Several propaganda cartoons were created by WDC during World War II and one in particular sparked major controversy which culminated with it being banned, despite winning an academy award in 1943 for best animated short film. This short animation was a Donald Duck anti-Nazi cartoon titled de Fuehrer's Face (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu8wfzAu8WU) and it was widely criticised for containing racist depictions of other cultures, such as portraying a Japanese character who is actually coloured yellow (pictured below on left) as well as including homosexual innuendo where there is an overt suggestion of homosexuality depicted in the animation of Nazi military leader Hermann Goering evident in his general characterisation and also when he is rammed from behind with a trombone (pictured below on right).
By 1943, 94% of footage produced by the WDC was war-related, “Disney had become a government contractor on a massive scale" (Burton, 1992, p.33). But why would WDC want to promote America’s cause in the war? WDC is more than simply an animation studio or corporate giant but furthermore a cultural institution which relies heavily on the support of the US Government and of course America’s people in order to maintain its status as a purveyor of American moral virtue and innocence (Giroux, 1995). For this reason, the creation of war propaganda cartoons and films gave the WDC a close tie to American authority and henceforth heightened its social standing and public image not only within America but on a global scale for defending and promoting the Western way-of-life.
The WDC made $667.7 million in $330 million in consumer products, filmed entertainment, and $528.6 million from its theme parks and resorts in 1994 alone highlighting its standing as an extremely powerful economic and political empire (Giroux, 1995). This huge corporate success can be attributed to WDC being seen as an icon of American culture as it has undergone the transformed from a tiny animation studio to a $22 billion media empire which penetrates into every aspect of American social life. From the beginning, and continuing to this day, WDC is structured in such a way that it has the highest possible market reach, expanding across many different countries, but delivering the same messages of ‘togetherness’ and ‘world unity’ that is made possible by living the ‘American Dream’ (Boje, 1995). America’s Dream, through WDC, is to become the world’s dream. Because of the huge roles television, video games and film play in helping children and youth alike to develop their collective identities both politically and pedagogically, Disney films reflect this by “combining an ideology of enchantment and aura of innocence in narrating stories that help children understand who they are, what societies are about, and what it means to construct a world of play and fantasy in an adult environment” (Giroux, 1995, p. 2).
The core values and ideology behind WDC is publicised to the masses by being broadcast inadvertently though the films, products and services it offers and creates, not just in America but on a global scale. This is a very effective marketing tool for WDC to promote their films and also uphold their image within society as the cultural stereotypes used within their product, and particularly their films, are familiar to viewers which enables a largely positive reception to Disney’s values. On the other hand, when stereotypes aren’t immediately recognised by audiences the characters depicted allow for a ‘disnification’ of certain situations or people, audiences, especially young viewers, are able to use this as a social template on which they will judge future interactions (Artz, 2002). A prime example of this is in the 1994 animated film The Lion King where the ‘evil’ characters, the hyenas, are voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin (an African American and Latino, respectively). The stereotypical nature of these voices and the fact that they have negative character traits associated with them in this film, gives audiences a stereotype on which to base these particular races and on non-Anglo-Saxon people in general. Another example of this is in the opening song, “Arabian Nights”, of Aladdin (1992) which contains the lyrics “Oh I come from a land-From a faraway place-Where the caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your ear-If they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey, it's home”. These lyrics immediately portray a negatively skewed view of Arab culture through the remarkably racist tone of the words used, magnifying the stereotypes which already exist as a result of the American media’s portrayal of the Gulf War (Giroux, 1995).
The WDC’s empire is one of the largest media conglomerates in the world owning an endless number of radio and television stations, cable holdings, film companies such as Pixar and Touchstone (to name a few) as well as consumer products, theme parks and resorts all over the world. On top of this, seven out of the top ten best selling videos in the world are Disney films, while The Lion King (1994) alone has grossed, to date, over $1 billion dollars with the inclusion of video and merchandise sales. The popularity of the WDC and in particular of the films it produces is largely attributed to the superior reputation it has taken many years to build. Despite many business struggles and issues both public and behind closed doors, including copyright and ownership battles, cheap labour of women and children and unfair working conditions WDC has managed to have a predominantly untarnished standing in the public eye (Boje, 1995). Although this is characteristically the work of a good public relations team it cannot be denied that co-founder Walt Disney’s esteemed reputation and eminence worldwide and his ability to ‘connect’ and ‘unite’ the people on a global scale through his films, has made it virtually impossible for the WDC to be brought to a standstill.
The WDC has not been without its fair share of significant and damaging controversies throughout its long history however, with the latest debate surrounding that of sexual innuendo and allusions being used in Disney’s ‘child-friendly’ animations. Why would Disney want to place anything of a sexual nature in the cartoons? As a profitable organisation, the sole-aim of WDC, like any business, is to make money. The simple fact is, sex sells (and so do controversies) so any kind of abnormality or point of difference about a certain company’s products will immediately arouse consumer interest and regardless of whether this interest is positive or negative it is undeniable that sales of the product in question are genuinely increased (Copeland, 2003). One of these scandals in particular is in The Lion King (1994) when Simba flops down onto a cliff, the dust swirling up into the air allegedly spells the word ‘SEX’ (pictured below).
Although WDC producers claim the letters are actually ‘SFX’ and were intended to be a stamp signature in the film, consumers were outraged. Despite this, The Lion King still remains the highest grossing animated film in the USA (Mikkelson, 1996). This incident is not isolated however as two Disney animated films have had to be recalled on separate occasions due to them having sexual content ‘unintentionally’ found within them. The first of these was the first video release of The Little Mermaid (1989) in which a castle spire illustrated on the front cover had a remarkably ‘phallic’ structure to it (pictured below).
When this was brought to the attention of WDC, a statement was issued saying that the image had been a mere coincidence as the artist was in a rush to finish the cover and as a result the image was airbrushed on all future videos to remove the artwork in question. In a similar, yet unrelated circumstance, WDC’s 1977 animated feature, The Rescuers, also had to be recalled when a particular scene undoubtedly featured the image of a naked woman, not once, but twice during the film (pictured below).
Disney again recalled all videos and issued a public apology, however they did not deny the presence of the image and instead stated that it must have been placed into the film by a staff member post-production. The issue was rectified for all future videos (Tori, 2006). There is more to these scandals however than the WDC simply trying to improve sales. The WDC has also had a number of controversies occurring within the organisation that have been made public over the years, many of these related to worker’s right and the organisational structure of WDC as a whole. It is no secret that a number of these scandals relating to hidden messages and sexual innuendo in Disney films have been the result of disgruntled employees seeking ‘pay-back’ on the WDC for unfair pay or working conditions (Boje, 1995).
The structure of WDC itself has been the reason behind not only the scandals and controversies surrounding the animation studio but also the messages sent through its products and the expansion of the company to a global scale. The American origins of both the company and its founders is the initial driving force behind the ways in which WDC makes, promotes and distributes its films and the ideologies and messages found within these about American imperialism and western/white supremacy. The success of the company demonstrates that by developing a sense of ‘comfort’ and ‘familiarity’ among global audiences through its products, WDC has been able to expand its business empire on a scale never seen before in the media, whilst also being able to prevail over controversies and scandals which have the potential to bring such organisations to an end (Artz, 2002). Artz (2002) also points out that WDC has been so triumphant at become a global success because “Disney animations are not only linguistically adaptable, they have long lives” (p.3). This can be attributed to WDC’s ability to deliver messages of ‘unity’ and ‘togetherness’ to many different countries by reinforcing cultural stereotypes which, ultimately, allows Disney to instil the sense of comfort and togetherness audiences get from watching Disney films, attending theme parks and resorts and buying their products. Walt Disney himself even went so far as to use the metaphor of ‘family’ to describe his company’s structural organisation and this consequently translates to the consumers who also feel this sense of ‘family’ associated with the WDC and their products (Boje, 1995).
References (APA Style):
Artz, L. (2002). Animating hierarchy: Disney and the globalisation of capitalism. Global Media Journal, 1 (1), Chapter 9.
Burton, J. (1992). Don (Juanito) Duck and the imperial-patriarchal unconscious: Disney Studios, the good neighbor policy, and the packaging of Latin America." In Andrew Parker, et. al., Nationalisms and Sexualities. New York and London: Routledge.
Copeland, D. (2003). Discovering the Dirt behind Disney Movies. West Hill Web. Accessed on 28 May, 2009 from http://www.blogger.com/www.westhillweb.com/thewestword/documenttsmarch03/discovering%20the%20dirt.limelight.html.
Mikkelson, B. & D. (1996). The letters S-E-X are formed by a swirling cloud of dust in The Lion King. Snopes. Accessed on 28 May, 2009 from http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lionking.asp
Schaffer, S. (1996). Disney and the Imagineering of histories. Postmodern Culture, 6 (3).
Tori. (2006). Sexual hidden messages in Disney movies - fact or fiction? Associated Content. Accessed on 29 May, 2009 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/41931/sexual_ hidden_messages_in_disney_movies.html?cat=40
Walt Disney Company. (1992). Aladdin. [Film].
Walt Disney Company. (1994). The Lion King. [Film].
Walt Disney Company. (1989) The Little Mermaid. [Film].
