Where Dreams Become True!

Walter Disney created a world where magic came to life; where dreams became reality and where memories lasted forever.

When I was younger  I has always dreamt of this unknown magical place, and at the age of 11 my dreams became true. After watching thousands of Disney Movies and still not afraid of admitting to watching them, the only thing that still runs through my mind is the magic and wonder behind Disney.  The logo of Walt Disney is a symbolization of childhood innocence. The sign has a hegemonic meaning behind it, in that no one would mistake this logo as symbolization of wickedness. It is a symbol that brings a world of make believes; where animals could talk and happy endings are real.

            When simply noticing this worldwide symbol of Disney, everyone makes an instantaneous identification, perhaps of their favourite childhood memory, his or her favourite Disney character or their favourite movie. The world that Walt Disney created, was a world we respond to as a sense joy and happiness. And because of this world that allows us to create our happy endings and dreams we are subjects of their ideology and the beliefs and rules of Disney become our own.

            However, if these beliefs are that everyone finds their fairy tale ending and their dreams will become true, then why is there any concerns about Disney? The answer simply lies in the fact that people perceive Disney as a very powerful organization that influence the thousands or maybe even millions of kids and teens in this world. The way that Disney holds all this sold called “power” is simply through their illusion that they don’t have any power, that there mind set is to create happiness amongst kids and families. And that is exactly what their symbol entails, something that is so positive and joyful to everyone that sees this symbol. “ The mythical signification, on the other hand, is never arbitrary; it is always in part motivated and unavoidably contains some analogy.” [1]  

            See Disney biggest fear is that they don’t want to think that the public fears them, that just because they are mulit billion dollar corporation, that pretty much owns half of the worlds leading corporations. In one of my Mass Communication lectures, Ian Reilly spoke about Disney and many other muilt billion-dollar companies. But the one that we touched based on was Disney, we were able to discover that the company of Disney owns pretty much everything- well in my eyes they sure do. 

            Well know, let me enlighten you on just how many corporations, institutions and organizations Disney actually owns:  “ ABC, ABC Family, ABC Kids, Walt Disney Distribution, Disney Channel, ESPN, Walt Disney Motion Picture Groups, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Walt Disney Television Animation, Walt Disney Records, Walt Disney Pictures, Jetix, Touchstone Picture, Miramax Films, ABC Studios, Playhouse Disney, Disney Consumer Products, Pixar, Soapnet, Disney Interactive Studios, Muppets Holinds Company, Disney Store, Toon Disney, New Horizon Interactive, and Hollywood Records also owns Disney Cruise. [3]

            I hope you didn’t hold your breath when you read that, because I know it’s very impressive and long!

            Well I’m pretty sure no one  thought that Disney owns almost half of what we see, use and experience everyday.  Overall the hidden messages that most of us don’t see about this big, powerful corporation is that they will eventually take over and be controlled by these media groups. These small, hidden facts that society doesn’t know will eventually take over the public and bring about and even greater impact on costumers like us! “ There is reason to believe they will encourage popular tastes to become more uniform in at least some forms of media.”  [2]  Peter Bart a Variety editor concludes by stating that, “ the world film going audience is fast becoming more homogenous.” [2] – Now who would think that would happen?

            The mindboggling thing about these media companies is that they are all interconnected. This tells me that and you, that they might be just telling us the same thing, the same make believe world that we create. With all their messages being thrown at us, it creates a big hegemony in media. With the symbols that circulate,  the message will still continue to mean the same that is always has, and still will influence and continue to reach the millions of people that it already has.

            So maybe after all this information, after all this researching, we go back to this logo and still notice the same thing, but the variations change. I may still be a place where magic happens and dreams become true, but it’s also a place that’s filled with hidden messages and lots of unknown power. 

Works Cited

[1] Barthes, Roland. Mythologies . 1. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972.

[2] McChesney , Robert. "The New Global Media - It's a Small World of Big Conglomerates." The Nation 11 Nov 1999 1-3. 17 Oct 2008 .

[3] "WikiAnswers." What does Disney Own? 17 Oct 2008 .