A Spirited Perfect Ten

HMF

Well-Known Member
If they really thought he was problematic I feel like they would stop using him altogether, not try to shift his image through MORE information getting out about the real man, true or untrue. It just seems like such a strange way to go about that.
Also, I think it's inevitable for historical figures to turn into characters in popular culture. It's just what happens whether a corporation pushes it or not. Lincoln vampire hunter, Picasso action figures, mark twain Halloween costumes. I guess my overall point is that I see Disney still holding onto Walt as a legacy figure and if it were true that they're distancing themselves from him we would see more of his disappearance than I'm personally seeing.
Here is the title card played before all Disney-produced films these days.
10.jpg

contrast that with a few years ago.
latest

It does not take much to notice what is missing
 

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
Yep. Insult thousands of people you don't know. That's the ticket.
The crazy thing is the vast majority love working for the mouse, no "insult". Next year minimum wage will be up to $10.00/hour in the FL parks (well above FL minimum wage) and everyone knows what they are getting themselves into ahead of time. Would more benefits be nice? Sure, but things aren't that bad.

Oh, and something no one likes to point out... if you actually do like the company and work for them year in and year out, your hourly wage is increased yearly by .50. Some would say that's being cheap, but what other company of this size does that?
 

zooey

Well-Known Member
The link provides solid evidence of unethical business conduct. Even Walt's brother Roy thought the WED deal was a scam. You're not doing a good job of dodging the facts. And you know that Walt was successfully sued for diverting funds from the publicly held company to WED.

And you also know that Roy and Walt had a very divisive disagreement over how Walt ran WED and Walt was forced to sell WED back to TWDC under fear of additional lawsuits.
Couldn't care less in comparison to his other accomplishments. The WED thing is business, if that's the thing that vilifies him for you I would think that your bar is pretty low. Who IS worthy of it admiration or respect then? No human being certainly, because all of us have been unethical countless times in our lives to varying degrees of severity.
 
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VJ

Well-Known Member
If (and I think this is a very big "if") the goal of the documentary was to vilify Walt or make him less sympathetic, in my view they failed miserably. I still bawled like a baby when he died. And deny it all you want; I'll bet some of you did, as well.
I didn't "bawl", per se, but there were tears shed. Still incredibly emotional for me since I rarely actually cry.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Disney, the company, has been turning Walt into a character, not unlike a Colonel Sanders. You can only really go about that if you have the opportunity to make the case that Walt Disney, the man, is "problematic" and thus needs to be recontextualized as just some guy and not connected to the legacy of the modern day Disney Company and the BRAND. This is one of the key reasons why the fan community, and anyone who cares about history, should be outraged that the Disney company, after shutting its archives to academics for almost ten years, uses it as a means of endorsing projects which legitimize opinion based interpretations of Walt with the goal of discrediting him.
That would make them dumber then even I think they are. Walt Disney is the biggest asset any company could ever have, especially when it comes to theme parks. That would be like General Motors deciding to build doll houses instead of cars. The real problem is that they don't seem to know how to incorporate him in the long run. They've been riding on a dead guys coattails for 50 years now. Some may think that one more generation and that will no longer be the case, and they might be right, but what bigger positive can you have then a guy named Walt Disney and a Disney Park.
 

Phil12

Well-Known Member
Couldn't care less in comparison to his other accomplishments. The WED thing is business, if that's the thing that vilifies him for you I would think that your bar is pretty low. Who IS worthy of it admiration or respect then? No human being certainly, because all of us have been unethical countless times in our lives to varying degrees of severity.
If you desire to excuse unethical business practices that's your choice. However, he was also personally responsible for the illegal firings of 17 employees in violation of Federal Labor law during the 1941 strike.

And as far as his unethical activities with WED, we also know that the Clement J. Melancon lawsuit was settled in Melancon's favor. Unfortunately, under the terms of the settlement, Melancon was barred from revealing any information about the settlement. So we don't yet know the extent of Walt's cash diversion. But we do know that the salient point of the lawsuit was Walt's diversion of cash from Walt Disney Productions to WED Enterprises.

I don't know how many generations must pass until that settlement can be made public. I'm sure the Walt Disney Family Foundation (i.e. the former RETLAW) will do everything in their power to keep the settlement sealed. But rest assured that one day details of that settlement will be made public. And I think if you're a "greed is good" type of guy you'll be a bigger fan than ever of Walt Disney.
 

ULPO46

Well-Known Member
I have a question. Where would be the most appropriate place to post a new thread about US 192. Memories, decades past, why the strip of road lost to rival International drive ect.
 

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
It's not Iger's fault that people are dumb enough to work for Disney.

And as such, it would be morally wrong not to take advantage of their stupidity.
ironically.. people blame people for being "homeless" or "workless" when theres plenty of these "work positions".
its always easy to point fingers.. until it happens to you.
 

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