Fantasia to Frozen: Disney and its effect on society and entertainment
Note: This piece is a report on the history of the Disney Company and its effect on society both nowadays
and during the past .Not so much as to explain why or how their products are entertaining, but to explain
how they have had an effect on sections of society and entertainment. The final paragraph also states the
negative effect on Disney’s influence on society.
As Walt Disney once said, “It's kind of fun to do the impossible”. His legacy is built on the back of cliché’s
just like this, but it’s hard to argue against a man whose life was built around a company who prided
themselves on providing wonder, amazement and simple making people happy. From humble beginnings,
the Walt Disney Company has grown to become one of the most well-known companies in today’s society,
holding influence in not only kids, but their parents and even grandparents due to the breadth of their
existence. Starting from a small animation studio in Burbank, California in 1923 1, Disney primarily was
known as one of (if not) the best animation studios in the world, and for many decades churned out hit after
hit like ”Snow White”, “Cinderella” and ‘Rapunzel” (these three, and many others were based off of 19th
century fairy tales2). From there, Disney began to cast a shadow over the entertainment industry and began to
gather subsidiaries, including the three most popular film studios today (Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm),
television networks like ESPN, ABC, (and creating their own in the Disney Channel) as well as increasing
their movie production to multiple features a year. Disney however are not immune to negative criticism.
Their grasp over the entertainment industry and vast influence on kids, have led to vast commercialisation on
the back of films like Frozen, and failed corporate ventures have caused extensive damage to the
environment and to their employees. Whether it is in the form of merchandising, popular culture or simply
being engrained in modern entertaining, the Walt Disney Company most certainly has a massive effect on
modern society.
The Early Years and the Disney Renaissance
From a very early time in Disney’s existence, they soon held large influence over the entertainment industry.
Primarily starting with shorts, they quickly became popular with “Steamboat Willie3” (the debut of Mickey
Mouse, possibly the most well-known cartoon character in history4) in 1928 and Silly Symphonies5 from
1929 to 1939. Silly Symphonies, along with a few other cartoons like Looney Tunes, and Merry Melodies, is
also partially credited for the revival of classical music among young people6. This is probably responsible
for the amount of music people recognise but can’t name, which affects orchestras even today. Audience
number skyrocket when a famous piece is played7, of which many can be attributed to cartoon music.
Because of this, Disney and others affected modern society by the use of music used in cartoons 100 years
previously. Disney produced the first feature length animated film in 1937, “Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves”, which took three years to make (due to having to animate and draw every single frame). Snow
White became the highest grossing film in 1938 (and adjusted for inflation the 7th highest earning film of all
1
2
Disney History-http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about-disney/disney-history
Grimm Fairy Tales-https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/
3
Steamboat Willie – Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4
4
A Brief History of Mickey Mouse – TIME – 7th line- http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1859935,00.html
5
Silly Symphonies – Music Land – Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBKmkbRLXGM
How Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies ruined Classical Music for me – NY Press- http://www.nypress.com/howlooney-tunes-and-merry-melodies-ruined-classical-music-for-me-and-the-so-many-generations/
BBC Proms in the Park - Youtube- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RouSumusXrg
6
time, with an adjusted gross of $805 million8). Due to this being the first Disney film, it has enormous
impact. Voted by the American Film Institute as the greatest animated film of all time9 (it should be noted
that all the top 10, barring ‘Shrek’, are Disney films) it has spawned theme park attractions, a video game and
even a Broadway musical. Due to extensive marketing, Snow White affects society even today due to the
‘Disney Princesses’ campaign and is featured on merchandise all throughout Disney stores10. This
commercialisation is part of the reason that Disney affects modern society. The amount of merchandise and
marketing Disney put out in support of film characters like 'Snow White' engrains them in popular culture.
The modern perception of princesses stems from Disney films for example, and shows how Disney has
affected modern society even if their representations of princesses aren't accurate. Following the success of
'Snow White' (which led to competitors MGM being inspired to create other classics ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and
‘Gulliver’s Travels), Disney pumped out classic after classic (Walt Disney holds the record for most
Academy Awards, with 22 awards and 4 honorary awards11), before World War Two hit and they began to
make war propaganda. Strangely enough, these war films provided the boost for Donald Duck to get
popular12, again showing how Disney’s characters affected society at the time, as they helped interest in the
war effort among American civilians. After this time, Disney premiered Disneyland, their flagship theme
park and a personal dream of Walt Disney’s, a place where both kids and adults can have fun. Despite being
built in the 1950’s, the park is visited by 16 million people per year13 showing this dream is still alive. Disney
World in Orlando (built not long after in 1971) consists of 4 full scale theme parks with a combined 50
million visitors per year. These parks provide a major source of Disney income14, and in being a main
advertiser for the films, show how Disney’s influence has not waned since this time. Disneyland and
DisneyWorld provided the basis of theme parks/resorts and how they could be multiple day experiences.
This type of holiday is now common and it all started with these two places, again showing how Disney
affected modern theme parks and entertainment. Despite a lull spell in the 70’s and 80’s, Disney came back
strong with a renaissance in the 1990’s, with such films as “Aladdin”, “Tarzan” and “Beauty and the Beast”
winning Academy Awards (on a 5 year streak for Best Original Song15) and bringing back interest in the
Disney franchise as a whole. These characters again are featured heavily on marketing and at Disney stores,
as well as on the popular Disney Channel. Many Disney films like these are being remade for modern
audiences to further engrain them into pop culture16. I would say Disney have already done that though. With
the mass influence Disney holds it is sometimes hard even to go a day without encountering some form of
entertainment they has produced. The films, merchandise and even the personality of Walt Disney himself
has led to Disney being engrained in entertainment even in today’s society.
Empire Disney
After the success of the 1990’s and the monetary boost it provided, Disney turned into an actual
conglomerate and began to snap up other companies to add to their various creative departments. Disney
Inflation adjusted gross – Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highestgrossing_films_in_Canada_and_the_United_States#Adjusted_for_ticket-price_inflation
9
AFI- - Animated Films- http://www.afi.com/10top10/category.aspx?cat=1
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10
Disney Store – Princesses- http://www.disneystore.com/disney-princess/mn/1000016/
11
Biography.com – Walt Disney- http://www.biography.com/people/walt-disney-9275533
12
Der Fueher’s Face – Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8AmlhLl8lQ
Most visisted tourist attractions – Travel and Leisure- http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-mostvisited-tourist-attractions/16
14
Financial Data - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company
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15
Best Original Song – Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Original_Song
Beauty and the Beast remake – Metro.uk- http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/23/here-are-all-the-beauty-and-the-beast-liveaction-remake-cast-in-full-5164015/
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currently have their own Film Studios, Animation Studios and Theatre Company. The Theatre Company in
particular profited from the Disney Renaissance, due to a majority of films in that time being musicals,
which have been adapted into various Broadway shows, with Beauty and the Beast running for 14 years, the
8th longest run on Broadway17. A recent example of musical success was ‘High School Musical’ in 2006 18
which launched the careers of Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, (and influenced millions of pre-teen girls
into supporting musicals) and ‘Aladdin’ on Broadway which is still going strong 4 years after it premiered.
The theatre industry is a good example of Disney’s effect on society. The Disney renaissance brought back
the popularity of the musical film, which in turned increased popularity in musical theatre, which enjoyed a
boom period in the 1990’s19, and has not waned since. Disney on Ice is also part of the theatre division and
currently has 9 shows touring20. Disney also bought (and re-bought) animated studio Pixar (creator of
“Walle-E”, “Up”, “Inside Out” among other titles) of which 7/15 films have won Academy Awards,
Lucasfilm (creator of “Star Wars”) and Marvel, whose superhero films continuously break box office
records21. These three studios are probably the most popular and highest earning film studios, with Pixar’s
recent offering ‘Inside Out” currently holding the record for highest opening of an original film22, and
Lucasfilm’s much hyped “Star Wars VII” predicted to smash the highest opening weekend of all time and
possibly highest gross (not adjusted for inflation)23. Having these three studios under Mickey Mouse’s
gigantic ears is great news for Disney and again shows how Disney has an effect on entertainment nowadays.
Whilst reaping the massive monetary benefits, Disney can simultaneous plaster their name across the best
movies of the year and further extend their influence to the kids who somehow have escaped Disney’s
influence. So with the movies created by these companies, as they engrain themselves into society (like Star
Wars with conventions/merchandise etc.), Disney also engrain themselves due to owning the companies that
make these films. As these films affect modern entertainment (like Star Wars creating the tried and tested
sci-fi hero film), Disney do too. By having these studios, they also show that Disney is not just for kids,
which was of course one of Walt Disney’s original mottos. In addition to this, Disney also bought out Maker
Studios, who fund numerous YouTubers24. This ensures Disney maintains influence with changing
technology and by influencing these teenagers they are influencing and affecting future society. Disney also
holds stock in ESPN and Hulu, own cruise ships in the Caribbean, and own the Anaheim Angels as well as
creating the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team. These subsidiaries are important to Disney’s influence.
Disney gain the profits from these companies, but if a subsidiary messes up, Disney is not to fault. This
maintains their magic aura of great films, happiness and magical, fantastical stuff that would otherwise be
tarnished if Disney personally made a bad move or film. Empire Disney, despite its reputation as a
wholesome provider of fun is simply an entertainment goliath whether they want you to think that or not.
17
Playbill – Longest runs- http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/long-runs-on-broadway-109864
18
We’re all in this together – Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrbUfYSt0E
19
Best Musicals of the 1990’s (Note the popularity of these)- http://www.ranker.com/list/best-broadway-musicals-ofthe-90s/bustermcdermott?var=2&utm_expid=16418821119.rk_BoRtrRJWlKfF9iZbujQ.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.nz%2F
20
Disney.com – Disney on Ice- http://disney.com.au/disney-on-ice/dare-to-dream/
Avengers: Age of Ultron – BoxOfficeRecords- http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/05/10/box-officeavengers-age-of-ultron-tops-875-million-worldwide/
21
Forbes – Inside Out Opening Weekend- http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/06/22/the-best-box-officerecord-inside-out-broke-wasnt-about-weekend-ranking/
22
Cinema Blend – Stars Wars poised to break every record there is- http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Star-WarsForce-Awakens-Poised-Shatter-Every-Box-Office-Record-We-Have-70996.html
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24
Maker Studios – About- http://www.makerstudios.com/about
They have their paws on many media outlets which can be both a good or bad thing depending on who you
ask. Certainly Disney is one of the most global and far reaching companies in the world because of this.
Criticism and Negative effects (why the effect on society is a bad thing)
Despite the Walt Disney Company bringing happiness to millions of people across the world, they are
definitely not exempt from criticism. In fact, because of the amount of influence they hold among society,
they bring numerous negative effects. One of the ones debated over is the stereotyping and gender roles of
the Disney princesses. Part of this is the ‘damsel in distress’ and ‘love at first site’ image. This is more
prevalent in the earlier Disney films, and whilst there has been an effort in recent times to curb this (like in
‘Frozen’25) the effect on society from these earlier films still exists. Most of these earlier films include the
ideas that the princesses are dependent on men, submissively weak, over expressive emotionally and unrealistically pretty26. In ‘Beauty and the Beast’ for example, the ridiculously strong Gaston (again an example
of idealised gender roles), expresses dissatisfaction of Belle’s deviation from this trend, as she is shown to be
‘weird’ for reading and her disinterest of marriage27. This exposes young girls (who are easily influenced) to
this traditional idea of gender roles. The princesses’ future life of domestic housework (like in Snow White)
is also an indicator of gender stereotyping and what girls should expect their life to be like, exposing girls to
an outdated idealistic concept28. This shows how Disney’s influence and effect on society can be a bad thing,
as the way of their films promoting unrealistic expectations of their role in life, and can lead them to forgo
activities like sports or reading under the guise of “that’s not what woman do”. Another negative effect of
Disney is materialism. This was perhaps most prominent during the massive commercial success of Frozen
in 2013 and the resulting merchandise sales29. Toy stores were inundated with children wanting toys, clothes,
and dresses etc. Elsa (the main character) quickly became the most popular Halloween costume30, and ‘Let it
Go’ became the nemesis of parents worldwide31. Although not entirely Disney’s fault, Frozen still instilled a
sense of materialism among children as they wanted literally all Frozen merchandise offered up. The extent
of this was brought up as a result of Disney’s mass influence. Although this level of materialism is possible
with other films, the extent of Disney’s influence on society and their imprint on popular culture meant that
this materialism was worldwide and reached millions upon millions. Much of the negative effects Disney has
is a result of this effect on society. Disney has also been accused of so called ‘Disneyfication’32, where any
negatives are removed and are repackaged as pleasantries where nothing can go wrong. This is especially
true in places like ‘Disneyland’ which is marketed as ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’ and where there should
be no negatives to the overall experience. This has been claimed however that this is a “serious interference
of free thinking and free action”, the result of which is that Disney’s films fail to show consequences of
Daily Beast – Frozen Review- http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/29/disney-s-sublimely-subversivefrozen-isn-t-your-stereotypical-princess-movie.html
26
Rutgers Journal- Gender Roles in Disney- http://dialogues.rutgers.edu/all-journals/volume-9/148-fairytale-dreamsdisney-princesses-effect-on-young-girls-self-images/file
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27
Beauty and the Beast – Full Movie-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c57nWmuBLFY
Snow White Full Movie – Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEFkxRExzHc
How Disney is still raking in Frozen revenue- http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/08/07/howsdisney-frozen-still-raking-in-revenues-to-boost-earnings/
30
Most popular Halloween costumes- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2801699/Most-popular-Halloweencostumes-2014-Frozen-s-Elsa-Anna-choices-girls-superheroes-dominate-boys-list.html
28
29
Overplayed Song of the week- “Let it Go”- http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/overplayed-song-of-the-weekidina-menzel-let-it-go/
32
Andre Kehoe 1991:Christian Contradictions and the World Revolution
31
actions or negative effects which can influence kids to do things without realising that what they’re doing
may be bad. This is amplified with the influence and effects on society that Disney has on children, a major
reason behind the negative effects of Disney.
The Walt Disney Company had had a profound effect on society and entertainment over the past 80 years.
Whether it is in the historical relevance of the company, it's gigantic business scope or in the negative effects
of their practises, the Walt Disney Company has definitely influenced modern entertainment. If that is a
positive or negative thing is up for debate.