Retailing the tale : Disney's art of cultural commercialism

Abstract

The growth of the Walt Disney Company in all its numerous forms - what might be called the multiple-Disney - is a valuable source for cultural study because it offers an opportunity to trace the evolution of a small American entertainment institution into the powerful site of cultural production it is today. The rise of the company coincides with the rise of America in the 20th century, and the content of Disney's output and its marketing methods shed light on how the nation's beloved company has consistently trained children to become consumers. Through its varied texts, the corporation s success at projecting itself into the roles of storyteller and historian, educator and entertainer all with profit as the ultimate goal has resulted in a conflation of these roles. For Disney to manage its multiplicity is no easy task, however, because these roles often diverge during the production and distribution of many of the corporation s products. The company s treatment of race and ethnicity, its sexual politics and its capacity as pedagogue are some of the contentious issues for which both the original Walt Disney and the modern Corporate Disney have been praised and criticized by diverse voices. These themes are discussed in the thesis, with the formal analysis concentrating on two semi-historical films, "Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier"(1955) and "Pocahontas" (1995). The corporation s controversial history theme park project of the early 1990s, Disney s America, is also addressed. Throughout, the company s cultural representations are examined in a socio-economic context, and close readings of these primary sources reveal surprisingly political messages.