Globalisation and the Evolution of Disney

Schiller believes that globalisation is a huge and ever growing phenomenon (Schiller, 1993). He believes it began in the 1960s when communication across the world became easier and it has continually become easier and faster as technology developed and the world, in a sense became smaller (Schiller, 1993). With communication, of course came massive conglomerates who also wished to speak to people over seas and sell their products and merchandise to new cultures and nations. Companies such as The Walt Disney Company which has a huge global market, whose part in globalisation will be covered in this summary. Another theorist who talks of globalisation is Dallas Smythe who looked at the comparisons between globalisation and Marxism (Fuchs, 2012). There does seem to be an argument that in a digital age, we are all aiding the growth of these global companies, by purchasing their merchandise and wearing their symbols on our clothes, we are condoning and advertising, freely for companies worth billions of pounds. In this digital age, social media plays a big part in free advertising and in turn increases the capital of these companies, by the spread of word, not locally but now globally.

Returning to Disney, whose wealth is staggering and popularity covers the whole of the globe, it is one of the most successful media companies in the world. In particular, the animated Disney movies, where seven out of the top ten selling films in the world are Disney animations (Artz, 2014.). What makes Disney such a global phenomenon? Well, merchandise is a big part of the company's profits, with stores across the world and its resorts and cruise ships which are also world renowned. But Disney is constantly thinking about its characters and story lines, whether to anthropomorphise the characters and what animated features the next film will include to promote a Disney ideology and the capitalist society that surrounds it (Artz, 2014).

                 

If we take the example of the Disney princess from their beginnings, in 1937 to one of the latest princesses in 2013 it easy to see the transformation through the years. Perhaps it can be called development or open-mindedness where princess of different races have been included but it seems to me that Disney is trying to keep its audiences engaged and connected with the characters they create. It is also noticeable that the way the princess are designed is changing through the decades, now their eyes are bigger and their faces more round, this could be that Disney has identified the growing popularity and globalisation of anime and their distinctive big eyes.

In this TedTalk, Peter Alfandary seems optimistic about globalisation. His optimism points out, where other theorists have perhaps overlooked, that our own space, our country and our own way of speaking will ground us and we can never be completely swept away by globalisation. In the case of Disney, they are simply moving with what they believe will give them the biggest audiences world wide. But it is true that there are cultural differences within one hundred miles of each other that will stop us from becoming one big mass market. I think that this is a good thing, it is important that we keep our separate identities, our cultures and our language so that we are not all tarred by the same brush however it is just as important to continue learning and experiencing cultures we know little about. Perhaps the new Disney film, Moana will do something of that nature.

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References

Artz, L., 2014. Animating Hierarchy: Disney and the Globalization of Capitalism. Global Media Hierarchy.

Fuchs, C., 2012. Dallas Smythe Today - The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labour Debate, Marxist Political Economy and Critical Theory. Prolegomena to a Digital Labour Theory of Value. Creative Commons. pp692-740.

Schiller, H., 1993. Transnational Media: Creating Consumers Worldwide. Power of the Media in the Global System. Journal of International Affairs Editorial Board. pp47-58.