Walt Disney is one of the most well known companies in the world, their movies helped develop and shape young minds. Disney is for all ages, but kids tend to watch their first Disney movie at about 3-4.They get hooked on the world of magic, where there are talking animals, magic carpet rides and a world where almost everything you imagined came to life. 

Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Hollywood California on October 16, 1923. The Walt Disney Company, now known as the Walt Disney Studios, has had a massive impact on the entertainment industry and is now one of the world’s major media conglomerates. Walt Disney was a gifted artist who began drawing cartoons for various periodicals at a young age and became interested in cel animation while working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company. Walt traveled to Los Angeles after his Laugh-O-Gram Studio went bankrupt in 1923, while Roy was recovering from sickness. While he was there, he eventually sold Alice’s Wonderland, a short film created by Laugh-O-Gram, and secured a contract to make six more. To produce the show, the brothers established their own production company and encouraged Virginia Davis, who played Alice, and their partner Ub Iwerks to join them in Hollywood. Disney began work on his most renowned creation after the success of the Alice Comedies and a series centered on a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Mickey Mouse was first presented to the public with the release of Steamboat Willie in 1928. The character would go on to become one of, if not the most well-known cartoon characters of all time.  The success of the Mickey Mouse shorts persuaded Walt Disney that his studio could make a feature film, which he did in 1934. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, called “Disney’s Folly” by some, went 400 percent over budget and required almost 300 animators, illustrators, and assistants, yet it was a great hit when it was released shortly before Christmas 1937. The Walt Disney Company has since released plenty of revolutionary and successful films.

How did Disney impact people’s lives?

       Disney helped change a lot of people’s lives and perspectives on several topics. One anonymous student at Gems American Academy stated “I grew up with Disney. Old Disney all the way to new Disney has been a consistent factor in my life. It’s sort of a comfort barrier that always brings me back to my childhood. It didn’t matter if we were watching a silly little show about chipmunks or a cinematic masterpiece like Hercules or Aladdin. All the movies managed to teach us something as children and I think they played a big role in what type of morals we grew up believing.”  Another learner stated “ it for sure made me a better person, it helped me mature and find a little bit of myself, Disney movies do a great job in giving their characters meaning not just some random animations, and I would say they did pretty good with all of their classics and their stories, kids till this day get inspired by Disney and gain the confidence their confidence and learn to be brave.”  I also decided to get a perspective from a representative outside of GAA, “ it for sure made me a better person, it helped me mature and find a little bit of myself, Disney movies do a great job in giving their characters meaning not just some random animations, and I would say they did pretty good with all of their classics and their stories, kids till this day get inspired by Disney and gain the confidence their confidence and learn to be brave”.  Disney has a huge fan base, and they changed so many people’s lives so they decided to expand on their universe by opening 11 Disney theme parks all around the world. 

The progression that happened in Disney throughout the years 

       Through the Disney era they got better at including real world issues for example equality, sexuality, genders, etc., though Disney has a small age of audiences but they’re progressing over the years with their movies, they also mention the environment a lot in their movies, giving an example the little mermaid, people throw waste everywhere and most of it ends up in the sea, ariel finds good use to most of the waste that she finds, that encourages us to instead of polluting waters, we find a good use to that waste and to recycle more. 

Now that they’ve begun to do so in children’s shows as well, which is great because it helps youngsters feel more prepared and less alienated. Shows are also a great way                                

for individuals to comprehend their problems by seeing how the characters cope with them and attempting to do the same or using the characters as a model for how they should behave. Recently, the characters have become more realistic, which is a beneficial element. Previously, the characters were extremely exaggerated, causing many children to act out, but now they are more realistic. The exaggeration is still present, but it has greatly improved. They also got a lot better at adding more color pallets, for example the new movie Encanto, they went deeper into the columbian heritage and traditions. Another way they improved at female empowerment, not all females are playing the damsel in distress roles, they save themselves, as shown in the movie Moana, or their families like in Encanto, and Frozen. 

 In what way could Disney still improve?

        They are doing really well so far adapting to our time, but there is a lot they still have to improve on. For example  Disney needs to be more in touch with the world, they also need to do more when it comes to funding and donating to organizations and charities. Even though they do support Unicef, Make-A-Wish Foundation financially, as well as other non-profit organizations, I believe they should be doing more to help the world. As billion dollar company, they should give back to the world that helped them become as big as they are now. They should also keep adding different cultures, and give them all equal representation. Furthermore, Disney has long struggled to treat its employees fairly, and there is still an obvious issue with how it appears to turn a blind eye to who they hire, allowing people with more problematic backgrounds to reach a larger audience. It would be ideal if they could at least strive to strengthen their ties with the film studios and assist in the improvement of the working environment.