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What do McDonald's, Nike, Microsoft, and Disney all have in common?

- They are all dominant companies in their respective fields, and

- As a result, they all have become magnets for public criticism.

Whether the charges are ruining the diets of millions of Americans with fatty fast food (McDonald's), profiting from sweatshop labor (Nike), monopolizing computer software (Microsoft), or warping popular culture and corrupting youth (Disney), these names have appeared regularly in the national media.

In Disney's case, this company certainly has had a huge influence on popular culture for the past eighty years. It's been said the most powerful symbols to emerge from the Twentieth Century were the Red star, the Nazi swastika, and Mickey Mouse. Like other dominant companies, such success makes Disney fair game for a special kind of scrutiny. Why?

First, Walt Disney was a master storyteller with a unique style. It isn't a coincidence that his official biography is entitled "Walt Disney: An American Original" (by Bob Thomas, Simon & Schuster, 1976). As such, he had a particular talent for both retelling classic stories and innovating. Anyone who essentially rewrites "Pinocchio", "Alice in Wonderland", and "Peter Pan" is inviting a fair amount of second-guessing. Combine that with some truly radical ideas, such as setting classical music to animation as he did in the 1940 release "Fantasia", and you can really get people's attention. For example, music critic Dorothy Thompson of the "New York Herald Tribune" wrote "I left the theater in a condition bordering on nervous breakdown" ("The Disney Films" by Leonard Maltin, Hyperion, 1995, p. 44). And then there was Walt's idea of bringing President Abraham Lincoln to life, but that controversy deserves at least one topic of its own.

Second, for many of us Disney entertainment has given us some of the best memories of our lives, both in childhood and adulthood. Yet the only constant in the world is change, and we especially abhor changes to an icon. But Walt Disney died in 1966, and the 1950s (Disneyland opened in 1955) are long gone. Is Walt's legacy of wholesome family entertainment eroding? Many think so, and as a lifelong Disney fan and collector, I would have to agree. Certainly every Internet discussion board and chat room I've ever been a party to has been filled with lamentations about eroding standards. Somehow a visit to a Disney theme park today doesn't seem quite the same as it did in the past.

Third, there is profit

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