Wednesday, 15 December 2010

Disney and Ideology



An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions.



Entertainment, including a child’s bedtime story, is never just entertainment. Cultural products always reinforce or resist (and sometimes both at once) a society’s collective social values and belief systems. A film’s ideological meanings refer to the ideas that the film conveys about its world’s social relations, economic structures, and political institutions. Disney classics are not as timeless as Walt Disney would have liked to think because they all carry the ideological baggage of their time.



Dumbo, for example, is an icon of the American dream; his story takes America’s capitalist sociopolitical system for granted. In a socialist context, realizing one’s dream to become a star would not be a positive story; like the horse in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a socialist hero would sacrifice his or her life for the community without wanting glamour or financial benefit in return. Dumbo’s success is measured by a Hollywood contract and a cheering crowd.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbhUeom-KD4





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