Uncle Walt : Disney becomes the most successful and celebrated animator in the United States His rise is fueled by public perception of him as An artist and storyteller A master of technology A captain of industry He is seen as personifying the American Dream: Why?

Disney and the Media Disney comes to be constructed by the media as a man of genius, solely responsible for the collaborative work he signs “A Disney Cartoon” Though his workers are often seen at work in creative, interesting contexts, they disappear before the final credits Why is this a problem inherent in a capitalist system? Where else do we see it in Hollywood movies?

Why was Disney so celebrated? He entertains children of all classes and races, uniting them into a single group through laughter Newspaper comics Comic book novels He reconciles art and commerce “Movies are art, now more than ever.” He brings together art and governments “Hollywood [is] as busy as a league of nations,” bringing education to the free world (Walter Wanger)

What caused his popular decline? He failed to keep reconciling oppositions Labor disputes Mixing of live action and animation too experimental for middle-class critics His technical expertise came to be seen as a substitute for story and character Actually, he failed to move with the times

What changed? Television entered middle class life Cartoon style moved from realism to minimalism and/or surrealism Audience for cartoons got younger Acceptable representations of race and of female sexuality gradually changed Attitudes toward the rights of the worker became more labor oriented

The Media’s Influence Disney did become, at least for a while, an American symbol for Benevolent business Uniting classes and races Within a rigidly maintained system of class and racial divisions And a belief in US political and commercial superiority in the global context