Customer Reviews

The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life

5 star:		(10)
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2 star:		(1)
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As one critic noted recently, Walt Disney's career has inspired either hurrahs or sneers. The folks at Disney have authorized or even manufactured a whole series of haigiographies. As for the opposing camp, it has its own sacred text, Richard Schickel's THE DISNEY VERSION, which not just not a haigiography, but a blanket attack on both the work of the Disney studio and the fans of the films they produced.

But there has not, until now, been a serious book about Disney and his mouse factory. Steven Watt's combination biography/cultural study accomplishes this task without either ignoring the real warts on Disney's character or sinking into eye-glazing cultural-studies babble (at no time does he accuse Disney of "phallocentricity," which is a singular accomplishment in and of itself).

Walt Disney began as something of a liberal populist, became a decided conservative, and in his later years became a great believer in the sort of social engineering that both the liberal and conservative establishments seemed to be rather enthusiastic about back in the 1960's, expressed in his original plans for EPCOT, a planned community where everything would be clean and safe and happy, whether that's how people wanted it or not . . .

Certainly that's how Disney wanted it. Disneyland and Disney World seem expressions of his desperate desire to create a place where the lonliness and misery of his childhood couldn't find him, or anyone else. Certainly, the parks are among the most well-ordered and polite imaginable, thanks to the work of his artists and engineers. There are those who find this horrifying, an effort to reduce visitors to passive, unthinking consumers of spectacle and merchandise, putty in the hands of the Disney Company and their corporate cohorts.

Most importantly, he reminds us of the fact that Disney was not just the name of a media super-company, but the name that meant joyous, wildly-imaginative screen entertainment, an explosion that took years to go off, but shook and delighted American society, both mass and class, from November of 1928 until the late months of 1941. A tough animator's strike in 1941, which he regarded as a personal attack on his beneficence (which was rather capricious and never really extended to the inkers and painters in the firm), helped begin the process which made Disney into a rather reactionary figure (although not a race-baiter or as hateful as many Hollywood right-wingers). It also broke up his original group of animators, and the films were never quite the same after that. But those 13 years produced some of the true masterpieces of popular entertainment, and that should never be forgotten.

Easily the best biography out there on Walt Disney hands down. It will never be topped. It neither kisses his hiney as Bob Thomas' studio sanctioned biography does, nor does it discount him as merely a low brow populist (as Richard Schickel did), nor lies about him as some sort of communist spy in order to sell books. Not only is this biography even handed, but Mr. Watts makes brilliant connections between Walt and his time that no other biographer had the insight to do. This is a fair, balanced, well organized, incredibly entertaining biography that really brings the real Walt Disney to life. Steven Watts is a genius biographer.

I have read 4 biographies about this man ("An American Original," "The Disney Version," Mosley's "Disney's World: A biography," Eliot's "Hollywood's Dark Prince") and now I realize that I should have acquired this book before, so I wouldn't need to read all of the above stated books.
This book provides Walt's personal story, studio development, good and bad critics, Disney's place in history and his shaping of American culture. It is not biased, but gives a balanced view on a man and his company. It made me believe in this book, since I was very sceptical towards "truths" written in other Walt Disney biographies. In those, Walt was portrayed as either a perfect person, or a villain of the 20th century.
The Magic Kingdom is the balanced truth and the best biography of a man that shaped American culture without a doubt.

...This is the one. This biography does an incredible job of placing Walt Disney the man (and his works) in historical, social, and cultural context. Not only does Watts provide a balanced examination of Walt Disney--something that many biographies do not in their attempts to paint a picture of Walt as either a perfect saint or the ultimate evil--but he doesn't discuss Walt in isolation of the world in which he lived. Instead, Watts places Walt Disney in relationship to time periods and social movements.

For example, the writing on Walt's early years consider the influences of his mother, father, and his small-town/rural upbringing. Many other biographies have done this as well. But Watts also considers how Walt was raised at the cusp of the Victorian era and the rise of modernism, then considers how this affects Walt and his decisions for the rest of his life. Such writing not only helps the reader to better understand the "whats" and "hows" of Walt Disney's life and accomplishments, but attempts to understand the "whys" and "so whats". In this way, the reader gets a sense of how Walt was shaped by the world he lived in and, in turn, shaped that world.

Watts performs this delicate balance between biography, history, and cultural significance throughout the book. He deals with Walt in terms of the Depression, WWII, the shaping of the Hollywood Film Industry, the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the emergence of postmodern culture. This provides the reader with a deeper insight into Disney *and* these important moments.

Because the book covers so much material and makes so many connections, this is not a light read. The material is accessible but the book is hefty in terms of pages and ideas. It's something to be digested slowly, savored. It's well worth it.

I've probably read every book on Walt Disney. Most are carefully vetted by the studio and manage to tell exactly the same story. There's nothing wrong with that--there are no lies, just spin. Some of the books that are less "controlled" are more fun, however, like Jack Kinney's memoir "Walt Disney and Other Assorted Characters." Some that shake off the Disney thought police do so out of malice--Marc Eliot's "biography" of Walt Disney was deliberately mean-spirited and inaccurate, in my opinion.

In the last 20 years, we've seen a new breed of Disney book emerge that puts Walt Disney in context of the larger cultural picture. These volumes are dense and uninviting, but their view in general is that Walt was an uneducated slug and the people who bought his schlock were no better than he. "Disney Discourse," for example, or "Vinyl Leaves." Well, this book appears to be the Disney people's answer: An imposing academic look at the cultural history of the Walt Disney machine by a bona fide academic who has been lavished with information from the studio's archives.

Personally, I think the truth is inbetween. If all you read are this book and Bob Thomas' excellent biography, you'll have the facts and the current Disney Company spin, but you'll be missing the healthy cynic's view. Leonard Mosley's biography, "Disney's World" or Richard Schickel's "The Disney Version" supply that, while still admiring their subject. Or, for an academic view of the creation of Disneyland that's less Disneyized than Watts, try Karal Ann Marling's "As Seen on TV."

far and away the most in-depth biography ever written about a truly great great man. While reading it, you get the sense that you are there, shoulder to shoulder with Walt Disney while he and his brother, and his employees build an amazing company. Also provides the context wherein the company was being formed, and the trials and trevails that preceded building this great company. Any Disney fan would NOT be disappointed.

As a 15 year old girl who is an absolute Disney expert I think this is the best book I have read! It is a combination of a Walt Disney biography and a company history. It also tells the stories of many other people who helped make Disney what it is today. It is entertaining and almost never boring although it may be a difficult read for some. It also includes many interesting facts that I may have never known otherwise (Did you know that Snow White's blush was the actual blush used by the female inkers and that they applied it to her cheeks in each and every cell?). I highly recommend this book to anyone who is very interested in Disney, but not for the first Walt bio you have ever read.

I've read the Gabler, Thomas, and Manheim (Quest for Community) books, and about 3 other books on Walt, and this was the best. Fantastic!

This book analyzes Disney's life and impact on American culture. He approaches it by not only looking at biographical sources, but also film critics and letters written by all the big names within the Disney company. Watts covers a variety of topics including Walt Disney's history, the importance of the big name animators, the impact of the movies on American culture, and the organization of the factory and the shenanigans that took place there. If you have to read one book on Disney, read this one. This author is well-known for his book and in other texts I've had to read, he is cited as a source. The only negative I have is that the book seems a little too happy nostalgic like it's a Disney movie of Disney's life or something.

I'm taking a Disney art history class and this is the text. I have had to read a ton of articles and other Disney literature and this book really stands out! It's an easy read, it doesn't read like a textbook. I find it surprisingly enjoyable! I wish I could say the same things about all my textbooks...

If you're looking for a page turner, this is not the book for you! This is the second biography on Walt Disney that I have read and got it to fill in any of the gaps that I have missed. Without knowing much about the book (I just checked it out from the library) I thought that it may be geared more towards the parks as opposed to his entire life - it's not, but that's okay. It has a bunch of information, but I don't think some of it is organized well. It's not so much a timeline of his life, as a smattering of information and an "over-politicizing" of every decision throughout his life. I was looking for an entertaining read about his life and ended up drudging through explanations of his subconscious reasons for creating what he did at certain periods in his life. One of the best parts of the book were a few pages devoted to Roy Disney.

All in all, I would recommend Neil Habler's book over this one.