The first multimedia kingdom was built on the basis of animation, but its happy tone concealed the gloomy mind of its founder.
Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse and the first animal star movies, and he also invested in Disneyland and modern multimedia companies. Regardless, his inventions have impacted our entertainment world and life experiences. But the most significant thing Walt Disney did was build a huge reputation for himself.
There is no doubt that Disney became a brand a long time ago, and while it has received permanent public attention, it has also been brutally invaded. As a beacon guiding parents in their pursuit of pure, appropriate children's entertainment, the Disney trademark—its creator's formatted signature and the image of Mickey Mouse—enables us to universally agree that its connotations do not deviate from a safe, healthy, and enjoyable America. Mainstream lifestyle.
Now, this trademark shows that Disney is a company with annual sales of US$2.2 billion and is the largest media company in the world. It provided its creator with many unimaginable spin-offs, some of which even brought him a curse because he couldn't think long term in all the details. While his company was filled with bright business prospects, this complex, sullen decision-maker wasn't really happy about it.
Seeing Walt Disney as "a joyless soul" can cause confusion among older Americans. Through years of continuous publicity and induction by the Disney Company, they believe that Walt Disney is "the happiest man." A commonly used promotional advertisement by the Disney Company is: "Our mission is to bring joy to everyone." As the gag goes , Walt Disney hinted that this task was easy, because he often whistled while working, indicating that "I have no depressed mood" and "I am happy, and very happy."
Everyone is convinced of this, and it sounds reasonable. Isn't it? If anyone deserved to have fun in old age, it was Walt Disney! Didn’t he succeed in realizing America’s most wonderful dream? Didn't he create a cute mouse and bring happiness to thousands of households? Or is he not using his fame and wealth to play the role of a fatherly storyteller and magician uncle to his children? But no single entrepreneurial triumph has been assailed by the anger and fear of so many contemporary audiences, and Henry, Ford and Bill Gates would have been lucky compared to Walt Disney.
One observant writer described Disney as "a tall, melancholy man suffering from inner pain." This description aroused greater interest in him. In fact, Uncle Walt Disney did not have the temperament of an elder. Although he could control his rough characteristics and behave very kindly, his characteristics of shrinkage, doubt and self-inhibition were strange, and each of them was strange. Traits have good—or at any rate clear—reasons.
Walt Disney was born into a family that was not so much economically poor as it was emotionally poor. His father, Ellis, was an irresponsible guy who wandered around the heart of Hollywood all day long, looking for various opportunities for success, but he always failed. He turned this failure into an emotional attack on his children, which caused his children to run away from him as early as possible.
Walt Disney was Ellis' youngest son. He joined the Red Cross at the age of 16 and served in World War I. While serving with the Red Cross, Disney continued to paint. After his service ended, he opened a studio in Kansas City as a commercial artist. There, Disney discovered that cartooning was a new field open to him, and he decided to use this to escape the tragic fate of his father.
The art form of cartoons attracted Disney, which suited his personality very well. Each animated cartoon can build a small world, a world that is different from real life, a world that the individual can ultimately have complete control over. "If he was like an actor, he would just tear himself apart." This is what a jealous Alfred Hitchcock later said about Disney.
Disney worked hard in his studio and lived as simple as eating canned broad beans. This is like a memorable time in any success story.
It was not until he moved to Los Angeles to partner with his kind and shrewd brother Xiao that this difficult time ended. Ray took care of Disney's business while he worked on the original creations. Even so, his first work was stolen. The occurrence of this incident naturally strengthened Disney's sense of control and protection, and it also opened the way for the subsequent success of Mickey Mouse. Subsequent works were quite successful, and the animated characters he created became the embodiment of unconquerable joy.
However, these successes are all attributed to Disney's persistent pursuit of technology. He was the first person to add music and other sounds to cartoons. This pioneering work made the animated images he created highly praised by the audience. Especially in the early days of the development of sound films, when live films were still bound to fixed lenses and microphones, Disney's cartoons had conquered countless audiences.
The 1930s were the golden age of Disney's artistic talent. Like the early use of sound films to produce animated films, Disney adopted the color printing method. Although he is not a bad sensationalist, he has proved that he is a first-rate director of funny characters and stories. He is a boss who is a bit academic, a bit ignorant and ridiculous, but always works and practices himself. He made the company's team of painters experts with extraordinary technical and creative abilities. When Disney took a risk on his first feature film (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), it proved to be no risk and the film became an unprecedented success. Even smart artists can see a kind of populist authenticity in the film - natural, innocent, and somewhat emotional; bravery and a solemn commitment to life. This is what makes the film so fascinating.
But everyone misunderstood Disney. In his subsequent tragic and clever "Pinocchio" and ambitious "Dreamland", although he brought his technology to the extreme. But these films were unsatisfactory, offering nothing new beyond forgettable animation and a litany of clichés. What it points to is the fact that - as film historian David Thomas puts it - "his appeal had no substance".
Disney worked hard to express realism in his works. There was a wonderful time in his childhood when the family lived on a farm outside of Marktin, Missouri. Disney expressed the sweetness of small-town life and the values ??he briefly tried in his works.
His persistent pursuit of happiness is like a painkiller, relieving the pain in his heart. But in 1941, a labor dispute once again ended his unrealistic fantasies.
From a business point of view, Disney has its success. Most people hope that his entertainment will be comfortable and attractive, rather than "chaotic smart"—— This is especially true when they are raising children. Disney's adaptation of folklore breaks away from its original rough, emotional and didactic shackles and becomes more entertaining. As a result, he was attacked by film critics and scorned by social critics. As one critic said, Disney's films lost "the original impulse of life behind the story."
Disney doesn’t want to put too much didactic power into its animation. For him, all questions relate to whether the film can be staged. Perhaps he is willing to be a defender of cultural traditions, but he pays more attention to technology rather than devout belief in the old culture.
Of course he became the first celebrity in Hollywood to get involved in television. The films he made have endured for decades because the television industry was not only a profit-making institution, but also promoted and disseminated all of his work. A plethora of productions were broadcast on television, including hilarious slice-of-life comedies, strictly anthropomorphic nature documentaries, and, of course, Disneyland. He put a lot of effort into Paradise.
For him, Disneyland was another adventure. He devoted himself to the design of the park and incorporated many of the best features of modern urban planning into the design and transformed these features into "image". As a result, all simulations in the park, including dangerous buildings, locations and absurd images, can be safely replicated. In his opinion, Disneyland was better than any movie: it was a three-dimensional space without the hassle of narrative plot. In fact, paradise is even better than real life. The paradise provides an imaginary environment, giving people an experience in a desert, completely controlled environment, bringing enough excitement and happiness.
In paradise, the dirt of real society, the misfortunes that happen in life, and other real emotions do not exist. People live in a world of illusory happiness. To create Disneyland, Disney was forced to cut back on other properties to meet the needs of this luxurious and huge world. In 1955, when Disneyland opened, everything changed. Now Disney had his own world and people had to play according to his will.
Before Disney died of cancer at the age of 65, we can imagine that he was happy. He finally devised a mechanism to constantly tinker with his world. The eager young man who had been driven out of his peaceful small-town life was now finally an emperor - no, an absolute dictator - ruling over a land where he could impose his vision on anyone. This restlessly ambitious young entrepreneur has achieved unimaginable wealth, authority and fame. Later, when asked what he was most proud of, Disney did not mention the joy of children or the family values ??he spread. He replied: "The important thing is that I was able to build an organization and be able to Control it." These are not the sentiments of a children's Uncle Walt, but Walt Disney's works—many of them unaccepted and often understudied—continue to shape our lives in subtle ways. Ways of thinking and dreaming.