ashlayla, Dorfman

"It would be wrong to assume the Walt Disney is merely a business man." (122)

This is the very first line of Dorfman's & Mattelart's essay and I agree with it. Walt Disney was more than a business man, he was an entrepreneur bringing entertainment to millions of people around the world. The residents of Orlando, Anaheim, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong are surrounded by the fantastical characters of Disney. If people don't live in a city that has a Disneyland/world, they go to the one that is closest to them or the one that they really want to visit. Some people try to even go to every single park so that they can experience it in a different way.

Dorfman and Mattelart continued to say that "Disney...transcends differences between peoples and nations, and particularities of custom and language. Disney is the great supranational bridge across which all human beings may communicate with each other." (123) Disney is like a universal language that we learn at a young age. Walt Disney was a successful entrepreneur interested in giving the world a fantastical place that allowed us to escape from our reality. We can communicate with people from a different country because Disney is a household name. As consumers, we constantly buy Disney things because they make us feel like a kid again. All the buildings on Main Street USA are shops disguised as old time buildings. When consumers walk down Main Street USA, past all the buildings, they don't know what is offered inside because there are no signs. There are no signs detailing what Disney "treasures" can be found inside. What they are greeted with are clothes that have Mickey and other characters all over them, lollipops that have Mickey's face smack-dab in the middle of it, and the iconic "Mickey Ears" that everyone buys and wears. Without the signs on the outside of the buildings, Disney consumers are coaxed inside and start buying almost anything and everything. This is what made Disney more than a business man. Getting people to buy his products and take them to their homes to show their neighbors spread the word that Disney is the hottest thing on the market.