Walt Disney on Faith

Dan Lacey at faithmouse pointed me to a piece at DisneyDreamer.com that was written by Walt Disney in 1963. The subject of the article was Walt's thoughts on faith. Here's an excerpt that I thought was particularly informative, especially in light of some of the things I've been reading in the book Disney War:

Deeds rather than words express my concept of the part religion should play in everyday life. I have watched constantly that in our movie work the highest moral and spiritual standards are upheld, whether it deals with fable or with stories of living action. This religious concern for the form and content of our films goes back 40 years to the rugged financial period in Kansas City when I was struggling to establish a film company and produce animated fairy tales. Many times during those difficult years, even as we turned out Alice in Cartoonland and later in Hollywood the first Mickey Mouse, we were under pressure to sell out or debase the subject matter or go "commercial" in one way or another. But we stuck it out -- my brother Roy and other loyal associates -- until the success of Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies finally put us in the black. Similarly, when war came to the United States in 1941, we turned from profitable popular movie-making to military production for Uncle Sam. Ninety-four per cent of the Disney facilities in Hollywood became engaged in special government work, while the remainder was devoted to the creation of morale building comedy, short subjects.

There are a couple of things that jump out at me from this paragraph. Walt was very concerned about maintaining a high moral standard in the films produced by his studio, and that standard was held throughout Walt's life. However, after his passing in 1966, the company began moving in other directions in the never ending effort to keep the company profitable, and the new leadership that came on board in the 80's made some moves that I don't believe Walt would ever have approved.

The primary divergence from Walt's philosophy would have to be the acquisition of Miramax Films which gave the Disney company a platform for violent, R-rated films like Pulp Fiction. At the time that deal was announced, I remember hearing many commentators talking about "Walt spinning in his grave" over the thought that Disney would be involved in R-rated movies. The films from Miramax, though profitable for the corporation, certainly didn't do anything to reduce the coursening of society.

The other item of interest in this paragraph was the comment that 94% of the Disney facilities were involved in special government work during WWII, while the rest of the studio was involved in the creation of morale building cartoons and features to buck up the US citizenry as they fought the long war. I'm sure the left would decry that as nothing more than propaganda, but the reality is they helped win the war. Could something like this happen in today's Hollywood? Not a chance. Today's Hollywood executives would quit before they would agree to produce films to aid a U.S. war effort. Attitudes in Hollywood have changed 180 degrees since WWII.

The entire article that Walt Disney wrote is good, and you can read the entire thing here.