Printable version from NI Global Issues for Learners of English:
It's a small world ...
"It doesn't matter whether it comes in by cable, telephone lines, computer or satellite. Everyone's going to have to deal with Disney."
Michael Eisner, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Disney
DISNEY: a giant Corporation
Disney is one of the most powerful companies in the world. It is most famous for its animated movies and its theme parks, but it is involved in many other areas:
book, magazine & newspaper publishing;
producing & distributing ordinary feature-films;
cable TV;
music recording;
live stage shows;
real estate (property) development;
North American major league baseball & ice hockey;
video production & sales;
shops;
product licensing;
computer software & on-line services.
In addition, Disney took over the USA's ABC broadcasting network in 1995, and became the second-largest media group in the world (only Time-Warner is bigger).
MEDIA: TV, radio, newspapers and other kinds of communication
In fact, Disney is so big and has so much influence that a new word has come into English:
DISNEYFICATION
It describes how the real world is becoming more and more like a theme park - like Disneyland.
Disneyland is a world that's safe and entertaining; a world where there are no unpleasant surprises and where everything is sanitized. But Disneyfication takes away the life and variety of the real world. In the Disney world, everything, everywhere is the same.
SANITIZE: to take away problems, to make something clean and harmless
VARIETY: many different kinds of things
A QUICK GUIDE TO THE EFFECTS OF DISNEYFICATION
Western culture grows stronger
A few media and publishing giants (like Disney, Time-Warner, Bertelsmann, Murdoch) control many of the things we watch, read and listen to. Therefore the West - mainly the USA - has a strong influence on the world's popular culture.
It is easy for people to identify with the products of the entertainment corporations (movies, TV, music and so on). These products are glamourous, exciting and full of the latest technology; they easily become part of the culture that people share with their friends and their communities.
As a result, the role of local, traditional culture becomes less strong; its stories and characters become less important to people.
MEDIA AND PUBLISHING GIANTS: huge companies that control a great number of newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, satellite communications and so forth
We all become more alike
As the culture of western entertainment spreads, the world will lose a lot of its cultural variety. Everyone is becoming more and more alike: all around the world teenagers wear the same 'uniform' of baseball caps, blue jeans and running shoes.
'Cultural exports' spread
Countries like Canada, France and Malaysia have been fighting hard to protect their traditional culture by restricting the import of foreign books, films and so on. However, companies that want to increase their cultural exports are in favour of a new treaty, the Multilateral Treaty on Investment ( M.A.I.). This treaty would limit the power of governments to control cultural imports.
RESTRICTING: (part) limiting
We buy, buy, buy!
Major corporations like Disney make consumerism part of sports, arts and entertainment. After you have taken your children to see the latest Disney movie, they will want you to buy the video, the key chain, the toys, the T-shirt, the note-paper, the pencil set.... Every film comes with a package of products, games, and children's books - and, of course, a careful plan for marketing them all.
CONSUMERISM: (n) the habit of buying more and more things
We believe the corporate view of nature
In today's corporate society, many people are losing direct contact with the natural world, so companies like Disney can influence the way we see nature and the environment.
The Disney picture of nature suggests that human cleverness and technology can provide the answers to all our environmental problems. But that is how industrial societies think, and that way of thinking has caused our environment to be in great danger.
In TODAY'S CORPORATE SOCIETY: in the modern world, large companies have a strong effect on how we live and work
SUGGESTS THAT: (v) gives people the idea that...
The world grows more like a theme park
Theme parks are becoming a model for towns and commercial development. Everywhere, you can find chain restaurants, giant shopping malls, and modernized city centres that all follow the same pattern. They are all designed to make us feel as if we are getting away from life's problems - and to make us spend money.
As this kind of development spreads, there is less and less space for other values and other ways of doing things.
CHAIN RESTAURANTS: restaurants owned by the same company, that are all exactly the same (for example, MacDonalds)
CONSUMERISM: the habit of buying more and more things
This material comes from the articles "A Reader's Guide to Disneyfication" and "Inside the Disney Dream Machine" in the December 1998 issue of the New Internationalist.© 1998, 1999: the New Internationalist
Last Modified: 19th June 1999