Disney's Influence on Children's Cultural Development And

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Disney’s Influence on Children’s Cultural Development and Communication in the

Czech Republic

Thesis

Danai Baouraki

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts

Communication and Mass Media

State University of New York

Empire State College

2016

Reader: Dr. Todd Nesbitt

Acknowledgement

With this page I wish to express my genuine appreciation and gratefulness to the following

people:

My mentor Dr. Todd Nesbitt, for his extreme patience and guidance throughout the entire

journey. Despite the tough times ahead of me, his feedbacks on my work were always punctual and constructive. He was at all times understanding and caring and tried to help

and guide me the best way he could.

Mr. Juraj Liška the Head Teacher of the Czech-British School, Nový Porg for allowing me

to contact the parents. As well as all the parents and children of the school who took the

time to take part in my questionnaire for research purposes.

Daniela Slezáková and Dias Fernando for their emotional support and Julie Mahlerová for

helping with formatting the pages correctly.

Last but not least, my entire family for their tolerance, love and support they have shown me, especially my mother Goldie Veselý for always being by my side and spending hours

proofreading my work.

Table of Content

Title Page Acknowledgement Table of Content Abstract 1. Introduction ...... 4-8

2. Chapter 1:Media Effects on Children ...... 8-12

2.1 Children and Media Usage ...... 9-10

2.2 Parent-Child Interactions and Psychological Factors ...... 11-12

3. Chapter 2: Disney Early Years Till Present ...... 13-24

3.1 Walter Elias Disney and the Disney Corporation ...... 13-20

3.2 Disney Myths ...... 20-24

4. Chapter 3: Analysis of Disney Movies ...... 24-39

4.1 Definition of Classic and Contemporary Disney Movies ...... 24-26

4.2 Analyzing Disney Themes ...... 26-30

4.3 Beauty and the Beast and Princess and the Frog ...... 30-33

4.4 Mulan and Tangled ...... 33-35

4.5 Tarzan and Big Hero 6 ...... 35-39

5. Chapter 4: Field Research Analysis ...... 40-45

5.1 Methodology ...... 40-41

5.2 Survey Results and Analysis ...... 41-45

6. Conclusion ...... 45-47

7. Appendices ...... 48-56

8. Works Cited ...... 57-59 9. Bibliography ...... 60-63 Abstract

The topic which is looked at within is, to what extent does Disney influence children’s cultural development and communication in the Czech Republic. The aim of the thesis is to answer three questions; 1. To what extent does Disney influence children’s cultural development? 2. Whether or not Disney helps to develop the child’s communication? And lastly, 3. Whether or not parents should explain the movies to the children and control the amount watched by their child. To answer these questions, it is important to understand how media affects children, how has technology advanced to making everything portable and easier to access. Before looking at

Disney movies, research on Walter Disney is necessary to understand what his main aims and goals were in order to make it one of the largest conglomerate companies. Furthermore, it is important to look at the difference between classic and new Disney by analyzing six movies, looking at the time they were produced, and at the themes, they convey to their audience. To get another perspective instead of only academic research, a questionnaire was handed out to 50

Czech families where both the parents and children had to reply to questions. The results showed that overall; parents watch Disney and allow their own children to watch these movies. They also believe that to an extent it does help children to develop their cultural knowledge and improve their communication through an entertaining method. Results also showed that most parents believe that they need to play a bigger role in their child’s upbringing especially when it comes to letting them watch movies as some topics may need explaining. Overall, Disney does what many other movie creators do; however, it is up to individual families to make it their responsibility and help their children to walk away with useful information and knowing how to filter it appropriately.

1. Introduction

Media comes in various forms such as; television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books and many others. These mediums have been around for centuries and part of the human's daily life from birth till their elderly ages. Media never stops to develop and grow, the technology has been improved, it reaches a variety of target audiences and more people consume media on a daily basis. Media offers a bit of everything to their audiences in order to get their interest, and in the last few years, parents are more open with their children using a media output. For example, parents let their children have a tablet in order to keep the children occupied while they take care of their tasks. More and more children within the newer generations have the newest technologies and applications already from a very young age, and they are becoming known as the digital natives meaning that they are born into a technologically implemented environment and society as from a young age they are introduced to it and learn how to use it (Bittman, Rutherford, Brown, Unsworth, 2011: 161).

Everything always has two sides, and media does as well. When looking at media usage among young children, there are some positive aspects that it can bring, for example, their fine motor skills and cognitive development. It can as well have negative aspects such as; conveying wrong messages and creating false ideologies about reality to the children. This is a concern because children are more pro-active with a variety of technologies and without guidelines, explanations on certain topics or applications the children could be negatively affected by media.

Focusing on only one media output, then it is visible that children have access to many movies which vary on the topic depending on the different age groups and genders. Children movies are a form of entertainment as usually they are animated or cartooned. Parents or teenagers find these movies entertaining because it offers a variety of hidden messages that only older audiences can

4 relate to or understand. However for children, these movies offer the child to enter the world completely different from their own, the movie they watch can be quite entertaining as it is filled with action, magical beings, interesting characters as well as lots of singing and dancing, which allows the child to get involved as it catches their attention.

One of the biggest media conglomerate companies is Disney which creates content for children that is very popular. Disney Corporation has been around for 92 years. Every medium platform uses various methods in order to have an effect on different target audiences, and Disney's target audience is mostly young children but to an extent teenagers and adults as Disney offers entertainment for a wide range of audience.

There has been lots of research done on how advertising and television affect children. However this thesis will examine to what extent does one of the largest children mediums- Disney affects young children. As well as, whether parents should take an approach towards controlling what

Disney films they let their child watch. And whether they should explain to them the cultural, historical, gender themes and information further, as Disney is known for creating ideologies and altering certain character representations whether it is physical, cultural or historical.

Disney's movies are one of the most consumed by children. The figure 1 below shows a 59% rise in the total hours of children’s programming for Disney and comparing the results with various channels that children watch as every channel as well plays movies in the afternoon and in the evening (Atwal, Millwood-Hargrave, Sancho, Agyeman, Karet, 2003: 12).

Figure 1: Total hours of children’s programming on dedicated channels

The influence these movies have on young children may be positive or negative. Every movie has a different message and theme which it conveys to children, and in turn they consume and learn from it. Parents tend to blame media channels for causing a negative effect when it comes to information and life ideologies on their children; however they do not look at themselves and their method of upbringing. Can Disney movies only be harmful if the parents do not explain the concepts portrayed in the movies?

Some parents allow their children to watch and consume any channel without understanding the potential consequences behind it, especially when parents do not take the time to limit the amount watched as well as sit with their children and explain what they have just seen. As the saying goes, children's minds are like sponges, they absorb everything. Therefore, this paper will

6 be focusing on a variety of areas covering Disney as an organization as well as a form of entertainment and communication tool for children.

Disney is a large organization which through time met the needs of consumers, resulting in global growth. They produced a variety of movies such as Toy Story, Inside Out and many others, marketing products, merchandise, attractions such as Disneyland or Disneyworld and lastly television programs such as Disney Channel which at particular hours of the day play a classic or new Disney movie. As mentioned above it is one of the most popular movie companies which children are introduced to at a young age by watching the movies and attending various attractions.

The purpose of the paper is to focus on questions which arise when looking at child Disney movie consumption. It will try to understand three questions of concern: The first one is to what extent does Disney influence children's cultural development? Therefore looking at whether it allows children to be more open and adaptable or if it creates false representations and ideologies, making it harder for the child to adapt and learn especially when moving countries.

The second is to see whether Disney helps to develop the communication between children of the same age but with different backgrounds. For this thesis, children from the Czech Republic will be analyzed because Disney came to the Czech market much later; therefore, it took some time before parents and children started to watch Disney movies. These children attend a private or public school, they as well come from varies birth countries and backgrounds. Therefore, it may be interesting to see if Disney's stereotyped themes help children understand the historical

7 and cultural backgrounds or if it causes a barrier due to not understanding the differences between them.

Lastly, this paper will consider whether or not parents should control and explain how much their children watch and tell them what the movie is about. Parents believe that the media is to blame for corrupting their children’s minds, which to an extent is true; however, it is also important to look at the way parents raise their children and guide them.

In order to examine the above-mentioned areas, this thesis will consist of a variety of sections.

The very first aspect is looking at how media affect children. The next section will be on Walter

Disney and his early years as well as looking at the creation and growth of Disney as a company.

Once the basic understanding of the aims and approaches Disney takes is looked at an in-depth analysis of six movies will be examined. Three of them will be classic and the other three will be contemporary Disney movies, which will focus on various themes and agendas.

The in-depth analysis of the movies will be used towards field research where children between the ages of 6 to 10 who attend a private Czech-British school and their parents will take part in an anonymous questionnaire in order to see how children and parents feel about Disney movies and its influence. The information collected will then be compared and analyzed against the research done.

2. Chapter 1- Media Effects on Children

2.1 Children and Media Usage

Media is all around us and it comes in various forms. It has been a part of our daily lives for years. People use it for many different reasons; some may use it for work related purposes, for educational research or learning, keeping children occupied while parents work on their tasks and other people for their leisurely purpose for example; playing games, watching movies or reading.

Throughout the years, media has been developing rapidly and every technology has undergone growth and a change in soft wares, applications, usage and how it visually looks. Due to the increased advancement of technology and an inflation of work and income for civilians, more technologies became available for people to afford, therefore more electronics and products started to appear in majority households or in consumer's possessions, and some citizens were and are able to afford and acquire more than one of each product, whether it is for them or their friends and family.

One of the most common and largest mediums people have had is the Television. The television first appeared in the 1920’s and 95 years later it is still part of majority people’s daily use

(Stephens). Television is one of the most dominating forms of media within a majority of cultures. For example, in the United States, 99% of American households own a television and in

9 some homes, the families own more than one or two televisions (Liebeskind, Piotrowski,

Lapierre, Linebarger, 2013: 486).

Television to an extent still plays a vital role in the social and developmental aspects of a child's life as it all begins in the household. The reason homes have a television screen is because it has become part of the culture; it is the way people get their entertainment from, their news and it is as well a part of the social family medium. Families use television time in order to get together in the evening, watch a movie, and that way spend quality family evenings with everyone together.

However, due to an increase of televisions per households and the growth of portable electronic devices and technologies, people can easily take their electronic devices into any room or location while at all times being connected online. This creates a bedroom culture mainly among children and teenagers (Heim, Brandtzaeg, Kaare, Endestad, Torgersen, 2007: 428). The bedroom culture means that children and teenagers spend a large fraction of their days and free time inside their personal and private space, known as their bedrooms. This results in a lowered interaction with family members or friends as well as the child becoming less sociable and even affecting their learning as they do not wish to communicate with the outside world, they wish to stay and be active online in the comfort of their own rooms (Heim, Brandtzaeg,et al, 2007:

428).

2.2 Parent-Child Interactions and Psychological Factors

When looking at the content television conveys to children, it to an extent enhances the child's imagination and the world by portraying various roles, characters, situations and environments but unfortunately restricts the child’s creativity. This information the children gather and use towards their playtime between siblings, friends or parents. Children also learn to be more sociable within their peer community as they can exchange information they received with their friends and at the same time creating socio-cultural identities within their society and neighbourhood.

When analysing television usage there are of course negative aspects these are; that children consume one-dimensional information which can affect their creative imagination, and they sit hours in front of the television screen causing a lack of physical movement which is an important aspect for the child's growth (Kampf, Hamo, 2015: 466). However, it can also be helpful for the child as they can use the information they learn from television and integrate it into their own daily lives and activities. It is as well, to a certain extent educational, depending on the program or movie the child watches (Kampf, Hamo, 2015: 466).

Everything a child watches no matter on the program or movie, it is vital that the parents play a key role in explaining to their children the context behind the movie or channel as well as helping them understand what is being said by the characters while at the same time supervising their children's usage of television.

Children, from the age of six years old, experience, identity-building, cognitive, language, memory, conceptualization and problem-solving developments (Vittrup, Snider, Rose, Rippy,

2014: 2). According to an American Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg, who studied and observed that children are active learners and based on another Canadian Psychologist Albert

Bandura's research where he states that behaviour, attitudes and information about people and the environment are part of the learned and cognitive concept (Kohlberg, 1981). Meaning that what children observe they absorb and use this to convey further through their actions or use of language and they build their personal characters by what they learn. It is, therefore, important that parents need to guide them through what the child watches. Not only to explain certain themes, characters, situations, ethnicities and many other aspects but to also help them develop their own language and literacy. Children learn their native language as well as their second language through watching television; however, they have no concept of what they are learning.

Therefore parents should take the initiative to help their children with literacy by watching the shows with their children, and explaining to them the vocabulary in order for the child to use it appropriately instead of learning it alone and then having no idea what it means but due to being active learners they will then use it in their personal lives incorrectly (Liebeskind, Piotrowski, et al, 2013: 487-488). The same can be said about parents controlling, monitoring and educating their children about various themes and topics that the television shows and movies convey to children. Children are active learners, what they see and hear they remember and use it.

However, if parents were explaining and controlling the movies then their child would avoid having misunderstandings due to being too young to understand the context and to decipher it.

Therefore, parents should be there to help them grasp and realize what television offers and that not everything they see or hear is one hundred per cent accurate or real.

3. Chapter 2- Disney Yearly Years Till Present

3.1 Walter Elias Disney and the Disney Corporation

As mentioned above, television is one of the common mediums used. Due to movies being easily portable they are more often used among various consumers. People use movies for their socializing as it allows them to pause or stop the movie to get more drinks or food, as well as pick which movie they prefer to watch and at what time they will watch. While television channels are pre-planned by the companies, they choose what movie or show they will play on what channel and what time making it slightly harder for families, couples and individuals to organize their time in a way that it would allow them to catch the program from the start.

Therefore, when looking at family orientated movies, it is best to have a closer look at Disney movies as they are one of the biggest movie companies which entertain not only adults but mainly children, while at the same time educating children about various themes and topics through an animated portrayal in order to entertain and grasp the attention of the young children.

Disney has grown into a massive organization within the past 92 years. However, when it first started it was much smaller. It all started with the man himself, Walter Disney. He was born in

1901 in Chicago and died 1966. He was a well-known American entrepreneur, cartoonist, animator, voice actor and film producer (Barrier, 2007).

Walter Disney had a tough life growing up; however he always had a passion for cartoons and art which is what kept him moving forward in his life overcoming many difficult obstacles. His very first cartoon studio opened when he was only 20 years old. Mr. Disney worked along-side his brother Roy Disney, who was dealing with their money situation and keeping Mr. Disney on hold with his big ideas and expenses. Mr. Walter Disney struggled to maintain a balance between business and art; he wanted to have full control of everything and every department which for one man alone is a challenging task. His employees used to say that he was an artist, barely an owner or manager (Barrier, 2007:7).

When it came to cartoons, Mr. Disney had a few successes and some failures. But with every failure, he took it as a chance to learn from, and eventually, he advanced the technology and animation leading to one of his first biggest successes, Snow White (1937). In 1937 Snow White grossed 4346 million dollars and as well allowing Walter Disney to use the money towards building a better and improved film studio to increase public awareness. (Barrier, 2007: 13). Few years later his Disney movies became hits with the public.

This was however, not enough for Walter Disney. He ended up taking a break from improving the animation and creating movies, in order to grow into another direction, which lead to producing live action figures, TV shows and further down in his path , theme parks which would create a "...association with Disney's films would give it an emotional resonance that traditional parks lacked" (Barrier, 2007: 8). He was a man with dreams and ambitions and he did not let anything get in his way of making them a reality, he fought hard and long to get to where Disney is now, a cultural icon.

Before Disney became one of the biggest mediums Mr. Disney had to start in a smaller animation film studio called Laugh-o-Gram films which were silent comic strip movies that were shown every two weeks (Barrier, 2007: 31-38). Walter Disney had big ambitions which lead to him creating silent strips in 1922 of Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, and many others while at the same time trying to move on to making his very own clips, movies and getting investors to participate in his venture.

However, as time went by he was running low on prospects in Kansas City. He then decided to move away to Hollywood and have a fresh start. Hollywood brought no luck for him or his laugh-o-gram either as Mr. Disney said: "I think it's important to have a good hard failure when you're young...I learned a lot out of that" (Barrier, 2007: 39). Leaving laugh-o-gram behind him, he tried one more stop, Los Angeles. It was however; once again he was without any luck. He then decided to venture on his own with a few of his colleagues he had worked with in the past.

With his new team and motivation, he finalized Steamboat Willie and hired an orchestra in order to add an atmosphere with sound to the animation; it was released to the audience in 1928 in

New York. After the animation became popular, Mr. Disney refocused his attention to Mickey

Mouse as he became part of a national mania. Due to marketing, Disney started a line of Mickey

Mouse merchandise. By 1935, an animator gave Mickey a new look by giving him white gloves, shorter nose and making him cuter for the audience. They as well included Mickey in a variety of short animations and each time placing him in various scenarios (Suddath, 2008).

Despite an impressive turn out with his cartoons, Mr. Disney wanted to make his animations, even more, realistic with facial expressions, movement, clothing and a larger variety of feelings.

By improving his animation using advanced technology and art, he would target a wider audience.

Mr. Walter Disney was a skilled artist but he was not well balanced at work. His employees were quite fond of him, one of Walter Disney’s animators said, "Walt always made it seem to me that the most important thing in the world was to help him make a picture look the way he wanted it to look. It was a lot of fun to feel I was doing the most important thing in the world, every day"

(Barrier, 2007: 99).

Even though his colleagues liked him, the animators faced many challenges; there were two which stood out the most. The first one is that the animators had to create a more realistic image of characters in order to appeal to the audience, by making the facial expressions and movement more human-like. The second challenge was to create similarities within the movies in order for people to be drawn to the characters and story as they would feel a similar emotion again. For example, Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Cinderella (1950) had similarities with Snow White (1937) due to their saviors; the prince and the white horse. 101 Dalmatians (1961) had a different set of similarities as this time the movie was not about people but about animals therefore, it can be compared to Lady and the Tramp (1955) where the audience connects emotionally with the animals. Another aspect Disney did and still does is putting ‘Easter Eggs’ into his movies, which means that in every Disney movie a character, scene or object would reappear in a different

16 form, for example, Mulan (1998) was a poster on a wall in Lilo & Stitch (2002), Mrs. Pots from

Beauty and the Beast (1991) was used as an instrument played on by Terk in Tarzan (1999).

These ‘Easter eggs’ are useful to have as it reminds the audience of the other movie and gets them to re-watch it, keeping older Disney movies part of the newer generations.

Despite a chaotic cooperation and communication, everyone managed to work together and bring the pictures to life with Mr. Walter Disney’s visions and improved technology, which he kept getting and updating, in order to truly create what he envisioned in his mind and portray it visually to his audience.

Walter Disney's name grew and so did his studio. People from all over the world knew who

Walter Disney is and adored his movies whether they were adults or kids. As mentioned above,

Mr. Disney always wanted to grow further; therefore, his studio became a corporation. Before

Disney was only known for their movies but later Mr. Disney also started designing and planning theme parks.

In 1952, Mr. Walter Disney had his very first park envisioned, he would name it Disneyland. Mr.

Disney envisioned that Disneyland would be a large playground for children and a community center for adults and families where Disney's magic and beauty would be showcased through every little detail and activity towards its' audience (Barrier, 2007: 233). The land Walter wanted to build on was smaller and therefore he was told that he would not be able to incorporate every big idea he had. However, that did not stop him; he kept envisioning a grand park. He had a plan

17 of how every store would be designed in a different era, every restaurant a different Disney movie theme, parades, bands, rides and mechanized people. He wanted to fit in as much of the

Disney characters and settings from his movies and bring it to life in front of the public’s eyes.

He wanted to give a bit of something to all ages and generations, so that it would not be only for kids. However, the land was smaller and he did not have the money to build a park with such ideas. In order to not let his dreams get crushed, Mr. Disney in 1953 invested into a private company called WED Enterprises, where he was a shareholder in order to make his bigger park a reality (Barrier, 2007: 236). Few years later, his big dreams and visions came to life, as he gathered enough investment in order to build and open up his very first park in 1955 called

Disneyland.

During the 1950's and 1960's, television shows boomed. There were Mickey Mouse Club, Zorro and many others (Britannica, 2015). Animated movies kept getting produced while other movies such as; The Absent Minded Professor (1961) or one of the greatest achievements which was a partly animated movie called Mary Poppins (1964). When Walter Disney died in 1966, the company was in disarray until his brother Ray Disney stepped in and quite quickly picked up the pace as Walter Disney left behind a lot of plans and ideas for Ray Disney to use. So while they worked on those, centers like the resorts and the experimental prototype community of tomorrow for short known as; EPCOT, this community kept the business going. As well as continuing to produce movies through the 1970's and 1980's where the company made a few new films but their main profit came from Disney world and from redistributing classic Disney movies

(Britannica, 2015).

However, in the early 1980's, Miller who is Walter Disney's son-in-law founded Touchstone

Pictures and was producing films such as; Splash (1984), Good Morning Vietnam (1987), Who

Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), Pretty Woman (1990) and many other films which were adult orientated. In order to preserve the image of a leader in family entertainment, Miller Disney did not affiliate himself with Touchstone Productions (Britannica, 2015). Unfortunately, Miller did not keep his position for long. In 1984, Michael Eisner took over from Miller and became not only the chairman of the board but as the company CEO. Eisner expanded Disney further by adding two more subsidiaries, in 1989 Hollywood Pictures and in 1993 Miramax. With these two acquisitions movies such as; Pulp Fiction (1994) and others, were produced. Not only were the

1990's a success producing movies for young adults and adults but as well a vast improvement and expansion occurred with animated children movies such as; The Little Mermaid (1989), The

Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and many more animated blockbusters.

The reason animated movies came back stronger is due to the company experimenting with computerized animation, creating characters with more with s more realistic body and facial expressions which allow the child to connect easier with the characters in the storyline.

From 1982 Disney cooperated with Pixar Animation Studies in order to create a stronger base in animation producing hits such as; Toy Story (1995), Monsters Inc (2001) and others, while

Eisner kept Disney going he produced movies such as; Pirates of the Caribbean (2003), Finding

Nemo (2003) (Britannica, 2015).

By 2005, Eisner was replaced by ABC chairman Robert Iger who purchased in the end Pixar and acquired Marvel Entertainment, allowing him to have larger control over the media and a larger

19 target audience as more actions movies such as; Avengers (2012) as well as get a hold of

Lucasfilm Ltd in order to produce the seventh Star Wars film which was shown to the audience in December 2015 (Britannica, 2015). Despite Disney company undergoing many different stages and chairman, it has only benefited from newer company additions and film productions.

3.2 Disney Myths

Disney has grown and developed through the years and even until today many adults and children watch Disney and are global consumers of Disney attractions and products. However, there are people who believe that Disney contains negative aspects. There are given beliefs,

Wasko calls them 'myths' because the biographies about Walter Disney have been constructed by

Mr. Walter Disney himself and re-told by his family and by the company (Wasko, 2001: 237-

257)

The first myth is; Walter was a creative genius who was responsible for the company’s success.

One of the ways Walter Disney will always be known is for being a successful man who created a lucrative empire which many people found more fascinating than the actual products which were produced and marketed. We view him as a great and sacred man but without his employees and his brother Roy keeping him on track financially, Mr. Disney would not have achieved what he did as his dreams were too big and he did not think clearly and logically.

The second myth is; Disney company is somehow special and unique not like other corporations.

Walter Disney has created an image of his creations and company to look like all his work is for the audience’s entertainment and not at all for his or the companies benefit. Some people believe that the company is not under money-grabbing policies as other companies are. However,

Disney has always been a profit-motivated company just as any other corporation is; Disney

Corporation has managed to divert this negative image from themselves and their products.

Between the years of 1930's and 1940's Disney started as a small and independent company.

However, by the 1950’s Disney expanded. There were Disney television shows, movies, amusement parks and with more money being made then in 1980's. Disney became a brand that sells various products. Since then, the Disney Company advanced into a fully integrated transnational media and entertainment conglomerate where by the year 2000, Disney had revenue of $25.4 billion dollars which was collected from different investments and activities.

Therefore, it is visible that even though they sell the idea of entertainment well, they at the same time create more products in order to have an influx in their income. Therefore, no company works for free and the audience just chooses to ignore negative images because Disney has portrayed itself as being family friendly and entertaining.

This leads to the next myth. Myth 3; Disney is only for kids.

Disney started off as selling itself to a family market, meaning that Disney from the start was not only for kids. Kids watched Disney movies and shows as they were a cartoon which consisted of an animated story that entertained children of various ages. However, a lot of parents watched

Disney movies with their children. Therefore, some scenes and character lines had to be adjusted so that they would entertain the grown-ups as well. Through Disney’s growth, a larger variety of

21 target audiences was added due to various products, resorts, and theme parks that not only could kids attend, and in the theme park some rides are designed specifically for teenagers or adults due to height and difficulty restriction. It can be said that Disney’s target audiences are; children, teenagers, couples, parents and adults, as there is a bit of everything for each one of these target audiences.

Myth 4; “Disney’s products are harmless, safe and unbiased.

When discussing products as being harmless and safe, it is not about the toy being appropriate to play with but it is about the psychological aspects behind the product and its effects.

Through content analysis which will be analyzed further in the upcoming chapter shows that “…

Disney films from Snow White to The Lion King…women are portrayed as weak, pristine, and incapable of independent action…themes emphasized in Disney culture are reminiscent of a past America and may have less to do with the reality of America today…Disney themes are often related to fantasy and imagination…”. Therefore, when a parent buys their child a product they are supporting the context and unrealistic ideologies behind this specific character. As well as letting their children consume this information not only while watching the movie but as well when playing with the product afterwards as well.

The final myth is; Disney is universally adored.

It is evident that Disney is recognized and known around the world, as Wasko quoted Jackson

(1993), “Disney is a thing, an image in the public mind. Disney is something they think of as a kind of entertainment, a kind of family thing, and it’s all wrapped up in the name Disney…I used to be Disney, but now Disney is something we’ve built up in the public mind over the years. It stands for something, and you don’t have to explain what it is to the public. They know they’re gonna get a certain quality, a certain kind of entertainment. And that’s what Disney is”. Disney through the years has been carefully cultivated and controlled. It is as well globally marketed and promoted to its various target audiences. Disney is an international company which keeps developing its movies and products; however that does not mean that everyone adores Disney.

Some individuals do truly like Disney. On the other hand, others are aware of Disney films, products, and resorts, therefore, they can create an association with the company without taking part in the consumption. Due to the company being global and excellent at putting their market products out it makes it look like all people adore Disney.

These five beliefs show that there are two sides to every story. Disney is a worldwide known company which entertains a lot of people. But not every single person out there supports

Disney or loves it's' products, the audience has to stop thinking that Disney is innocent, it has its benefits but as well its’ downfalls.

However, despite all the obstacles Walter Disney had and the company still has till this day, he never gave up and he always pushed himself and his employees further in order to expand, develop and achieve a higher goal. In the end, Disney achieved his dreams. The older Disney

23 movies are no longer only on video home systems (VHS) as they have been converted to digital video discs (DVD). Therefore, newer generations can easily access and watch classic Disney movies. Since Walter Disney’s death, Disney corporation has not only made newer Disney movies and acquired a variety of chain entertainment companies, but they have also build six new Disneyland's and World's, created new attractions like a Disney Cruise and a Disney Island, produced more products which can be found in any store or one of the 350 Disney stores located worldwide. Even though Walter Disney is no longer alive, his cultural icon, dreams and visions are still moving forward with the newer generations and becoming stronger with those who already like and follow Disney.

4. Chapter 3 - Analysis of Disney Movies

4.1 Definition of Classic and Contemporary Disney Movies

In order to truly see how Disney affects children’s communication and cultural development, four classic Disney movies will be analyzed and compared to four newer Disney movies. The reason behind this is that there are newer generations of children who have been raised differently and many of them are more aware of various ethnicities and cultures due to their parental upbringing, traveling and their parents buying them various products, such as games and movies. There is quite a difference between children 20 years ago and children today, as there is a difference between Disney's very first movies and movies which came out recently. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how the movies have changed and adapted to fit today's young generation and what affects it has on the children, whether it may be positive or negative.

Before analyzing the movies, it is firstly important to understand the differences between the definitions of classic and contemporary Disney. After the two definitions are looked at, then the comparison of the movies will be inspected. The way the movies will be analyzed is by comparing and contrasting the context, messages, ethnicity, race, parental guidance, the similarities and the differences between the two movies.

Classic Disney movies have expanded throughout the years, slowly changing and adapting to the newer generations and the development using advanced technology. Classic Disney was about simplicity and the portrayal of having pretty, good and sweet heroines with handsome, brave heroes, which were based on fairy tale narratives or myths and legends from various cultures

(Pallant, 2010: 341-344). However, classic Disney is not only based on the first films produced but by the way the movies were created. For example, the classic Disney movie Snow White

(1937) was hand drawn showing every movement in order to add a flow to the body and facial expressions, making it more realistic and believable. Once that was created the ink and painting department would use brushes and actually add paint onto the film strip to enhance the texture and image. The exact same method was used even few years later when Bambi (1942) was produced. For the rain scenes, the actual rain was filmed by zooming in and slowing down the shot. Once the rain was filmed it would be brought to the ink and paint department, where with the use of a paintbrush and adding paint to the shot in order to make them larger, stand out and be more cartoon like (Pallant, 2010: 345-348).

The distinction between classic and current Disney, shows the studio's shift from being a producer of animated entertainment to becoming a globally diversified business.

Due to changing and developing, Disney had to keep up with the times and the competition. This is where current Disney, as well known as formalist Disney comes to place. The audience wanted more realistic and advanced technology and this was done by computer-generated imagery (CGI) which makes the animator's job slightly easier as they can work on a program allowing them to create a clear, colorful and realistic image despite it still being an animated movie. For example, the movie Frozen (2013) contains animation of various facial expressions which are so clear that the audience can not only clearly distinguish every detailed of the facial movement and identify the emotion, but they as well start to sympathize with the characters emotions and at times are able to associate themselves with the characters and the storyline. Even more so than they could with the classic Disney where the image was grainy making it harder to see the image clearly and it was not as realistic as it is now.

In order to see the effect classic and current Disney movies have on children's communication and cultural growth, it is necessary to break it down using various movies from each category and analyzing its' themes in depth to understand what the child learns and acquires from watching these movies. Not only will we find out whether the current Disney movies are better at breaking taboo themes and issues but also if they are the same as classic Disney's where the main aspect is conveying a fairytale message through an entertaining perspective.

4.2 Analyzing Disney Themes

When looking at Disney films, there are five specific themes that repeat in every movie no matter whether it is from the classic or the contemporary Disney movies. The topics are; race,

26 ethnicity, gender roles, cultural influences based on the location of the movie and the lack of nuclear family (Yerby, Baron, Lee). What all these topics have in common is; stereotyping.

Disney stereotypes each topic in order to continue with the social norm society has created as well as categorize their movies for children (Yerby, Baron, Lee).

Firstly, looking at race and ethnicity together as both go hand in hand, it is important to understand what they both mean. The race is established on physical attributes which reflect an assumed hierarchy of groups within society. While on the other hand, ethnicity is a concept based on common categories such as; ancestry, language, history and culture (Grace, 2008: 132).

In every country and almost in every school, children are ethnically diverse, which allows children to learn about a different ethnicity and race that is not their own through interaction with other children and learning is as part of the school curriculum. However, society and media such as Disney, stereotype various ethnicities. We have through history categorized every race and ethnicity into various subcategories and picking out aspects that repeat or stand out the most.

These subcategories are; food, festivals, apparel, personal characteristics and many others,

Disney then takes these subcategories and "Disneyfies" meaning that they take few of these categories and simplify the context in order to convey it to the children, resulting in children learning the stereotyped features (Grace, 2008: 145).

Secondly, gender role characteristics are heavily reliant on stereotypical identity that are recognized as a group of fixed behavioural norms normally identified with a male or a female within a social class (Yerby, Baron, Lee). Typically within Disney movies, the men are handsome, powerful and strong, at the end of the movie he is the hero, while the females are

27 beautiful, petite, young and weak, they are as well in need of rescuing and at the end of movies they dream of the perfect, big and happy wedding.

Gender roles have been stereotyped for years now; it occurs from birth and continues in the person's life until the end. From birth children are divided in the hospitals into a blue or pink blanket based on their biological gender later the children play with toys that are associated with their gender due to gender role schema, for example boys with cars and girls with dolls, it as well is created by their role playing as when a child is young boys imagine to be fire fighters for example and girls princesses. When they are raised they are taught to act in a specific categorized way which suits their gender as well as the cultural norms that are accepted in their culture that they are growing up in (Chick, Heilman-Houser, & Hunter, 2002: 149-154).

Therefore when looking at gender roles it is important to look at cultural aspects. Every culture has a different set of norms which are based on history, society and religion. Culture is taught from a very young age in order for children to learn and adapt to their specific role and behaviour within that specific society, for example in some cultures it is a norm for women to stay at home, clean and take care of the household while the men become educated and work, while in other cultures women have the opportunity to study and work while taking care of the household.

Children's cultural and social beliefs are embedded in their mind so much that they use this information when they interact and play with other children; they draw basic knowledge they had learned from their parents and environment and incorporate it into their daily lives (Khimji,

Maunder, 2012: 305). Disney does the same throughout their movies, when they produce a

28 movie they create a fully packaged narrative and story. When they agree on the location and environment of the plot they can then add the specific race and ethnicity onto the male and female characters while portraying them as stereotypically as possible. Once they have these aspects set, they then add the stereotyped attributes, clothing, activities and phrases onto the characters, in order to make the association between characters, location and context clear and easier for children to remember, especially if the characters are different from the child’s personal characterization and behaviour. Lastly, a lack of a nuclear family within Disney movies, before looking at Disney it is important to understand the term. A nuclear family is a stereotypical household where there is a husband and wife both with stereotyped gender roles and then two children. Once again, culture plays a slight role in this topic as well as culturally mothers/women are the ones who take care and raise the children and this culture and idea still exists in today's society making it hard for some single male parents to be socially accepted in various countries and cultures.

Most of the Disney movies show the main characters to either be without one or both of their biological parents and instead are taken care of a step-member or guardian. They also show the characters being raised by a single parent or by an animal. This is the only time Disney does not stick to stereotyping as it is showing children diverse family options. Disney takes into account that some children who watch these movies come from different families and homes and in order to gain their attention and love for Disney, they have scenarios that children can relate to and see that no matter in what household they are raised in, there is someone always there who loves and cares for them. Disney by showing various types of families and households emphasizes the

29 value and importance of kinship and relationships no matter where or from whom it is coming from (Holcomb, Latham, Fernandez-Baca, 2014: 18).

When looking at these themes, it is clear that Disney has a set of rules and guides that they put into every Disney movie made, and particularly the classic Disney movies all contain these aspects. However, generations change, society slowly develops and alters. Therefore it is important to see whether or not Disney adapts with the time and to the younger generations in order not to lose their target audiences and their loyal devotees who have been moving with them through the years. The movies which will be compared and contrasted are always between a classic Disney where the five common topics are always portrayed against a contemporary

Disney movie, which has aspects of the common topics but also breaking the stereotype to an extent.

Firstly; Beauty and the Beast (1991) and the movie Princess and the Frog (2009) where the main theme is; overcoming differences; secondly Mulan (1998) against Tangled (2010) they are both about power and a change in gender roles taking place and lastly the movies Tarzan (1999) and

Big Hero 6 (2014) which are about communication and altered family relationships.

4.3 Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Princess and the Frog (2009)

The movie Beauty and the Beast, is about a young girl called Belle who lives with her father in an 18th-century French village. Belle is a girl who loves to read books and who does not take any

30 notice of anyone around her, not even the handsome Gaston. Her father is an inventor who creates new machines. One day the father is imprisoned by the Beast when he trespasses on his land. Belle who wants to save her father offered herself to switch with him. After living in the

Beasts castle for some time, she comes to understand the Beast better and starts to have feelings for him instead of the village’s most handsome man called Gaston. When Gaston finds out about the Beast being with Belle he provokes the villagers to take down the Beast. Belle protects the

Beast and tries to save him from Gaston. In the end, Belle finds out that the Beast is actually a handsome Prince under a curse and so is his entire kingdom, along with him his staff is enchanted as well. But with a simple kiss, Belle breaks the spell (Ebert, 1991).

Princess and the Frog is a story about a girl named Tiana who is from New Orleans and works as a waitress at a restaurant. She is trying to save her money in order to achieve her childhood dream to open a restaurant which was her father's ambition before he passed away. One evening she meets a frog that she kisses with the idea that he will turn into a beautiful prince due to a fairy tale story that she had read when she was a young girl. However, instead of turning the prince back into a human she turns into a frog as well due to a curse which was put on him. They both together go on a journey to find a kind witch who would be willing to try to change them back into humans. On the way they find the witch who was unable to help them, so they return back home. However, throughout the difficult journey, they begin to get closer to each other that by midnight their true love kiss breaks the spell and turns them back into humans (Elbert, 2009).

When looking at the themes mentioned above, one theme is common in both movies. In the two stories it shows that the main character has only one parent. Belle has a father and Tiana her mother. The parents were there for their child, helping them when they most needed it. However, despite the parent actually being there, the movie did not portray a nuclear family as it only showed one parent and at the same time not allowing the parent to have a significant role, slightly showing children that they can be independent. Another similarity that both movies have is despite the Prince not being the most handsome, in one it was the Beast and in the other a

Frog, both girls managed to look past that and see the animals personality instead of having superficial feelings due to their looks or position within society. This strays away from the

Disney stereotype where the pretty girl is rescued by with the handsome boy. Instead the girls looked past the looks and made their decision on feelings which is rare. This teaches children that looks are not always everything when meeting new people, that it is important to give them a chance to express themselves and, to not judge a book by its cover. The main differences between the two movies are that Tiana is the first African-American character Disney has ever had. In the past Disney has had few other races but never an African girl therefore, this was a big step for Disney and approaching the newer generations by portraying a new race within their movies showing children a different culture which they might not be too aware of. Another difference is that Belle was a character who stood up for her father but not for herself, she was willing to sacrifice herself, which was already a slight push further into changing the perspective of female Disney characters, as Disney tends to portray their characters as doing everything they can for themselves to reach their happily ever after. But Belle helped her father and, in the end, the Beast as well. Tiana, on the other hand, is a strong and independent woman with big dreams and goals and she stops at nothing to achieve it. She is not interested in finding the perfect man

32 but she is instead interested in opening her own restaurant. This is a new portrayal Disney took on showing children that in life we need more than just a prince charming, and that we should follow our dreams no matter how big or small they may be. Despite this positive turn Disney took with the character Tiana, they still put in the older themes by stereotyping her as Tiana is working as a waitress which is a stereotype of an African American within the era the movie was set in, where they are under privileged and the white people are the in the upper class, despite this being a stereotype Disney kept it quite accurate with the historical and social context.

Disney in the movie also added a happily ever after by having Tiana marry the prince at the end of the movie which is a theme that every Disney movie portrays and it shows children that love is an important part of our life even if we do have our dreams and goals.

4.4 Mulan (1998) and Tangled (2010)

Another Disney character that came seven years after Beauty and the Beast was Disney’s very first Asian characters. The main heroine of the movie was Mulan who was independent, strong willed and for the first time broke the stereotypical gender roles. The movie Mulan is based on a true Chinese legend. It is about Chinese girl called Fa Mulan who finds out her father was asked to join the army. She protests due to her father being older now and with a leg injury, Mulan decides to take her father’s spot within the army. So she dresses up as a male and joins the army impersonating a son. No one knows she is in disguise however, near the end of the stry, due to an injury when fighting the enemies Mulan’s true identity is revealed of actually being a woman.

She is spared her life and is sent home, however, being stubborn and knowing her friends are in

33 danger she refuses and ends up meeting them in the city to warn the army that the enemy is in the city. Together, putting the differences aside they defeat the enemy. She goes back home as a hero to her parents and at the very end her training officer whom she likes ends up coming over to her home (Ebert, 1998).

A modern Disney character that went against her parents and wanted to be independent was in the more recent movies called Tangled which is about a young girl called Rapunzel. Rapunzel was born in castle, however, due to possessing magic healing and regenerative hair an evil woman kidnapped her and raised her as her own child making Rapunzel believe that she is her biological mother. In order for the woman to keep this power, she did not let Rapunzel ever leave the tower that they were living in. However, leaving the tower was Rapunzel’s biggest dream.

One day a man called Finn Ryder was running away from the castle guards as he stole a crown.

In order to escape he climbed up the tower where he met Rapunzel. Despite going against her mother’s wish, Rapunzel made a deal with Finn that he will show her the city and the night lights and only then she will give him back a bag he stole which she kept hold of when he tried to hide in her tower from the castle guards. Throughout their journey out of the tower Rapunzel goes through moments of happiness and guilt. In the end her mother finds her, makes her believe that

Finn betrays her and takes her back to the tower. Back at the tower, Rapunzel finds out that her mother is not her mother and Finn rescues her out of the tower. However, while he was rescuing her the evil woman injured him. In order to save Rapunzel he cut his hair in order for the woman to never abuse Rapunzel for her power ever again. In the end Rapunzel uses her tears to heal his wound. They then go together back to the castle where Rapunzel is reunited with her true and royal family (Scott, 2010).

Both Disney movies were filmed in two very different years, however, they both strayed from the stereotypical gender roles as both female heroines had the courage to do something new, to follow their dreams and goals, to fight for what they wanted. This aspect of the theme is rare to see in Disney movies as majority of the movies portray a feminine character as a damsel in distress, looking for her one true love and not straying from her path. In both these movies there were a few aspects that stayed the same for example, the girls finding their true love at the end of the movie as well as showing the importance of family, in Mulan she went to the army to protect her father and family and in Tangled, she stayed loyal to her “mother” but she earned for a change so she went out to do something for herself despite feeling the guilt majority of her journey. The difference between the two movies is that despite Rapunzel being saved by Finn she in the end as well ends up saving his life, which is an act not seen among classic Disney princesses. Another difference is that Mulan is the first character and movie to be based on a true legend while other movies are based on written fairy tales that consist of made up stories and, therefore, it does not inform children about history and events that had occurred in reality.

Another difference is that Mulan was the only Disney female character to ever try to act like a man changing her entire feminine role to masculine. This shows children that it is okay to be different, that we have the opportunity to act differently if we want to. Children do not have to stick to their given roles.

4.5 Tarzan (1999) and Big Hero 6 (2014)

The last two movies that will be compared are Tarzan and Big Hero 6; these two movies have in common communication among a form that is not human. There is as well the importance of family relationships and friendships.

Firstly the movie Tarzan is about a young boy called Tarzan whose parents are killed by a leopard while being stranded on an Island. Tarzan is then raised by a family of Gorillas in the jungle, however only the female Ape Kala warms up towards the baby boy while the male Ape

Kerchak, who is the group leader, is not content with this occurrence. Tarzan grows up in the wildlife, learning their way of life and having no knowledge of the outside world. However, one- day civilians from England come onto the land and Tarzan meets them. As he spends a lot of time with them, he begins to learn their methods of communicating, behaving and their culture while in return Tarzan teaches Jane and her father about the life and communication in the jungle. Clayton who is an Ape hunter in disguise uses Tarzan to get nearer to the Apes when finally one evening Clayton with his evil team kidnaps Kala and hurts Kerchak. Unfortunately for Clayton, Tarzan manages to stop Clayton’s plan of shipping the gorillas before any more harm is done towards his family. By the end of the movie, Tarzan is faced with a decision whether to leave to London with Jane for whom he has feelings or to stay in the wild with his family. He ends up choosing to stay in the wild and to the audiences surprise Jane stays with him there (Ebert, 1999).

Another movie that shows a strong relationship to a non-human being is the movie called Big

Hero 6. It is the second Disney movie about an Asian character. This time, the story is about a

14-year-old boy called Hiro who is from Japan. He is a young intelligent boy when it comes to technology and inventing new machines. The movie starts off by showing Hiro having a close relationship with his aunt and especially with his brother- Tadashi. One day at an inventor’s competition where Hiro signs up with his microbot’s and an unfortunate event takes place, and that is Tadashi dies in an explosion at the competition and from then on Hero is unable to recover. Finally one day he finds a soft and cute robot that was created by his brother to assist people in need of help. This robot is called Baymax. Hiro becomes very attached to Baymax because for him it is like a piece of his brother is there with him and taking care of him. Together they try to find out who caused the explosion that caused the loss of Tadashi. Baymax, Hiro, and his new friends, use technology and machines to turn themselves into superheroes in order to find the evil villain. Throughout this journey Hiro passes many tests of friendship and it is shown that no matter how hard things get the friends managed to always stick together. At the end of the movie, they find out that the explosion was caused by a professor from the University, so they have him locked up and they continue their journey together as friends attending the same

University and continuing their superhero adventures (Wloszcyna, 2014).

Once again stereotyping is part of the movie when it comes to Big Hero 6 as the Asian attributes and behaviour are highly stereotyped just as they were in Mulan. However even though it is stereotyped, it is interesting to see Disney once again make a movie about a race other than

Caucasian as, it helps children to become more aware of other cultures, for example not many children and parents are aware of the movie Mulan or The Princess and the Frog existing.

Another theme that is presented is comradeship and love. This theme is shown in Tarzan as Jane gives up her trip to return back to England just so she can stay with him on the Island. While in

Big Hero 6, the love, this time, is completely different, as Hiro is only 14 he is not finding a partner for life to love but a partner to hold him up and he finds that through Baymax who replaces his brother. Tarzan had the same; due to losing his family he manifests his feelings towards his adoptive family. Both family relationships do not fit a typical nuclear family but it still shows to children the importance of having loved one near, no matter who they are, what size or what they look like. Every person needs someone. This is an important theme to portray to children as every household is different, but as long as there is love in the home then the child will do alright. The last aspect that both movies showed is that communication can be different in many ways. That location, scenario, people, animals or even non-human objects have their own language and that we can learn to adapt, for example, Tarzan speaking Ape with his family and then Jane teaching Tarzan English through body language, sounds, and images. Children have the opportunity to travel and study in international settings, therefore, it is important to show children that there truly is no language barrier if we chose to adapt, there is always a way to try to communicate as long as we are open towards it. Unlike Clayton from Tarzan who was not interested in learning the way of the Apes therefore, there was a lack of communication.

In the end, it does not matter whether the year the movie created was many years ago or recently published. Disney has certain themes and attributes that will be in every movie, creating repetition and familiarity between the audiences and the movies. However, Disney has become more open to more races, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. The company does stereotype to an extent, but they do it because it is easier for children to grasp information which is already talked about all around them instead of giving them hard solid facts. At the same time, despite

Disney being a source of entertainment for children, it is also a source of information portrayed in a simplistic yet fun way for the child to be able to understand it and remember it.

The question, however, is to what extent are Disney movies beneficial for a child's communication and cultural development. From the variety of themes and topics Disney offers, it allows the children to learn that there are different gender roles with some exceptions. They also learn that relationships and families are important to maintain no matter how big or small the family is or who it consists of. And lastly, it teaches children the importance of having the courage and looking past obstacles to see the bigger picture, whether it is a task at hand or falling in love. To a certain extent Disney does create an ideological world, but due to having so many different movies with reoccurring themes and new additions, it allows children to see that the world is not one-dimensional. That there are more cultures and people other than their close circle of people which they are used to. At the same time, it is important that parents sit with their child and explain to the children what they are watching in order to not have misunderstandings, and that way a child can improve their knowledge of various areas as well as their literacy.

In order to see how beneficial Disney is to a child's learning using the various themes and whether a family member is needed to explain the movies. An anonymous questionnaire was created and sent out to Czech parents whose children are aged between five and eight years old, who attend a private Czech-British school. They will be more aware of Disney movies than a typical public Czech school.

5. Chapter 4 - Field Research Analysis

5.1 Methodology

It is simple to take research and talk about Disney, however in order to back up that research, it is important to look further into it by investigating especially when it comes to the Czech

Republic but finding solid data is not easy, and that is why a field research took place. Before the field research could begin it was important to decide what exactly the main focus is. Therefore, the main question of the questionnaire is whether or not parents know what Disney portrays to their children and if it benefits their child with their cultural and communicative development.

As well as finding out whether or not parents believe that the themes Disney portrays should be explained to their children or not.

The methodology was, firstly creating the questionnaire which can be seen in the appendices figure 2. Once that was created, it was important to pick the right audience. I have been working with children aged 6 to10 at a private Czech British School called Nový Porg; and I thought it would be simple to approach the families of the children who attend this school. Professor.

Nesbitt my mentor had to write a note as seen in the appendices figure 3, explaining my research purpose and asking for permission which I had to hand over to Mr. Liška who is the head teacher of Nový Porg in order to get his permission to approach families who attend the school. I then found the email of 50 different families who I personally know at the school and emailed them the letter, the link to the questionnaire and a brief explanation about my thesis topic. The way these families were picked was by targeting children aged between 6 and 10 years old as that is

Disney’s main target audience as they are still quite young. Once the questionnaires were filled out, the data was collected and put into an Excel table in order to calculate a more precise and clear outcome, which consisted of numbers and charts. Once all the data was calculated the next step was to analyze the data and combine it with the research done above.

The majority of the 50 families were from a typical nuclear family and only in some cases where there were more children or only one parent. All the families were Czech where both parents were from the Czech Republic and in some scenarios only one parent was Czech while the other parent came from another country for example; United States, Russia or Slovakia. Within all 50 families, every member knew who and what Disney is, therefore, this eliminated any possible misunderstandings.

5.2 Survey Results and Analysis

Results which were collected showed these findings; when asked whether the parents watched

Disney movies when they were younger, 70% of parents said yes and 18% said sometimes.

Those that said yes and sometimes still to this day watch Disney movies, the full chart can be found in the appendices under figure 4, page 53. What was interesting to see is that even though

12% of parents never watched Disney and do not watch Disney they allow their children to watch Disney movies changing the number to only 8% of parents not allowing their children to watch Disney, hence making all other numbers rise as seen in the appendices under figure 5, page 53. The parents that said they do allow their children to watch Disney all the time or sometimes said that the reason is because it is a conversation starter for children allowing them

41 to fit in with their classmates, it is also a family evening event they like to do together and find that Disney movies are mostly harmless and appropriate. However the parents that do not allow their child to watch Disney said that the reason is that the movies set unrealistic expectations for children especially when it comes to physical appearances.

Above six movies were analyzed comparing old Disney with contemporary Disney. Children were asked to pick the ones they have seen as well as said why they like that movie and why they did not watch the other movie, full results can be found in the appendices figure 6, page 54.

Overall more children saw Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Tangled, Tarzan and Big Hero 6.

Majority of the children did not see the movie Princess and the Frog. The most common answers children gave as to why they like the movies showed answers such as; the princess is pretty, it was funny and I liked the animals. But when they were asked why they did not watch the classic Disney movies they said that they do not know it and with the new movies like

Princess and the Frog they said it did not look interesting and that Big Hero 6 is more for boys.

This shows that Disney themes do affect children’s interest in why they watch or like a movie.

However, it is as well important to know whether or not parents are aware of the themes their children are watching.

The main question here is whether or not these movies help the children develop culturally and communicatively or not, therefore, parents were asked to write all themes they believe Disney portrays, as seen in the appendices figure 7,page 54 there can be found a full list of the common themes all parents mentioned. Overall, parents mentioned the main ones which were looked at above for example; gender roles, racial stereotypes, the importance of family and love. Through

42 this question it was clear that parents are aware of the main themes Disney portrays and some themes are not positive yet when it came to looking at culture and communication of children this is what parents had to say; 72% of parents said that Disney movies did educate children about various cultures and that the reason is that the children visually get to see other races and cultures before they have the opportunity to travel therefore these movies give their child some basic information. Further details on the data can be found in the appendices under figure 8, page

55. When looking at communication, figure 9, page 55 in the appendices, showed that the same

72% of parents who said culturally it informs children agreed that through Disney movies their child’s literacy improves from listening to the conversations, singing the songs and later they use these words appropriately in their own daily lives. While the parents who said it does not help children said that Disney is just a minor influence compared to, many other stimuli which impact their children’s development more.

The very last question of this thesis which was looked at is whether or not parents should explain the movies and themes to their children while they watch or even after they finished watching the movie. The parents were asked the same question as seen in the appendices figure 10, page 56.

And 88% of parents believed that it is a fun moment between child and parent, where the parent helps their child grasp the information that is being conveyed through an entertaining method. It is also important to the child to understand that what they are watching is a fantasy, that the real world does not work that way but with that said there are certain aspects that Disney shows that are true to an extent. And this is important for the child to understand so they can learn and then use the information appropriately within their own daily lives. On the other hand, only 6 parents

43 said no and that they believe that explaining these themes to their children is not necessary and that they do not have that much time to sit down and do so.

Through the data collected, it is visible that as with every medium there are advantages and disadvantages. However, certain aspects that Disney does convey to their audiences is helpful as it does show them more cultures, races, settings and various story lines.

To an extent it can be said that Disney does help influence and develop a child culturally and based on the survey many parents believe so as well. Disney through years of producing movies have shown a variety of ethnicities and accompanying each race with some basic knowledge about their clothing, tradition, culture and social interaction. Allowing children to see and learn basic knowledge about a culture especially if the child itself is living in an environment that is similar to their nationality and culture.

The survey as well showed that majority of the parents believed that children through watching

Disney movies improve their communication and literacy. The way this is achieved is by children watching these movies over and over slowly learning the lines off by heart. Another way is that children are attracted to the songs in the movies; therefore, they learn the song and then sing it for example in the car with their parents. They as well slowly learn that in different circumstances and scenarios there are different body languages used and different words and tones, this then allows the child to use what they learn and test it out allowing their parents to then correct them and tell them how to use a word in a sentence properly.

Despite Disney having some positive aspects, it does stereotype a lot and creates unrealistic worlds and images where characters live in. The survey showed that many parents think it is important to guide their child, sit with them and watch the movie in order to explain certain areas or allow their child to ask questions. It is therefore, important that parents do spend some time with their child and explain to them what they are watching instead of allowing them to just absorb all the images and information and letting them to understand it in any way they want to.

6. Conclusion

Disney corporation works just as any other large movie company does. It creates movies for entertainment, it does not make movies educational, and if it were it would be a different style of movie for example; documentaries. However, to an extent, Disney is different than for example

New Line Cinema or Universal while these movies produced focus on entertaining adults and giving them fully adult contents. Disney does produce movies for entertainment but they also try to incorporate themes and aspects inside their movies which are informative and educational to an extent for the children who watch and also include hidden messages for parents to be entertained as well, as Walter Elias Disney once said himself “I would rather entertain and hope people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained” (Barrier, 2007).

This is exactly what Disney has been doing amazingly well for the past 95 years. They have kept their standard high through time and improved technology. They have been making movies more impressive and entertaining as various societies are becoming more open to different topics.

Children learn from observing their surroundings as a well-known psychologist Albert Bandura stated in his findings. Therefore, the more entertaining and interactive a movie is the more the children will remember it and at times use what they remember and release it through what they say to people or how they behave within different circumstances. It is never good to absorb too much information and not know how to filter it after. This is the main problem children face when watching Disney movies or any other children related movies. Each movie is packed with information, various settings, story lines, characters, cultures and the children are unable to distinguish what is right and what is wrong, or fully understand the concept that is being portrayed to them through the movie.

As the data from the questionnaire showed, there are many parents do believe that Disney is beneficial to their children’s cultural development and communication as it offers a variety of themes and topics that children do not address any other way. But at the same time, it is important that a parent is there to explain what is going on and answer questions that the older children may have. In the data, it showed that a small minority of parents did not believe this was necessary or beneficial and that they do not have the time do so. This creates a problem because the child will play with something or watch a movie at home or at a friend’s house and the parents will not know where a certain idea or behavior is coming through. Therefore, by parental interaction with their child a moment of bonding will be created, and the child, not only learns how to properly categorize the information, but they develop a better understanding of what they have watched. At the same time through the conversation with their parent, they are then able to work on their communication and literacy such as sentence and question structures.

To conclude, it has not been the focus of this thesis to show Disney as a valuable education tool at all times. Disney movies are a source of entertainment for the whole family. However, what it is showing is that everything needs to be controlled and explained. If it is correctly monitored and approached, children to an extent can benefit from watching Disney movies by gaining more positive aspects such as having their parent explain the movies to them to improve their understanding, learning about different cultures and lastly improving their literacy. The company itself will not change what they have been doing for years, but it is important for parents to know what they are working with, understand the themes, the messages and the advantages and disadvantages of their children watching Disney movies. Once the parents understand these aspects they can then successfully alter it to benefit their children and help them develop in various areas.

7. Appendices

Figure 2: A Questionnaire which was created and sent out to 50 different families

Figure 3: Letter to Head Principle and parents of Nový Porg

Figure 4: Pie chart showing how many parents ever watched Disney movies when they were younger

Did parents watch Disney movies when they were

younger?

18%

Yes

12% No Sometimes 70%

Figure 5: Pie chart showing how many parents let their children watch Disney movies

Do parents let their children watch Disney movies?

20%

Yes 8% No Sometimes

72%

Figure 6: A bar chart showing which movies children have seen and have not seen

Which movies have children seen? 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Beauty and the Princess and the Mulan Tangled Tarzan Big Hero 6 Beast Frog

Yes No

Figure 7: A table showing all common themes which parents mentioned that Disney portrays

Gender roles (stereotyped)

Good versus Bad

Race and Racial stereotypes

Income Inequality

Happily Ever After (love and friendship)

Importance of Family and Lack of Parenting

Some Cultural Values

Figure 8: A pie chart showing how many parents believe that Disney informs children about various cultures

Do Disney movies help to educate children about

different cultures?

28%

Yes

72%

Figure 9: A pie chart showing how many parents believe that Disney helps improve their children’s communication

Do Disney movies help children to communicate better?

28%

Yes No

72%

Figure 10: A pie chart showing how many parents believe that they should explain to their children the themes and stories of Disney movies

Should parents explain the Disney movies and themes to their children?

12%

Yes No

88%

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