A Mouse Ears' Perspective
Alex Bellus
March 28, 2007
English 101
A MOUSE EARS’ PERSPECTIVE
The entire idea of the Disney Corporation started with just one man, Walter Elias Disney. Born in 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, not only did Disney pioneer the fields of animation and find new ways to teach and educate, but he was also extremely fond of history. Walt was a man who was known for looking at the entire picture and for using ideas from the past to make the future better for everyone. In other words, he connected the present, past, and future to make life more enjoyable and fun (JustDisney). Walt Disney is especially known for not only shaping our world, but shaping the way we experience it. In fact, it was once said of Disney that he was “a quiet, pleasant man you might not look twice at on the street.” Behind the theme parks and clever animations, however, Walt was known to be that of “a less than cheerful soul” (TIME). This was hard to believe for the millions of people who just saw Walter Disney create the little, irresistible mouse off which the entire Disney enterprise thrived. One observant writer actually described Disney before his dream finally came true as "a tall, somber man who appeared to be under the lash of some private demon" (TIME).
Walt Disney was born into a world of dire poverty. This poverty struck Walt even more emotionally than it did economically. His dad wandered around day after day trying out new jobs that were supposed to lead the family to immediate success. However, all the family got every time was the sour, humiliating taste of defeat (TIME). It was at the very young age of sixteen that Walt decided to try to escape life by enlisting in the military. Luckily for him, he proved to be underage. However, this opened an option that began Walt’s road to success. He decided to travel overseas to France to drive ambulances around. It was here that Disney realized the perfect way to escape his dad’s sorrowful fate was to take drawing classes. It was at the Red Cross Ambulance Corps, during the middle of World War One in 1918, that he learned to do this best. The ambulance he drove was “covered from stem to stem, not with stock camouflage, but with drawings and cartoons” (FUV). On the beginning of the road to success, Walt was confined into a small studio room eating cold beans out of a can every night. It wasn’t until Disney moved to Los Angeles in 1923 that his animation career jumpstarted. With the help of his older brother Roy, Disney finally had the momentum to start building his dream (TIME).
Walt’s first concept at a company called “Laugh-o-grams” shortly failed in bankruptcy (JUSTDISNEY). Disney even had his first commercially viable creation stolen. The cartoon was to be called Oswald the Rabbit. This let down, however, did not cause the depressed man to give up his faith. He was determined to fulfill his dream. His constant failure is believed to be what pushed Walt to finally create the milestone for Disney, Mickey Mouse. “Cocky, and in his earliest incarnations sometimes cruelly mischievous but always an inventive problem solver, Mickey would become a symbol of the unconquerably chipper American spirit in the depths of the Depression” (TIME). The first color cartoon, Flowers and Trees, won Walt the first of his studio’s Academy Awards. In December 1937, the first full-length animated musical feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered. This movie is even today considered “one of the great feats and imperishable monuments of the motion picture industry.” (JUSTDISNEY). During the next five years, Disney created many other full-length animated classics such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi.
All of the famous full-length animation movies finally brought Walt enough profit to be able to attempt to build his dream, a clean and organized theme park. “Disneyland was another ‘bet-the-farm risk,’ and Disney threw himself obsessively into the park's design, which anticipated many of the best features of modern urban planning, and into the ‘imagineering’ by which the simulacrums of exotic, even dangerous creatures, places, [and] fantasies could be unthreateningly reproduced” (TIME). To Walter Elias Disney, the attractions were better than any of the movies. Each attraction offered three-dimensional thrilling experiences in a controlled environment. The park contained five uniquely different lands. Main Street, U.S.A., the very front of the park, was where Walt wanted to relive the typical turn of the century city, Main Street. Walt planned Adventureland as an "exotic tropical place" in a "far-off region of the world." Frontierland was simply made to relive the pioneer days of the American frontier. Fantasyland was created with the goal to "make dreams come true." Last, but not least, Tomorrowland was created as a look at the "marvels of the future." (JUSTDISNEY). “By Disneyland’s third decade, more than 250 million people were entertained, including presidents, kings and queens, and royalty from all over the globe” (FUV). Even after the massive success and the dream come true that Disneyland brought to Walt, he continued on to design more theme parks, mainly containing themes of finding the solution to life’s big problems.
It would be completely accurate to state that Walt Disney is the perfect example of a poor man finding the American dream. However, he would not want to look at it that way. Walt Disney simply wanted to spread his faith of the many important aspects of life he stood for: imagination, optimism, creation, and self-made success. While it is true that Mickey Mouse played a major roll in establishing the popularity of the Disney Company, it was just one sole man who created that marvelous figure. It was Walt who encouraged the drawings to get up and come to life and to entertain kids and adults of all ages. It was Walt who after every triumph and tribulation kept chipping away at his dream. Without a doubt, Walt put every single bit of his heart, his mind, his blood, and his soul in every piece of work he did just to make the world a happier place.
WORD COUNT: 1,028 WORDS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Disneyland’s History
http://www.justdisney.com/disneyland/history.html
Just Disney. COM
http://www.justdisney.com/
TIME Magazine Website, December 27, 1937, December 27, 1954, April 25, 1988, http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/disney.html
TIME Magazine Website,
http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/disney2.html
Walt Disney- FUV
http://fuv.hivolda.no/prosjekt/gunnargrodal/bio.htm
March 28, 2007
English 101
A MOUSE EARS’ PERSPECTIVE
The entire idea of the Disney Corporation started with just one man, Walter Elias Disney. Born in 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, not only did Disney pioneer the fields of animation and find new ways to teach and educate, but he was also extremely fond of history. Walt was a man who was known for looking at the entire picture and for using ideas from the past to make the future better for everyone. In other words, he connected the present, past, and future to make life more enjoyable and fun (JustDisney). Walt Disney is especially known for not only shaping our world, but shaping the way we experience it. In fact, it was once said of Disney that he was “a quiet, pleasant man you might not look twice at on the street.” Behind the theme parks and clever animations, however, Walt was known to be that of “a less than cheerful soul” (TIME). This was hard to believe for the millions of people who just saw Walter Disney create the little, irresistible mouse off which the entire Disney enterprise thrived. One observant writer actually described Disney before his dream finally came true as "a tall, somber man who appeared to be under the lash of some private demon" (TIME).
Walt Disney was born into a world of dire poverty. This poverty struck Walt even more emotionally than it did economically. His dad wandered around day after day trying out new jobs that were supposed to lead the family to immediate success. However, all the family got every time was the sour, humiliating taste of defeat (TIME). It was at the very young age of sixteen that Walt decided to try to escape life by enlisting in the military. Luckily for him, he proved to be underage. However, this opened an option that began Walt’s road to success. He decided to travel overseas to France to drive ambulances around. It was here that Disney realized the perfect way to escape his dad’s sorrowful fate was to take drawing classes. It was at the Red Cross Ambulance Corps, during the middle of World War One in 1918, that he learned to do this best. The ambulance he drove was “covered from stem to stem, not with stock camouflage, but with drawings and cartoons” (FUV). On the beginning of the road to success, Walt was confined into a small studio room eating cold beans out of a can every night. It wasn’t until Disney moved to Los Angeles in 1923 that his animation career jumpstarted. With the help of his older brother Roy, Disney finally had the momentum to start building his dream (TIME).
Walt’s first concept at a company called “Laugh-o-grams” shortly failed in bankruptcy (JUSTDISNEY). Disney even had his first commercially viable creation stolen. The cartoon was to be called Oswald the Rabbit. This let down, however, did not cause the depressed man to give up his faith. He was determined to fulfill his dream. His constant failure is believed to be what pushed Walt to finally create the milestone for Disney, Mickey Mouse. “Cocky, and in his earliest incarnations sometimes cruelly mischievous but always an inventive problem solver, Mickey would become a symbol of the unconquerably chipper American spirit in the depths of the Depression” (TIME). The first color cartoon, Flowers and Trees, won Walt the first of his studio’s Academy Awards. In December 1937, the first full-length animated musical feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered. This movie is even today considered “one of the great feats and imperishable monuments of the motion picture industry.” (JUSTDISNEY). During the next five years, Disney created many other full-length animated classics such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi.
All of the famous full-length animation movies finally brought Walt enough profit to be able to attempt to build his dream, a clean and organized theme park. “Disneyland was another ‘bet-the-farm risk,’ and Disney threw himself obsessively into the park's design, which anticipated many of the best features of modern urban planning, and into the ‘imagineering’ by which the simulacrums of exotic, even dangerous creatures, places, [and] fantasies could be unthreateningly reproduced” (TIME). To Walter Elias Disney, the attractions were better than any of the movies. Each attraction offered three-dimensional thrilling experiences in a controlled environment. The park contained five uniquely different lands. Main Street, U.S.A., the very front of the park, was where Walt wanted to relive the typical turn of the century city, Main Street. Walt planned Adventureland as an "exotic tropical place" in a "far-off region of the world." Frontierland was simply made to relive the pioneer days of the American frontier. Fantasyland was created with the goal to "make dreams come true." Last, but not least, Tomorrowland was created as a look at the "marvels of the future." (JUSTDISNEY). “By Disneyland’s third decade, more than 250 million people were entertained, including presidents, kings and queens, and royalty from all over the globe” (FUV). Even after the massive success and the dream come true that Disneyland brought to Walt, he continued on to design more theme parks, mainly containing themes of finding the solution to life’s big problems.
It would be completely accurate to state that Walt Disney is the perfect example of a poor man finding the American dream. However, he would not want to look at it that way. Walt Disney simply wanted to spread his faith of the many important aspects of life he stood for: imagination, optimism, creation, and self-made success. While it is true that Mickey Mouse played a major roll in establishing the popularity of the Disney Company, it was just one sole man who created that marvelous figure. It was Walt who encouraged the drawings to get up and come to life and to entertain kids and adults of all ages. It was Walt who after every triumph and tribulation kept chipping away at his dream. Without a doubt, Walt put every single bit of his heart, his mind, his blood, and his soul in every piece of work he did just to make the world a happier place.
WORD COUNT: 1,028 WORDS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Disneyland’s History
http://www.justdisney.com/disneyland/history.html
Just Disney. COM
http://www.justdisney.com/
TIME Magazine Website, December 27, 1937, December 27, 1954, April 25, 1988, http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/disney.html
TIME Magazine Website,
http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/disney2.html
Walt Disney- FUV
http://fuv.hivolda.no/prosjekt/gunnargrodal/bio.htm
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