Disney Essay Topics

Hi everyone,

I'm writing an extended essay (approx. 14 pgs) for school, and i decided that I wanted to write about the Walt Disney Co. So far, the only topic within this large topic I can think of is: through Disney's rapid expansion in the 80s and 90s, the company lost the morals and values in which it was founded upon. Any comments or ideas on this topic? Does anybody else have any ideas on a thesis? (It has to be a narrow topic, one which can be proved through some research)

thanks for all your help!

I actually had to do that pretty much exact assignment last term at my college, and it ended up to be harder than i thought. I ended up having a lot of negative things to say about the rapid expansion, lack of core, etc etc. It was for a travel marketing class and I also chose to focus a portion of the paper on comparisons between Universal/Islands/Citywalk to Disney properties as a whole, expectations of the public, and other social and socioeconomic factors affecting both as well. Definitely check out "The Disney Way" by Bill Capodaglia and "Married to the Mouse" by Foglesong. Just write what you know, but also let yourself be objective about everything (which is hard for disney lovers) and i'm sure it'll all turn out how you want.

I wrote about Walt Disney's contributions to WWI and WWII in a 7 page college final report.....

Well any way another suggestion is to write about all the stuff walt accomplished in his life. Fox example.

on Pg 1 & 2 describe his childhood and family & how he got interested in Art.
Pg 3 talk about his service to the Red Cross in WWI and how his interest in art blossomed during that time. Also when he was in France during WWI as an ambulance driver, that is when he took up smoking, which eventually killed him.
pg 4 talk about all the things he did, art wise after he returned home from WWI.
pg 5 Talk about Oswald the Rabbit and Mickey Mouse.
pg 6 Talk about the Hyperion Studios & Silly Symphonies cartoons.
pg 7 & 8 Talk about all the technological advancements the Walt Disney Studios made in the entertainment industry (Like the Multiplane Camera) and some of the ground breaking films Walt made (Snow White was the first full length color animated feature film, Steamboat Willie was the first black and white cartoon to feature sound, etc.)
pg 9 Talk about Disneyland and it's history.
pg 10 & 11 Talk about the Florida Project (Disney World/EPCOT)
pg 12 Talk about the "Mineral King" ski resort he wanted to open and how he lit the torch in the olympics around that same time.
pg 13 & 14 Talk about Walts death and what Disney has blossomed into today.
pg 14 & 15 Talk about why you are a fan of Disney.

Did that give you any ideas?;).

I've gotten the chance to so two Disney essays. The first one (9 pages) was about Disney's relationship with his father and how that influenced his work ethic and even though his father treated him badly, he still has the first window on main street and so on. The second one was for an ethnicity class and it was titled in defense of Disney (So not the assignment) and I counterattacked every argument made in the movie Mickey Mouse Monopoly. The script can be found online.

Well I am not gonna wholy disagree with you Alice because I know you did your research on Walts dad and I respect that 100%. You see I watched "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth" and they said yes he was hard on Walt but only because he loved Walt and din't want Walt to make any wrong decisions. They also said that he helped invest money into Walts interest for art even though he did not think Walt would have a successful career as an artist.

I think he was a dad who showed tough love. I mean if Walt hated his dad, then he wouldn't have bought his parents their home in Burbank to be closer to Walt and Roy.

Plus back in the 1900's, getting a whoopin from your father was something that was normal then. During the early 1900's getting a spanking over the rear with a belt or paddle was completely normal but these days it is viewed as abuse.

I heard rumors of Walts dad being drunk at times, but don't know if it is true. But I think most of the time he was just a strict dad who showed tough love and wanted to make sure his children made the right choices in life.

But don't think that I am debunking what you may have said about abuse back then because I agree with you. The punishment many children suffered were quite abusive compared to todays standards. But the parents in the 1900's did not see that type of punishment as a form of abuse the way we see it now-a-days.

thanks so much for your inputs!

so far..heres what I have as my sorta semi-polished thesis:

Through its rapid expansion in the 80s and 90s, the Walt Disney Company lost sight of the morals and ideals in which its very foundation was built upon.

any comments?

at this point, I can still change my thesis, but it has to be very specific. (i.e. focusing on a particular aspect of the disney co)

anymore ideas?

also, any ideas on where i can get sources? (books, articles, graphs/charts, people i could interview, etc...)

thanks again!

[quote=Disney Wrassler]Well I am not gonna wholy disagree with you Alice because I know you did your research on Walts dad and I respect that 100%. You see I watched "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth" and they said yes he was hard on Walt but only because he loved Walt and din't want Walt to make any wrong decisions. They also said that he helped invest money into Walts interest for art even though he did not think Walt would have a successful career as an artist.


Most of my research came from the book How to be like Walt, and what Dave Smith, the Disney Archivist told me. He said all children escaped the house by the time they were 19, Roy left through his window in the middle of the night, and Elias Disney did inno way support walt's decision to become an animator. He wanted him to work at the Jelly Factory with him. Also if you look into the Disney archives off the Disney website it will say that Walt had a paper route of which he got to keep absoltutely none of the money and you know he walked in the snow two miles uphill both ways...;)

Books: "Disneywar" "Disney: the first 100 years" "How to be like Walt" "Walt: the man behind the myth" are really good ones
People: e-mail Dave Smith the Disney archivist because he's really in the know and may be helpful for you. He doesn't respond to everyone though

Instead, why not focus on how personal egos and lack of personal responsibility has led to the devaluing of the Disney brand? You can draw some pretty interesting comparisons to things outside the Disney company, such as how refusing to admit that DCA was a flawed concept from the start has led to 5 years of throwing money at the park instead of fixing the actual thematic problem - much like during the Asian market crash, bankers who didn't want to admit to having made bad loans would instead make further loans to people in default to try and keep them afloat, and how that contributed to the extent of the crisis.

Or something like that.

You'd have lots of examples - Eisner and sports teams, Pressler and maintenance, etc.

The influence of the Walt Disney World Resort on the state of Florida.
How a Magic Kingdom theme park opening in 1971 created the Floridian tourism industry almost bare-handedly, and how Disney's ability to do whatever it wants in its mini-enclave within the state has affected how it runs the property.

[quote=Alice's Wonderland]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Disney Wrassler

Well I am not gonna wholy disagree with you Alice because I know you did your research on Walts dad and I respect that 100%. You see I watched "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth" and they said yes he was hard on Walt but only because he loved Walt and din't want Walt to make any wrong decisions. They also said that he helped invest money into Walts interest for art even though he did not think Walt would have a successful career as an artist.


Most of my research came from the book How to be like Walt, and what Dave Smith, the Disney Archivist told me. He said all children escaped the house by the time they were 19, Roy left through his window in the middle of the night, and Elias Disney did inno way support walt's decision to become an animator. He wanted him to work at the Jelly Factory with him. Also if you look into the Disney archives off the Disney website it will say that Walt had a paper route of which he got to keep absoltutely none of the money and you know he walked in the snow two miles uphill both ways...;)

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Yes I remember that stuff too. Walt was heartbroken when his older brothers left him. I remember during this time Roy & Walts relationship blossomed and it had something to do with their father. But I forget what that was. The only other thing I can see about the paper route is that Elias probably took Walts money becayse they were not doing so well financially and plus when Elias lost much of their money in his failed Jelly factory he had to have income coming in from anywhere possible. It sucks, but I bet that was unfortunately the only thing to do.

It sounds as though you are trying to focus solely on Walt Disney and his company, have you considered looking at society? You could look at the effect/impact that Disneyland has had on Ca. and more specifically, the city of Anaheim and it's citizens over the past 50 years.

Good point Mickeys Girl.

Here is another idea that just came to me.

Talk about all the people who have headed Disney since Walts death, all the Technological advancements the company has made, all the screw ups they made, and all the great decisions they made, and how much they Disney has had an impect on our economy and our world over the years.

Sorry just a quick correction Disney Wrassler, The Jelly Factory failed after Disney had started Iwerks-Disney. He had a paper route before the war, and Elias wanted Walt to join the jelly factory upon returning. Walt said no. Plus Dave Smith told me that Elias never gave Walt his approval of what he was doing nor ever understood what he was trying to accomplish through his company.

Are these topics at all helpful toward your paper?