Beyond the Mouse-Ear Gates: The Wonderful World of Disney Studies
1995; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 23; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1543-3404
Autores Tópico(s)Digital Games and Media
ResumoThe names of the Presidents change; that of Disney remains. Sixty-two years after the birth of Mickey Mouse, twenty-four years after the death of his master, Disney's may be the most widely known North American name in the world. He is, arguably, the century's most important figure in bourgeois popular culture. He has done more than any single person to disseminate around the world certain myths upon which that culture has thrived, notably that of innocence supposedly universal, beyond place, beyond time - and beyond criticism.(1) So wrote David Kunzle in his 1991 introduction to Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart's daring How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic (1968). Kunzle found that little serious analysis of Disney's innumerable and far-reaching cultural productions had been undertaken, save for this work, and a critical but somewhat less contentious volume, also published in 1968, Richard Schickel's The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney. How things have changed. In the mere half-decade since Kunzle's challenge to cultural critics, at least five books and countless essays and reviews have been published with the intent of unraveling the mythic stature of this man-and-mouse team. This is not to mention Disney theme travel guides, coffee table books on Disney animation, trivia books and biographies of Wait Disney. Disney does appear to be in vogue among left-leaning cultural critics. Without a doubt, there is sufficient fodder for critical analysis. Disney's theme parks, cartoons, feature films, television programs, business practices and marketing strategies provide a curious lens through which to view American popular culture and the politics of gender, race and class. Currently there is no sign that the field of study is yet exhausted. In the publications discussed here, one finds little overlap in the essayists' choice of subject matter. There remain many films not yet selected for study, and Disney's television programs, encompassing both animation and live-action, aimed at children and adults, have hardly been touched on. There is no sign that the steady stream of Disney output will slacken. Although it has not always enjoyed commercial success (and its live-action division is notoriously uneven), the Walt Disney Company has become perhaps the most successful producer of entertainment worldwide. Its film distribution arm, Buena Vista, dominates the feature market with the largest share of box office receipts; Walt Disney Studios' animated movies account for four of the top five best-selling video cassettes; and four of its theme parks rank in the top five in attendance.(3) Disney's recent $19 billion acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC (which includes the ABC Television Network, several local TV stations, the cable sports channels ESPN and ESPN2, half of Lifetime Television and over a third of the Arts and Entertainment Network) has elevated it from a solid force to absolute leader in broadcast and cable television, and additionally provided footholds in other media (radio, daily newspapers and periodicals including Women's Wear Daily) to Disney's holdings.(4) In New York City the magnitude of Disney's impact on urban culture is just beginning to be felt. Disney (along with other interests ranging from Madame Tussaud to Mariott International) are deeply involved in the city's plans to redevelop Times Square. In 1978 Mayor Ed Koch called for an urban theme park to revitalize Times Square, but rejected the earliest proposals as too ahistorical and white bread. The 1987 stock market and real estate crash delayed revitalization plans until recently. Disney has already claimed central control of Times Square with a long-running live musical version of Beauty and the Beast at the Palace Theatre. With a renovated New Amsterdam Theater as Disney's linchpin, the new project will encompass a huge entertainment complex, a nearly 1000-room hotel, a 29-screen Sony cineplex, enormous new studios for MTV and Home Box Office and miles of retail space. …
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