AS Eco, Dorfman & Mattelart

I have never been to Disney. Whew, there, I said it. My childhood soldiered on without a spin on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, without the mind-decaying sweetness of a Mickey and Minnie sandwich hug, and yes, even without a life-affirming trip through It’s a Small World After All. Unfortunately, I can still hum the tune. That is how pervasive Disney is. Children are indoctrinated to Disney culture from their infancy. Disney movies, Disney pajamas, Disney sippy-cups, and the Disney Channel; kids are fed Disney propaganda telling them it is the happiest place on earth and if their mommy and daddy loved them, they’d take them on a 4night, 5day vacation to the Magic Kingdom. The mad scary thing is that the ideals of Disney Utopia are spreading to the “real” world. Celebration is the ultimate example of a toy city spawning a toy neighborhood. Think Stepford with mouse ears.

24/7 happiness and good cheer is just creepy, in my humble, adult-of-a-Disney-deprived-childhood opinion. I am not alone. I loved this week’s readings, probably because I could relate to them and their questioning the plastic perfection of Disney. Dorfman and Mattelart were on to something when they wrote:

“Even to whisper anything against Walt is to undermine the happy and innocent palace of childhood, for which he is both guardian and guide.” (123)

Walt Disney, the man behind the mouse, is the guardian of innocence? Here I thought he was a businessman. The creators of “Robot Chicken” would approve of Dorfman and Eco and their ilk. For those of you still innocent of Adult Swim, “Robot Chicken” is a stop-motion animation series that gleefully skewers pop-culture and its icons. One episode features what happens to the dying Walt Disney deep in the underground tunnels he built. Instead of awaiting advanced medical knowledge in a state of icy slumber, good old Walt has his head removed and incorporated into an animatronic body. He becomes one of those freaky robots with the addition of an unquenchable thirst for the blood of small children. Not that far off the mark. Advertisers know that if you hook consumers young, you keep them forever. Disney exploits, in the warmest and fuzziest way, children’s creativity, imagination, and piggy banks.