WEBVTT 00:00:00.453 --> 00:00:07.534 [Music] Hi. In this lecture, we’ll explore the biography and impact of Walt Disney, 00:00:07.534 --> 00:00:10.031 his transformation of the tale from the popularity 00:00:10.031 --> 00:00:14.218 of the Grimms and it’s furthering of the moralizing of the Perrault circle. 00:00:14.218 --> 00:00:17.897 Before Disney, we’ll examine the growing popularity of fairy 00:00:17.897 --> 00:00:21.056 tales as a form of mass entertainment and influence, 00:00:21.056 --> 00:00:23.493 then peer into the first animated tales and the 00:00:23.493 --> 00:00:27.172 innovative techniques Disney applied to overwhelm audiences. 00:00:27.172 --> 00:00:29.543 The form of the fairy tales that we know we owe 00:00:29.543 --> 00:00:32.919 in large part to Walt Disney and their popularization, 00:00:32.919 --> 00:00:36.511 and in this way, they have become a basic common background upon 00:00:36.511 --> 00:00:39.485 which new values could be performed for audiences 00:00:39.485 --> 00:00:42.279 (first with the Grimms and then with Disney). 00:00:42.279 --> 00:00:44.817 We’ll track this transformation from socially responsible, 00:00:44.817 --> 00:00:47.690 communal tales to those that support authoritarian, 00:00:47.690 --> 00:00:50.367 patriarchal schemas and the growing manufacture 00:00:50.367 --> 00:00:53.874 of the cult of personality through its new medium: film. 00:00:53.874 --> 00:00:58.586 [Music] Walt Disney has had a tremendous impact on the 00:00:58.586 --> 00:01:01.446 reception and perception of fairy tales in the world today. 00:01:01.446 --> 00:01:03.634 With the ability of film, mass production, 00:01:03.634 --> 00:01:05.739 and the distribution into a global market, 00:01:05.739 --> 00:01:08.831 Disney has come to dominate the world of entertainment, 00:01:08.831 --> 00:01:12.173 and through subsidiaries, has gone far beyond the screen. 00:01:12.173 --> 00:01:17.320 With early application of total marketing – which means selling not just the film, 00:01:17.320 --> 00:01:19.410 but licensing the brand and characters to lamps, 00:01:19.410 --> 00:01:21.448 wristwatches, glasses, cups, pillows, 00:01:21.448 --> 00:01:24.390 clothing, Disney was able to capitalize already on the 00:01:24.390 --> 00:01:26.695 earliest opportunities to expand the entertainment 00:01:26.695 --> 00:01:30.773 market into people’s homes and everyday lives. 00:01:30.773 --> 00:01:33.296 Disney has become so predominant that his films, 00:01:33.296 --> 00:01:35.603 or the films of the corporation, 00:01:35.603 --> 00:01:38.211 just like the Grimms’ stories of the 19th century, 00:01:38.211 --> 00:01:40.933 have come to be part of a shared cultural heritage 00:01:40.933 --> 00:01:45.262 and have instilled values that are fundamental to many of our identities. 00:01:45.262 --> 00:01:47.268 And this is a worldwide phenomenon, 00:01:47.268 --> 00:01:49.022 not just restricted to the United States, 00:01:49.022 --> 00:01:53.101 because of the reach and associations a global market has with the brand. 00:01:53.101 --> 00:01:56.776 How does he appeal to so many different cultures? 00:01:56.776 --> 00:02:00.436 The focus of his early animated features veer away from story, 00:02:00.436 --> 00:02:02.659 plot and challenging the status quo, 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:07.003 and instead present viewers with spectacle and a string of sight gags, 00:02:07.003 --> 00:02:08.976 collection of sketch comedy routines, 00:02:08.976 --> 00:02:13.637 and musical numbers. By using fairy tales as the basis for story, 00:02:13.637 --> 00:02:16.180 the well-known plots serve to frame our expectations 00:02:16.180 --> 00:02:18.585 and keep the thread of the narrative intact while 00:02:18.585 --> 00:02:23.902 the animators present us with many uncoordinated gags and visual effects. 00:02:23.902 --> 00:02:28.944 However, this style and production has been criticized by many theorists including Bruno Bettelheim, 00:02:28.944 --> 00:02:31.585 who considers the tales to be too sanitized to 00:02:31.585 --> 00:02:35.495 provide children psychological insight into the dangers of the world, 00:02:35.495 --> 00:02:40.927 nor the safety of finding just and harsh retribution for wrong-doing. 00:02:40.927 --> 00:02:43.969 Marie Louise von Franz criticizes the tales for 00:02:43.969 --> 00:02:47.177 robbing viewers of the fundamental psychological work of individuation, 00:02:47.177 --> 00:02:50.369 focusing on a narrow batch of story arcs that 00:02:50.369 --> 00:02:52.577 replaces the symbolic language of our psyche 00:02:52.577 --> 00:02:56.537 for the spectacle and sales pitches of the animation. 00:02:56.537 --> 00:02:59.375 And, Jack Zipes also criticizes Disney for producing 00:02:59.375 --> 00:03:02.367 and furthering a strict hierarchical ideology 00:03:02.367 --> 00:03:06.981 that supports and doesn’t question the capitalist exploitation of labor, 00:03:06.981 --> 00:03:11.907 selling fantasies, while ignoring the harsh reality that Disney used to push his own Utopic vision, 00:03:11.907 --> 00:03:14.267 much like that of a dictator. 00:03:14.267 --> 00:03:16.641 So, we’ll take a closer look at these theories as 00:03:16.641 --> 00:03:22.856 we recount the history of Disney from his earliest years up to today during this week. 00:03:22.856 --> 00:03:25.111 Disney revolutionized the way fairy tales were told. 00:03:25.111 --> 00:03:28.504 While we shouldn’t discount the early animation work of Lotte Reiniger, 00:03:28.504 --> 00:03:31.948 who pioneered the techniques that Walt would use to create depth, 00:03:31.948 --> 00:03:33.718 he continued to revolutionize techniques, 00:03:33.718 --> 00:03:37.745 while Reiniger maintained her distinct style throughout her career. 00:03:37.745 --> 00:03:40.755 Disney was interested in how the images would 00:03:40.755 --> 00:03:45.097 become ever more lifelike through the application of technology. 00:03:45.097 --> 00:03:50.112 Technologies allowed for mass production and global distribution of his product, 00:03:50.112 --> 00:03:52.919 and thereby also standardized the images of the 00:03:52.919 --> 00:03:55.979 fairy tale characters for children around the world. 00:03:55.979 --> 00:03:59.336 As we looked at the critique brought by the culture industry, 00:03:59.336 --> 00:04:01.811 this standardization brought with it a restrictive 00:04:01.811 --> 00:04:05.267 standardization that robbed the oral storytelling 00:04:05.267 --> 00:04:09.564 of its ability to take up specific problems of local regions, 00:04:09.564 --> 00:04:11.719 or even adapt the tale to the audience that was 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:16.231 hearing it – instead it was a type of Model T of the entertainment industry, 00:04:16.231 --> 00:04:20.798 one size is made to fit all, and in order to accommodate such varied audiences, 00:04:20.798 --> 00:04:24.409 only the most generic and uncontroversial elements would remain. 00:04:24.409 --> 00:04:29.421 And what remains is an infantilization of the audience with a focus on cute, 00:04:29.421 --> 00:04:34.585 adorable characters and plotless collections of sight gags and visual spectacles. 00:04:34.585 --> 00:04:40.469 At the same time, a continuing impulse found in the animation of Disney is a focus on cleaning up, 00:04:40.469 --> 00:04:44.181 sometimes obsessively, so that there is a demand for controlling the 00:04:44.181 --> 00:04:47.303 environment – transferred by the artist boss 00:04:47.303 --> 00:04:52.099 to the very animated characters themselves – a desire to continually sanitize, 00:04:52.099 --> 00:04:55.241 and with this comes a continual degeneration 00:04:55.241 --> 00:04:59.184 of the original material and its psychological depth into a surface, 00:04:59.184 --> 00:05:04.030 visual spectacle that no longer examines or hints at the complex disparities of the world. 00:05:04.030 --> 00:05:11.115 [Music.] Disney’s rise is part of a larger, longer development 00:05:11.115 --> 00:05:13.121 that led to the breakthroughs in technology that 00:05:13.121 --> 00:05:17.081 both has atomized (or isolated) individuals while 00:05:17.081 --> 00:05:21.391 broadening the reach of reception and connecting audiences to each other. 00:05:21.391 --> 00:05:24.567 The impulses to adapt fairy tales towards didactic 00:05:24.567 --> 00:05:27.039 goals was already present in Perrault’s versions 00:05:27.039 --> 00:05:32.537 while the tales became institutionalized as part of their socialization process. 00:05:32.537 --> 00:05:34.761 While the Grimms’ enjoyed success in Germany, 00:05:34.761 --> 00:05:37.734 many Americans felt that the tales could be harmful 00:05:37.734 --> 00:05:39.624 for children – given the penchant the brothers 00:05:39.624 --> 00:05:43.450 had for writing in gruesome details and harmful stereotypes. 00:05:43.450 --> 00:05:46.024 The rise tale, first penned in Italy, 00:05:46.024 --> 00:05:49.734 was part of the attraction of the economic system of capitalism and the U.S.A. 00:05:49.734 --> 00:05:52.573 was seen as a land of new beginnings, 00:05:52.573 --> 00:05:55.481 starting over, and the expectation that with hard work, 00:05:55.481 --> 00:05:57.755 one could elevate one’s social status. 00:05:57.755 --> 00:06:00.696 In the early 20th century, when Disney was a child himself, 00:06:00.696 --> 00:06:03.002 there was a sense of elitism – as if America 00:06:03.002 --> 00:06:05.678 was a promised land with a chosen people – and 00:06:05.678 --> 00:06:08.903 that by God’s grace they would be blessed as an honest, 00:06:08.903 --> 00:06:11.397 hard-working individual could, 00:06:11.397 --> 00:06:16.056 through meritocracy, epitomized in the story of Horatio Alger, 00:06:16.056 --> 00:06:18.945 who is a young man who picked himself up by his 00:06:18.945 --> 00:06:22.486 bootstraps and made his fortune and brought himself out of poverty, 00:06:22.486 --> 00:06:27.658 that with hard work one could elevate one’s social status. 00:06:27.658 --> 00:06:30.600 With the adoption of reading, 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:33.040 as an institutional education for the masses, 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:36.281 and easier access to the means of publication, 00:06:36.281 --> 00:06:41.497 the fairy tale underwent a transformation from the oral telling to the printed page. 00:06:41.497 --> 00:06:44.103 The Grimms’ ability to distribute and spread 00:06:44.103 --> 00:06:49.568 their version of the tales ceded them legitimacy – as being the official version of the tales. 00:06:49.568 --> 00:06:51.138 As these were adopted in schools, 00:06:51.138 --> 00:06:53.728 they were also adapted more towards children. 00:06:53.728 --> 00:06:56.970 The tales helped to reinforce the patriarchal order, 00:06:56.970 --> 00:06:59.175 demonstrate the positive values of the heroes 00:06:59.175 --> 00:07:01.667 and heroines that children should strive to emulate. 00:07:01.667 --> 00:07:04.090 And, as they were adapted to American audiences, 00:07:04.090 --> 00:07:08.903 there was a healthy dose of optimism infused into the tales. 00:07:08.903 --> 00:07:11.258 Tales were also given a happy end and plot closure, 00:07:11.258 --> 00:07:13.297 abolishing the gruesome punishments, 00:07:13.297 --> 00:07:16.020 and the tales were also made into plays that 00:07:16.020 --> 00:07:19.298 became part of Christmas traditions in schools everywhere. 00:07:19.298 --> 00:07:24.476 [Music] It was first in Kansas City in the early twenties 00:07:24.476 --> 00:07:26.617 that a very young Walt Disney sought to bring 00:07:26.617 --> 00:07:30.343 his animation company and career to life with several partners, 00:07:30.343 --> 00:07:33.936 the most renown of those being Ub Iwerks. 00:07:33.936 --> 00:07:36.976 Most of the early investing was through corporate sponsorship, 00:07:36.976 --> 00:07:44.580 and businesses were – Most of the early investing was through corporate sponsorship, 00:07:44.580 --> 00:07:46.804 and business was incredibly difficult. 00:07:46.804 --> 00:07:50.112 The early cartoons – the laugh-o-grams – had their fill of stereotypes, 00:07:50.112 --> 00:07:53.187 but also they incorporated progressive elements 00:07:53.187 --> 00:07:58.051 that demonstrated social insight into the conditions of different social classes. 00:07:58.051 --> 00:08:03.014 The tales were regressive in their emphasis on spectacle over plot, 00:08:03.014 --> 00:08:05.387 and they all had titles of well-known fairy tales, 00:08:05.387 --> 00:08:09.916 but were in many cases, barely recognizable as such tales. 00:08:09.916 --> 00:08:13.526 In the earliest cartoons, a character that looked a lot like a young Walt 00:08:13.526 --> 00:08:20.143 Disney attempting to get the girl and that was the basic plotline of the shorts. 00:08:20.143 --> 00:08:22.416 He was accompanied by Julius the Cat, 00:08:22.416 --> 00:08:27.244 which was the earliest version of the humorous animal that accompanied the protagonist. 00:08:27.244 --> 00:08:29.316 These characters would eventually merge into 00:08:29.316 --> 00:08:32.572 one figure that would become known as Mickey Mouse. 00:08:32.572 --> 00:08:35.198 The Tales included takes on Little Red Riding Hood, 00:08:35.198 --> 00:08:37.625 Four Musicians of Bremen, Cinderella, 00:08:37.625 --> 00:08:44.523 and Puss–n-Boots. And, Disney used techniques that were pioneered in the Expressionist films of the era, 00:08:44.523 --> 00:08:47.949 and made those films so that he invited audiences 00:08:47.949 --> 00:08:51.809 to become immersed in a fantasy world of the artist, 00:08:51.809 --> 00:08:55.020 where the constraints of the real world no longer weighed upon them. 00:08:55.020 --> 00:08:59.882 For example, Alice’s Wonderland was one of his most innovative and ambitious films, 00:08:59.882 --> 00:09:01.954 a film that would bankrupt his studio, 00:09:01.954 --> 00:09:04.881 but remain a technological wonder of the time. 00:09:04.881 --> 00:09:07.085 It was after this bankruptcy that Walt thought 00:09:07.085 --> 00:09:09.908 it a good idea to leave town and head for Hollywood, 00:09:09.908 --> 00:09:14.454 where his talents as a film editor and animator would certainly be in higher demand. 00:09:14.454 --> 00:09:18.933 [Music.] Walt convinced his brother Roy to invest in the 00:09:18.933 --> 00:09:22.926 Disney Brother’s Studio and in 1923 they set up their business, 00:09:22.926 --> 00:09:24.682 where they worked with the young star of the 00:09:24.682 --> 00:09:29.177 last Alice’s Wonderland for six more shorts that they sold to theaters, 00:09:29.177 --> 00:09:32.201 but it didn’t do very well. In 1926, 00:09:32.201 --> 00:09:36.312 the studios would move and change names again into the Walt Disney Studios. 00:09:36.312 --> 00:09:40.006 It was here that they would develop the character of Oswald the Rabbit, 00:09:40.006 --> 00:09:42.179 another precursor to Mickey Mouse, 00:09:42.179 --> 00:09:44.435 but a bit more wild in his adventures. 00:09:44.435 --> 00:09:47.508 And, it wasn’t too much later that Steamboat Willie was introduced, 00:09:47.508 --> 00:09:49.614 so that with the addition of sound, 00:09:49.614 --> 00:09:52.239 the animated character sprung to life and one 00:09:52.239 --> 00:09:56.703 of the total – and was also part of the total marketing scheme. 00:09:56.703 --> 00:10:01.162 The Mickey Mouse wristwatch with Mickey’s hands pointing out the time, 00:10:01.162 --> 00:10:03.620 became a new must-have item for audiences. 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:08.817 Over the course of the 1930’s we could see a distinct transformation from pro-social values, 00:10:08.817 --> 00:10:11.623 where their heroes are a collective group of 00:10:11.623 --> 00:10:17.328 gnomes who rescue two babes in the woods. The woods are also depicted as dark and scary, 00:10:17.328 --> 00:10:19.384 and while the gnomes are industrious, 00:10:19.384 --> 00:10:21.389 there is not an over-emphasis on cleaning, 00:10:21.389 --> 00:10:26.454 or work for work’s sake, but rather the houses seem rather unkempt, 00:10:26.454 --> 00:10:30.513 and the creatures that the children have turned into are rather monstrous. 00:10:30.513 --> 00:10:32.319 It is first in the following year that with The 00:10:32.319 --> 00:10:34.056 Three Little Pigs (1933) that we see that the 00:10:34.056 --> 00:10:37.013 Protestant work ethic is what keeps the wolf at bay, 00:10:37.013 --> 00:10:38.719 specifically those pigs who have leisure time, 00:10:38.719 --> 00:10:40.323 end up at the mercy of the wolf, 00:10:40.323 --> 00:10:42.429 who comes and blows their door down. 00:10:42.429 --> 00:10:44.334 They have to turn towards the industrious leader, 00:10:44.334 --> 00:10:48.817 who made his house of brick. The song was also a hit for its audiences. 00:10:48.817 --> 00:10:54.058 In 1934, The Flying Mouse even goes so far as to challenge dreaming itself, 00:10:54.058 --> 00:10:56.281 the mouse who thought he could fly, 00:10:56.281 --> 00:10:58.438 turns into a bat and is ostracized, 00:10:58.438 --> 00:10:59.942 kicked out from his family and home, 00:10:59.942 --> 00:11:04.905 until he has learned his lesson and has to return home dismissing his dream forever. 00:11:04.905 --> 00:11:09.485 [Music.] The success of Disney would soon come in the form 00:11:09.485 --> 00:11:12.188 of feature films that in order to create the next film, 00:11:12.188 --> 00:11:15.952 typically, Disney would invest all of his profits back into the business. 00:11:15.952 --> 00:11:19.798 With one flop, the Studio would risk incurring irreparable losses. 00:11:19.798 --> 00:11:21.533 Films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) 00:11:21.533 --> 00:11:24.405 amazed audiences across the world with its smooth 00:11:24.405 --> 00:11:28.786 animation taken from tracing over actors with sound and bright colors. 00:11:28.786 --> 00:11:34.802 These innovations continued to provide audiences new visuals as the technology allowed it. 00:11:34.802 --> 00:11:37.946 A series of modestly unsuccessful films were 00:11:37.946 --> 00:11:41.636 then released in the years following like Pinocchio in 1940, 00:11:41.636 --> 00:11:44.707 Dumbo in 1941, and Bambi in 1942, 00:11:44.707 --> 00:11:46.215 all considered classics today, 00:11:46.215 --> 00:11:49.806 but at the time compounded the economic situation for Disney, 00:11:49.806 --> 00:11:52.049 so that he took to making films about South America 00:11:52.049 --> 00:11:55.406 to aid in travel and tap into other markets. 00:11:55.406 --> 00:11:58.182 Cinderella in 1950 provided another success, 00:11:58.182 --> 00:12:00.838 and as the Disney brand became recognizable with 00:12:00.838 --> 00:12:04.232 television programming and films that fed into a vision of his parks, 00:12:04.232 --> 00:12:06.955 films such as Treasure Island and Peter Pan were 00:12:06.955 --> 00:12:10.915 both created to incorporate as part of this total 00:12:10.915 --> 00:12:16.230 strategy of marketing as theme rides for his park as well. 00:12:16.230 --> 00:12:18.636 Disney had been interested in marketing these 00:12:18.636 --> 00:12:21.459 other products to accompany his films for a long time, 00:12:21.459 --> 00:12:23.834 and the first items were things such as buttons, 00:12:23.834 --> 00:12:27.609 stencil sets, and chocolate covered marshmallows, 00:12:27.609 --> 00:12:31.370 and he had a hit with Mickey Mouse watch in 1929 00:12:31.370 --> 00:12:34.879 He was able to generate more income from renegotiating 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:39.107 his initial royalty licensing agreement with Borgfelt & Co. 00:12:39.107 --> 00:12:45.424 At that time his proceeds rose from 2 percent to 5 percent of those things sold, 00:12:45.424 --> 00:12:48.214 but then he struck it rich with a 50 percent 00:12:48.214 --> 00:12:55.618 royalty deal with Herman “Kay” Kamen who agreed to that in 1933 so that he could sell napkins, 00:12:55.618 --> 00:12:57.255 books, wallpaper, phonographs, 00:12:57.255 --> 00:13:01.850 hairbrushes, toys, etc. So, one of the most sought after items today still 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:08.017 is an original Ingersoll timepiece that is now valued between 1,500 and 2,500 dollars. 00:13:08.017 --> 00:13:14.986 [Music] In the 1950s, Disney began to not only dominate family entertainment on the screens, 00:13:14.986 --> 00:13:17.861 but also introduced Little Golden Book picture books, 00:13:17.861 --> 00:13:22.354 further solidifying and standardizing the global vision of fairy tale characters. 00:13:22.354 --> 00:13:29.173 One of the first books was an adaptation of the Italian Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio from 1883. 00:13:29.173 --> 00:13:33.603 [Music] In the original Pinocchio is a jerk. 00:13:33.603 --> 00:13:35.591 He’s not so cute He’s an angry, 00:13:35.591 --> 00:13:38.450 violent and rude stick that eventually badgers 00:13:38.450 --> 00:13:41.375 a browbeaten Gepetto into carving him into life. 00:13:41.375 --> 00:13:44.750 He even betrays his “father” once by lying to 00:13:44.750 --> 00:13:50.297 a police officer that throws Gepetto in jail for being abusive. 00:13:50.297 --> 00:13:55.040 While Gepetto is in jail, Pinocchio starts to regret this decision as he’s starving. 00:13:55.040 --> 00:13:58.853 But, then when Gepetto is finally released and comes home with food, 00:13:58.853 --> 00:14:02.713 Pinocchio thoughtlessly gobbles up everything that he offers. 00:14:02.713 --> 00:14:06.473 He even kills Cricket, his conscience, 00:14:06.473 --> 00:14:08.545 and the Fox and the Cat that he trusts, 00:14:08.545 --> 00:14:14.862 they hang him and get bored when he doesn’t seem to suffocate as quickly as they thought. 00:14:14.862 --> 00:14:16.650 He even bites off the cat’s paw, 00:14:16.650 --> 00:14:21.029 and when he is resuscitated by the fairy with the blue hair, 00:14:21.029 --> 00:14:26.274 he is greedy and takes all the sugar and medicine, 00:14:26.274 --> 00:14:28.149 and treats her dismissively. So, 00:14:28.149 --> 00:14:31.021 many of the early horribly self-centered behaviors 00:14:31.021 --> 00:14:36.053 that Pinocchio exudes eventually subside through his education, 00:14:36.053 --> 00:14:41.252 and then there’s a recognition by him of the people who sacrificed for him, 00:14:41.252 --> 00:14:43.004 and that’s sort of his transformation. 00:14:43.004 --> 00:14:46.714 [Music] In our film by Disney, 00:14:46.714 --> 00:14:51.425 all of the early bad behavior is avoided by Pinocchio already from the outset, 00:14:51.425 --> 00:14:53.950 and he looks entirely too human, 00:14:53.950 --> 00:14:57.060 cute, and naïve, rather than fundamentally selfish. 00:14:57.060 --> 00:15:01.003 Akin to the original, the Disney puppet wishes to be a real boy, 00:15:01.003 --> 00:15:02.478 and must prove himself brave, 00:15:02.478 --> 00:15:06.251 truthful, and unselfish. What makes him good is that he abides by the 00:15:06.251 --> 00:15:10.496 work ethic and requires little in return except the approval of the father figure, 00:15:10.496 --> 00:15:14.690 the leader. As he tries out the vices of the adult world, 00:15:14.690 --> 00:15:16.928 which is cigars, gambling, idleness, 00:15:16.928 --> 00:15:19.653 he turns into an ass like all the other boys. 00:15:19.653 --> 00:15:22.258 It is interesting then how this early focus on 00:15:22.258 --> 00:15:26.755 the Protestant work ethic and Pleasure Island or Toyland as a corrupting influence, 00:15:26.755 --> 00:15:33.539 that Pinocchio is in the very same entertainment that he is being, 00:15:33.539 --> 00:15:41.679 uh – basically, Pinocchio is the very same entertainment that he represents to his audience. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:45.504 Even further along, the Toyland and Pleasure Island that corrupts 00:15:45.504 --> 00:15:48.446 provides the basis for the idea of Disneyland 00:15:48.446 --> 00:15:51.738 that opens up that very same year as the film is released. 00:15:51.738 --> 00:15:58.707 [Music] The Swiss environmentalist classic Bambi, 00:15:58.707 --> 00:16:00.647 A Life in the Woods, by Felix Salten, 00:16:00.647 --> 00:16:05.023 published in 1923 is a brutal look at the brief 00:16:05.023 --> 00:16:07.563 and dangerous life of the creatures of the forest. 00:16:07.563 --> 00:16:10.855 The book often introduces characters as naïve, 00:16:10.855 --> 00:16:12.609 empathetic, and curious of the world, 00:16:12.609 --> 00:16:16.671 only to graphically depict their demise a few pages later. 00:16:16.671 --> 00:16:18.308 Some of the characters are treacherous, 00:16:18.308 --> 00:16:22.720 like Gobo the dog, who befriends then kills the fox on the Hunter’s command, 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:28.136 blindly following orders. The book was seen as supporting a pacifist agenda, 00:16:28.136 --> 00:16:30.593 as it even laid bare the gruesomeness of nature 00:16:30.593 --> 00:16:33.467 as it lifted the veil of life as struggle mentality 00:16:33.467 --> 00:16:37.260 of the Nazi Party and was summarily banned during the regime’s rule. 00:16:37.260 --> 00:16:41.170 [Music.] In order to adapt the novel, 00:16:41.170 --> 00:16:44.179 and make it palatable to audiences that included small children, 00:16:44.192 --> 00:16:48.038 most all of the danger and ever present sense of terror and death were removed. 00:16:48.038 --> 00:16:49.891 If we look at the Little Golden Book, 00:16:49.891 --> 00:16:52.968 we see that safety is emphasized… “Then she 00:16:52.968 --> 00:16:57.449 nudged her sleeping baby gently with her nose…she licked him reassuringly. 00:16:57.449 --> 00:17:00.672 ” There is an emphasis of friendship and fun, 00:17:00.672 --> 00:17:04.916 not lurking threats, or constant struggle for survival and deception. 00:17:04.916 --> 00:17:06.605 Many of the images are cleaned up. 00:17:06.605 --> 00:17:10.599 Those tragic figures who are introduced and then dispatched in a horrific manner, 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:12.990 they stick around and live without a care. 00:17:12.990 --> 00:17:16.431 Humans become the enemy, with their fire and guns, 00:17:16.431 --> 00:17:21.831 and winter becomes hard. Even the death of the mother is handled out of sight, 00:17:21.831 --> 00:17:23.401 in a very touching and endearing way, 00:17:23.401 --> 00:17:26.791 lacking the brutality and abruptness of the original. 00:17:26.791 --> 00:17:29.600 Bambi is able to escape and establish his own family, 00:17:29.600 --> 00:17:31.052 in a fairy tale like fashion, 00:17:31.052 --> 00:17:33.909 while in the original, he is aware that his time is short, 00:17:33.909 --> 00:17:36.803 and he needs to both mentor and fight his competitors, 00:17:36.803 --> 00:17:39.994 in addition to all of the threats that are out there. 00:17:39.994 --> 00:17:43.189 The Disney method strips the originals of their 00:17:43.189 --> 00:17:45.812 danger in order to make them safe for children. 00:17:45.812 --> 00:17:47.835 Peter Pan - Pan, you may know, 00:17:47.835 --> 00:17:49.703 is a God of chaos and sexuality, 00:17:49.703 --> 00:17:55.837 so that Peter Pan exhibits and epitomizes those characteristics in the early play by J.M. 00:17:55.837 --> 00:17:59.498 Barrie. It was with this concept in mind that he introduced 00:17:59.498 --> 00:18:03.558 the character in the play Little White Bird in 1902, 00:18:03.558 --> 00:18:08.670 where a man wants to steal a child away from their mother by making up the story of Peter Pan, 00:18:08.670 --> 00:18:13.904 who in the story, is abandoned and replaced by his mother by another child. 00:18:13.904 --> 00:18:15.973 “It was a scheme conceived of in a flash, 00:18:15.973 --> 00:18:21.004 and ever since relentlessly pursued –to burrow under Mary’s influence with the boy, 00:18:21.004 --> 00:18:23.076 expose her to him in all her vagaries, 00:18:23.076 --> 00:18:30.109 taken him utterly from her…Mary remains ‘culpably obtuse to my sinister designs. 00:18:30.109 --> 00:18:36.309 ” The character returns again in the play Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens in 1904, 00:18:36.309 --> 00:18:40.054 and that would eventually turn into the book Peter and Wendy in 1911, 00:18:40.054 --> 00:18:42.296 Transferred Now to a Never Never Land. 00:18:42.296 --> 00:18:45.669 Barrie, a celibate husband of Mary Amsel, 00:18:45.669 --> 00:18:47.758 actress who he wrote plays for, 00:18:47.758 --> 00:18:50.999 was infatuated with the young neighbor boys and 00:18:50.999 --> 00:18:55.010 their family has led – which has led to speculations 00:18:55.010 --> 00:19:00.093 that the book is based on his exploits and manipulation and abuse of that family. 00:19:00.093 --> 00:19:01.845 The original title for Peter Pan, 00:19:01.845 --> 00:19:05.942 or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up was originally called The Boy Who Hated Mothers. 00:19:05.942 --> 00:19:08.781 There are several very disturbing moments in the book, 00:19:08.781 --> 00:19:10.770 such as the psychopathic thinning out of the 00:19:10.770 --> 00:19:15.249 Lost Boys whenever they seem to switch sides or allegiances away from Pan. 00:19:15.249 --> 00:19:20.208 Pan is in his earliest iteration depicted as a demon child who steals children, 00:19:20.208 --> 00:19:24.389 and Tinkerbell alludes to the possibility of fairy orgies. 00:19:24.389 --> 00:19:27.415 Barrie’s own infatuation with the neighbor family 00:19:27.415 --> 00:19:31.425 grows even more intense after their father dies and he befriends Sylvia, 00:19:31.425 --> 00:19:36.338 the mother. His own wife eventually cheats on him after years of celibacy, 00:19:36.338 --> 00:19:40.632 and he quickly moves on to act the part of the father to the young boys Peter, 00:19:40.632 --> 00:19:43.625 John, Michael, Nicholas, and George Llewelyn Davies. 00:19:43.625 --> 00:19:45.495 His notebooks even reveal a dark, 00:19:45.495 --> 00:19:47.769 sinister plot hatching within Barrie’s writing, 00:19:47.769 --> 00:19:50.374 To undermine the role that his ex-wife initially 00:19:50.374 --> 00:19:53.300 had in being charged with the care of the neighbor’s boys. 00:19:53.300 --> 00:19:58.363 He even went so far as to tell the boys that he and Sylvia were to be married, 00:19:58.363 --> 00:20:03.862 and upon her passing, he forged her will that specifically asked that the boys go to live with their aunt, 00:20:03.862 --> 00:20:08.091 and set himself up as their sole custodial guardians instead. 00:20:08.091 --> 00:20:11.131 His overly affectionate letters became embarrassing to the boys, 00:20:11.131 --> 00:20:16.624 and many of them had mentioned that they had destroyed these as they became older. 00:20:16.624 --> 00:20:19.342 Each of the boys in his charge lived short, 00:20:19.342 --> 00:20:21.666 tragic lives, including two suicides. 00:20:21.666 --> 00:20:25.143 So, the world of Never Never Land is both nightmare and fantasy, 00:20:25.143 --> 00:20:29.436 tragic and hopeful. It is often associated with the curse of J.M. 00:20:29.436 --> 00:20:33.681 Barrie. [Music.] With Disney’s version, 00:20:33.681 --> 00:20:38.829 Peter and Wendy both look to be older and on the cusp of taking on adult responsibilities. 00:20:38.829 --> 00:20:40.834 Peter is unable or unwilling to, 00:20:40.834 --> 00:20:46.917 remain – and, he remains playful in the land of fantasy that he himself brings people to, 00:20:46.917 --> 00:20:49.262 luring Wendy and her brothers. 00:20:49.262 --> 00:20:51.479 Wendy is not Peter’s only love interest, 00:20:51.479 --> 00:20:55.840 however. Tinkerbell and Tiger Lilly both vie for his affection. 00:20:55.840 --> 00:20:57.795 He seems sort of like a delusional player, 00:20:57.795 --> 00:21:02.926 who only has younger, more foolish people following him. 00:21:02.926 --> 00:21:05.466 And, while it was interesting for a time, 00:21:05.466 --> 00:21:07.472 Wendy then eventually leaves him behind. 00:21:07.472 --> 00:21:08.874 And, just like the only true enemy, 00:21:08.874 --> 00:21:12.370 the only adult, Captain Hook, 00:21:12.370 --> 00:21:14.359 is haunted by the clicking of the clock, 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:18.217 or the ticking of the clock that represents aging, 00:21:18.217 --> 00:21:21.075 and his brush with death in the form of the crocodile. 00:21:21.075 --> 00:21:24.551 So, Peter Pan represents an attitude of many American 00:21:24.551 --> 00:21:28.427 male dreamers who not only want to find a Wendy to take care of their progeny, 00:21:28.427 --> 00:21:31.385 but also themselves, seeing her as an ersatz mother, 00:21:31.385 --> 00:21:34.243 and we can see that she has to take care of the boys, 00:21:34.243 --> 00:21:38.654 tuck them in, carry firewood in with the other women at the Indian encampment, 00:21:38.654 --> 00:21:40.810 while he plays with his sidekick, 00:21:40.810 --> 00:21:42.751 the jealous fairy, Tinkerbell, 00:21:42.751 --> 00:21:45.140 who represents a lusty pin-up model. 00:21:45.140 --> 00:21:47.663 The problem with Peter Pan and Pinocchio as popular 00:21:47.663 --> 00:21:52.074 models of behavior for young boys is that their aspirations keep them childish, 00:21:52.074 --> 00:21:54.932 never taking on adult responsibility. 00:21:54.932 --> 00:21:57.222 Pinocchio’s wish is to be a real boy, 00:21:57.222 --> 00:22:02.201 not to be a man, and Peter Pan desires to forever be a childlike boy. 00:22:02.201 --> 00:22:04.942 So, these undercurrents damage the image of adulthood 00:22:04.942 --> 00:22:08.651 as the goal of the maturation process and offer young men, 00:22:08.651 --> 00:22:12.211 who before were turned into Jackasses in Pinocchio, 00:22:12.211 --> 00:22:17.192 for spending too much time playing around, 00:22:17.192 --> 00:22:20.549 it offers them a new vision of that same pleasure land or Toyland, 00:22:20.549 --> 00:22:22.873 in the Never Neverland of Peter Pan, 00:22:22.873 --> 00:22:25.478 where nothing will ever be required of them again. 00:22:25.478 --> 00:22:32.384 Peter Pan, the pied piper of children calls them to live the same fantasy escapism at the theme park. 00:22:32.384 --> 00:22:35.940 [Music.] So, in this lecture, 00:22:35.940 --> 00:22:38.132 we looked at the development of mass media and 00:22:38.132 --> 00:22:40.837 technology that provided Walt Disney his platform 00:22:40.837 --> 00:22:45.031 and the consequences of becoming the predominant purveyor of fairy tales. 00:22:45.031 --> 00:22:48.441 We also examined the transformation in his animated 00:22:48.441 --> 00:22:50.847 tales from his early years to the golden era 00:22:50.847 --> 00:22:55.026 with specific attention paid to the sanitizing of originals like Pinocchio, 00:22:55.026 --> 00:23:02.278 Bambi, and Peter Pan. Disney has retooled tales of maturation into tales of endless childhood, 00:23:02.278 --> 00:23:07.091 peddling the fantasy through total marketing and the realization of this Utopia, 00:23:07.091 --> 00:23:09.580 his own Never Neverland, in Disneyland. 00:23:09.580 --> 00:23:11.837 And, that’s it for today. We’ll take on, 00:23:11.837 --> 00:23:16.751 then, the further history of Disney with the Renaissance 00:23:16.751 --> 00:23:19.708 that happens in the ‘80s and ‘90s that really 00:23:19.708 --> 00:23:29.218 catapults this brand into this megalithic – catapults 00:23:29.218 --> 00:23:32.442 this brand into this monolith of the entertainment industry. 00:23:32.442 --> 00:23:43.605 And, that’s it for today and we’ll see you next time. [Music.]