Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney And The American Way Of Life
The Magic Kingdom sheds new light on the cultural icon of "Uncle Walt." Watts digs deeply into Disney's private life, investigating his roles as husband, father, and brother and providing fresh insight into his peculiar psyche-his genuine folksiness and warmth, his domineering treatment of colleagues and friends, his deepest prejudices and passions. Full of colorful sketches of daily life at the Disney Studio and tales about the creation of Disneyland and Disney World, The Magic...
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The Magic Kingdom is a full-length investigation of the life of Walt Disney, arguably the principal architect of mass culture in our time. By mid-century, "Uncle Walt" had become an American icon and was universally acknowledged as the spokesman for the American way of life; yet, paradoxically, he was instrumental in changing our social assumptions. Probing Disney's public life as a creative entrepreneur, Steven Watts argues that Disney reflected a central irony of modern American culture: while proclaiming a genuine allegiance to the values of an earlier age (self-reliance, the work ethic, the culture of domesticity, sexual inhibition), he also took the lead in creating the modern world of consumer self-fulfillment. His great creations - from Mickey Mouse to Disneyland - embody the transformation of American popular culture, moving from the satirical edge of what Watts calls the "sentimental populism" of the Depression era to the uncritical, celebratory "sentimental libertarianism" of the Cold War. Watts also digs deeply into Disney's private life, investigating his roles as husband, father, and brother and providing fresh insight into his peculiar psyche - his genuine folksiness and warmth, his domineering treatment of colleagues and friends, his deepest prejudices and passions. Full of colorful sketches of daily life at the Disney Studio and tales about the creation of Disneyland and Disney World, The Magic Kingdom offers a definitive view of one of the most influential Americans in the twentieth century.Library JournalAlthough the Disney studio was hailed as a dream factory, there was plenty of hard work and hard-nosed business deals behind the facade. Drawing on interviews and research from Disney archives, Watts shows how Disney and mid-America influenced each other, from the birth of the animation empire, through the "libertarian populism" of the Fifties film, TV, and theme-park efforts, to Walt's untimely death in 1966. Other topics include Disney's pioneering role in business "integration" (using one side of the business to promote another side), his idealization of small-town life, his contagious creative enthusiasm, and his growing conservatism and abiding contempt for unions. Whether selling World War II to an anxious home front, lifting spirits in the Depression, soothing America's Cold War fears, or catering to the new leisure and consumer society, Disney had a unique rapport with average Americans. Portrayed as neither devil nor saint, Disney emerges as a human and sometimes sympathetic figure. This lively, witty, and insightful study is likely to become a standard. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries. [Two other Disney biographers in recent years have accused the Disney family of attempting to undermine criticisms of him; for a more critical appraisal see Marc Eliot's Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince, LJ 5/1/93.Ed.]Stephen Rees, Levittown Reg. Lib., Pa.
AcknowledgmentsxiIllustrationsxviiIntroductionxixI.The Road to Hollywood1.Disney and the Rural Romance32.Young Man Disney and Mickey Mouse243.The Entertainer as Success Icon42II.The Disney Golden Age4.Disney and the Depression: Sentimental Populism635.Disney and the Depression: Populist Parables836.The Entertainer as Artist: Sentimental Modernism1017.Of Mice and Men: Art Critics and Animators1208.Disney and American Culture1439.The Fantasy Factory16410.The Engineering of Enchantment183III.Trouble in Fantasyland11.Animation and Its Discontents20312.Disney and the Good War22813.Disney's Descent24314.The Search for Direction263IV.Disney and the American Century15.Cold War Fantasies28316.Disney and National Security30317.Disney and Domestic Security32318.Citizen Disney34619.Disney and the Culture Industry36120.The Happiest Place on Earth38321.Pax Disneyana40422.It's a Small World, After All425Epilogue446Notes455Bibliographic Essay509Index513
\ From the Publisher"A captivating portrait of a complicated man."—St. Louis Post- Dispatch\ "Requires us to acknowledge two essential truths that are easy to forget: That where Disney ended up is not where he began and that his stupendous success arose from . . . his heartfelt understanding of and sympathy with average Americans and their hopes, fears, and values'"—Washington Post\ "Steve Watts is both a scholar and a Disneyphile, which makes him an ideal author for this much-neded volume about Walt Disney's place in American culture. It told me things I didn't know before, but even more important, it made me think about things I already knew."—Leonard Maltin, author of The Disney Films\ "The Magic Kingdom is a most impressive achievement. . . . More than a first-rate biography, this extraordinarily lucid book- -a work at once of genuine empathy and unsparing criticism—is cultural history at its best."—Robert Westbrook, author of John Dewey and American Democracy\ "As true a picture as I could have imagined."—Fess Parker\ "This exhaustively researched and remarkably judicious volume should remain our best source on Walt Disney and his manifold enterprises for many years to come."—Journal of American History\ "This lively, witty, and insightful study is likely to become a standard."—Library Journal\ "Mr. Watts is to be congratulated for producing a subtle, generous-minded account of [the Disney] legacy, and for reminding readers, after so much Disney-bashing, that there was a bright as well as a dark side to the magic kingdom."\ —The Economist\ "The most responsible and comprehensive book on Disney's relationship to American culture in a long while."\ —Seattle Times\ "An immensely thorough, thoughtful survey and syntheses of some sixty years of commentary about Disney, intertwined with Watts' own remarkable perceptive assessments."—Cleveland Plain Dealer\ "Relying on a mountain of archival and interview material, Watts does a masterful job of keeping the sometimes contradictory strands of Disney's life and work together."—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel\ "A thoughtful and well-researched biography . . . which also provides a starting point for thinking about the Disney legacy today."—Commentary\ "A fine example of academic research that is fully accessible to a nonacademic audience."—Dallas Morning News\ "An admirable even-handed work. . . . Stands well above the current, permissively silly academic standards for the discussion of pop culture. . . . A new perspective."—Washingtonian Monthly\ \ \ \ \ \ Library JournalAlthough the Disney studio was hailed as a dream factory, there was plenty of hard work and hard-nosed business deals behind the facade. Drawing on interviews and research from Disney archives, Watts shows how Disney and mid-America influenced each other, from the birth of the animation empire, through the "libertarian populism" of the Fifties film, TV, and theme-park efforts, to Walt's untimely death in 1966. Other topics include Disney's pioneering role in business "integration" (using one side of the business to promote another side), his idealization of small-town life, his contagious creative enthusiasm, and his growing conservatism and abiding contempt for unions. Whether selling World War II to an anxious home front, lifting spirits in the Depression, soothing America's Cold War fears, or catering to the new leisure and consumer society, Disney had a unique rapport with average Americans. Portrayed as neither devil nor saint, Disney emerges as a human and sometimes sympathetic figure. This lively, witty, and insightful study is likely to become a standard. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries. [Two other Disney biographers in recent years have accused the Disney family of attempting to undermine criticisms of him; for a more critical appraisal see Marc Eliot's Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince, LJ 5/1/93.Ed.]Stephen Rees, Levittown Reg. Lib., Pa.\ \ \ BooknewsPart biography and part cultural analysis. Watts (history, U. of Missouri) argues that Disney reflected a central irony of modern American society: while proclaiming a genuine allegiance to the values of an earlier age (self-reliance, the work ethic, the culture of domesticity, sexual inhibition), he took the lead in creating the modern world of consumer self-fulfillment. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.\ \ \ \ \ The New York TimesTerrifically readable and illuminating. Mr. Watts has done an intelligent job of assembling and analyzing a vast amount of material...a coherent, insightful book. -- The New York Times\ \ \ \ \ The EconomistAn excellent book. Mr. Watts is to be congratulated...for reminding readers that there was a bright as well as a dark side to the magic kingdom. -- The Economist\ \
