Teresa Ku: The Darker side of Disney

For last week's thesis critique, I've come to a more focused direction of where my thesis project should go. I wanted to do something on the subject of Disney empire, Disney culture and Disney corporation. The problem is to find exactly what I wanted to say about Disney in my works. The legacy of Disney on our society is ever-lasting. Children grow up watching Disney movies and cartoons and parents take them to Disneyland to immerse themselves in this fantasy. When these children grow up, they take their own children to experience the same thing they did as a child. Disney is suppose to represent the innocence of childhood. And the two words that it stresses a lot is magic and imagination. Disney allow people to transfer into a storybook fantasy world. The characters of Disney are iconic and people all over the world recognize them. Disney is not just an icon but it's a conglomerate that has its hands on every kind of consumer merchandise. From movies, to television to theme parks to toys and everything in between. Disney is not all just fun and games, it has also gotten a lot of criticisms throughout decades. One of the biggest criticism is that people have found Antisemitism and racism in Disney films. The particular claim that Disney is anti-semetic has been well known in that Family Guy has also brought up this issue in one of the episodes. In is particular clip, Family Guy is drawn in Disney styles, and there are various subtle features that show that Disney is not as pure as it's played out to be in the public.

I have also researched on other unknown parts about Disney. A lot of the things that came up was about the Disneyland theme parks. There is a rumor that no one has ever died at a Disney park because Disney has paid officials to refrain from declaring injured or ill people dead until they hit a hospital outside of Disney property. But there are reports that there have been several accidents that happened on the rides that had resulted in death. Since Disney is such a huge corporation that they can easily cover up these accidents without them being a big deal.

Another interesting thing I found about Disney is the concept of subculture Disney. Subculture Disney is basically made up of Disney enthusiasts. These so-called "Disney Freaks" visits Disney weekly or even daily. they tweet about their Disney experiences for several hours each day, sharing photos and insights with fellow Disney fans through Twitter and Disney World blogs. One Disney enthusiast that I've came across would be a guy name George Reiger who has over 2,000 Disney tattoos. Reiger claimed that "Disney practically raised him when he was a child and he wanted to have Mickey and the entire Magical Kingdom with him everywhere he went." He lives in a Disney-themed house, full of over 24,000 Disney collector’s items. The fact that people can basically devote his entire life to Disney shows just how much of an impact Disney can have. People have become obsessive with these fantasy worlds and fantastical characters. It's a way to for them to escape from a real life. There was an article that I read about Disney fanatics and this particular quote was a bit unnerving to me. "Wives come and go, kids come and go, but Disney is always going to be there for me."

On one point of view, Disney has become a place for people to escape to. In another point of view, Disney has found new audience and I'm not talking about those that come to Disney to meet Mickey. In a news article in LA Times in 1997, it was reported that "Teenagers in Mohawks, dog collars and anarchy patches crowding Tomorrowland. Groups of ghoulishly dressed youths in the parking lots of Disneyland and nearby businesses, some drinking or smoking joints and sending tourists walking the other way." The goth gang went by the name "Disneyland Arcane Crew (D.A.C.)" It is ironic that a place that claims to be all about innocence and virtue, is actually a place full of secrets where people go to do drugs. Perhaps it's the fact that it's taboo and it goes against everything that Disney stands for is the reason why these things happen. And the fact that people intensely watch all the Disney movies to see the supposedly sexual innuendos that were purposely put into the children movies.

I have also looked up some graphics that are not made by Disney but I thought they were really interesting.