President Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States from 1953 to 1961, once praised Walt Disney for his “genius as a creator of folklore.” When Disney died in 1966, the phrase appeared in his obituary, proof of its accuracy. Folklore is an oral tradition that spans generations. The company that created Disney declared itself the guardian of these traditions, inventing new stories and cleverly repackaging old ones.
It started with Mickey Mouse, but when the company turned 100 in 2023, Disney's legacy—powered by hundreds of movies and shows, related merchandise, marvelous technical advances, enormous amusement parks—was the production of a shared modern language, a set of landmarks instantly recognizable to almost everyone, and an impulse to dream out loud about a utopian future.
Disney was a man who looked backward and forward: speaking at the opening of Disneyland in California in 1955, he proclaimed: “Here age revives fond memories of the past, and here youth can savor the challenge and promise of the future.”
But what happens when that promise is broken? Or when your company struggles like a normal studio and faces cultural headwinds like any artist?
Disney told stories of folk heroes (Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan), princes and princesses, and even a mouse, all while leading in ever-changing technologies. A sense of optimism dominated the Disney spirit.
The lessons of their stories were simple, uplifting, and distinctly American: believe in yourself, believe in your dreams, don't let anyone make you feel bad for being you, and, above all, don't be afraid to wish upon a star.
Fairy tales are often disturbing, but once exposed to the Disney light they became tender and sweet, their darker lessons reworked to fit the Disney ideal.
Americans consumed it avidly and Disney exported it. Audiences from all over the world joined the legends. Countries that were once closed, such as China, eventually opened their doors, leading the company to open English schools using its characters and stories as teaching tools. History would prove that Eisenhower was right when he referred to Disney as a creator, not just a storyteller, of folklore.
Beginning with “The Little Mermaid” in 1989 and ending with “Tarzan” and “Mulan” a decade later, Disney produced one hit after another, pleasing critics and audiences with films like “Beauty and the Beast,” “The King Lion” and “Aladdin”.
It is probably no coincidence that the end of the good streak coincided with the beginning of the evangelical boycott against the company, led by the right-wing American Family Association, Focus on the Family and the Southern Baptist Convention. They were protesting the company's decision to extend benefits to same-sex partners of employees and allow outside groups to organize “Gay Days” at amusement parks. The boycott lasted eight years and was less effective than opponents might have hoped. But now the studio was part of the culture wars, a fracture along ideological lines that would reshape American public life in new ways.
That moment marked the end of something we'd barely had time to know: a monoculture, an era of brand clarity for the Mouse. In 2006, facing another successful studio generating new legends, Disney acquired Pixar. In 2009, just a year after Iron Man made his debut, the company added Marvel Entertainment to its roster. Three years later, Lucasfilm and with it “Star Wars” joined the family. Then, in a monumental act, Disney purchased 20th Century Fox—one of the other major Hollywood studios—and renamed it 20th Century Studios.
All of these new franchises meant great things for the company's coffers. But the 21st century brought changes that would reshape Disney's place in culture, as well as its ability to create myths that span new generations.
The thing about folklore is that it changes as the future develops. Every new generation faces challenges and therefore needs new ways to tell old stories. However, having re-told stories as a commercial product, Disney is singularly resistant to evolving its language.
You can play in the Disney sandbox—as long as you purchase authorized Disney products. If you break the rules—for example, by painting Mickey Mouse murals at a daycare—the company could sue you. Those limits on how fans are allowed to interact with the stories and characters they love preserve rigid language dictated from the top down. But it also prevents those who want to speak the common language from participating in its evolution.
However, the expectations of the 21st century demand otherwise. In this new era, the tools to remix culture are easy to access, whether you're a large corporation or just a kid in your bedroom, and that's important. In a world that prefers to create by remixing, we can all make our own versions of Disney myths. But the company, based on imagination, actively discourages sharing that innovation in the spaces today's audiences best know and love.
Disney remains the most dominant entertainment company in Hollywood, but it no longer seems invincible.
As Bob Iger, the Disney CEO who departed in 2021 and returned in 2022, noted in a recent interview, the studio dominated the box office for years, thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the “Star Wars” stories, the sequels by Pixar and “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which produced impressive numbers.
But that kind of success comes with commercial pitfalls, and the relative failures of 2023 — “Indiana Jones and the Doomsday Dial,” “The Marvels,” “Wish” — underscore that point.
With a few exceptions (“Frozen,” “Moana,” “Enchantment”), Disney has long provided fewer ubiquitous cultural touchpoints than before. Excess content reduces the studio's once-had ability to capture imaginations across generations and borders.
All of Hollywood is struggling to stay afloat. But the specific challenges facing Disney are surprising for a company that has long prided itself on being ahead of the curve. In that recent interview, Iger said, “We have to entertain first. “It’s not about messages.”
However, the company he runs has always focused on messages passed down from generation to generation via beloved stories. The question is whether Disney can guarantee that people will continue to listen.
By: Alissa Wilkinson
THE NEW YORK TIMES
BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/16/movies/disney-100-anniversary-language.html, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-12-28 19:45:04
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