Reflection

As I am sure you are well aware by now, this blog is for a writing class on Disney. This class is more focused on the analysis of the underlying messages conveyed by the Disney Princess Line films. Prior to this class I didn’t have a bad word to say about Disney; I thought Disney was a mecca for imagination, a place where dreams could come true. As I grew up the magical aspect of Disney kind of faded, but still it seemed like an innocent platform for children entertainment. But after reading such critical articles on Disney princess films, I started wondering if any areas of Disney outside of its animated films deserves faultfinding. With the ability to use reflective posts, such as the one I am currently writing, to reflect on any aspect of Disney culture, I decided to focus on Disney channel television shows. In more detail, I wondered about the treatment of Disney childhood stars. As a child I was obsessed with Disney Channel television shows and their original movies. Every day of Elementary School, I would come home after school, have a snack and watch some Disney, and then start my schoolwork. In particular, I was obsessed with The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Camp Rock, which I can’t believe I am actually admitting on a public blog.                                                                                                                                                  

So…when I began my research, I came across a Huffington Post article that caught my eye among the myriad of defamatory papers. The article is titled “Disney Channel’s Gary Marsh On Teen Stars: ‘The Network Is Not Responsible For Raising Children’”. While this article doesn’t openly criticize Disney, it presents quotes from an interview with Gary Marsh, the president of Disney Channels Worldwide that any semi-intelligent person would view as disgusting exploitation of innocent children. I guess that is a common theme for Disney, manipulating children that work for them and manipulating children that consume their products. In this article Marsh acknowledges that the pressure and work is “very demanding”, yet he say’s Disney isn’t “responsible for raising kids”. Marsh declares the most child actors view having a Disney pilot is their “end product”, but Disney just views it as a “launch pad”. The comments of such a high up executive at Disney demonstrate that child actors are essentially resources that they will use for as long as they can; they are exploited for money. If the immense pressure of being a child actor for Disney causes one to “go off the rails” and rebel, the executives basically brush it off, apologize, and start looking for new stars.  The article then included pictures of Disney child actors that fizzled up and crashed, such as Amanda Bynes and Lindsay Lohan. But those are just two of a long list of innocent child stars that went out of control.

 

                                            

                            

 

 

Further researching Disney’s treatment of child actors, I came to a conclusion that in retrospect isn’t so surprising. I came to the conclusion that Disney has had a long history of employee mistreatment starting with Walt Disney himself.  Briefly reading about what a nightmare it was working for Walt Disney, I quickly turned my research to the start of employee mistreatment at Disney. After auditing through articles and articles, one piece stood out in particular. “The Cruel Reality of Disney’s World”, written by Paul Harris, starts by with a description of Walt Disney’s temperament. Disney’s temper is highlighted by Harris’ claim that, “When his cartoonists tried to form a union, he brought in armed guards. He fired organisers, cut wages and slashed the opening hours of the studio coffee shop. At one point, faced with a strike picket, Disney had to be physically restrained from attacking the leader of the industrial action.” In addition, Harris asserts that Disney was “cruel and controlling to employees” he would terrorize them with “humiliating dressing-downs”. Even Roy, Disney’s brother and employ, would be publicly shamed and ridiculed by Disney. From the two articles attached along with the critical articles we have read for this class, it is hard to not think Disney is routed in hate. The stereotypical messages conveyed by Disney films along with the treatment of Disney employees is shocking and I look forward to exploring further into this area of Disney culture.