pastimes, utopian thinking.
To realize his dreams, Disney spent his life fighting for capital and was a
strong believer in free enterprise. Unfortunately that belief proved his undoing,
and now the opportunists pick the bones of his creative work, fattening themselves.
Disney was a first-class artist, but an even greater manager and salesman. Not only did he have an artistic vision of a world, he had the practical skill to work with artists, engineers, and businessmen to bring it to life. He was a relentless innovator, developing the first use of synchronized sound in cartoons, the first color cartoon, and in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the first animated feature film. He soon moved into traditional movie production, documentaries, cartoon strips for print media, and educational media, all produced with a Disney theme--family entertainment and the uplifting message that good defeats evil, and hard work yields good results.
Another example of Disney innovation was the theme park, beginning with the opening of Disneyland in California, the result of unsatisfactory experiences that Walt had taking his daughters to visit traditional carnivals with their rough stagehands, dirty environment, and entertainment frequently unsuitable for children. Walt's vision was for parks sparkling clean, with friendly and attractive employees and family entertainment creating synergies with his cartoon and feature movie empire, taking his characters and the stories they told and making them part of "the guest experience."
The
great success of Disneyland led to television productions--including "The Wonderful
World of Disney," the longest running television show in history--and to Disney's
widening vision for his park visitors and for the country in general. By conquering
the public media--film, books, theme parks and television, Disney became an
American mythographer. The Disney mythos involved Disney-created characters
like Mickey Mouse (shown, right), legendary or fairy characters like Snow White,
fictional tales like Kipling's Jungle Book, and historical characters like Daniel
Boone and Mike Fink. Without adhering to any one orthodox tradition, Disney's
work taught basic moral values. The typical Disney story, told over and over,
was a tale of good winning out over bad or evil, of hard work yielding the fruit
of its efforts. Disney had a patriotic fervor that manifested itself in television
productions like "Davie Crockett," and in exhibits like Disneyland's audioanimatronic
Hall of Presidents.
Hard work and success in overcoming obstacles -- the Disney mythos -- was pretty much Disney's personal story. To make each successive enterprise work, Walt mortgaged the previous ones, held down wages and salaries whenever he could, though he spent lavishly on the materials and sets to make his stories come to life. He was notoriously stingy and demanding, yet he continued to attract the best people to help realize his unique visions.
Walt's last great vision went beyond movies, cartoons, and theme parks to embrace utopian living. Near the end of his life he bought 43 square miles of property near Orlando, Florida to build more theme parks but also to build the first planned community. Walt's Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT, was a part of his optimistic vision of America and the future of the world. He envisioned a high tech community with fast public transportation, modern industry, and small neighborhoods separated by green belts and parks.
Unfortunately, Walt Disney died in 1966, and his brother Roy in 1971. Walt had hailed the American capitalism as the best system in the world, but the entertainment empire he had constructed became endangered by a series of bad movies and management decisions by Walt's successors, who maintained his high standards of excellence without his creative gifts. The threat of a hostile takeover and of Disney's empire being sold off piecemeal led to the hiring of Michael Eisner from Disney competitor, Paramount.
Eisner brought stockmarket success back to Disney, but only at a cost of watering down and even abandoning Disney's unified vision of entertainment. He produced successful animated features but also bought the controversial Miramax studios, which produced films like "Pulp Fiction" that were far from the Disney vision of uplifting family films. Eisner relentlessly marketed the classic Disney films and cartoons for videos and expensive merchandise, taking advantage of baby boomer nostalgia, and used the cash to buy more entertainment venues, including Capital Cities/ABC, making Disney a global entertainment colossus--but a conglomerate without the unifying philosophy that Walt Disney created when he led Walt Disney Productions. EPCOT opened as another theme park, Walt's idea of a utopian community a distant memory.
Today's Disney media empire is a far cry from Walt's vision of a beautiful, optimistic future. The ability to make a profit became prized more than creating wonderful stories. The theme parks that Walt wanted every American to visit have become expensive cash cows beyond the means of many. Ironically, when Eisner finally created a utopian community--Celebration, the themed real estate development community on the outskirts of Kissimmee, Florida--his architects looked to the past, not the future, for their inspiration. Despite its recent plunge in the market, Walt Disney Productions remains more dedicated to its stockholders than to Walt's vision of hard work yielding to a bright and wonderful future. That's sad sea change of Walt Disney's vision. ***
© 2001 James Hall
COPYRIGHT © 2001 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.