Disney Declassified: Tales of Real Life Disney Scandals, Sex, Accidents and Deaths (27 page)

We know women don’t need to be rescued by a prince, nor do they need someone to fight their battles in between cleaning their home, but it is still pretty cool to dream and fantasize about being a princess, living the grandiose life of royalty. This is exactly what Disney went for in 2013, without the neediness.

Disney made note of the critics and national media attention in regards to their princess franchise. After five years in development, they created a new princess for the preschool demographic, Sofia the First. Sofia’s story follows the nearly identical storyline as many of the other princesses. She was under the care of her unmarried mother; mom meets a king, and then marries him. Sofia now has a stepparent and stepsiblings and a whole new way of life. There is one huge glaring difference though; Sofia doesn’t need a prince to save her day.

 Disney wholeheartedly faced and acknowledged their princess controversy. Nancy Kanter, senior vice president of original programming and general manager of Disney Junior World Wide, stated:

 “ We knew we didn’t want it to be a young woman looking for a man. Everyone is aware of the princess luggage. We’re undoing all that damage.” 

Disney is starting early with a proactive campaign geared towards the two-to-five-year-old set, and it seems to be working at least rating wise. Sofia was 2013’s most watched cable series for the age group, and of course has spurned plenty of merchandise for the little ones to yearn for. Which by the way is probably the one true thing that is universal to all things Disney:  merchandise.

Princess or no princess, when it is all said and done, it obviously comes down to parental preference. Deep down, most of the Disney stories aren’t true Disney stories but centuries-old fables the company adapted to their liking. They are usually “coming of age” tales that puts the lead character in some sort of difficult situation. This situation needs a villain or some sort of trouble in order for the turmoil, trials and tribulations to happen and a Disney happy ending or lesson to be learned. As Walt was once quoted in 1933: "To be honest about the matter, when our gang goes into a huddle and comes out with a new Mickey Mouse story, we will not have worried one bit as to whether the picture will make the children better men and women, or whether it will conform with the enlightened theories of child psychology.”

Subliminal messages, child psychology and princesses aside, the Disney movies are here to stay, and for a very small percentage of families, they cherish them and are very thankful for the emotional doors they’ve opened.

Owen Suskind was your run of the mill toddler; walking, talking, eating, and playful. Around the age of three, many of these attributes started to disappear, and his communication started to retreat. Owen was diagnosed with regressive autism, a disorder that effects one third of the nearly 1 in 88 children diagnosed with autism. Regressive autism is different from the type of autism some children may be born with. In regressive cases, the children are typical tykes until around the age of eighteen to thirty-six months. At this point, the children start to lose their ability to communicate and their social attributes, which is exactly what happened to Owen.

No longer able to engage his family in conversation and socially connect with his parents on the levels he did previously was devastating for the Suskind family. There was however an unconventional and unexpected form of communication lurking in the Suskind household. Despite the onset of the regressive autism, one thing didn’t leave Owen: his love for Disney movies. Much like millions of other toddlers around the world, Owen loved to watch his favorite Disney characters. He loved these characters and movies so much that he would watch them over and over again.

Owen started to recite lines and songs from his favorite films. There was more to this though. Owen wasn’t just repeating what he watched; he was starting to use Disney as a way to communicate through the characters and stories he watched over and over. The little boy who couldn’t speak and connect emotionally was now starting to exhibit behaviors that were unusual for his disorder; he was adopting the Disney movies into his own form of communication. Disney was helping to unleash that once prominent personality and vibrant emotions. Utilizing Disney as his medium for communication, he was now able to relate and reconnect with his parents, giving them a portal into his feelings.

Remarkably, all of this was discovered one afternoon with Owen’s father, Ron (a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, who should probably expect some more accolades after detailing Owen’s story in the book
Life, Animated
) during a chance, life-altering observation. Ron noticed Owens “Disney speak” and tried to join in. He quickly grabbed the puppet of Iago, the parrot from
Aladdin,
and reached out to Owen verbally as the bird. He posed the question, “So, Owen, how ya doin'?” Owen responded, “I am not happy. I don’t have friends. I can’t understand what people say.” For the first time in nearly five years, Ron was connecting with his son in a conversation. Disney movies were resonating with Owen and actually helped a little boy with autism communicate with his family. 

As the years went on and Owen got older, the Suskinds embraced Owen’s “Disney therapy.” The characters, plot lines and stories presented in the countless Disney movies became the vehicle for the family to connect and bond with Owen. For Owen, it allowed him to process and understand the world around him, the best he could under the guise of Disney. But Owen is not alone with his affinity for Disney, as a person living with autism. Disney movies have a special place for many on the autistic spectrum.

Today, Owen is in his early twenties and attends a special school where he is the founder and president of the Disney Club. The club boasts over thirty-five members, who all revel in Disney. The group also uses Disney as a vehicle for members to express themselves and communicate with the world around them that previously had locked them out.

Many of Owen’s peers, who also didn’t speak prior to their “Disney therapy,” are now speaking and relating to Disney characters. One afternoon, Ron went to visit Owen at school. He sat in on a Disney Club meeting and engaged a young autistic man in a conversation. The man was able to communicate without Disney, but seldom conveyed any emotion or depth. Utilizing Disney movies, he gave Ron a sliver into his mind.

When asked what Disney character he relates to or feels a bond with, he replied, “ My character is in Pinocchio…Because I feel like a wooden boy who is always dreaming about what a real boy feels, and who is born with wooden eyes. I am just learning to see.”

These are pretty amazing and moving stories that stretch beyond Owen and his peers in school. More and more across the country, parents with autistic children are living and sharing their Disney experiences with their autistic children.

Former National Football League running back, Curt Warner of the Seattle Seahawks, has twin sons, with what Warner calls “medium autism.” Curt says they know everything about Disney movies including each writer and director. Oftentimes they feel as though they are living one of their favorite films by addressing people and family members by Disney character names. Another story, about a young boy, Collin, has a story similar to Owen’s. Collin started to communicate again with his parents via Pixar movies, specifically
Up
and
Ratatouille.
Again, pretty phenomenal and touching stories.

    Whether it’s detrimental or immoral to expose children to this entertainment is up for debate. There certainly are more troubling things out in the world that children are exposed to than a Disney storyline or some subliminal messages. Princesses and their portrayals may be bad, so too may be playing with Barbie dolls with her body type. Watching the legendary non-Disney movies
Annie
or
The Wizard of Oz
with their difficult family situations could also spell doom and gloom.

     Today, the media is everywhere and so is Disney. In a day and age when many parents utilize their TV as a quasi babysitter and plant their children in front of the television, they allow a variety of things to stream into their child’s mind. Violence, drugs and sex are imprinting them on a daily basis and that’s just from watching the local six o’clock news. 

In the years post-Walt, Disney isn’t entirely responsible for chiseling away at the innocence of young children, exposing them to broken families, smoking, drinking, sex and potential body image issues (that’s what the Internet is for!) but they do have a large roll in the education and upbringing of millions of children around the world, good or bad.

Certainly, no company or person is without flaws. When a career such as Walt’s reaches the stratosphere as his did and thus similarly for the company that shares his name, the magnifying glass through which people use to gaze upon them is that much more powerful.

Many of the situations and life lessons that play out on the big screen from Disney also plays out each day in the real world of Disney. Despite the fairy tales and fantasylands, even the sanctity of Disneyland and Walt Disney World with all of its jubilation and carefree atmospheres are the setting for many terrible situations. It’s regrettable in any circumstance when horrible things happen to unsuspecting and innocent people. Sadly, even the Happiest Place on Earth feels the sting of reality when unfortunate events encroach upon everyone’s fantasy world.

As it all relates to Disney, they are unique and special in a lot of ways, but not in the sense of tragic events; however, Disney is very safe on just about every level, and I’m not saying this as a Disney apologist or enthusiast. The numbers don’t lie.

Despite the moments of craziness, tragedy and litigation, Disney is diligent, proactive and reactive 99% of the time; their business plan and reputation depends upon it. But as the saying goes, shit happens; sometimes Disney is culpable, other times they are not. But one thing is for sure; they are very protective of their multi-billion-dollar mouse and try in earnest to keep him out of trouble.

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