It Really Is A Small World

There is not a person of my generation nor any child living today who has not been somewhat raised on Disney films. The first movie I ever saw in a theatre was a Disney film and I recall my household having untold shelves full of Disney films. Even as an adult I still enjoy the animated films produced by Disney. But being an adult I have realized that Disney films were exposing me to other cultures far more than I ever realized.

Now there is a complaint among lots of people that Disney is actually trying to remove a sense of cultural identity around the world. Instead of celebrating different peoples and cultures, the movies, shows and toys are actually bringing all cultures under a unified Disney umbrella. Some citizens have an easier time recognizing Mickey, Minnie and Goofy than they do recognizing their own elected officials.  Which is understandable since apparently Donald Duck mumbles his incoherent speech in every language that has cable television.

But in reality, Disney has made an attempt to try and reach different areas of the world. Taking the entire animated library of Disney films and it covers a large swath of the globe. Most of the classic Disney films appear to take place in Europe, with clear English and French influences portrayed in the tales. Fitting since those are the cultures that produced the original fairy tales.

Cinderella is supposed to be Russian originally, which fits in with the names of the stepsisters and the military style outfits of the royals. Beauty and the Beast is clearly French, going so far as to give characters French accents. Snow White appears to have a German influence, which honors the original origins of the tale. Pinocchio is Italian, keeping the Italian names of its characters. Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan perfectly showing British life. Nearly all of Europe gets a shout out.

It wasn’t until Disney’s renaissance in the late nineties that an attempt to stretch to other parts of the globe. The Rescuers made an attempt to tell a story in America, but then the Rescuers Down Under gave Disney audiences a trip all the way to Australia. The Lion King took audiences to the planes of Africa. Mulan told a fairy tale from China, a culture with a rich history of myths that had not been mined by Disney before. Aladdin gave us a fun tale from the Middle East. Even South America was explored briefly in The Emperor’s New Groove and the far north explored in Brother Bear. And who can watch Lilo & Stitch without thinking of living in Hawaii.

There have also been attempts to explore cultures past with stories like Pocahontas and Hercules (a mythological figure, but still an important cultural figure in myth and legend). Dinosaur even tries to show what life was like on prehistoric earth (something more scientifically accurate than what children were exposed to from watching The Flinstones).

I’m sure it won’t be long until Disney has made a film about every culture on earth after a while. I know they have a Japanese style film in the works and there are always more stories to be told in the places they have already visited. The world is a big place and there is enough inspiration for stories to keep Disney cranking out animated films for all the future generations to come.