DISNEY

Copyright 2020 Shane Rogers Entertainment

Midnight Facts for Insomniacs

Podcast Transcript

(Note: transcript consists of episode outline)

Full disclosure, I’m a big Disney fan. But Let’s talk about some harsh truths.

Walt Disney was sexist af. He didn’t allow women to be employed as Disney animators. A letter from the Walt Disney company to job applicant Mary Ford of Arkansas states ”Dear Ms. Ford, your letter of recent data has been received in the inking and painting department for reply.” Let’s just pause to point out...it doesn’t sound human. That sounds like an alien trying to pass as someone from the Walt Disney Human Resources department. This is a real letter. I guess they communicated differently back in the day. “Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason, girls are not considered for the training school. The only work open to women consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink and filling in the tracing on the reverse side with paint according to directions. “ Disney: experts in animation and condescending, misogynistic correspondence Walt was also racist. Beyond the obvious racist tropes like the crows in Dumbo, the entire movie song of the south, the Siamese cats and all of the stereotypes in the doggy jail in lady and the tramp, Mickey Mouse dressing in blackface...is that enough? If not, Neal Gabler’s autobiography of Walt states in no uncertain terms that he used the N- word in at least one corporate meeting. He referred to the scene in which the dwarfs pile on top of each other in snow White and the seven dwarfs as an “N-word pile.” you can choose not to believe it, but the book seems pretty credible. Considering the time, it’s not shocking, but it is disappointing

Plagiarism: Disney straight up stole the story and characters for the lion king from a Japanese cartoon called jungle emperor. It was eventually translated into English and titled “Kimba the white lion,” and an early memo from Roy Disney even refers to Simba as Kimba. It’s pretty brazen.

Trademark: Disney is notoriously fascist about their trademarks. But they sank to a new low in 1989 when they forced three day care centers in Florida to remove depictions of Mickey and the gang from their classroom murals. really, Disney? That’s cartoonishly evil. No pun intended. Does Disney hire lawyers to literally take candy from babies?

Copyright: The first Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willy (why does everything sound dirty to me? That sounds like a euphemism for something gross, like a dirty sanchez. I gave her a steamboat willy...) premiered in 1928. under copyright law of the time, that cartoon was protected for 56 years. The copyright was scheduled to expire in 1984. But Disney wasn’t having it. They lobbied hard to get the copyright extended, and in 1976, Congress took action. copyrights for corporations were extended to 75 years, which means Mickey was protected until 2003. in 1998, five years before the deadline, Disney once again succeeded in getting Congress to change the law. Mickey is now protected until 2023. In a couple years, you can bet you’re going to be hearing about a renewed push to extend copyright.

Toddler death. In 2016 at Disney’s grand Floridian resort in Florida, a 2-year- old was murdered by an alligator. The happiest place on earth if you’re a hungry reptile. Disney requires their costumed employees to wear company-issued, specific underwear, including Disney jock-straps, tights, or cycling shorts underneath their costumes. The rationale is that normal underwear has a tendency to bunch up and might be seen. Fair. No one wants to see Elmer Fudd’s jockstrap. In 2001, via a Labor bargaining agreement, Disney workers won the legal right to launder the underwear themselves if they chose, because they were concerned about Disney’s hygiene practices when it came to the laundering of the undergarments. apparently there were complains about being forced to wear smelly, still-dirty underwear. i’m not sure I trust high school and college-age employees to launder their own underwear, either. Just be aware that there’s a good chance that under that costume, goofy’s balls are swampy. Mickey has that “not so fresh” feeling.

This isn’t really Disney’s fault, but in 2004 a Disneyland employee playing Tigger was charged with molestation because he supposedly groped a 13 year old girl and her mom during a photo op. He was found innocent based on a demonstration of how difficult it would’ve been to molest someone in that awkward, cumbersome tigger suit. also, what pleasure could you possibly get out of feeling someone up through one of those massive mittens. It’s like trying to grope someone while wearing those giant foam fingers.

There’s no Disney jail under the park, but there’s a holding cell. Not as sinister as it sounds, they need somewhere to detain rule- breakers until the cops come. Much of the underground is Disney’s “utilidor” system. Utility tunnels or corridors. Used for waste removal, fast travel of costumed employees, prep kitchens etc. It’s the backstage of the production.

Let’s move on to light side. Everyone loves Disney. Let’s give some trivia.

The psychology of Disneyland:

Interesting fact, Disneyland uses forced perspective to create the illusion of massive scale. For instance, the taller a building gets, the smaller the bricks and windows etc will be, to make it look as if it’s dwindling off into the distance. it’s a trick of perspective. This is the same reason European guys wear Speedos. Want to make your junk look bigger? Tiny underwear.

Disneyland utilizes a specific, dull shade of green, referred to as “go away green,“ for waste bins and worker doors, etc.… Basically anywhere they don’t want you to look. It’s an especially bland and boring shade of green. it’s the sleeping Beauty of paint color, because that movie is boring AF.

The park is dotted with vents called “smellitzers” that pump out various aromas to enhance the Disney sensory experience. Classically, they use vanilla to make people hungry and create sweet memories (so to speak). they use the smell of old wood and sea salt at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, popcorn at the entrance of the park, etc. I’m officially challenging the nerds of the world to hack the smellitzers. They must be networked. Let’s load up the smell of dead, rotten lemmings. (Give lemming backstory recap.)

Disneyland is an oasis for an army of feral cats, who prowl the streets at night and handle the mouse and vermin population. Disneyland welcomes the cats, but works to control the population as well, spaying and neutering any new cats they find.

Lore vs reality:

Yes, there is a basketball court inside the Matterhorn. It’s really just a hoop. You can see it in a bunch of different documentaries. Cool? Sure. there are a few legends and rumors as to why they installed the court (to get around building codes, etc.) but the truth is that they had unused space and the employees wanted one. So there you have it. It literally looks like the crappiest place to play basketball, under a rumbling roller coaster, but hey, knock yourselves out Disney employees.

And yes, there’s a VIP lounge— club 33–for special guests. One of the worst kept secrets of Disney lore; if you’re a Disney fan you already know about it. for years it was the only place in Disneyland that you could get a cocktail, but now it’s not hard to get alcohol at Disneyland. And especially at California adventure, which I actually prefer. yes, Disney murdered lemmings. Check out the hoaxes episode from season one

No, Walt did not have his head frozen. No, he’s not buried under the pirates of the Caribbean.