Masters of illusion and misdirection the imagineers of Disney have shown the world exactly what their creative minds have wanted the world to see. Whether it was through movies, theme parks or other forms of media Disney has demonstrated how powerful an illusion can be and how willing to be fooled the American people and indeed citizens of the world over are. Originally such powerful creative magic was used for purely creative and entertaining ends by the Disney family, unfortunately this is not the case any longer with the Disney Corporation.
The death of Walt Disney marked not only the end of an era but the end of a dynasty. With Walt died the innocence of youth that captivated both adults and children alike in his wonderful work. Everyone, participant and spectator alike felt like they were part of the Disney family. That was a feeling that Walt worked extremely hard to establish. A feeling of unity that would carry us into the future, this was one of the key visions demonstrated in all of Walt's work.
As is to be expected the Disney Corporation is less concerned with wholesomeness and moral values than with profit. To a certain extent that can be understood, they are a for profit business after all. What is disturbing with their blatant profiteering is the audience which they prey on and the methods they employ on their impressionable audience. Wisely capitalizing on the tradition of family values and inbuilt audience of children and young adults that was creatively cultivated by the Disney family under Walt, the Disney Corporation has targeted this base of consumers for its ongoing profit base.
Churning out often mindlessly pointless and only mildly entertaining films for the sake of cashing in on the almost guaranteed marketing revenue the creativity of much of the new Disney machine has been lacking considerably. Bolstered by the likes of Pixar and other savior companies who think outside the box when it comes to entertainment, Disney has cherry picked talent from various places in order to sustain its money generating machine. As a result the creativity that Disney was once famous for is now slowly but surely being outsourced to other companies under the guise of a Disney production. Gone are the life lesson morality plays that inspire and encourage, replaced instead with mindless gibberish that introduces the now fabled "annoying talking animal" characters available in three different sizes at your local retail store.
Having dropped the ball when it comes to providing wholesome inspirational entertainment the Disney Corporation has stepped even further towards the proverbial "dark side". Having jumped on the "teen idol" generating band wagon Disney is now in the business of producing a plethora of teen "talents" which they use to manipulate their young audience in ways the parents of today have not even begun to comprehend. Instead of espousing the virtues of traditional American values Disney is producing the likes of Britney Spears who exemplifies just about everything that a parent does not want to see in their child. Even the more innocent and pure of Disney entertainers are quickly slipping into the inappropriate field of sexuality with a flood of flesh revealing clothing, lyrics that would make our parents blush and an ever increasingly mature nature to their persona's.
It is these very teen idols that our children are expected by society to hold up as role models. Gone are the days when we would admire police or firefighters, aspire to be astronauts or doctors. Instead every child is under the misguided impression that all they need is to be "discovered" and they'll live a life of luxury and celebrity. This is a twisted idea that is not only created by the likes of the Disney Corporation but nurtured and perpetuated by them.
The assault on our youth by the Disney Corporation is occurring on two fronts. The first is the absence of the meaningful programming that was once a standard set by Walt Disney. The second is the demoralization of our children's entertainment and role models at the hands of corporate money grabbing. However this downfall is hardly exclusive to the Disney clientele, this is a reflection of society in general. The board of directors at Disney is simply savvy enough to take advantage of it and profit from it, like any good business would do. It's a shame that it tarnished the name and memory of a great man in the process.