The mission statement for The Walt Disney Company. reads, in part, "to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information."
On the surface that sounds generically harmless enough.
But I find it interesting that The Disney Company included both entertainment and information in its mission.
That motivates me to go a bit deeper to see what the descendants of Walt Disney (whose photo is at the top of this blog) are up to these days.
I took a trial spin by checking out the Disney Channel on-line. Among the entertainment choices, there were several television programs. I've watched episodes of a few. Enough to say that many of them feature children who, magically, seem to know more that the adults around them.
Routinely the children in these shows talk back to, ignore or disregard adults. Parents, are especially clueless, or curiously missing from most episodes. They also feature commercials that spotlight Disney products linked to Disney movies. These commercials teach children to be consumers way before they are equipped to make informed shopping decisions.
What sort of information is this type of programming passing along to children?
Back in the days of Walt Disney (founder of The Disney Company back in the late 1920s) the company had one main focus, which was cartoon animation and movies. Mr. Disney was at the forefront of his company. A few decades later, with the invention of television, a weekly show was added, hosted by Mr. Disney. More movies came into the mix. Somewhere in the 1950s Disneyland (the original in California) was added, followed by a host of theme parks and resorts around the world.
Fast forward to today and we find that in 2014, The Walt Disney Company had an income exceeding $48 billion dollars.
While that's great news for investors, I wonder what does this mean for parents and others responsible for consuming Disney products?
Does all of this have a spiritual significance?
In Western culture, most children spend far more time interacting with media (including television and movies) than they do in spiritual instruction.
Kids who watch mass amounts of Disney (or any other like-minded) programming are bound to be affected by their kid-centric portrayal of parent-adult-child communication. We can't separate our spirits from our bodies and minds. A child's spirit is influenced by their environment, which includes what they see.
I'm not saying, by any means, that The Walt Disney Company, or other providers of children's media, are the devil incarnate. But what I am saying is that we should think twice before blindly accepting The Walt Disney Company's mission statement.
We should ask: What are Disney, and other providers passing along to impressionable children?
Back in the 1960s there was a television program on PBS called Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. It was hosted by Fred Rogers (that's a photo of him in the red sweater). He was passionate about kids' programming and wrote the scripts and music for most of the songs he used. He was also in the field of child development.
Mr. Rogers testified before Congress at one point in the late 1960s about the importance of providing positive television shows for kids. Most especially he talked about the simple but powerful messages that children can receive from such shows.
I wonder what he would say to us now about the spiritual-emotional significance of The Walt Disney Company, and their peers in children's media?
Photo Credits:
www.imdb.com
www.nndb.com
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