Cause and Effect of Walt Disney’s Success
“If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.” Walt Disney, one of America’s most legendary animated film producers and animators, allowed both children and adults to escape into an imaginary world of fairy tales. Growing up with drawing as his essential interest, Disney enrolled in colleges and established companies that enabled him to pursue a career in commercial art.
Although Walt Disney Company initially failed to succeed, it eventually developed a series of animated shorts and full-length features that instantly caught the public’s eye. Disney’s creations won numerous awards for their imagination and optimism, which led to the expansion of the company into television networks, merchandise, and amusement parks. Walt Disney’s childhood adoration for art and his experience living through a difficult childhood inspired him to produce various films that continue to enlighten viewers today. He also constructed a theme park where dreams become reality.
From a young age, Walt Disney developed a passion for illustrating cartoon characters. After volunteering in the Red Cross during World War I, he returned home and began working for his father’s company. This provided him with the opportunity to practice drawing. According to the Encyclopedia of World Geography, His ambulance was covered from stem to stem, not with stock camouflage, but with Disney cartoons.” Disney discovered ways to incorporate drawing into his everyday life and attended schools and colleges that allowed him to study basic skills and knowledge of drawing.
Walt Disney enrolled in the Art Institute in Kansas City and later the Chicago Academy of Arts for college. He also established his first companies to pursue his dream of becoming an animator. With Ub Iwerks, Disney formed a partnership and developed numerous companies that created shorts based on common fairy tales (Famous Industrialist: Walt Disney”). However, Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists and Laugh-O-Grams failed financially. The Walt Disney Company prospered only when he partnered with his brother.
Walt Disney worked diligently to achieve his dream of becoming a political cartoonist with an open mind. However, growing up was tough for him as he had to deal with the devastation of the Great Depression and live with a strict father. Elias Disney, Walt’s father, was an active advocate of corporal punishment and deprived his children of play toys. At just eight years old, Walt distributed letters and advertisements for his father but unfortunately, Elias Disney stole all of his son’s earned money (Astrum People).
Disney’s childhood was far from cheerful, but he created a world through films that he believed all children should experience. Despite his difficult upbringing, Disney’s companies began to succeed. However, during the Great Depression, he struggled to stay in the art business due to a shortage of money. According to Cayton (557), No one understood the needs of Depression-era audiences better than Walt Disney, whose Mickey Mouse cartoons delighted moviegoers everywhere.
During the difficult economic times of the Depression, Walt Disney was concerned that his company would fail. To distract Americans from the gloom, he created cartoons and films. Most people who experience brutal childhoods and attempt to make a company succeed during poor economic times usually give up, but Disney’s determination resulted in his success. He gradually became an American artist, director, producer, and creator of a series of full-length animated films which allowed him to win worldwide fame.
After successfully establishing the Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney’s imaginative brain developed characters that appealed to the family market. Mickey’s films were successful, but it was in merchandising that the studio became truly lucrative,” (“Famous Industrialist: Walt Disney”). From pencils to toys to shirts, the Mickey Mouse character created a financial empire for the Walt Disney Company. Without support from his brother, Disney’s admirable characters invaded television by creating a separate Disney network that remains on TV today.
Walt Disney received numerous awards for his continuous production of popular animated films. According to Astrum People, by the time of his death, the Disney studio had produced 21 full-length animated films, 493 short subjects, 47 live-action films, 7 True-Life Adventure features, 330 hours of Mickey Mouse Club television programs, 78 half-hour Zorro television adventures and 280 other television shows. These films enabled Disney to receive an abundance of Oscars, Academy Awards, the Medal of Freedom and other accolades.
One of the Walt Disney Company’s largest productions was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This film was not only Walt’s first feature-length film but also America’s first animated feature in color. Disney’s worldwide popularity can be attributed to his imagination, optimism, and self-made success. Another dream of Walt Disney was to construct an amusement park where the world of Disney animation would come to life. The enjoyment viewers experienced from hundreds of Disney productions inspired Walt Disney to experiment with building a fantasy theme park.
This idea for the park came to him after taking his children to other amusement parks and watching them have fun on the rides,” according to the Encyclopedia of World Biography. Disneyland opened first in Anaheim, California and has since expanded to occupy land in Orlando, Florida; Tokyo, Japan; and Paris, France. As an American landmark, Disney has made a lasting impact on the vacation industry with 5 million people visiting Disneyland annually. Furthermore, Disney World prioritized cleanliness and required respectable workers who could meet public expectations which helped this glorious amusement park expand.
“Disney World contains the Magic Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon (a water park), Pleasure Island (nightly entertainment), Epcot, MGM Studios, and a nature preserve” (Johnson).
Before Disney’s death, he envisioned Epcot as a community of the future; however, it developed into a world fair. Since Walt Disney World occupies land as large as San Francisco, visitors must rush to experience everything within a week. In conclusion, Disney’s dream of building an amusement park has evolved into a massive and continuously successful business venture.
Walt Disney succeeded in developing films, amusement parks, and television shows that appeal to people of all ages as a result of his young dreams of becoming an animator and experiencing a harsh childhood. Endowed with imagination and determination, Disney made the general public admire animation and believe in their dreams. Even after his death, his enterprises continue to live and grow steadily, bringing him respect and success. Walt Disney serves as the man who believed in dreams and once said if you can dream it, you can do it.
