Secret Lives Walt Disney Documentary

[Tim]

Well, I have watched the less than flattering Walt Disney documentary which was part of the BBC "Secret Lives" series. While they interview former animators, biographers, and other "Insiders" in order to prove their point of view, they really don't give us anything that wasn't uncommon in the era in which Walt lived and worked. Some issues they address:
1. Walt was a racist. An animator says Walt saw a very dark skinned Hindu that the company had hired, mistook him for black, and ordered the man fired.
2. Walt did not respect women. A former employee said Walt did not allow women in the animation division. They were only allowed to ink and paint.
3. Walt was paranoid. He believed the animator's strike was the result of communism. In retaliation, he hired a mobster to break the strike by threatening the animators.
4. He washed his hands 30 times an hour while having a nervous breakdown. (No source or citation provided)
5. He took credit for his animators' work.
6. Walt couldn't end the strike for months. Roy put an end to it in one day.
My rebuttal: This may not win me any fans because it may seem like I am defending bigotry which I am NOT, but the fact is, back then, in the 20's, 30's, and 40's, white men ran the world. They held the power, the money and influence. So if we assume that the above is true, which is only an assumption, is it all that strange? To tell me that women were treated as 2nd class citizens and minorities were treated poorly back then is no surprise at all. As far as Walt not being able to resolve the strike, that's because he took it personally. Roy did not. Roy did what was best for business (he was the money man) and got them to come back to work, Walt was too stubborn, again, not surprising as most geniuses are. As fas as a nervous breakdown, if your entire heart, soul and financial well being was being threatened, wouldn't you freak out too? I'm surprised he didn't crack sooner. And finally, he was human, a workaholic, and a perfectionist. Unfortunately, the company protects his image to such a high degree, it actually gives his critics ammunition when they think Disney is covering up some huge, dark secret he had. He was a man, not Superman.

[NC_WDW_Daddy]

It's pretty easy to look back to a previous era and find fault with people that are a product of their time. Of course, revisionists have trie to change our perception on many of our historical figures by evaluating them under our current standards and not what was socially acceptable in the era they lived. Not sorry I missed the show.

[Tim]

It's pretty easy to look back to a previous era and find fault with people that are a product of their time. Of course, revisionists have trie to change our perception on many of our historical figures by evaluating them under our current standards and not what was socially acceptable in the era they lived. Not sorry I missed the show.

Exactly! You can't apply the current standard of what is morally right today to people who simply lived in different eras. What we consider child abuse today was probably considered a minor punishment in the 40's, just ask Bing Crosby's kids.

[DisneyGuy87]

Hope those people enjoy cutting at Walt Disney so many years after he died...Why can't people ever investigate the good that someone has done?

[Tim]

Hope those people enjoy cutting at Walt Disney so many years after he died...Why can't people ever investigate the good that someone has done?

Because good doesn't sell books or movies. This culture wants dirty laundry and lots of it. It's a shame too because I think it makes a lot of people who may otherwise not misbehave, act stupid because it pays.