Disney: The Happiest Place on Earth?

In order to understand how Disneyworld and Marx correlate, we must first fully look at Marx’s theories.  Marx lived in a time where capitalism was overtaking the world.  At his time there was a small number of bourgeoisie, or rich people, who dominated all the proletariats, or poor people.  For this reason, Marx saw the world through a paradigm where society is based on economics.  He decided that he needed to be the bourgeoisie to enlighten the proletariats and show them the extent of their exploitation.  This is why Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto where he described what would happened if the workers would not revolt and overthrow capitalism in order to make communism. 

He asserted that the division of labor objectifies people, making them feel alienation in the workplace.  He described alienation on different levels.  Marx believed that alienation happens from the product as the product has more value than a worker who gets paid under minimum wage.  He believed in alienation from production.  This means that the worker does not feel like he/she has a bond with their labor, but rather, is doing a mindless task without seeing an end result.  Marx also believed that people would feel inhuman and uncreative and, hence, are alienated from themselves.  Also they would not be able to talk to other workers, thus feeling alienated from their community. 

With some background into Marx’s theory, we can start comparing it to Disneyworld.  In the beginning alienation was not nearly as strong for Disney workers as it is now.  From the start, Walt Disney was a ruthless, power-hungry man who did not even create Mickey Mouse.  Instead, he stole the idea from the original animator and marketed it as his own.  Once Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney began to get recognition, Disney started animation on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”  Since the beginning, animators working for Disney had to sell all their rights and remain anonymous.  Therefore, they received no credit by the audience as the exclusive production credits for Disney films were made to “Walt Disney Presents.”  Furthermore, Disney’s employees were fired if they spoke, even one word, during work hours.[1]

To Marx, this is a clear example of alienation in the workforce.  This is to say that workers felt disconnected and removed from reality.  However, at this time, alienation did not exist from the product or themselves, but only from others.  During the creation of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the animators still took pride in their work as it had many creative aspects to it.  Since then, alienation for Disney workers has significantly increased.