Walt Disney: an Empire of Dreams

Professor Vandelanotte asked us a couple of months ago to write a post on germ@namur as part of a writing assignment. Here are the original instructions (no need to paraphrase them):

For this assignment you are asked to work in groups of two people to produce a blog entry and a short presentation on an assigned topic. These topics were chosen to reflect aspects of different anglophone cultures (in the UK and Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).

This time, I worked with my good friend Quentin, and in less than an hour and a half, we came up with this text. And oh yeah, before I forget, the topic that we chose is Walt Disney. I opted for this because I know some of the cartoons and besides, it's a biography, which means it is easier than summarizing up a concept. (At least, that's what I think.) So you find our first draft version. I just added several links afterwards. I will also post the definitive version on this blog once it's corrected. (Thanks, Ruth!)

Who has never heard the name of Walt Disney? This world-famous cartoon director and businessman was born on 5 December 1901 in Chicago, IL. He is an icon in American culture, as it will be shown below.

Walt Elias Disney started his career as an advertising illustrator, but as he did not meet the success he wanted, he left his hometown to go to Hollywood. He founded a cartoon production company (known today as the Walt Disney Company), and a couple of years later, his Steamboat Willie made him famous, as it introduced the character of Mickey Mouse. This film was the first in an endless series of worldwide-successful cartoons such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, Bambi, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland – among many others.

But Disney’s interest was not confined to cartoons, but also to live-action movies: he most notably produced Mary Poppins, with Julie Andrews. Disney also invested his money and his time in the creation of an amusement park in California, Disleyland. This theme park was made so that all American families could walk in a fantasy world reminding everybody of his cartoons, for instance by getting lost in Alice in Wonderland’s labyrinth. As a philanthropist, he decided to create a new university, CalArts (short for California Institute of Arts), in order to promote the creativity of talented artists who would probably become prominent in the arts.

Walt Disney died of lung cancer on 15 December 1966 — he was a heavy smoker. An urban legend says that Walt Disney was cryonically frozen, but he was actually cremated. Despite his death, his work was carried on by others, through the Walt Disney Company, which is now owned by his offspring. For example, several other theme parks were built in Florida, Tokyo and Paris. Even a Disney Cruise Line was opened in the Caribbean.

As far as the movie legacy is concerned, the Walt Disney Company went on to make not only many other successful cartoons such as The Beauty and the Beast, but also live-action films among which Honey I Shrank the Kids, and hybrid forms mixing traditional animation with live action, e.g. Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This is the only film featuring characters from Disney and Warner Bros. characters in the same frame.



Since a dozen of years, the Walt Disney Company invested more and more money in computer-animated films, notably the two Toy Story films. These were made by the Pixar Animation Studios, which are now owned by Disney. Their most recent released film is Ratatouille.

In conclusion, Walt Disney is considered as an important character in the American, but also world culture, which makes him a legend. His future-oriented empire is one of the most powerful in the world, and it still has many wonderful stories to tell, making us wander in the utmost fantastic universe.