How Did Walt Disney Influence American Culture

Steven Watt’s The Magic Kingdom is a biography on Walt Disney’s life, focusing on everything from his early life to around the time of his death. As a boy, Disney enjoyed working on his own art and animation, despite the disapproval of his father, and in due time this would be Disney’s ticket to the life of luxury. As Disney’s talent grew, so did his fame which allowed him to hold a good amount of power over the people that admired and loved him and his work. This power was especially useful and prominent during times of war, and at these times Disney would continue to make his creations, such as documentaries, to push the people to think a certain way or believe a certain topic. From the time that Disney held influence over people, he would use entertainment to sway the minds of the American people, contributing to America’s rising power during the 20th century; Disney would use his creative outlets to reassure

the American people about important political topics by tying it into American values and culture.
The Red Scare, debatably one of America’s greatest times of hysteria, brought a feeling of insecurity among many households nationwide. Luckily for these Americans, Walt Disney had already racked up a good amount of fame by this point, and was able to reassure their fears about communism. Disney produced a series of documentaries which helped his public image grow, and by the end of the decade, “he and his work had become synonymous with American virtue and creativity and its promise of triumph over communism in the world” (Watts 303). Disney’s popularity helped to promote anti-communism and this political view can be seen in many of his films, such as Beaver Valley from Disney’s series of True-Life Adventures. In Beaver Valley, it described the life of “the hard-working life of the beaver…” and this “seemed to affirm social competition as a natural process that enabled the best to emerge — an unspoken rejection of the hovering Communist specter of artificial government direction and centralized planning” (Watts 305). Many people flocked to see these kinds of films created by Disney, so it made spreading the promotion of anti-communist ideals a lot easier, much more entertaining, and tons more trusting than listening to a political figure.
Disney knew that he held this kind of power of the American people however, he exploited this advantageous knowledge with good intentions for citizens nationwide:
“Disney moved deftly to preserve American individualism while embracing modern bureaucratic productivity, to preserve America’s small-town virtues while promoting its role as a major world power, and to urge enjoyment of modern consumer goods while avoiding the dangers of conformity and moral dissolution. Using his cinematic niche as a base of operations, he engaged in a far-flung campaign to articulate the American way of life. Shrewdly, he focused on the American family. Relying on his instincts, he knew that domestic issues lay at the heart of his society’s ideals and anxieties” (325).

Picking apart this quote, Disney worked hard to make sure Americans didn’t forget their values and culture, and worked to also promote the path that the government was taking the country, specifically regarding the economy, so that Americans could basically continue being themselves and do their duty to keep the economy afloat.

He does this while also showing that America is a powerful country that should not be tampered with — potentially referring to matters such as communism among others — and as the little cherry on top, he works to prevent Americans from forgetting their morals or from quickly changing who they are to fit with the rest of Americans; he really wants them to stick with their values. By using the American way of life to sway the people, American citizens will remember what they stand for as a country and as a community and with this creates a uniform power to fight back against anything that threatens American security; American citizen’s number one priority is to protect their families and their homes and Disney knew and utilized

this.
Disney’s talent and fame helped bring America power by harnessing the idea of American culture and values to bring about positive political promotions. This can be seen throughout many of Disney’s creative ventures.