Disney Essay Topics

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  • ElephantzGoMooo
    New Member
    • Apr 2006
    • 8

    Disney Essay Topics

    Hi everyone,

    I'm writing an extended essay (approx. 14 pgs) for school, and i decided that I wanted to write about the Walt Disney Co. So far, the only topic within this large topic I can think of is: through Disney's rapid expansion in the 80s and 90s, the company lost the morals and values in which it was founded upon. Any comments or ideas on this topic? Does anybody else have any ideas on a thesis? (It has to be a narrow topic, one which can be proved through some research)

    thanks for all your help!
  • ashlance85
    Junior Member
    • Apr 2006
    • 45

    #2
    Re: Disney Essay Topics

    I actually had to do that pretty much exact assignment last term at my college, and it ended up to be harder than i thought. I ended up having a lot of negative things to say about the rapid expansion, lack of core, etc etc. It was for a travel marketing class and I also chose to focus a portion of the paper on comparisons between Universal/Islands/Citywalk to Disney properties as a whole, expectations of the public, and other social and socioeconomic factors affecting both as well. Definitely check out "The Disney Way" by Bill Capodaglia and "Married to the Mouse" by Foglesong. Just write what you know, but also let yourself be objective about everything (which is hard for disney lovers) and i'm sure it'll all turn out how you want.
    You are splashing in the stream
    of an unremembered dream,
    you are searching through the eye
    of a seeker in the sky

    Comment

    • Disney Wrassler
      Get the Iodine!
      MiceChat Round-Up Crew
      • Jul 2005
      • 17650

      #3
      Re: Disney Essay Topics

      I wrote about Walt Disney's contributions to WWI and WWII in a 7 page college final report.....

      Well any way another suggestion is to write about all the stuff walt accomplished in his life. Fox example.

      on Pg 1 & 2 describe his childhood and family & how he got interested in Art.
      Pg 3 talk about his service to the Red Cross in WWI and how his interest in art blossomed during that time. Also when he was in France during WWI as an ambulance driver, that is when he took up smoking, which eventually killed him.
      pg 4 talk about all the things he did, art wise after he returned home from WWI.
      pg 5 Talk about Oswald the Rabbit and Mickey Mouse.
      pg 6 Talk about the Hyperion Studios & Silly Symphonies cartoons.
      pg 7 & 8 Talk about all the technological advancements the Walt Disney Studios made in the entertainment industry (Like the Multiplane Camera) and some of the ground breaking films Walt made (Snow White was the first full length color animated feature film, Steamboat Willie was the first black and white cartoon to feature sound, etc.)
      pg 9 Talk about Disneyland and it's history.
      pg 10 & 11 Talk about the Florida Project (Disney World/EPCOT)
      pg 12 Talk about the "Mineral King" ski resort he wanted to open and how he lit the torch in the olympics around that same time.
      pg 13 & 14 Talk about Walts death and what Disney has blossomed into today.
      pg 14 & 15 Talk about why you are a fan of Disney.

      Did that give you any ideas?.
      Last edited by Disney Wrassler; 04-19-2006, 07:18 PM.

      Comment

      • Alice's Wonderland
        Directly directed
        • Feb 2005
        • 4450

        #4
        Re: Disney Essay Topics

        I've gotten the chance to so two Disney essays. The first one (9 pages) was about Disney's relationship with his father and how that influenced his work ethic and even though his father treated him badly, he still has the first window on main street and so on. The second one was for an ethnicity class and it was titled in defense of Disney (So not the assignment) and I counterattacked every argument made in the movie Mickey Mouse Monopoly. The script can be found online.

        Comment

        • Disney Wrassler
          Get the Iodine!
          MiceChat Round-Up Crew
          • Jul 2005
          • 17650

          #5
          Re: Disney Essay Topics

          Well I am not gonna wholy disagree with you Alice because I know you did your research on Walts dad and I respect that 100%. You see I watched "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth" and they said yes he was hard on Walt but only because he loved Walt and din't want Walt to make any wrong decisions. They also said that he helped invest money into Walts interest for art even though he did not think Walt would have a successful career as an artist.

          I think he was a dad who showed tough love. I mean if Walt hated his dad, then he wouldn't have bought his parents their home in Burbank to be closer to Walt and Roy.

          Plus back in the 1900's, getting a whoopin from your father was something that was normal then. During the early 1900's getting a spanking over the rear with a belt or paddle was completely normal but these days it is viewed as abuse.

          I heard rumors of Walts dad being drunk at times, but don't know if it is true. But I think most of the time he was just a strict dad who showed tough love and wanted to make sure his children made the right choices in life.

          But don't think that I am debunking what you may have said about abuse back then because I agree with you. The punishment many children suffered were quite abusive compared to todays standards. But the parents in the 1900's did not see that type of punishment as a form of abuse the way we see it now-a-days.
          Last edited by Disney Wrassler; 04-19-2006, 07:26 PM.

          Comment

          • ElephantzGoMooo
            New Member
            • Apr 2006
            • 8

            #6
            Re: Disney Essay Topics

            thanks so much for your inputs!

            so far..heres what I have as my sorta semi-polished thesis:

            Through its rapid expansion in the 80s and 90s, the Walt Disney Company lost sight of the morals and ideals in which its very foundation was built upon.

            any comments?

            at this point, I can still change my thesis, but it has to be very specific. (i.e. focusing on a particular aspect of the disney co)

            anymore ideas?

            also, any ideas on where i can get sources? (books, articles, graphs/charts, people i could interview, etc...)

            thanks again!

            Comment

            • Alice's Wonderland
              Directly directed
              • Feb 2005
              • 4450

              #7
              Re: Disney Essay Topics

              [quote=Disney Wrassler]Well I am not gonna wholy disagree with you Alice because I know you did your research on Walts dad and I respect that 100%. You see I watched "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth" and they said yes he was hard on Walt but only because he loved Walt and din't want Walt to make any wrong decisions. They also said that he helped invest money into Walts interest for art even though he did not think Walt would have a successful career as an artist.


              Most of my research came from the book How to be like Walt, and what Dave Smith, the Disney Archivist told me. He said all children escaped the house by the time they were 19, Roy left through his window in the middle of the night, and Elias Disney did inno way support walt's decision to become an animator. He wanted him to work at the Jelly Factory with him. Also if you look into the Disney archives off the Disney website it will say that Walt had a paper route of which he got to keep absoltutely none of the money and you know he walked in the snow two miles uphill both ways...

              Comment

              • Alice's Wonderland
                Directly directed
                • Feb 2005
                • 4450

                #8
                Re: Disney Essay Topics

                Books: "Disneywar" "Disney: the first 100 years" "How to be like Walt" "Walt: the man behind the myth" are really good ones
                People: e-mail Dave Smith the Disney archivist because he's really in the know and may be helpful for you. He doesn't respond to everyone though

                Comment

                • Morrigoon
                  insufferable know-it-all
                  • Jan 2005
                  • 9537

                  #9
                  Re: Disney Essay Topics

                  Instead, why not focus on how personal egos and lack of personal responsibility has led to the devaluing of the Disney brand? You can draw some pretty interesting comparisons to things outside the Disney company, such as how refusing to admit that DCA was a flawed concept from the start has led to 5 years of throwing money at the park instead of fixing the actual thematic problem - much like during the Asian market crash, bankers who didn't want to admit to having made bad loans would instead make further loans to people in default to try and keep them afloat, and how that contributed to the extent of the crisis.

                  Or something like that.

                  You'd have lots of examples - Eisner and sports teams, Pressler and maintenance, etc.

                  Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe...


                  Comment

                  • Speedway
                    Former Epcot CM
                    • Jan 2005
                    • 4865

                    #10
                    Re: Disney Essay Topics

                    The influence of the Walt Disney World Resort on the state of Florida.
                    How a Magic Kingdom theme park opening in 1971 created the Floridian tourism industry almost bare-handedly, and how Disney's ability to do whatever it wants in its mini-enclave within the state has affected how it runs the property.
                    BACKPACKING REALNESS

                    DISNEY TRIPS
                    October 2000 - Walt Disney World Resort
                    October 2001 - Walt Disney World Resort
                    April 2002 - Disneyland Resort Paris
                    October 2003 - Walt Disney World Resort
                    October 2004 - Walt Disney World Resort
                    October 2005 - Walt Disney World Resort
                    October 2007 - Walt Disney World Resort
                    December 2008 - Walt Disney World Resort
                    July 2009 - Disneyland Resort Paris
                    July 2011 - Disneyland Resort California
                    July 2012-13 - UK Cultural Representative Cast Member at Epcot
                    February 2013 - Disneyland Resort California
                    February 2013 -Tokyo Disney Resort

                    (VERY OLD!)
                    TRIP REPORTS

                    Comment

                    • Disney Wrassler
                      Get the Iodine!
                      MiceChat Round-Up Crew
                      • Jul 2005
                      • 17650

                      #11
                      Re: Disney Essay Topics

                      [quote=Alice's Wonderland]
                      Originally posted by Disney Wrassler
                      Well I am not gonna wholy disagree with you Alice because I know you did your research on Walts dad and I respect that 100%. You see I watched "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth" and they said yes he was hard on Walt but only because he loved Walt and din't want Walt to make any wrong decisions. They also said that he helped invest money into Walts interest for art even though he did not think Walt would have a successful career as an artist.


                      Most of my research came from the book How to be like Walt, and what Dave Smith, the Disney Archivist told me. He said all children escaped the house by the time they were 19, Roy left through his window in the middle of the night, and Elias Disney did inno way support walt's decision to become an animator. He wanted him to work at the Jelly Factory with him. Also if you look into the Disney archives off the Disney website it will say that Walt had a paper route of which he got to keep absoltutely none of the money and you know he walked in the snow two miles uphill both ways...
                      Yes I remember that stuff too. Walt was heartbroken when his older brothers left him. I remember during this time Roy & Walts relationship blossomed and it had something to do with their father. But I forget what that was. The only other thing I can see about the paper route is that Elias probably took Walts money becayse they were not doing so well financially and plus when Elias lost much of their money in his failed Jelly factory he had to have income coming in from anywhere possible. It sucks, but I bet that was unfortunately the only thing to do.

                      Comment

                      • MickeysGirl
                        Give Peace a Chance
                        • Oct 2005
                        • 674

                        #12
                        Re: Disney Essay Topics

                        It sounds as though you are trying to focus solely on Walt Disney and his company, have you considered looking at society? You could look at the effect/impact that Disneyland has had on Ca. and more specifically, the city of Anaheim and it's citizens over the past 50 years.










                        Comment

                        • Disney Wrassler
                          Get the Iodine!
                          MiceChat Round-Up Crew
                          • Jul 2005
                          • 17650

                          #13
                          Re: Disney Essay Topics

                          Good point Mickeys Girl.

                          Comment

                          • Disney Wrassler
                            Get the Iodine!
                            MiceChat Round-Up Crew
                            • Jul 2005
                            • 17650

                            #14
                            Re: Disney Essay Topics

                            Here is another idea that just came to me.

                            Talk about all the people who have headed Disney since Walts death, all the Technological advancements the company has made, all the screw ups they made, and all the great decisions they made, and how much they Disney has had an impect on our economy and our world over the years.

                            Comment

                            • Alice's Wonderland
                              Directly directed
                              • Feb 2005
                              • 4450

                              #15
                              Re: Disney Essay Topics

                              Sorry just a quick correction Disney Wrassler, The Jelly Factory failed after Disney had started Iwerks-Disney. He had a paper route before the war, and Elias wanted Walt to join the jelly factory upon returning. Walt said no. Plus Dave Smith told me that Elias never gave Walt his approval of what he was doing nor ever understood what he was trying to accomplish through his company.

                              Are these topics at all helpful toward your paper?

                              Comment

                              • Disney Wrassler
                                Get the Iodine!
                                MiceChat Round-Up Crew
                                • Jul 2005
                                • 17650

                                #16
                                Re: Disney Essay Topics

                                That's interesting.

                                PS~ You contacted Dave Smith as in the guy who had his own "Ask Dave" column in the Disney Magazine??? That's pretty cool.

                                Comment

                                • Alice's Wonderland
                                  Directly directed
                                  • Feb 2005
                                  • 4450

                                  #17
                                  Re: Disney Essay Topics

                                  Yes I wrote Dave Smith off an on for about 3 years and I finally got to meet him face to face this past December. He's an incredble man. He autographed all my books by him and I have a picture of him and me.

                                  Comment

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