First Draft of extended essay

The Impact Disney has on children.

I wanted to write an essay that would help me research for my main project. I knew I wanted to create a children's animation due to the fact I have always liked the style children's animation and also from a technical view I knew I wanted to rig my characters and children's animation would be best suited for this. I had noticed that most children's animation as a thread of morals running through them. From this point I began to ask myself the following question, Does Animation effect children? and does it help them develop?  In this essay I want to address the effects and influence animation and storytelling has on children and how that effective memory could stay with us as a distant or a vivid memory as an adult. I will look closely at animations from the Walt Disney Studio The Lion King and 101 Dalmatians. I will also look at Well’s survey he did around how many people have seen Disney movies and use the figures of this survey to make a conclusion on whether or not it does effect children.  I will then explain how the research from this essay would help me write and structure my own animation.

Animation has been a part of cinema history since the late 1800’s when the first motion pictures were made. Animation is the technique of photographing successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence. Wells says that animation self-evidently reaches large audiences, appeals to them, and has an effect. The largest audience animation seems to attract is children.

All humans, especially children use storytelling as a way of communication and it is considered as a form of play. (Kalogeras, 2013). Children learn to tell stories at the moment they learn to speak, mostly from listening to others but also from television, radio and other digital media, they develop a wanting and a need to socialise and communicate with others which cause them to join in for example while they are telling and retelling a story or reciting it to different people and audiences, they are not only developing their storytelling competencies but also gaining verbal artistry (Grainger, 1997). What Grainger says here is that children begin to tell stories right from the moment they begin to speak. This is why animation is a vital role in young children's lives, it is animation that helps children learn to communicate with people and come up with little stories or scenarios.

According to Bjorkqvist, K. and Lagerspetz, K. A child’s brain from early ages is looking to seek new experiences, Animation provides children with those experience and leaves them glue to their seat playing attention to every moment. It is through a well writing script, audio, the visual effects and the characters that provoke children to follow the animated story from start to finish. It can even have them copycatting how the character speaks, acts, body language and even have the child wanting to dress like their animated hero, because they are copying these characters this could have an impact on their mode of socializing with others and the world in general.

Everyone it seems has a childhood memory of seeing a Disney film. This is such a taken-for-granted, yet uninterrogated fact, that it seems absurd that little attention has been given to Disney films and the nuanced responses of their audiences. Statistics mount concerning how many people worldwide have seen Disney feature films, or purchased them on video, implicitly suggesting that commercial success is a self-evident barometer of enjoyment and acceptance. Critical reaction to the Disney canon has always been mixed, and largely constitutes the discourse about animation itself (see Peary and Peary, 1980: 49-58, 90-2; Smoodin, 1994)  

This quote suggest that Disney has a large role on children all around the world and that people don't realise how great of a deal this could be. There are a lot of mixed views on Disney as a corporation. Walt Disney himself wasn’t loved by many and a lot of bad stories were told about this man. It could be because of this that Disney as a company and their films aren’t loved by everyone but are seen by many. Disney is also faulted because of their numerous Disney Princess movies they have done. Many people think this gives every young girl out there a false apprehension of the world and how woman should be treated. There are a lot of books and articles based around this fact but I won't be going into this in detail just merely touched on it.  

Wells explains that Disney although always had a beauty to it, and it was always original for its time. Disney was creating images greater than any artistic achievement around, Disney also had some images that may have been overly sad or may have been exaggerated and it lacked thoroughness in movies. It was unexpected that the films were offending cultural cynics.

It may be argued that it is the very tension between beauty and banality which informs much of Disney's work, often creating images of profound intensity and technical and artistic achievement but, at the same time, scenes of great superfiCiality and over-determined sentimentality. This, ironically, means that the films can operate on a number of levels and facilitate the appreciation of the art critic and the disapproval of the cultural cynic. Disney's view of culture essentially promotes the idea of a classless agenda underpinned by moral and aesthetic integrity, and it is this code which informs much of the contemporary debates about Disney's work (Wells P. 1998, Page 231)

Wells goes on to research how and what Disney films affected children when they were young looking back as adults. In his primary research, Wells intention to address how the Disney film had affected and influenced children, but instead of constructing a more clinical approach to studying this phenomenon, Wells asked different varying ages of a number of adults from all different background, to answer a simple question. Which was to state their first Disney movie memory in as much detail as possible. For example where they saw the film, who did they see the film with, why did they go, what was the most vivid memory of the film. Essentially, Wells explains he wanted to evaluate the actual experience of viewing Disney films from the adult perspective which ultimately shaped and expressed the memory. Wells view of this process helps to reveal the real influence and effect that the film had because the memory was being articulated in a way which had already subconsciously determined its significance. Such an approach necessarily assumes that the viewer has chosen what to recall, repressed what seems inappropriate to admit, heightened or marginalised aspects of their memory, partially evaluated or interpreted it etc. In other words, the viewer has already prioritised the important aspects of his/her spectatorship, and Signified how and why the Disney text has connected with the individual's formative gaze as a child viewer, and the individual's mature gaze as an adult fully conversant with a Disney ethos which has imbued itself within a global popular culture.

These figures are inevitably affected by the age of the participants and the particular Disney films which were released during their childhood, or the period in which they actually encountered a Disney film. A large proportion of the sample did remember viewing a Disney film when they were children, but some suggested that they may not have seen a Disney movie as a child but maybe in older year as a teen or some even not until they were adults.

It isn’t surprising for me to see that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Jungle Book and Bambi were seen the most. Because they are the ones if I was surveyed I would remember the most. Which I didn’t feel surprised but it was quite odd maybe. It also showed that out of 435 people only 25 people had not seen a Disney movie. This shows that my point pervious that everyone it seems has a childhood memory of seeing a Disney film is valid and that maybe people have been taken this for granted.

Wells explains that everyone has a significant bond to a film. He explains why and how we develop a certain relationship which different movies.

The spectator is intrinsically bound up in a particular relationship to a film, identifying, sympathising, resisting, endorsing, dismissing, etc. in the course of a film narrative. The interaction between the film, with its highly constructed, deliberately manipulative strategies

to engage and affect the viewer, and the spectator, who brings a personal perspective to matters of interpretation and experience, is a relative and sometimes complex process. Numerous theories have emerged which engage with this process (Wells P. 1998, pg.225 )

Table.1

Age group                                           Participants                            Percentage of sample

15-25                                                        158                                              36.3

25-35                                                        117                                              26.9

5                                                         67                                               15.4

45-55                                                         53                                               12.2

Over 55                                                     40                                                9.2

Table. 2

Disney Film                                      number of citations                   Percentage of sample

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs            87                                             20.0

The Jungle Book                                         78                                            17.9

Bambi                                                          50                                            11.5

101 Dalmatians                                            31                                            7.1

Dumbo                                                         17                                            3.9

The Rescuers                                              15                                            3.5

Lady and the Tramp                                     13                                            3.0

Mary Poppins                                               13                                            3.0

Sleeping Beauty                                           10                                            2.3

Pete's Dragon                                               10                                           2.3

Others (25)                                                    86                                          19.8

Not a Disney film/couldn't remember            25                                            5.7

Disney movies have definitely had their effects on my own life. I have always loved Disney from a young age, I wasn’t or hadn’t been a fan of any other animation studios as much until I started studying animation which is a shame because although Disney is the greatest company around doesn’t mean they're the best in my eyes anymore. I don't really remember any other studio or movies that weren’t Disney that I would have watched. That doesn’t mean I didn't watch them, they just didn’t provoke vivid memories. Reminiscing back to my own childhood, The Disney movie that had the most impact on me as a child would been The Lion King, Although I loved The Lion King but it was also very emotionally scarring. When Simba father Mufasa died right in front of Simba it was a very hard moment as a child to watch. I remember watching this moment for the first time begging the telly to let Mufasa wake up but he didn’t. Another aspect of the film that is still vivid in my memory is the character Scar. Scar was an awful character, he was the one who killed Mufasa, he also made Simba think that he was the one who killed his father. Scar did this all to be king of Pride rock. Scar was a master manipulator and a dominant evil character. I didn't like him one bit when I was younger. There was a moment at the end of the film that I was wishing him dead I wanted Simba to murder his uncle. As a child, I don't think that was a healthy way of thinking but that was the effect this character had on my mind. Disney helped influence my view on Scar though, from the moment I saw him he was different to all other character. He had a nasty scar across his face, he was also much darker depressive colours. So I probably formed by opinion of Scar on him before he didn't anything awful.

Thinking back now a lot of other Disney movies though the years I’ve watched a significant other in these movies has died for example, Bambi, Tarzan, Cinderella, and even more recent movies, Up, Finding Nemo, Princess and The Frog and Frozen. Disney seem to like to build a story that way from tragedy to happily ever after. Haven seen many of these as a child and probably seen some of these before seen the Lion King I don’t know why the Lion King stuck in my memory. Maybe The lion king had the biggest impact on me as a child because of the age I watched the movie at, because this was the age that my Mother had lost my Grandmother. My mother would have talked openly about the little memories she had and always talked about how young she was when she died. It could also simply that the character traits where traits I could relate to. Sometimes if a character has similarities to a person they can have a deeper connection.

Although in Wells survey The Lion King wasn’t in the list of mention movies. Nevertheless Bambi was one of the films talked about in the survey and the main point that everyone made when asked about Bambi talked about the death of Bambi’s mother which is the same reason The Lion King stuck vividly with me. So the points made about Bambi are still relevant. In Wells Survey people talked about the scene from Bambi in which Bambi's mother is shot, which reduced boys and girls to tears in equal measure.

Simon (23) from Port Talbot, admits 'I remember weeping profusely when Bambi's mother was killed', while Barry (39) remembers screaming and being dragged out after the death', and Rachel (40) recalls going with her best friend and then 'bawled our eyes out when Bambi's mother got shot'. Robyn (22), perhaps best summates the symbiotic relationship between what is occurring on the screen and what was

happening in the cinema:

The first Disney film I saw was Bambi, with my mother and brother. [It

was a] very emotional film. [I] cried lots at the age of six. I can't

remember much of the story but it was very sad, especially when

Bambi's mother was shot. Having my mother there was comforting

to me -a shoulder to cry on.

The inevitable anxiety caused by the loss of a mother or a father figure is assuaged by the

comforting presence of the viewer's own mother or father, and the reassurance of continuity

in her own life in spite of the trauma she has experienced. Wells explains that the viewer recognised that nothing, not even her own mother, can offer order and reassurance in the face of difficulties problematically raised within the supposedly safe haven of the Disney text. Even knowledge in adulthood cannot revise childhood experience and merely endorses the idea that some Disney texts create formative moment when notion of 'wholeness are disrupted forever, and innocence is fundamentally lost.

Figure 1. Simba finding his father dead

Figure2. Scar throwing mufasa off the rocks, killing mufasa

Another movie that had an impact on me was 101 Dalmatians. I think 101 Dalmatians didn’t have a huge on impact me when I first saw it as a child but maybe had more of an impact on me when I understood the storyline as maybe a 10 years old. The fact this film was about how someone could be so cruel to animals was definitely the trigger. As a child I grew up with dogs since I was born. The fact this movie was based on a woman (Cruella De Vil) who wanted to murder pups for her own selfish reasons was terrifying. That a coat meant more to this woman than the lives of animals. I couldn't understand how Cruella De Vil could be so cruel and evil to these tiny harmless puppies. Looking back now at this storyline I think it is a brilliant one and it raises topics that no other children’s movies of it time did. Cruella De Vil character still terrifies me to this day because of the how she bullied people and taunted people. Going back to Wells survey it seems I’m not alone on my opinion of Cruella De Vil,

Stuart (25) demonstrates his anxiety about her identity and behaviour when he suggests, 'Cruella plucking out eyelashes filled me with horror and disgust', while Paul (26), freely admits 'the woman scared the crap

out of me'. More troubling for Sue (34), was the fact that her 'mother wore a red coat with a synthetic fur collar' and this reminded her' of the red coat in the film and scared me'. Unlike the viewer above, Sue was clearly not reassured by her mother's presence and, indeed, her mother's role was undermined by the representation of the evil 'mother' on the screen. Rachel (24), even recognised that the power of the emotion she experienced in relation to Cruella led her to completely forget that 'this was an animated movie, or even that it was a movie', and to her 'hiding behind a chair', and later having nightmares. Cruella's identity and actions usefully conflate a number of anxieties which might occur in children, chiefly, that she is prepared to harm animals in the creation of her maternal persona. This both undermines the supposedly benign nature of motherly affection and the protective agenda which should attend the care of pets. (Wells P. 1998, Pg.237)

Disney had a clear purpose for the character of Cruella and that was to unease for viewer. Going back to a statement I made above about character design Disney had also did it here. Cruella design was horrible from the minute you say her you thought to yourself she was nasty. Disney cleverly put a character like Anita who was the mother of the pups In Cruella lives because this character would be been kind and maternal to the pups. Then introducing Cruella who was the complete opposite to maternal gave the film that sense of conflict which drives a film. It was because of this conflict in characters that made the viewer straight away know that Cruella wouldn't be a nice character and she would be the antagonised in this movie.

Figure 3. four cute Dalmatians from the movie.

Figure4. Anita, Roger, Nanny and a Dalmatian

Figure 5. Cruella De Vil

Due to the fact that Disney seems to be the most watched animation studio around, and it is showing to have an impact on children. I began to look into whether or not this impact is good, bad or both?  Having talk before about how as a child I want Scar dead it was these thoughts that made me wonder was this a good or bad influence. I think the fact the Simba had the chance to kill Scar but because morally it was wrong he didn't maybe made up for the fact that they made me hate a fictional character so much I wanted him for dead. Castillo following quote explains that he views many of the Disney movies as bad Influences and like Wells says before Castillo also says that maybe Disney movies have been overlooked, And that they could be the influence on today's society.  

Many of the movies and characters created by Disney are far more of an unacceptably bad influence on children than we realize. Parenting groups have long blamed more adult media for the problems with our youth, everything from the obvious violent television to the mundane school. Where they have failed to look is what seems like the least likely place: Disney (Paul Castillo, 2006)

The following quote is from an online article which a girl describes how she feels about Disney and the impact it had on her.

We learn so much from every film that the Walt Disney company has made. We learn to accept people for who they are no matter what our differences may be. We learn that true love triumphs any evil that means to get in the way. We learn that the love of family can break any spell. We learn that helping others is more rewarding than doing what is good for ourselves. We learn to be good people. Growing up watching Disney movies has shaped me into the person I am today and I know that the messages in Disney films are meant to provide us with ways to overcome the evilness in the world and strive to be the best people we can be. Above all else, Disney movies are there to entertain us, make us laugh, and tell a great story. (Odyssey. 2017)

I think Disney has both good and bad impact on people. Disney may not be update with cultural norms but I do hope in the future they will steer away from princess stories and try new things in terms of story. There is a lot to be said on Disney impact on society because its growing greater and greater but I do think they also show very good morals throughout their animations. There will always be good and bad in the world and sometimes people may see you for what you are other times not. Disney shows that there will be evil wherever we go we just need to stay good and do what's morally right.

Enlighten all this research it helped me with my script for my major project. I was having trouble gluing my story together for a while, I had gone through about 20 different scripts version for my animation. I’ve also had about 5 completely different versions of animatics it’s only now from having all this research behind my piece that I've finally nailed down a script. The research from this essay has help hugely, and I was able to incorporate part of this essay into my final film. My target audience for my film was children, having researched and watch a lot of children programmes and films I could see clear and hidden morals in each episode or film. I knew I needed to have morals throughout my animation. Also style and pacing would also be a huge part of how I would engage with my audience. The part I was stuck on was the moral part. The idea for my film was that I had two character’s. One was antagonist and the second was a protagonist. The antagonist was bullying and taunting the protagonist. The part of my film the essay help sculpted was the ending. I had a lot of ideas off different people of what the ending should be, Idea one should the protagonist get her own back on the antagonist and make a fool of her. Or idea two should the protagonist after been taunted for so long get a chance to get her own back on the antagonist but decide not to because that isn’t the type of person she is. For some while the ending has been idea one, but the more I wrote this essay it was clear to me that my idea had to be idea two.

I got the ending for my animation from the Lion King, there will be a scene at the end of my animation that will be the same as the Scar and Mufasa cliff scene. The change in my story will be the protagonist who is holding onto the antagonist will not let go and hurt the other they will have a flashback scene of all the horrible things the antagonist did but will accept all her wrongdoing and save the antagonist. The antagonist will realise this and apologise to the protagonist. The story will follow the Disney format of a story going for bad to having a happily ever after.

In Conclusion it is evident that Animation does have an effect on children and also on adults. In the survey Wells took out only 25 from 435 people had not watched a Disney movie which could suggest Disney may be the biggest influence of children. Although a lot of people have problems with the way Disney tells stories because they more or less always have a happily ever after and ‘Princess’ roles. In my research it shows that a lot of people in fact don’t only remember the happy ending they more vividly remember the antagonist in the movies. Remembering that these adults from the survey ranging from 15 to over 55 still are somewhat traumatized by Disney movies. But I do think are opinion of these movies deepen as we get older and become more educated in life. Although we may have been a bit frightened as children of some of the awful deaths and evil characters we of course will give a more over aggregated version of our memories because we love to tell stories.   

Bibliography

 

Wells, P., 1998. Understanding Animation. Routledge.

Bjorkqvist, K. and Lagerspetz, K. (1985) Children Experience of Three Types of Cartoons at Two Age Levels. International Journal of Psychology, 20, 77-93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.1464-066X.1985.tb00015.x

Kalogera, S. (2013) International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education: Media- Education Convergence: Applying Transmedia Storytelling Edutainment in E-Learning Environments. Yorkshire. United Kingdom.

PAUL CASTILLO. 2017. The negative effects of Disney on children | The Sundial. [ONLINE] Available at: http://sundial.csun.edu/2006/12/thenegativeeffectsofdisneyonchildren/

Odyssey. 2017. The Impact of a Disney Movie. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-impact-of-disney-movie.

Peary, D. and Peary, G. (eds) (1980) The American Animated Cartoon: A Critical Anthology, New

York: E.P Dutton.

Grainger, T. (1997). Traditional storytelling in the primary classroom. Warwickshire: Scholastic Ltd.

Filmography

The Lion King, 1994. [DVD] Rob Minkoff, Roger Allers, America: The Walt Disney Company.

101 dalmatians, 1996. [DVD] Stephen Herek, America: The Walt Disney Company. 35-4