A Talk with Mark Pinsky
author of
The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust
Q: What’s the essence of the Disney gospel?
A: Good is always rewarded; evil always punished. In times of hardship and challenge,
optimism and hard work will see you through. Love conquers all, and arranged marriages
are usually a bad idea—unless you accidentally fall in love with your betrothed. Dreams
can and do come true. Faith is paramount: You must believe, in yourself and in
something greater than yourself.
Q: Why did Walt choose magic as a storytelling device for supernatural intervention?
A: Walt avoided explicit religious symbols and dialogue for personal and commercial
reasons. First, he had ambivalent personal feelings toward organized religion. He grew up
in what would today be considered a harshly fundamentalist home and was never a
regular churchgoer as an adult. Second, Walt and his brother Roy wanted to sell their
films around the world—Europe, North Africa and Asia. By making the films explicitly
Christian in areas where children did not understand that faith, they would be limiting
their potential market. Magic, on the other hand, is universal to all cultures.
Q: How did the creed change during the Eisner years?
A: While retaining Walt’s core values, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg expanded
the Disney universe of faith beyond the Judeo-Christian sphere. Elements of Hinduism
(Lion King), Buddhism (Mulan) and animism (Pocahontas) were added to the Disney
gospel. Ironically, a more specific (and favorable) representation of Christianity was also
added, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Most fundamentally, the role and portrayal of
young women shifted during this period, giving them a much more active and assertive
role in the stories
Q: Why did the Religious Right clash with Disney in the 1990s?
A: At its essence, I think this was a geographic culture clash, pitting conservative
sensibilities in the Southeast against a more cosmopolitan outlook in Southern California.
When company executives began to address the concerns of their many gay employees,
some Christians felt their values—which they believe were Walt’s values—had been
betrayed. In the late 1990s, the Southern Baptist Convention joined other groups in
threatening Disney with boycott. Disney dug in its heels and refused to listen to the
complaints. The struggle escalated. Nobody won, in my view.
Q: Do you have a favorite Disney movie or character?
A: Politically, I like Atlantis best, since it reflects my worldview, as an old ‘60s lefty.
Lilo, from Lilo and Stitch, is my favorite character. In many ways, she is so un-Disney,
but lovable all the same. I liked Brother Bear, both for its lessons and its visual impact.
Q:What does the LIttle Mermaid have to say about intermarriage?
A: As Rabbi Daniel Wolpe, of Orlando notes, it suggests that it is not always possible to
“split the difference” in a mixed marriage. In real life, it is sometimes necessary to
choose which path to take. But even when this happens, there can be complications when
children arrive, which is made plain in the Little Mermaid straight-to-video sequel.
Q: What was so controversial about Aladdin and its portrayal of Muslims?
A: The controversy began with a line in the opening song : “I come from a place, a
faraway land, where the caravan camels roam, where they cut off your ear, if they don’t
like your face, it’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home.” In the film, all the villains and buffoons
had beards, big noses and foreign accents. Aladdin, the title character, looked and
sounded like he came from Southern California. Henchmen were always threatening to
cut the hands off poor thieves. After denying there was anything offensive, Disney finally
changed the song lyric on the video and DVD versions—but not the music CD.
Q; Do you think Walt was anti-Semitic, as some have alleged?
A: I may be letting him off the hook, but I do make a distinction between anti-Semitism
that comes out of culture, upbringing and economic competition, as against intellectual
anti-Semitism. Walt grew up in Middle America in the early part of the 20th century,
where hostile feelings toward Jews—and Catholics, for that matter—were common. In
Hollywood, he bumped heads with studio heads and union organizers who were often
Jewish. So, I am certain that he made anti-Semitic remarks and told offensive jokes. But I
don’t think he hated Jews. He was no Henry Ford.
Q: Isn’t there something quintessentially American in the overriding optimism
that informs the Disney gospel?
A: Yes, for much of the history of the Disney Company, this country was living through
what some have called “the American century.” Coming out of the Great Depression of
the 1930s, each decade seemed to bring great technological advances and steady,
relatively broad-based prosperity. Internationally, the United States’ power and influence
continued to grow. So, naturally, Walt Disney and his writers, animators and producers
were infused with the belief that optimism can conquer any obstacle, a very “New
World” way of thinking. Walt’s personal success also reflected and reinforced this view.
Q: What’s in store for Disney?
A: Disney’s signature, hand drawn animated films—called 2D— are clearly in decline.
The company has recently closed down two production studios in Orlando and Tokyo.
Their latest release, Home on the Range, was a critical and commercial failure. The big
recent moneymakers have been computer-generated movies like Pixar’s Finding Nemo.
But Disney continues to acquire properties that it could turn into 2D features, and it
would take only one hand drawn blockbuster to get the studio cranking them out again,
especially musicals that could be turned in long-running stage successes, like Lion King.