Alright, this shit is getting creepy.
This is a short reading response I had to do tonight for a class, but the prospect that Disney, the world's largest media corporation has actually been executing a coup of America for the past 20 years is becoming more and more realistic to me as I learn about their TOWN (they created an effing town!?!) Celebration, Fl and their latest endeavor, an organic fruits and veggies line...
It's out of control. Enjoy my wanna-be scholastic self, and if you're down for reading the real article, I uploaded it on this free internet file storing site. Check it out:
My only grievance with the articles “Are Disney Movies Good for Your Kids?” is that Henry A. Giroux did not write it today. I’m curious to see what he would have to say about the even larger and more aggressive media empire, particularly about its cable TV channel that has been inundating the entertainment world for the past couple of years. The appearances of Zac Effron and Vanessa Hudgens at the last month’s Oscars as well as this article convince me that Disney has been slowly executing a coup for the past 20 years. Still, Giroux makes a compelling argument with that he had to work with at the time, and effectively argues the importance of overlooking Disney’s pristine and innocent surface in order to understand the concepts of American and individual identity Disney constructs for children. Through analysis of the great Disney films of the 90’s, Giroux argues that through sexist, racist, and anti-democratic undertones Disney teaches children that “cultural differences that do not bear the imprint of white, middle-class ethnicity are deviant, inferior, ignorant, and a threat to be overcome,” and that society is ruled by a strict hierarch in which men are dominant and leadership is defined by one’s social status (62,63).
This idea of critically looking at Disney is an extremely good one when one takes into consideration the prevalence of Disney in the media world as well as everyday life, the extent of its power, and the aggression with which Disney fights to maintain its dominance. The article notes Disney’s intense copy right protection efforts, it’s leakage into other aspects of life such as furniture, clothing lines, and education, and it’s drive to maintain a wholesome, innocent view of America, even to the point of creating an actual town. I think the fact that Disney is the largest media corporation in the world, a fact the article omits, is critical to a discussion about ideology, in which one may argue that Disney fights to maintain spread its ideology, which can include it’s innocent image, in order to remain the dominant company in the media world. Still, Giroux reason for investigating Disney, the fact that it aids children in their construction of reality and identity, is a very smart one. From this standpoint, what Disney is doing is the perfect scheme: catching buyers at an early stage of socialization and indoctrinating them into a society that, on top of other typical aspects of the ideology favoring those in control of America’s economic base, rejects the cannon of democracy. I believe this idea is portrayed well in Disney’s real life version of their America, Celebration, FL: a town in which virtually no member of a governing body is elected democratically, and those that are are elected by homeowners, specific governing boards, or “The Developer”, Celebration Company, also known as Disney (http://www.celebration.fl.us/governance.html). Those in control are in control because they have money or status. In terms of media, as Giroux argues, this type of ideology is used by Disney to produce consumers who aren’t even duped into believing that everyone gets a fair chance but rather are taught to not even question governing bodies or dabble on politics, and instead are encouraged to consume. For me, this is a terrifying tactic and makes Giroux’s argument, as well as his solutions, very useful.
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