Mark Pinsky's 'The Gospel According to Disney' Reveals Building of an Empire

The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust. Mark I. Pinsky. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. 2004. 286 pages, including bibliography and index. ISBN 0664225918. Available from Amazon.com for $10.17. Walt Disney, born in 1901, served briefly with the American Red Cross during World War I, returned home and began work he loved as an animator, creating various characters. His most successful was Oswald the Rabbit, but in 1928 the rights to the character were stolen away from him. Disney rebounded quickly, coming up with Mickey Mouse. He formed a company, financed in part by his brother Roy, and made three short movies featuring the character, with Disney himself providing the voice of Mickey. The last, *Steamboat Willie* (1928), the first cartoon to use synchronized sound, was a hit, and, in essence, allowed Disney to start his empire. After several more successful animated shorts, Disney started work on another new idea: a cartoon that ran the length of a feature film. Everyone in Hollywood called it "Disney's Folly". Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) proved his detractors wrong, and Disney won an Oscar for it. More full length animated features followed, and with the exception of Fantasia (1940) were quite popular. In 1950, he also started producing live-action films, beginning with *Treasure Island* (1950). In 1955, his theme park Disneyland opened in southern California,. To promote the park, he moved into the new medium of television, producing the series "Disneyland" (1954). Disney died on 15 December, 1966 at age 65. His brother Roy carried on plans to build a theme park in Florida, and Walt Disney World opened in 1971. Today, 34 years later, the name Walt Disney is bigger than its ever been. It would seem that Disney has conquered the world, with EuroDisney in France and Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. But it has not been without struggle, either while Walt Disney was alive or after his death. Roy Disney (born in 1930, son of Walt’s brother Roy) resigned in 2003, denouncing CEO Michael Eisner for cheapening the Disney name through many failed projects. Walt Disney spent the major part of his life making movies. His purpose was to make money, of course, but also to give enjoyment to the movie-goer. "I'd rather entertain and hope that people learn, than teach and hope that people are entertained." None of the Disney films (with the exception of The Hunchback of Notre Dame), contain any overt references to religion. But in examining 31 of Disney’s animated films, and a few animated shorts (he makes no reference at all to the live action films or the television shows) author Mark I. Pinsky seeks to illuminate what he calls the Disney Gospel: “faith that good will prevail, trust in yourself and your friends, and a little bit of something magical.” His purpose in writing this book is to “explore the religious, moral, and theological themes” of the animated films. According to Pinsky: “...in more than thirty-five animated features Disney has released...there is scarcely a mention of God as conceived in the Christian and Jewish faiths shared by most people of the Western world and many beyond. Disney’s decision to exclude or excise traditional religion from animated features was in part a commercial one, designed to keep the product saleable in a worldwide market.” Disney made a choice “of magic over religion,” Pinsky says. If he did, so did dozens of other film makers. Most movies made, in the United States at least, except for those with a specific religious theme, did and do exactly the same thing. Pinsky ignores this fact. Indeed, practically all American movies have the same ethos that Pinsky claims for the Disney films - American 'pluck' wins through, and there’s always a happy ending. Pinsky is religion reporter for the *Orlando Sentinel*, and his writings have also appeared in such forums as *Christianity Today, The New York Times*, the *Boston Globe*, and the *Nation*. Religion permeates his life, and as a film critic he naturally brings that ‘eye’ to the films he watches (just as gays re-interpret classic films to find a homosexual subtext and feminists reinterpret films to find a feminist subtext.) It is not necessary, however, to be ‘religious’ to learn from this view of the Disney ethos, just as one can study religious history and still be an atheist. And Pinsky doesn’t really beat you over the head with religious subtext, but rather points out the recurring themes of the Disney movies, from mothers dying early on (Bambi, Brother Bear), to children living in a single parent household - usually that of the mother, to the passive roles of heroines (Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty), to the misogyny of making most of the villains old women (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Emperor’s New Groove, etc.) As a feminist, I was more interested in his comments about the female characters..and he had more to say about that than about the religiousness of the films, anyway! Pinsky summarizes each of thirty-one selected animated films, and like a good film critic makes them sound fun and interesting and worth seeing all over again. You can agree or disagree with the points he makes about each film, and the growth and change of the Disney in the ‘90s...as one can see the growth and change in most animated film producers to include stronger female characters, more diverse characters...and still little reference to God or religion. One flaw is that Pinsky doesn’t mention the source material from which these movies came, and how the ‘Disneyfied versions’ changed them...or kept them intact. For example *The Black Cauldron* (1985) was based on the first of a very successful series of books by Lloyd Alexander called the Chronicles of Prydain. There’s more to this book than just the movie analyses, of course. Pinsky discusses religion as displayed by Walt Disney, his brother Roy and the Disney organization, and then moves on to “Michael and Jeffrey: The Jews” - his chapter on the changes brought to Disney by the new CEO Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg and the various reactions for and against their tenure...some with an alleged anti-Semitic bias.  Religion, of one kind of another or the denial of it, does permeate all aspects of life...that is an inescapable fact and worth learning about. In his final two chapters, Pinsky comments on some of the fronts embattling Disney today, from the impact the theme parks have on the American consciousness (and he notes Disney’s defeat when it tried to build Disney’s America in Virginia, with the opposition from people who did not want a ‘Disneyfied’ history of the Civil War) , to Disney’s battle against the Southern Baptists, upset because Disney as a company offers benefits to same sex partners, and how and why the ensuing Baptist Boycott failed. There are many books out about the perceived Disney ‘domination of the world’. Pinsky’s book is worthy to join those on your bookshelves. The feature length movies he analyzes (some in more depth than others) and the theme he chooses for his analysis: The Disney Years Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1934) - Sin and Salvation Pinocchio (1940) - Prove Yourself Fantasia (1940) - The Sorcer’s Mascot Dumbo (1940) - Mother Love Bambi (1942) - Man Is in the Forest Cinderella (1950) - Prince Charming II Alice in Wonderland (1951) - Take the Red Pill Peter Pan (1953) - Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust Lady and the Tramp (1955) - Mixed Marriage Sleeping Beauty (1959) - Not in Death 101 Dalmations (1961) - Black and White The Sword and the Stone (1963) - Knowledge is King The Jungle Book (1967) - Nature and Nurture Robin Hood (1973) - Tax Rebates The Fox and the Hound (1981) - Nature and Nurture Redux The Black Cauldron (1985) - Contains Occult Material The Eisner Years The Little Mermaid (1989) - Upward Mobility Beauty and the Beast (1991) - Feminism, Transformation and Redemption Aladdin (1992) - Encountering Islam The Lion King (1994) - Karma on the Savannah Pocahontas (1995) - Animating Animism The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) - The House of the Lord Hercules (1997) - Superman, Samson and Delilah Mulan (1998) - Woman of Valor Tarzan (1999) - Taming the Savage The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) - Eminent Domain Atlantis (2001) - Adventure Capitalism Lilo and Stitch (2002) - Send in the Clone Treasure Planet (2002) - Mining the Father Lode Return to Neverland (2002) - Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust II Brother Bear (2003) - Primitive Predestination Pinsky also discusses selected short films, and their portrayal of pagans, Jews and Christians: Flowers and Trees (1932) Skeleton Dance (1929) Goddess of Spring (1937) Father Noah’s Ark (1933) The Golden Touch (1935) The Three Little Pigs (1933) Johnny Appleseed (1948) The Small One (1978)