Blog Post 1: Challenging Disney Myths
Of all the Disney stories I’ve heard I have one distinct favorite: the myth (or truth?) that Walt Disney is cryogenically frozen. I love the idea of Uncle Walt’s frozen body waiting for medical science to one day revive him, getting reanimated to animate again (he is literally Disney on ice). This story is so pervasive in popular culture that there was an iCarly episode based around the media company “Dingo” having their former leader’s head cryogenically frozen. Needless to say, after patiently waiting for Janet Wasko to address this story, I was disappointed that she brushed off this myth with a dismissive, “whether this myth is true (it probably is not) it is less important than some of the myths mentioned above.”
I think this myth is important because it exemplifies how twisted and crazy the stories around Disney the man have become, moreso than some of the other myths Wasko addresses. Frankly, I don’t care that Disney only lived in a small town for a few years; that’s plenty of time to get the feel of a small town to romanticize later. Most of her criticism of Disney seemed to be based in the belief that he was simply a creative animator but I think most people recognize that Disney was a businessman as well. Even if the average public doesn’t know the ridiculous extent of the corporation’s holdings, it’s fairly obvious that they are a business, a business focused on keeping you entertained, but a business all the same. This is why the concluding points of the paper bothered me: why is it so bad that the company is associated with “’family,’ ‘magic,’ ‘happiness,’ and ‘fun’”? I understand that Wasko wanted to argue against Disney, and the man and the corporation clearly have flaws, but considering the violence and heartbreak shown on most media today, can’t we all use a little family and magic in our lives?