It's always a slippery slope when you compare someone to Hitler in an academic paper, especially when that person was a creator of children's cartoons. Not only did Kevin Shortsleeve make this comparison about Walt Disney in his essay "The Wonderful World of the Depression: Disney, Despotism, and the 1930s. Or, Why Disney Scares Us" but he stood by it, quite forcefully too. Likening the euphemisms the Disney Company uses for employees (such as cast members and learning leaders) to the Nazi ideology of a Final Solution, nearly a page and a half of his essay was spent developing this point. Ridiculous to the point of being comical? Absolutely. This extended analogy was just one of the things I disagreed with in this paper. Others included the descriptions of all Disney movies balancing Jeffersonian and Orwellian themes and the deeper subliminal messages behind some of the films.
With this said, we are often much more passionate about things we oppose and Shortsleeve's piece was actually very well composed, even with that terrible Hitler reference. Structurally, the format of the work was conducive to easy understanding, with clear subtitles and good transitions between different themes. Additionally, he clearly mentioned the purpose for which he was writing the essay and the goals he hoped to accomplish by the end. He states in the first paragraph "I seek to identify a basic rift that occurred nearly seventy years ago, which has fueled paranoia in Disney corporate, artistic, critical, and public spheres - a sort of Disney "string" theory," immediately giving an idea to the path he would be taking throughout his essay.
Additionally, Shortsleeve tackled this challenge in more effective ways than other authors we have read. For one, he was able to effectively synthesize a number of outside sources, implying his point without shoving it down our throats, an always effective move. He also noted how he was a huge Disney fan as a kid and still remains one today, even if he has issues with the company, making the paper relatable. Key uses of first person such as this worked well throughout the piece. Finally, as a bit of a history nerd, I loved Shortsleeve's historical perspective on the company. The chronological progression of the Disney through the Great Depression (ironically referred to as "an ideal incubator"), World War II, and the modern world was, well, cool.
All in all the piece had flaws (Hitler cough cough), but was probably my favorite read of the semester so far.
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