Online Assignment #3, Ayla Kress

            Mickey Mouse Monopoly analysis the different influences Disney has on people around the world, both political, racial, and their sexuality. Disney is one of the largest influences in a child’s life, from the movies and television shows they watch to the toys they play with and princesses they pretend to be. Disney has a way of influencing the culture slowly over time from the birth of a child until they become an adult and Disney then influences his/her children and the next generation. This influence of Disney media can be viewed in two different perspectives: cultural studies and cultivation theory.

Cultural studies looks at the representation and resistance sides of media as its main points. With regards to Disney you can see the representation of multiple culture that already exist, but in some cases they give a “racist” meaning according to some viewers. Despite these movies being very popular among many different generations and races, they still feel there is a large racist connotation to the movies. This is a perfect example of representation, taking something that already exists and reproducing it with either the same or a new meaning. The viewers that are against Disney and feel it has negative effects on the culture are referred to as the “resistance” the people are not just passive viewers but are resistance messages that conflict with their beliefs or values. Henry A. Giroux could easily be viewed as resistant, the author of a controversial book that examines the innocence of Disney and what’s truly lurking behind it. Dr. Gines agrees that they take what’s already there and “wrap it up in a pretty magical kingdom wrapper” for all the children to view. This can change the way a girl thinks a woman should act or ties the voice of the animals to specific races.

The second relevant perspective is cultivation theory, which is the believe that the repeated exposure to these influence of a long period of times changes the way people operate, their beliefs, etc. This used to be done by family, church, and state but now is increasingly preformed by television. Disney is a large influence on children as it is popular with parent sand teachers and children love the stories created by Disney imaginers.  According to Dr. Poussaint, children have been raised on Disney, many generations now. Disney are one of the top 6/7 large media companies, now owning abc, Disney, numerous magazines, and publishing houses, etc. These small influences across many years through numerous outlets build to create and help form a child’s imagination or adults political views. According to Dr. Lewis Disney has a large power over theses children’s minds as a dominant storyteller and must consider what stories they’re telling the children. Long term exposure to Disney changes how you look at many things subliminally and isn’t always considered a prominent influence by many parents but should be.

Overall the awareness of Disney’s influence is growing but shouldn’t be as analysis or criticized I believe, within the movie you see many example of over analyzing stories and believe the children will develop these horrible social traits however after many generations of Disney influencing the minds of people across the world we are still striving towards equal rights, human rights, and are aware of many social differences within the world around us possibly thanks to Disney, not the opposite.