Page 15 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

with a raft of merchandise, that its style is frequently copied. As a result, audi-
ences are sometimes unsure about what is and is not a Disney film or indeed what
6 is or is not a Disney theme park (a particularly common mistake among Orlando
visitors). However, that possibility should not detract from the fact that
Disneyfication is widely perceived in terms similar to those outlined above by
Schickel, Walz, and other writers.

Trivialization and sanitization

It is the association of Disneyfication with trivialization and sanitization that is
often behind the critiques that are launched against the company and its prod-
ucts. This association lies behind the frequent critiques of Disney’s treatments of
fairy tales and other stories. A critique by Frances Clarke Sayers provides an example
of the kind of concern expressed. She accused Walt of: leaving ‘nothing to the
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imagination of the child’; sweetening fairy tales and thereby ruining their effect
and purpose; falsifying what life is like, for example, by eliminating conflict; and
having scant regard for authors. Similarly, Pocahontas has been berated for its
colonialist narrative, which they suggest legitimates ‘a cultural framework rooted
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in racism, anti-miscegenation, patriarchy, and capitalism’, although not all com-
mentators have interpreted issues of race and gender in the film in this negative
light, even though they have been aware of the impact of traditional Disney
themes on the story. 13 O’Brien argues that in both Cinderella and The Little
Mermaid the fairy tales on which they are based are distorted to provide a patriar-
chal reading that is designed to serve corporate marketing goals. 14
However, it is not just the treatment of fairy tales and children’s literature that
comes in for such criticism. Haas also writes about Disneyfication, but in the con-
text of the gangster novel in the form of the Disney version of E.L. Doctorow’s
novel Billy Bathgate, which was filmed by Touchstone Pictures, a division of
Disney. For Haas, the novel underwent Disneyfication in the sense that the Disney
version of the story was ‘sanitized’ and ‘clean and civilized’. 15 Disneyfication is
also evident in the themes of patriarchy and innocence that are overlaid on
Doctorow’s story. Haas argues that the movie was a critical and box office failure
because in its Disneyfication, it went against the grain of the conventions of the
gangster film. Audiences that were familiar with contemporary gangster films
such as The Untouchables and Goodfellas were unprepared for and dismissive of the
alternative template that Disney had imposed.
Walz also discusses Disneyfication in the context of his examination of the
work of a former Disney animator, Charlie Thorson who, in 1938, moved from
MGM to Warner Bros., leaving two years later. 16 Walz argues that during the
period Thorson worked at Warner and indeed during the immediate aftermath
following his departure, the Warner Bros. cartoons underwent a temporary
Disneyfication. During the period of Thorson’s tenure, Bugs Bunny emerged as a