Disneyfication

Today we got our lecture by Hamid Van Koten on 'Disneyfication'. I found it really interesting and made you think about how much of an effect on our lives that this huge company has. Disney is a multi-million dollar company, and in 2003 was bringing in a profit of $1.3 billion and had a turnover of $27 billion. Everyone has grown up with Disney films and stories, from Bambi and Pinocchio in the 1940s, to the Aristocats and Robin Hood in the 1970s, to the more recent films of the 1990s such as Toy Story, Mulan and Pocahontas. 'Disneyfication' or 'Disneyization' (Alan Bryman, 2004) is the term used to describe the way that our culture and our world is influenced by Disney, even in ways which we do not realise. But has this gone too far? Or are people simply making too big a deal and looking too far into what is essentially just a children's fairy tale?

One strong point which was put across in Hamid's lecture through a video we were shown was the story of Beauty and the Beast. One of the women speaking in the video describes the story as having horrific domestic abuse, both physical and verbal. For example when the beast refuses to let Belle eat unless she will eat with him, and when he imprisons her and does not let her out. When looked into and analysed this much, the story does show a lot of domestic abuse, but I feel this is all underlying. As a child, watching Beauty and the Beast, I never once got from this what was apparently being put across to the children watching, which is that if a man abuses you, you must look past it, forgive him and see the good, or the 'handsome prince' inside. Speaking to some of my friends, none of them ever got this message from the story either. I do agree that if you look into the storyline it does give this message to a certain extent, but I feel that this is a children's story, and children do not look into things this much. They may be a bit scared by the beast and glad that he has a softer side, but this doesn't necessarily mean that they will grow up thinking that this is ok behaviour for real people.

I do, however feel that the image of woman and femininity is put across maybe not wrong but slightly unrealistic. The way Disney princesses and females in general are portrayed does give a very strong image of what women should be like. As children, we look at Disney characters and Barbies as what we would like to be like when we are older. The image of the 'perfect' body, beautiful voice, good looks, gracefulness and flirtatiousness is what not only Disney but a lot of childrens cartoons put across as the perfect woman. With this in mind, is it any wonder that young girls are striving for the perfect body and looks more and more, and with plastic surgery and dieting becoming more popular and well known about, this could start to become dangerous.

I do feel that Disneyfication is quite a widespread thing and I agree that it may be a large part of our culture, and especially the American culture and part of the acheivement of the American Dream. But at the end of the day, Disney creates great stories and films for not just children but adults as well, and hopefully will keep doing it for a long time!