The Highs and Lows of Shortsleeve

So far, Shortsleeve's "The Wonderful World of the Depression: Disney, Despotism, and the 1930s. Or Why Disney Scares Us" has been my favorite article thus far. He has a very unique and strong opinion, yet he sympathizes with the audience for being skeptical as to what he has to say about the beloved Disney. He acknowledges that criticizing Disney may be discomforting to some, and the mere acknowledgment of this reluctance made him appear to be relatable. 

Here are a few of my points!

• One thing I thought was super cool was when Shortsleeve asks a Disney employee why the 1930s were important to Disney and the employee explains that the Depression was "the Golden Age of America." It's interesting that the Depression was a horrible time for Americans across the country, yet for Disney, the Depression was a time where he peaked in his business and produced his first full animated film. In someways, despite the financial strain, Disney revolutionized vision and imagination within America, continuing to influence us today.

• Also in relation to the Depression, I never even thought that there were connections between Magic Kingdom and the Depression until Shortsleeve illustrates that Magic Kingdom is a complete reversal of the Depression. Unlike the food shortages and failed crops in the 1930s, Magic Kingdom is filled with an abundance of turkey legs, a statue with an overflowing basket of corn, and plenty of shopping opportunities. In a world like Disney where imagination is everything, Disney can recreate a world where people no longer have to want anything and can at least feel for a moment in time that you can have all you ever need.

• I LOVED Shortsleeve's point about Disney being "ideologically stalled" after a violent incident with strikers. Shortsleeve comments that Disney lost his confidence after the physically/emotionally damaging run in with a striker, saying that the spirit of cartoon medium has been destroyed. As a result of this, Disney became stalled in an unfortunate phase of "totalitarian and dictatorial practices." While the point may be stretching, I thought this was a super cool and original view of why certain stereotypes still persist despite the change in times.

• One aspect of the paper that annoyed me was the persistent view that Disney was a dictator and the workplace and wouldn't even allow for workers to socialize. It seems that an array of generalizations are made about Disney's managerial tactics based on the accounts of very few people. Similarly, Shortsleeve's credibility was undermined in my eyes in a segment of the essay when he describes an unrealistic event of a manager handing out dollar bills to employees to set up barriers for a parade. While this may seem plausible hadn't taking place earlier in the 1900s, this took place in July 2001, where a salary system is in place and it is HIGHLY unlikely that people get paid dollar bills for doing individual tasks. While I understand his point that Disney may be corrupt, he used a poor piece of evidence to support this claim. 

• One thing I REALLY REALLY REALLY DISLIKED was the comparison of Walt Disney to Adolf Hitler. Shortsleeve literally backs this up with euphemizing terms, comparing Hitler's replace of "genocide" with "Final Solution" to Disney calling his employees cast members?!?! WTF! This is not nearly enough to say that Disney had some ulterior motive so drastic and immoral that it is comparable to Hitler! Referencing Hitler/comparing someone to Hitler is a big deal and if you're going to make that case, you can't use a half-assed argument. 

• Something I did agree was that Disney portrays servants as more than willing to serve, such as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast and contented African American slaves in Song of the South. Very unrealistic and insulting classist claims are made here, implying that we should ignore activism and attempts for change by justifying a reduction of sympathy for people who don't mind doing the grunt work of society.

• Another insightful point made by Shortsleeve is the contract that Americans enter with Disney that seems contradictory: "...in order to participate in and enjoy much of Disney's 'magic' consumers must be willing to suspend and/or give up some basic American freedoms. He states in a unique way that while inspiring vision and a form of "magic" that captures our hearts, we must also accept the bias and the constructions made by Disney that for instance standardize societal roles and hinder what one can do based upon gender/race.

• Lastly, I appreciated Shortsleeve's recognition of the overemphasis Disney places on democracy in attempts to mask it's very undemocratic nature. He states "...{Disney} consistently fails with democracy. This failure might indicate a lack of conviction. Such insincerity might explain the maudlin over performance of many patriotic attractions." It's amusing to thing that a company that many think to epitomize America fail to embody it's most important values. It does make you rethink visits at Disney parks; you assume that the glorification of it all is related to fantasy and imagination, however, people like me tend not to see the politics and essentially, the "trying way too hard" part of Disney that comes off as fake.

Essentially, Shortsleeve had really great moments and some that did not impress me. I will say that out of all of the articles I have read thus far in Decoding Disney, Shortsleeve is the only one that made me understand why people dislike Walt Disney.

Anyways, Stay tune for more!

Peace Love Disney! :)))