Category: Disney

Underlying Rationale and Targeted Audience

Value formation is a long-term process that takes its beginning in early childhood. There is a wide range of factors that have an influence on this process, including the home environment, social circles, and mass media. In addition, psychologists state that the ideals, children adopt, are often dictated by the fairy tales and cartoons their parents choose for them (King, Lugo-Lugo and Bloodsworth-Lugo 20). From this perspective, it is reasonable to assume that Disney products play a significant role in shaping values for the new generation as the company has been holding the leading position in the relevant market for almost a century. In the meantime, the question arises concerning the factors that shape Disney’s images. In other words, there seems to be a triple agent connection, where the society, first, impacts the characters that appear in cartoons, which, in their turn, influence the viewers.

Recent research has shown that the characters of Disney cartoons have a strong impact on the gender role portrayals that little viewers accept as ideals, and girls are particularly susceptible to adopting the values shared by the main cartoon characters – princesses (England, Lara Descartes and Collier-Meek 550). As a result, it is assumed to be rational to carry out research that would examine the ideas proposed by Disney cartoons at different time periods and evaluate the character of the impact they have. It is also critical to examine the social tendencies that determined the appearance of particular images of princesses in these cartoons. It is expected that the findings might represent a useful guideline for parents. Due to the study, the latter will receive an opportunity to benefit from Disney cartoons turning them into a tool for consistent value formation.

Thesis

The study of the relevant literature allows working out a general thesis for the proposed research. Thus, the majority of researchers agree on the point that the characters of princesses in Disney cartoons reflect the key social trends and play a significant role in girls’ evolution participating in the formation of their values and ideas as well as the behavior patterns. This idea should constitute the base of the study, although some minor hypotheses can be, likewise, put forward.

Thus, for example, there is an opinion that the images of princesses have changed dramatically throughout the time, and the current characters have a more positive influence on girls’ psychology as they meet the modern social demand for gender equality and tolerance (England, Descartes and Collier-Meek 562). The relevant assumption can be adopted as a supplementary thesis.

In addition, the preliminary analysis shows that there is a contradictory opinion on the racial implications that Disney cartoons offer. Hence, some researchers believe that the princesses’ characters encourage the development of racial tolerance and show the appeal for race equality (Condis and Austin 4). The opposite point of view suggests that some of the characters offered by the Disney industry, might be, on the contrary, racially intolerant, and, thus, have a negative influence on the immature psychology (England, Descartes and Collier-Meek 557). Therefore, the next supplementary thesis might suggest that Disney cartoons have a role in shaping children’s attitudes in terms of race and ethnicity.

Finally, there is a large scope of theoretic material devoted to the examination of the feminist implications existing in Disney cartoons. As a result, it might also be supposed that the images of princesses provide some guidelines for gender behavior.

Background and Related Areas

A brief preliminary research has shown that the examination of the proposed problem has been carried out by numerous scientists. Thus, the question of the impact that Disney cartoons have on evaluation and value shaping has been studied from different perspectives: feminism, race, morality. Therefore, it is suggested that the proposed research covers all the aspects in order to define the character of influence in different terms. Moreover, there is a wide variety of scientific literature describing the transformation of cartoons’ images throughout the time inspired by the relevant social context. It is, likewise, essential to note that the study of this problem will require addressing some related areas such as psychology and sociology.

Objectives and Research Questions

The principal objective of the proposed research resides in, first and foremost, indicating the interconnection between three elements: the social trends, the ideas offered by Disney cartoons and the value formation in girls that watch them. As long as the relevant connection is defined, it is critical to examine its validity and character. Moreover, the research should also work out a consistent guideline for parents so that it is not solely theoretical but has some practical applications as well. Thus, for example, the recommendations might include a list of princesses’ characters that prove to have the most favorable impact on children’s evaluation, etc.

The research questions can be posted in accordance with the advanced theses. Thus, the proposed research might be aimed at answering the following questions:

1. Do the characters of Disney cartoons have any impact on value formation in little viewers? If yes, how strong is this impact? Is it generally negative or positive?
2. Do social trends and values influence the shaping of the cartoons’ images? If yes, how strong is this impact? How has it changed throughout time?
3. What kind of ideas can girls adopt from Disney’s princesses in terms of race/gender?
4. How has the nature of impact changed throughout time? Which cartoons are more likely to offer a positive guide: the old or the modern ones?

It is essential to note that the first two questions are the key focus of the research, whereas the other two are aimed at proving or rebutting supplementary hypotheses.

Literature Overview

At the proposal stage, four relevant sources are employed, although, in the course of the potential study, their number will, evidently, extend. All of the sources currently used are scholarly articles retrieved from scientific journals. It is critical to point out that the proposed problem receives a different interpretation in every source. Thus, for instance, Condis and Austin share their vision of the impact each Disney princess might have on children’s psychology. A particular focus is put on the problems of race and ethnicity. The principal value of this source resides in the fact that it provides a large scope of relevant examples.

Craven’s article, in its turn, is devoted to the examination of the discussed problem in the framework of one cartoon. Hence, the analysis is carried out on the example of Princess Beauty. In this article, the author mainly focuses on the feminist implications that the cartoon has.

One of the most many-sided analysis is provided by England, Descartes, and Collier-Meek. The researchers have carried out impressive work examining the impact of Disney cartoons and their characters and their alterations throughout the years. The research provides a large scope of statistical data and, most importantly, contains some useful recommendations for further investigation.

Finally, the book of King, Lugo-Lugo, and Bloodsworth-Lugo studies the proposed problem in general. One of the key benefits of the relevant source is that it provides the psychological reasoning of the examined impact as well as some explanations in terms of sociology. Moreover, the authors also examine the social impact on the appearance of particular characters in cartoons.

Works Cited

Condis, Megan, and Stephen Austin. “She Was a Beautiful Girl and All of the Animals Loved Her: Race, the Disney Princesses, and their Animal Friends” An Internet Journal for Gender Studies. 55.1 (2015): 1-6. Web.

Craven, Allison. “Beauty and the Belles. Discourses of Feminism and Femininity in Disneyland.” The European Journal of Women’s Studies 9.2 (2002): 123-142. Print.

England, Dawn Elizabeth, Lara Descartes, and Melissa Collier-Meek. “Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses.” Sex Roles 64.1 (2011): 555-567. Print.

King, Richard, Carmen Lugo-Lugo, and Mary Bloodsworth-Lugo. Animating Difference: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Films for Children, Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. Print.

There is an assumption that a fairy-tale reflects cultural trends in community development that change across time. The do not only make shifts to social environment, but also tap into consciousness of individuals, particularly to that of children who are obsessed with the plotlines and magic that story’s heroes work.

At this point, there is a serious concern about the positive impact that Disney’s Cinderella has on little girls’ understanding of what qualities a woman should possess. It is also the problem with the emerging stereotypes among children who explore possibilities to become wealthy people.

Girls’ overwhelmed interest in Cinderella’s adventure make them more vulnerable to reality. Perceiving them as princesses, they strive to wear pink dresses and tiaras believing that these things are inherent components of an authentic princess. Disney’s image of a poor girl who has managed to marry a handsome prince and liberate herself from cruel and evil stepmother distorts the veritable state of affairs.

In reality, stepmothers are not necessarily evil and girls do not always marry princes. After all, wearing pink and behaving pretentiously does not mean to be a princess. Orenstein states that new paradigms of femininity differ significantly from those presented in Disney’s stories and, therefore, mothers should pay attention to their daughters’ upbringing.

Similar concerns are expressed in Yolen’s discussions of fairy-tales and Disney’s Cinderella, which is a distorted variant of an original version. The current version depicts Cinderella as a poor, helpless, useless, and suffering heroine who is only recognized after revealing her identity to a prince. In fact, such an aspect in retelling the story of a poor girl does not contribute to shaping positively oriented identities among girls since these clichés and stereotypes do not exist in reality.

On July 5, 2009 two monorails collided that resulted in one fatality (CBS News 1). Monorail accidents is not a common occurrence, but even if it is, the significance of this tragedy is made more dramatic by the fact that it occurred in Walt Disney World, one of the major Disney theme parks in America and around the world.

The accident tarnished the image of Walt Disney Theme Parks because it was supposed to be a safe place for children and adults. A deeper look into the accident revealed safety issues that Walt Disney World was compelled to rectify.

The Accident

The Walt Disney monorail system that can be found at Walt Disney World was considered as one of the safest transportation systems in the United States. This assertion is supported by facts. First of all, the said monorail system was in operation since 1971 (Walt Disney World’s Monorail Accidents and Mishaps 1). Secondly, it was the only fatality in more than three decades of service. However, what was not made clear in the initial discussion was that the monorail system had three accidents in the past.

The only thing highlighted was the fact that no one was fatally injured in these three accidents. But a similar accident occurred in August of 1991 when a monorail collided with a tractor as the tractor was too close to the train (Walt Disney World’s Monorail Accidents and Mishaps 1). The tractor was used to film the monorail system for a TV commercial. This incident indicated that a lack of coordination and the absence of standard operating procedures for moving monorails during closing time can spell disaster.

In this case, the driver died on the spot. He was identified as Austin Wuennenberg. Aside from the death of the driver, the monorail crash cost $24 million in damages (CBS News 1). Wuennenberg was the driver of the purple monorail and he had with him six passengers. The pink monorail had no passengers and it was driven by an operator so that it can be moved into the maintenance facility of the said monorail system.

The operator of the pink monorail survived the incident unscathed because he was backing up the monorail and therefore it was the tail-end of the vehicle that collided with the purple monorail. Since, Wuennenberg was driving the monorail forward, the front operating cab slammed into the rear operating cab of the pink monorail.

The Investigation

After the accident, the company’s Vice President of Communications Michael Griffin assured the general public that the accident was extremely rare (NBC News 1). In fact, the monorail system carried an estimated 150,000 riders on a daily basis (Zibart & Hoekstra 92). When made to comment on how long Wuennenberg had been with Disney, Griffin did not answer this particular question (NBC News 1). But the investigation of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed that it was not the driver who was at fault.

It is important to point out that the accident occurred at 2 o’clock in the morning. In other words the Magic Kingdom Park where the monorail was located was already closed. However, the monorails continue to operate because of the need to transport customers to the parking area or to the hotels within the said theme park. In a typical day the monorails are allowed to operate only an hour or two after closing time. Two hours after closing, the said vehicles are returned in order to perform maintenance checks.

The pink and purple monorails were in a closed loop called the Epcot Beam. At that time there were five monorails in operation and these were called: Pink; Purple; Red; Silver; and Coral. But it was the pink one that was ready to be returned via the Express Beam.

Thus, the pink monorail had to be positioned at the Spurbeam Connection and Switchbeam 9 so that it can proceed to Switchbeam 8; and from that point move forward to the Express Beam. At exactly 1:53 a.m. the monorail central coordinator gave the go signal to the operator of the pink monorail to move it past Switchbeam 9 on the Epcot Beam.

When the pink monorail was in position, the next step was to coordinate the alignment of Switchbeams 9 and 8. When the alignment procedure is completed the pink monorail can begin backing up until it reaches the Spurbeam. The operator of the pink monorail waited for further instructions. The central coordinator instructed the shop panel coordinator to complete the alignment process. The coordinator removed power from that section so that the alignment procedure can be completed.

The monorail system employed at this particular theme park uses a Power Distribution and Monitor System (PDMS) and it has a graphical prompt that helps the shop panel operator monitor the alignment process. But if the said operator did nothing, the system will time-out and the prompts will disappear (National Transportation Safety Board 5). If the shop panel operator failed to align the switch-beams there is no other indicator that will help him point out the error.

It was at this point when a series of human errors resulted in an accident.

The NTSB investigators discovered the reason why the shop panel operator failed to align the switch-beams. The report said that “Two minutes after the central coordinator requested for the alignment of the switch-beams, and a minute or so after the shop panel operator removed power, the operator of the Silver monorail informed the shop panel coordinator that he experienced a left side door alert as it traversed towards the maintenance facility” (National Transportation Safety Board 5).

The said personnel had to record into a logbook that the vehicle was already in the repair facility. A minute later, at exactly “1:56 a.m., the operator of the Red monorail informed the shop panel operator that it was about to enter the maintenance facility but received instructions to hold at a designated location” (National Transportation Safety Board 6).

Thus, when the shop panel operator returned to the switch-panel, he did not realize that he was not able to complete the alignment process. Nevertheless, he restored power to the Epcot Beam and informed the central coordinator that the spur-line has power. The central coordinator instructed the pink monorail operator to override in reverse.

The operator of the pink monorail began to back-up. But it has to be made clear that these monorails travelled in a loop. Since the switch-beams were not aligned the pink monorail simply went back to the loop but only this time it was moving backwards. The purple monorail was in its path.

The failure of the shop panel operator to align the switch-beams was easy to correct because most of the time the central coordinator was stationed at the Concourse Tower where one can find display screens, the PDMS and video monitors. These devices and equipment enabled the central coordinator to see the repositioning of switch-beams from the tower (National Transportation Safety Board 10). However, the central coordinator was not at the tower.

Shortly before the accident, “the on duty central coordinator requested for a sick leave to his supervisor the monorail manager” (National Transportation Safety Board 10). His request was granted but it took some time before the replacement can take over. Thus, in the meantime the monorail manager took over as central coordinator.

The only problem was that he was in a local restaurant and communicated to the shop panel operator and the operators of the monorail through his radio, without visual confirmation of the information that he received.

Conclusion

The investigators were able to determine that the company’s procedures did not specify the need for the coordinator to observe the video monitors and electronic displays when issuing commands with regards to the movement of vehicles. There were also no procedures to ensure that the shop panel operator completed the alignment request.

These lapses were considered in the modification of the procedures. In addition, management made it a policy that the monorail drivers must always stay in the forward facing cab. The drivers are now trained to visually confirm the correct position of the beams (National Transportation Safety Board 14). Management also made it a policy to have a spotter or observer in radio contact with the monorail driver. Finally, management limited the power of the central coordinator when it came to moving monorails.

Approval from the monorail manager is needed and this limited the power of the coordinator to issue commands with regarding the movement of the same. They also upgraded the software of their management information system in order improve their capability to monitor switch-beam operations (National Transportation Safety Board 14). Finally, management devised a new radio signal that will direct all the vehicles to stop at once without delay.

Works Cited

Walt Disney World’s Monorail Accidents and Mishaps 2011. Web.

CBS News. NTSB Releases Report on Disney Monorail Death. CBS Miami, 2011. Web.

National Transportation Safety Board. Railroad Accident Brief. Washington, D.C.: National Transportation Safety Board, 2011. Print.

NBC News. Disney World Monorail Trains Collide, Kill Driver. NBC Southern California, 2009. Web.

Zibart, Eve and David Hoekstra. Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney’s World for Grown-ups. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print.

Specific Purpose: To encourage my audience to be optimistic in life

Central Idea: Being optimistic in life causes positive emotions that contribute to good health and happiness.

Introduction

The Attention Step

1. An editor once fired Walt Disney, the co-founder of The Walt Disney Company, for allegedly lacking imagination and good ideas (National Fastpitch Coaches Association 27). However, he remained optimistic and went on to become an icon in the American animation industry.
   1. Walt Disney did not allow the frustrations to ruin his animation dreams.
   2. How many times have you been frustrated, rejected, abused, and told that you are useless? Did you let the negative experiences define your future? Do you always feel insecure, hated, or worthless?
   3. If you have let your negative experiences interfere with your dreams and esteem, you need to change your thoughts and perceptions. It is the time you became optimistic.
2. I have become interested in this topic after experiencing changes in my life.
3. Optimism changes an individual’s attitude by creating positive emotions, which contribute to good health and happiness.

What are the advantages of maintaining an optimistic view of life?

Body

The Need Step

1. Every person experiences bad and discouraging moments (Erasmus par 2).
   1. Seventy-seven percent of Americans experience physical symptoms caused by stress (The American Institute of Stress par. 4).
   2. How many times have you collided with your boss, spouses, family members, and coworkers? How many times have you had your dreams frustrated by other people?
   3. I am sure that all of you have thought of giving up at one point in your life.
2. College life has many stressors that can affect the students’ confidence, emotions, and self-esteem.
   1. We always let the negative experiences interfere with our emotions and perceptions.
   2. We hate ourselves for failing to achieve our goals.

We should start taking control of our emotions by being optimistic in all situations.

The Satisfaction Step

1. Optimism creates happiness and leads to good health
   1. You can become an optimist in many ways
   2. Start by letting go of all negative assumptions that you currently hold about yourself, or the sources of stress.
   3. You should understand that the past does not have any control over the future. What you believe in and hold as true, defines your future.
   4. Be positive in all situations and stop seeing yourself as an effect of circumstances.
   5. Be active to divert your mind from the negative perceptions and frustrations.
   6. Exercises and physical activities are also essential in keeping the body healthy.
2. According to Carver, optimism creates good health and happiness (4502).
   1. Being optimistic creates good emotions that are responsible for elevating human spirits and causing good health.
   2. Optimistic people have the capability of making greater risks without worrying about negative outcomes. They are always successful in their lives.

Start by evaluating your current emotions. Are you frustrated by anything or anyone?

The Visualization Step

1. Take a deep breath and forget about your frustrating past.
2. Imagine that every frustration is a step closer to your success.

Conclusion

The Action Step

1. Optimism creates good emotions that contribute to good health and happiness.
2. According to Carver, optimistic individuals are always successful, happy, and healthier than pessimists are (4501).
   1. Start appreciating the positive issues in your life
   2. Stop associating your past with your current situation. Remember you are not an effect of circumstances
   3. Be active and positive in everything you do.
3. Frustrations will never end. However, when you remain optimistic, you will always stay healthy and happy.

Works Cited

Carver, Charles. “Optimism.” Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research (2014): 4500-4503. Print.

Erasmus, Susan. 41 major life stressors. 2013. Web.

National Fastpitch Coaches Association. The Softball Coaching Bible, Volume II. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2013. Print.

The American Institute of Stress. “People are disturbed not by a thing, but by their perception of a thing”: Epictetus. 2014. Web.

Mickey and Charlie Chaplin

By claiming that Mickey was not a clown, since he was neither silly nor dumb, Ted Sears made a witty commentary on the nature of comedy that Mickey had to offer. At this point, a parallel between Mickey and Chaplin’s famous character should be drawn. Unlike a million stock characters, these have very distinct personalities; therefore, the comedy comes not only from the misery that they suffer but from the way, in which they address these situations based on their unique and well-developed personalities.

The quote, therefore, allows re-evaluating the impression that Mickey leaves. On the surface, it seems that the comedy comes from the troubles that Mickey has to go through. A closer look at the character, however, will reveal that Mickey Mouse, with all his seeming “silliness,” in fact, often proves to be the winner in the end.

Both the Tramp and Mickey Mouse often have to face injustice, greed, and other vices of society; and both seem to handle their losses pretty well. However, what makes the public adore them is that they are never threatening. With their innocence and touching belief in humanity, they are incredibly relatable and easy to sympathize with, which their creators were obviously counting on.

Walt Disney’s and Grimm’s Snow White

One of the greatest accomplishments of the Golden Disney era, Snow White was obviously a challenge to the traditions created by the Grimm brothers. First and most obvious, Disney had to rewrite the story so that a three-page narrative could be extended to a 1.5-hour feature film. In addition, the characters and the very idea behind the legend had to be changed entirely. Even with the alterations made to the initial cruel story so that it could be told to young children, the characters clearly needed development, and the plot twists required explanation.

Walt Disney handled this task perfectly. Though feminists may argue about the focus on Prince Charming and the “happily ever after,” Snow White is not bland – she is portrayed as hard-working, honest, and reasonable. Every dwarf was given a unique personality, and the Evil Queen has left a huge legacy in the Disney culture, has become one of the most intimidating and malicious characters in Disney history – which is saying a lot, given a wide range of delightfully dreadful villains (e.g., Shere Khan, Ja’far, Scar, to name a few). Impeccably designed, with the necessary alterations made here and there, the new story of Snow White was destined to be a hit.

Fleisher Brothers vs. Walt Disney

With a huge success that followed Disney’s attempt to introduce the American audience to animation, a lot of studios were trying to repeat Disney’s success. The Disney formula, however, was by far too unique and distinctive to copy it entirely. As a result, another major animation studio, Fleischer Brothers, tried to come up with a different approach. Since the very beginning, Disney has been known as the producer of “safe,” family-friendly movies with a timeless message offered delicately to the audience. The Fleischer Brothers, in their turn, decided to take chances by creating more “adult” content with more sophisticated humor.

The moral in the shorts made by the Fleischer Brothers were often one-note and obviously shoved into the movie so that it could be green-lighted and broadcast on the “big screen.” For instance, the shorts like “Three Orphan Kittens” (Disney) had mainly the “cutesiness” of the lead character in focus, whereas the charm of Hunky and Spunky (the Fleischer Studios) concerned the comedic behavior of the characters and the troubles that they got into. While the similarity between the characters is obvious, the dilemmas that the two series tackled were quite different, Disney playing a relatively safe card and promoting kindness, love, etc., and The Fleisher Studios offering their viewers a cautious tale about a topical social issue (i.e., the stranger danger, etc.).

Disney and the Stratified Culture

For a number of reasons, the animation is often disregarded as an art form, the main argument being that its primary audience is children. The assumption that children are incapable of appreciating the artistry of a specific work is, however, erroneous; instead, they are often unable to express their ideas and fascination with the animation. Disney was one of few people, who understood the power of animation and gave credit to children’s ability to see its beauty; therefore, he was promoting animation as one of the forms of art and, therefore, a phenomenon worth being viewed in an art gallery. Put in an art exhibition, the animation will provide adults with an opportunity to wander into the realm of childhood and see the world through the lens of a child, therefore, relating to the latter.

Though art galleries of Mickey Mouse cartoons nowadays exist only in the realm of the Internet reality, one must admit that an impressive breakthrough has been made since the first Disney animated short was broadcasted. Mickey Mouse cartoons have been discussed in a variety of radio and TV shows; evaluations of the effect that Disney movies and animated shorts have had on the American culture have been carried out in magazines and journals. In a way, the works of Disney have been put into an art gallery; with an unceasing discussion of the effects of Disney’s works on children and adults, the “exhibits” are always on display, and this art gallery will hardly ever run out of visitors.

The article “Disney’s Dolls” by Kathi Maio is, perhaps, the brightest example of evaluation of the art created for children if the reader were to hold a suffragist point of view. The author evaluates cartoons, animated by Disney studio, from her own, subjective point of view. Touching upon the question of chauvinism to females on the screen, Kathi chose to express her views on the matter through criticism of movies sacred for a young watcher.

Keeping in mind that contemporary civilized society considers it rather fashionable to sympathize with feminists, I would like to take a neutral position when evaluating Kathi Maio’s creativity. The following text is not meant to offend somebody’s feelings or to encourage gender discrimination.

In 1937, Walt himself and his magnificent coworkers at the Disney studios in Burbank, California, brought into being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated movie. The film was of a rare success that left a charming public longing for more. And more is what they got. After a thrilling story of Snow White, the stories of Pinocchio (1940) and Dumbo (1941) followed. They were the films that kids and adults could enjoy, but whose innocent and always wholesome messages were directed towards children. From Pinocchio came Jiminy Cricket’s immortal: “When you wish upon a star as dreamers do, your dreams come true.” In the same movie, children heard Pinocchio being told that the greatest virtues were to be “brave, truthful, and unselfish.” (Giroux, 1999). All this teaches children to follow characters’ best deeds and never repeat their mistakes. But let us get back to female characters.

The popularity of the image of a heroine in Disney cartoons, ice shows, and Walt Disney World theme parks makes them the most recognizable fairy tale characters. This study of the Disney heroine looks at her in terms of her position in the kingdom she lives in (or a village, as for example Beauty), her relations to witches, parents, and negative characters (villains), and her acting in a genre largely shaped by film music and the tale itself (Do Rozario, 2004).

The princess (or any other female image) is a fairytale staple of a kind girl, who never does any harm to people and animals surrounding her. In spite of wars, revolutions, processes of cultural globalization, this image has remained unique and exceptional. Some folk researchers have intended to reveal her beautiful appearance as a stereotype, her good-natured sole as submissiveness, but still, she stays the same princess (Snowhite, Cinderella, Beauty, and Mermaid) whom we got used to admiring since our childhood. Walt Disney collected different heroine images in the animations by his studio, and, as a matter of fact, it should be said, that this image could be rated as “The Princess of Princesses”.

The fact is that kids have their own ties based on emotional memories to the animated cartoons by the Disney Company. As Henry Giroux theorizes that the fascination with Disney for children comes from the great and colorful world of imagination, which allows kids to combine fantasy, fun, and the opportunity to feel the atmosphere of the fairy tale magic world (Giroux, 1999). Children believe that anything they see in these cartoons can be considered as the truth, and do not doubt whether the shown scenes are true or mismatch the real-life (Bell, E. Haas, L & Sells, L. 1995). Exactly because of this reason children should be directed to positive moments of the animation and the severe truth of life no way must touch upon the colorful dreams of children, often incarnated in cartoons. The impermissibility to evaluate the art for kids from the feministic point of view is obvious. While watching cartoons, children are brought up to be kind, diligent, and sympathetic if a friend gets into trouble. Kids expect animated movies to be kind, colorful, and impressive. Snowhite, Beauty, Little Mermaid, Cinderella can be considered romantic heroines who are searching for happiness, romance, and true love and will never stop at any barrier, facing them on their way. Instead of pointing out chauvinistic moments in the mentioned above tales, such critics as Mrs. Maio need to emphasize and admire the stories of true love, which these girls felt to their beloved (sometimes mostly unknown for them) Princes.

Walt Disney is definitely more than any other fairy storyteller with the self-feeling of Mother Goose, imagined as a fairytale figure himself. Moreover, he is pictured in mass media, not as a storyteller–as for example Hans Christian Andersen has been immortalized in the film – but as a real master of his own kingdom of fairy tale magic. His statue stands in the Walt Disney World parks bearing his name and his birthday is celebrated with royal fanfare there. Some would argue that if you look for the king or prince in the early Disney features, you look not within the animation, but without Disney himself (Do Rozario, 2004).

References

1. Giroux, H. A.1999 ‘The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence.’ Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
2. Bell, E. Haas, L and Sells, L. 1995 ‘From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film’, Gender, and Culture. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
3. Do Rozario, R. C. (2004). The Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princess. Women’s Studies in Communication, 27(1), 34.

Adapting an already existing story into a movie, especially when it comes to book classics, is one of the least gratifying jobs ever; no matter how hard the movie director tries, (s)he goes into no-win situation, since the audience will always find the discrepancies in the story, the plot, the characters or whatever needs changing for a longer running time.

It would be wrong to claim that all adaptations are doomed to being washed away by the sands of time, but in most cases, people either love or hate the adapted version, and this nowhere come as in one of the Disney’s greatest animation stories of all time, the Little Mermaid.

Actually, the similarities between the two versions of the classic fairy tale are very basic. They follow the pattern of a mermaid seeing a human prince, falling in love for him and trying to win him over after bargaining a pair of legs for her voice from a sea witch. Besides that, the story was changed to the core. The settings also remained quite similar to the ones in the book; both the underwater world and the kingdom look quite generic in the movie, allowing for placing the story in a typical European country; presumably, Denmark.

The characters, however, have undergone a great makeover. First and foremost, each of the characters finally got a name – there was no longer the Little Mermaid, the Prince and the Sea Witch, but Ariel, Prince Eric and Ursula. Together with names, each of the characters acquired a clear personality, except from the Prince, who remained quite generic.

Ariel, for instance, while being under the sea, seems an annoying whiny teenager; however, when she gets to the surface, her curiosity comes out in full blue, and it makes her a compelling and interesting character. Ursula, in her turn, has become much more sinister and evil: “Yes, hurry home, princess. We wouldn’t want to miss old daddy’s celebration, now, would we? ” (The Little Mermaid), and sometimes even vulgar: “And don’t underestimate the importance of body language!” (The Little Mermaid).

In addition, a bunch of new characters arrived, creating a unique atmosphere. It would have been easy just to slip them in as puppets to create a foil for the romance between Ariel and Eric, but instead, the audience sees these characters, think, emote and converse, which altogether creates a unique and very believable atmosphere.

The weird thing, however, is that Ariel’s sisters, who were the next focus of the book apart from the prince and the mermaid: “The fourth of the sisters was timid” (Anderson 3), “The third of the sisters, who came of age the following year, was the most daring among them” (Anderson 2), are given little to no screen time. Perhaps, Clemens and Musker considered that adding another plotline would make the movie unnecessary complicated.

Among the most obvious changes, the songs must be mentioned. The Little Mermaid was made into a movie with occasional musical numbers, which is another reason why it differs so much from the source material. They help build a particular character, and each of them, from Poor Unfortunate Souls to the unforgettable Under the Sea and Part of My World, are a gem. Quite honestly, it could not have been any other way around, with Alan Menken at the helm of song-writing process.

Of course, in contrast to the real story, in the Disney version, the Little Mermaid survives – Disney did not let her die; in fact, one can claim with certainty that they could not let her die, seeing how the Disney’s trademark was the magical happily-ever-after, the stories where the characters’ dreams come true. Clemens and Musker also made a number of subtle yet significant alterations of the original story.

As it has been mentioned above, the witch and the girl whom the Prince mistakes for the Mermaid are two different people in the book, and the witch does not seem to be the least bit interested in taking over King Triton’s realm. The given addition, however, makes Ursula much more complex than her book protagonist, adding another dimension to her character and making the story more intense. Finally, the Prince and the Mermaid are given much more screen time than they are in the story.

This allows for watching them develop their relationships, which they, in fact, have to start from scratch and, more importantly, work on, in contrast to other typical Disney fairytales. All of these editions of the original story do not change the story to the point where it becomes barely recognizable, yet clearly intend to change what quite honestly should be called a tragedy into a traditional fairytale with a princess, a prince, an evil witch and a happy ending, which is all that a family flick needs.

All in all, it is clear that the Disney Company has made tremendous changes to the story and its characters in order for it to be considered safe enough by the parents of the target audience. However, even though it is clearly obvious that the changes to the original are huge, it cannot be said that these changes destroy the tale.

Instead, they give it a new life and allow people to relate to the characters and enjoy a more traditional and, quite honestly, desired outcome of the good-vs.-evil battle between the mermaid and the witch. A perfect family film that spawned the Disney Renaissance, this is a true gem of hand-drawn animation era.

Works Cited

Anderson, Christian. The Little Mermaid – Den Lille Havfrue. 1837. PDF file. 20 August 2013.

The Little Mermaid. Dir. Ron Clemens and John Musker. Perf. Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes and Pat Carroll. Disney, 1989. Film.

Introduction

Fairy tales are used to teach people, especially children, the principles of life. They teach them the morals, but they support racism, introduce negative stereotypes in girls and also show strong sexual exposures to the young audience. According to Rojek (125), fairy tales were originally meant for entertaining adults.They were usually told during social gatherings in the field and other meeting places of adults.

Disney films, on the other hand, are so different from fairy tales. Disney films’ major audience is the young children. Disney films are more educational than just entertaining. In Disney films, there are no negative stereotypes for the girls, and in most cases, there is no kind of racism that is revealed. They present us a picture that females are no longer weak like it is depicted in the traditional fairy tales. The following section will discuss these effects.

Effects of Disney on original fairy tales and their morals

Disney films create ways in which there are discussions between children and adults about certain scenes portrayed in the films. Most of the traditional fairy tales would not display scary content, such as rape and death, unlike in the Disney films. Children are too young to understand the concept of death, and after watching the traditional fairy tale, many of them do not even discuss the issue of death with anyone, neither their parents nor their friends.

But after watching Disney death scenes, they start discussing the irretrievable death with their friends and adults. They may also think over why people grieve after their beloved one dies as well as other death consequences. Disney films depict other topics that seem to be difficult and severe to the parents to explain to their children. After these scenes have been covered in the movies, everything becomes easier to explain and understand.

Watching Disney films containing scenes that have real life situations enable children to have rough ideas of reality after they experience a closely related situation in their lives. For instance, if a certain Disney film shows that the rude people are punished, the children will grow up with the knowledge that if they are rude, they will be punished because any rude person deserves to be punished. Some of the Disney films depict horrible scenes, such as death.

They produce a negative effect on the audience. The messages sent to the children may appear ambiguous and confuse them because they do not have enough capability to understand every concept. These films are carefully planned from the already existing fairy tales. In the process of planning, Disney brings out the idea of real versions as well as ideas that are meant to educate the audience.

Traditional fairy tales were written in a manner that would reflect the history of a particular place such as America, for example. In the Disney movies, the history is distorted and simplified into easier ways to be better understood and appear playful because their major role is to entertain the audience. The social activities that are pre-existing in the traditional fairy tales are deconstructed until the Disney movies bring out different meaning.

The clever audience is capable of pointing out the underlying message from the deconstructed film. The audience has to come up critically with the meaning of some of the used symbolic contents. This is different from the traditional fairy tales since the meaning of a certain tale was normally represented by images that subsequently revealed it. According to the tradition of the fairy tales, the ideas interpreted in the Disney films do not adequately present the original meaning.

This limited interpretation makes these films unreliable for critical studies and discussions because they contemporary show a low culture entertainment. Some of the deconstructed theories that make up Disney films purpose just to entertain and distract the audience. The audience normally becomes manipulated by the perception that would occur in it after watching the film, and consequently, the behavior differs between the audiences.

Fairy tales were normally shared orally, and historians referred this as the sacred space. Since they were saturated with the meaning, the listener’s final meaning depended on the story teller. This made fairy tales important and unique. This brought members together after the meeting when they came up with particular missions to carry out. This is different from the Disney films because an audience can watch them alone. At some point, it is difficult to grasp the meaning of the deconstructed sentences. This privatization has violated almost all the communal aspects of action after the fairy tales were communicated to them.

Besides being a form of communicating moral and social values, traditional fairy tales were also a rite of passage. This made the audience to clearly understand various important elements about life and its valuable truth. After the alteration of the stories by Disney, the audience usually has to figure out the meaning of the films. Disney has changed one of the major elements and the narrator’s point of view that is contained in the traditional fairy tales. Fairy tales used to praise the traditions and the social practices, while Disney films show some effects about the US political issues. Disney presents political ideas using symbols through the narratives and the characters used in the films.

Fairy tales normally have a particular message that they teach, thus certain morals are taught, and the message sent has some sort of cautions and warning against dangerous life situations to the young audience. Disney films brought changes and reveal that everyone has the right to be the superior person, and none is inferior by nature. In the traditional fairy tales, women always play the minor role, while men dominate them. Disney films scenes have made their audience to have clear understanding of the life concepts which are not portrayed in the most traditional fairy tales. Disney films can be used as forms of education to both children and adults.They can also be used as ways of counseling them especially at home.

Conclusion

Disney films have really made a lot of changes in the traditional fairy tales. They alter the meaning of the traditional fairy tales, and therefore, the ideas have to be explained to the children by the people around them, especially adults, who also guide them. Adults should interpret the meaning of the deconstructed scenes which have been watched so that they can understand them. Fairy tales used to discuss gender roles in different critical ways and shape the audience values. Disney films, on the other hand, depict altered work that may confuse the audience or children values and morals. This is because the meaning of the ideas presented in the films is not always the same they seem to be. The young people later require explanation from their parents since the imageries and vocabularies used appear to be difficult for them.

Works Cited

Rojek, Chris. “Leisure Studies.” Disney Culture 12.4 (1993): 121-35. Print.

Disney children’s movies have been around for the past 70-odd years, ever since the great Walt Disney started the Walt Disney Production Company in 1934. Walt Disney, for the main purpose of making full-length animated features out of folklore, produced adapted fairy tales, folk tales, and legends to suit the children’s audience, doing away with or changing certain events that occur through the course of the story. Since then now, Disney has released numerous animated features for children. Although a number of their features are adapted from books or are original, the most recognized are the ones that are adapted from fairy tales.

From the very first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was adapted in 1937 from an 18th Century fairy tale by the renowned Brothers Grimm(Jacob and Wilhelm), Disney started a whole new era of animation. The story of Snow White was modified suitably from the original, which was by no means meant for children. In the story, the Queen had asked for Cinderella’s heart to be presented to her in a jewel box, and, unknown to her knowledge, was given a pig’s heart instead. It had cruel, almost gruesome instances in it. For example, the Queen was punished by being forced to wear a pair of heated iron shoes. She danced in them till her death. To evade such a horrid display, the animated feature showed the Queen being struck by a bolt of lightning and falling into a chasm, a more viewer-friendly adaptation.

Snow White, at the tender age of seven, is shown to the viewers doing household chores for dwarfs. The image seems to be that of a maid and not of a Princess – an extremely sexist depiction of females. The dwarfs themselves present a rather odd sight, wearing different colored Santa hats. According to mythology, dwarfs were creatures associated with death. Then why their presence in such number in the company of a Princess? They did not harm her simply because she cleaned their hut? It must also be understood that the fairy tale was dependent hugely on Dark Magic and Witchcraft. The Queen was a Witch, possessing a Magic Mirror and having powers enough to transform herself into any form at will and make poison apples to kill whoever she wanted.

It must also be noted that the original Grimm’s fairy tale showed us that the poison apple which killed Snow White was simply dislodged from her throat while her coffin was being carried away by the Prince’s men. The concept of ‘love’s first kiss’ was added to the movie merely for cinematic purposes, and also shows us that Snow White was dependent on a man for her survival. She could only be awakened from her death by love’s first kiss, as opposed to her self-dependency in the original fairy tale; an instance of total dependency of a female on a male.

The tale of Cinderella, a young girl of unparalleled sweetness made to work relentlessly by her stepmother, can be traced back to Egypt and was recorded as far back as the 1st Century B.C. Since then, there have been numerous versions of the story. The Disney version sees Cinderella befriending creatures such as mice, birds, and even a bloodhound. Here she lives with her stepmother and stepsister who treat her like a maid rather than a member of the family. And even in Cinderella, we see the female character dependent on her fairy Godmother, who gives her favors, and a Prince, who gives her royalty by marrying her. And like Snow White, this is also extremely sexist in its depiction.

In The Little Mermaid too, we see a similar representation of a female character. Here, Ariel, a mermaid who desires to one day have human feelings and have a human identity, is dependent on a Prince’s ‘kiss of true love’. She is transformed into a human for three days by a Sea Witch and must receive the kiss within the three days if she wants to stay in her human form. Like Snow White and Cinderella, Ariel is also one who, in order to gain her identity as a Princess, is dependent completely on a male, continuing Disney’s sexist adaptations. Also, in all three features, the lead characters have friends who are creatures from completely different species. From birds and mice to bloodhounds and even a talking crab with an oversized head.

It is also noticeable that for life “Happily Ever After”, the lead characters absolutely must be paired with a Prince. The situations are also extremely reliant on chance. Only when a Prince falls in love with them can they be considered to become Princess and be rid of their suffering. The concept of love is also placed very precariously. In each of the cases, love is at first sight and could be extremely physical in nature. The Prince simply falls in love with the way the female looks with no heed whatsoever to what kind of a person she might be. These concepts are neither clear nor justified. ‘True love’s first kiss’ is an extremely typical image of romance that, in Disney, the animation element introduces. It is a cartoonish exaggeration of emotions, images, types – all of which, in real life are more muted. Children are misled in a way that they seemingly believe in what they are shown in these films that Happily Ever After is achieved by marrying a Prince after receiving true love’s kiss, and the very depiction of humans befriending harmful animals can influence children to explore whether such things are true. These can have disastrous consequences.

In Beauty and the Beast, the sexist depiction in most Disney features is reversed. Here, it is the beast, a male, who is dependent on the confession of love from Princess Belle in order for him to obtain his original human form. However, Princess Belle’s father is shown to sacrifice his daughter to the Beast for his own safety. A female is merely used for the safety of a male. Again, a sexist representation of females in Disney movies. At the end of the story, there is a marriage and the promise of a Happily Ever After as in all the aforementioned features.

It is clear from the worldwide video, books, and merchandise sales that children have quite happily absorbed these concepts of magic, love, beauty, and of Happily Ever After. The release of movies that seek to question established social and religious mores are often banned from screening, or even release. They result in heated protests and are given the go-ahead only after they clearly state that ‘this work is purely fictional and means to harm no sentiments and bears no resemblance to any character, living or dead’ added with a further 15-second display of the same. Then why isn’t the same done to make it known to children that what they are about to view in a Disney movie is fictional, and should not be mistaken for reality? Why is it that an error so grievous in nature, which concerns children aged below ten, is overlooked? Is it merely because the makers, adults, have taken it for granted that the views of ten-year-olds on the subject of Disney features will be on the same page as theirs? Or is it that the commercial success of the features is so important to them that they have plainly forgotten the moral aspect?

A change is necessary in modern Disney animated features in order to make them more viewer-friendly and reduce negative criticism. There have been claims ranging from sexual innuendo to subliminal images in Disney features. Such flaws have not gone overlooked by critics and scrutiny continues. The makers of Disney’s children’s movies must pay more attention to detail in order to render such allegations groundless. An approach to fix the sexist problems which have been portrayed through their movies would be the Beauty and The Beast approach, where they tried to balance the depiction of females they had made in earlier movies by doing the same with a male character. Though that approach did not work to the extent they might have desired, it is a start. The other, more effective approach to deal with differentiating reality and fantasy fiction is the Finding Nemo approach, which clearly showed the differences between the animal world and the world of humans. We saw a similar concept in the Toy Story films, which made sure that the real world and the world of the toys were of two totally different dimensions with no interaction between each other. With such, more refined scripts Disney could be headed in the right direction towards preserving logical standards of their stories. But, on the other hand, if kids think crabs are friendly creatures and will help them, there promises to be a whole new field of doctors operating on crab bites on children.

Works cited

Article by Ali Wachutka on Disney’s sexist portrayal of women. 2008. Web.

Fairy Tales. 2008. Web.

The Brothers Grimm. 2008. Web.

Walt Disney. 2008. Web.

Snow White. 2008. Web.

Cinderella. 2008. Web.

The Little Mermaid. 2008.

• Original fairy tale. Web.
• Disney version. Web.

Beauty and the Beast. 2008.

• Original fairy tale. Web.
• Disney version. Web.

Allegations against Disney features. 2008.

Wikipedia pages of the features of The Little Mermaid. Index, pt. 5. Web.

The Lion King. Index, pt. 8.2. Web.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Index, pt. 5. Web.

Aladdin. Index, pt. 6.4. Web.

The Rescuers. Index, pt. 13.1. Web.

Finding Nemo. 2008. Web.

Introduction

Animated films are popular throughout the world and they enjoy the viewership of millions of people from all age groups. Feature-length animated films evolved from the short subject cartoons that were popular from the early 1930s. The individual credited with introducing animations to the public is the renowned entertainment and media figure, Walt Disney. Disney Studios created the first ever animation feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It debuted in 1937 and the film was so groundbreaking that it received a special award from the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences in 1938. It was recognized as a significant screen innovation that created a new entertainment field for millions of viewers.

Whitley (2013) considers the move to feature length animations as Disney’s single most impressive achievement in the history of animated film. This move was an ambitious and risky step by Disney since no other studio had attempted to produce a feature-length film. The project was expensive and failure would have been catastrophic to the company. Inge (2004) reveals that before moving to animations, Disney producers had to be sure that their artists, who produced comic shorts of a few minutes duration, had the ability to stretch their talents to fill a screen for ninety minutes. In light of the significance of Disney’s creation of the first feature length animation, this paper will set out to investigate the steps Walt Disney Studio took to creating the revolutionary feature length animation.

Steps taken to Create Disney’s Feature Length Animation

Story Structure

The first and most important component of the animated film was the story. Norman Rockwell Museum (2013) states that according to Disney Studios founder Walt Disney, the story was the central and most important part of the entire animated film. With this in mind, Disney devoted significant time and resources to the development of great stories. To create a feature length animation, Disney had to come up with themes and plotlines that could captivate and entertain the audience over a longer period of time. A defining characteristic of the feature length animation was that it was longer than the short cartoons previously produced by Disney.

However, Whitley (2013) declares that moving from short cartoon to animation was not simply a matter of expansion in terms of running time. Retaining the audience attention was paramount to the success of the animation. Walt Disney’s detailed attention to the plot and character development contributed significantly to the success of feature animations. The Norman Rockwell Museum (2013) reveals that Walk Disney understood that the success of the feature animation would largely depend on the quality of the story.

For this reason, Disney set out to create animations that had the plots that could sustain the audience’s interests until the end of the movie and that contained characters that made the audience care about them. The successful story had a number of key elements that included the setting, characters, a conflict, purpose, and a resolution.

Disney writers were taxed with coming up with a script for the film. The writers ensured that the dialogue in the animation was engaging. The character development process was also undertaken during the scripting process. Significant research is undertaken to ensure that the characters feel authentic. When the animation was based on the work of other authors, the scripting process involved adjusting the story to accentuate certain themes. Inge (2004) documents that Walt Disney was famous for taking the work and writings of numerous other authors and retelling their tales through animation.

Story Board

The second step in creating an animation was the development of a storyboard. The storyboard shows the director’s vision of the animation. As such, a good storyboard is able to tell a visual story in such a way that the entire crew of production personnel knows what the director wants (White, 2006). By definition, a storyboard is a series of rough sketches that demonstrate how a particular story will play out. Storyboards are used to provide filmmakers with a visual illustration of the story’s plot.

The sketches are in sequence allowing filmmakers to visualize how the story will progress. Disney made use of storyboards to visually represent the key moments in the animated film. The storyboards were created by storyboard artists who illustrated the whole film in a series of frames similar to a very long comic strip. The storyboard artists went over the script created in the previous step to determine the number of storyboard panels needed.

In addition to the visual illustrations, storyboards also contained words. These words could be in the form of captions depicting what the characters would say. The words could also be footnotes of the actions that would be undertaken by the characters at the particular scene. According to Inge (2004), the storyboards helped Disney producers determine the coherence of the animation. Through these tools, inconsistencies in the plot could be identified easily and corrective measures taken. This greatly aided in ensuring that the stories created where not only coherent but engaging for audiences.

Concept Art

After these initial two steps had been carried out, Disney moved on to the more artistic parts of creating the feature length animation. The first artistic step was coming up with the concept art. The concept is the environment in which the film is set. The concept design is of significant importance in the design and development of the feature length animation. White (2006) notes that when audiences watch a film, approximately 95% of what they see in each scene is the background environment. This happens whether the audience is conscious of it or not. Consequently, the background art contributes significantly to the overall perception of the quality of the animation. With a rich and high quality background, an animation (even one having a mediocre character design) can be given the illusion of quality or emotional quality.

Disney has a history of spectacular background art. White (2006) confirms that the classic Disney movies are famous for their magnificent background art and their ability to set moods or themes. This reputation was achieved by the amount of effort that Disney put in the concept art process. In this state of developing the film, the skilled artists worked hard to establish the required atmosphere of the film or the particular scene.

Specifically, Disney employed a concept artist who determined the overall visual and color look for the entire project under the supervision of the animation director. After the overall look had been determined, the concept artist set out to develop, in finer detail, a stage by stage representation of all the major aspects of the storyline. White (2006) states that concept artists made use of different visual and color approaches to convey varying moods, emotions, and actions encountered throughout the storyline.

This process was based on the understanding that specific colors suggest specific moods and emotions. During the concept art stage, the key character models and their appropriate background stylings were combined. White (2006) explains that by doing this, the direct and his development team were able to acquire a better appreciation of the look and feel of the project.

Character Concept Development

Characters play a great role in a feature length animation. These are the objects though which the story is told. The characters have personalities and they are responsible for fulfilling the key elements of the story. White (2006) declares that next to the animation process, character design is the most important aspect of the film. During this stage, the artists at Disney studies endeavored to develop personality animation.

According to the Norman Rockwell Museum (2013), personality animation is a technique that results in the establishment of personality in a particular character by defining the character’s movement and his/her reactions. This technique was of great importance to Disney’s animation productions since it helped give each character a sense of individuality and uniqueness. Through this step, a character that had no obvious characteristics was able to acquire a personality through his/her attitudes and mental relationship towards other characters or objects.

Character development also included defining looks and physical attributes. In this step, the physical features and attire of the characters were created. Significant background research might have been required to create the appropriate image for the character. White (2006) explains that in this stage, the Character artist must know the race, gender, ethnic background, attitude, and physical build of the proposed character. Disney artists also developed a unique style of movement for each character further increasing on his/her uniqueness. In addition to this, the character artist provided the set of facial expressions that could be unique to the character.

Model Sheets

After developing the character concept, the production team at Disney moved on to creating model sheets. Bancroft (2013) declares that Disney relied upon model sheets to “illustrate what a character should look like as a guide for all of the animators to follow” (124). The illustration contained in the model sheet was the final design approved by the directors in charge of the animation. Characters models sheets were elaborate illustrations of all the characters featured in the animation film. These sheets contained all the possible physical and expressive characteristics of each character once it was animated.

Each character had its own model sheet where a range of poses and different expressions that could be used by the character where illustrated. The model sheet could also show the character from varying angles. The Norman Rockwell Museum (2013) documents that sometimes a model sheet could include more than one character to assist in showing the height and girth differences among the various interacting characters. Model sheets were critical to the production process since multiple animators were used to create the feature-length film. By acting as a reference that could be used by all the participating animators, the model sheets ensured consistency throughout the film.

Animation

The next step was animation which literally means “to bring to life”. Yoon and Malecki (2009) observe that Walt Disney was able to master the business of animation, “blending richness, technical perfection, and economic power which artisans could not match” (p.244). In this step, the animators engaged in activities aimed at giving the illusion that the characters were alive. This was achieved by photographing the drawings and viewing them in rapid succession.

This created the illusion of lifelike motion in the drawing. Each drawing used in the animation process is presented in a single frame. To create the illusion of movement, the animation requires a number of frames to be shown each second. For a good quality animation film, the frame rate is 24fps. This means that 24 individual drawings will be photographed and shown in quick succession within the time frame of one second. Each different drawing would have a subtle difference from the previous one in order to create the illusion of seamless motion. This process was therefore very time-consuming and labor intensive.

Disney developed the cel animation process, which was a great advance in animation. This method increased the speed with which animations could be created. Through cel animations, animators were saved the effort of having to draw each entire frame. Instead, the animator could simply draw the part of the frame that changed. Typically, the animation drawings were made using pencil and paper. However, the final animation drawings could include color lines to ensure that the personnel in the next step knew what ink color to use.

A key objective of Disney during the animation process was to create movements that closely mimicked those made by humans or animals in the real world. To achieve this, artists at Disney sometimes relied on reference drawing during the animation process. Reference drawing involved using live actors to model the actions that the animation characters would perform. The animators observed the live actors performing and then used this as a reference for realistic movement for the animated characters. The Norman Rockwell Museum (2013) records that through reference drawing, the animators in Disney studios were able to mimic realistic movements and therefore create impressive animations.

Painting

Once the animation drawings had been drawn, the production cel stage followed. A cel (known as a celluloid) was a blank clear plastic sheet and the artists painted the animated drawings on this. The painting was done on top of the original pencil drawing provided by the animator. The inking and painting stage was very important since it produced the images that would be seen by the audience in the final film.

According to the Norman Rockwell Museum (2013), the best artists were used in this stage to produce high quality paintings. This step was very labor intensive and Disney had an entire department of artists working at this stage. Once the cels had been created, they were placed over the background created in the concept art stage. This was then photographed in a sequential order creating the illusion of motion in the complete feature film. This final product was packaged in reels and distributed to cinema halls for public viewing.

The success of the first feature length animation produced by Disney led to the growth of an animation film industry. There was a demand for animations of feature-length and many production companies moved in to fulfill the demand. However, Disney remained the most prominent studio, producing high quality films for decades since the first animation feature film was produced in 1937.

Conclusion

This paper set out to provide a detailed description of the steps that Disney historically used to create feature length animations. The paper began by acknowledging the great significant of Disney’s first feature length animation in the history of the animation industry. It then proceeded to highlight the various steps undertaken in creating a feature length animation film. Disney began by creating a story structure and then proceeded to create a story board which told the story in a visual way. The concept environment was then created after which the characters were developed. This was followed by the creation of model sheets from which the animation pictures could be made. The final step was inking and painting and it created the final product that would be seen by the audience.

Through this paper, the distinctive difference between the animation production system and the film production system has been demonstrated. The paper has discussed the different technologies and labor skills that Disney relied on in the production of its feature length animation. The paper has demonstrated how Disney relied on artists and animators for its production process. The animation industry has evolved significantly over the last few decades due to the technological developments experienced during this time. Particularly, there has been a move from hand-drawn cel techniques to computer graphics imagery. The steps taken by Disney to create its early feature length animations are therefore no longer used today. However, one can develop a better appreciation of the various involving activities that went into creating a traditional Disney animation through this research.

References

Bancroft, T. (2013). Directing for Animation: Everything You Didn’t Learn in Art School. NJ: CRC Press. Web.

Inge, M.T. (2004). Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Journal of Popular Film & Television, 32(3), 132-142. Web.

Norman Rockwell Museum. (2013). Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic. MA: Norman Rockwell Museum. Web.

White, T. (2006). Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for Digital Animators. NY: Taylor & Francis. Web.

Whitley, D. (2013). The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation. NY: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Web.

Yoon, H., & Malecki, J. (2009). Cartoon planet: worlds of production and global production networks in the animation industry. Industrial and Corporate Change, 19(1), 239–271. Web.