Book Review: From Mouse to Mermaids, The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture
by Stephen Marsh

From Mouse to Mermaids is a discussion of the effect the Disney company has had on modern American culture by taking a strangle hold of the classic fairy tale and packaging it for a mass audience. The book tells how Disney changed the way America thinks about idealism and through a domination of the mass media of animation, forced our culture to view this genre completely through his lens.

The author starts out by describing the movie industry during the time Disney started his media empire. During the beginning of the 20 Century there was a growing number of animators producing short animated cartoons. Disney used this medium to revolutionize fairy tales and turn it into an American Institution. He took classic fairy tales written originally for upper-class aristocracy, changed their voice and meaning to suit a mass audience, and through cinema, brought these packaged stories to the public. The stories he brought played on themes of society’s childlike psychology, using comic characters, Oedipal desires, and erotic forces. He used this “formula” over and over again to monopolize the classic fairy tale and create an outlet of escapism and fantasy for a mass audience.

The author argues that the changes Disney made to these classic tales robbed the stories of their value and served to perpetuate many negative societal views. The author comments that Disney would rob a work “of its uniqueness, of it’s soul. In its place he put jokes and songs and fright effects, but he always seemed to diminish what he touched. He came always as a conqueror, never as a servant.” Disney would change these classic stories and mold them to play off of the patriarchal codes that kept people like him in power.

The author identifies a few of the major ways that Walt Disney revolutionized the American fairytale for the masses: Technique is valued over the actual story; the story is used merely as an exhibition of the technical means. Second, the story and images show a wholeness and universal order. The world is shown to fall together seamlessly and in perfect order. Also characters are animated and more physically realistic, but are not developed. They fit into one-dimensional stereotypes. Next, the stories perpetuate and objective “good.” This means that the character’s behavior is portrayed as a model for the world and rejects “sympathy and respect for alien traditions.” The stories are arranged to culminate in the salvation of the helpless woman by the male hero. Finally the fairy tales created by Disney are simple and one dimensional. They produce “non reflexive thinking” and reduce the experience to viewing pleasant, goofy, and simple media on one level.

One example of this “formula” is the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, created in 1934, and was the first feature length animated film ever produced. This film supports many classic sexist attitudes and fills many of the characteristics the author pointed out. The prince is framed as the champion who fulfills the woman’s dreams. Woman competes with woman for male approval of their beauty, represented by the mirror. The good woman is one who is subservient, domestic, and victimized. The book also argues that the Disney Corporation has continued this tradition in its films even after its founder’s death.

The author points out that it may seem strange that Disney’s movies promoted a patriarchal domination because except for Pinocchio, they all featured women as the center character or characters. But when you examine these characters, you see that women are depicted in two major stereotypes. First is the heroine. She is always charming and beautiful, but besides these qualities the character is shallow. She is helpless and relies upon men for protection. Second is the villianesse who is evil, conniving, and represents defiant forces. These characters are set against each other in competition for the reward, which is usually the male. It is a depiction of women confined to a struggle for male approval.

I found this book to be very enlightening in many ways. The author pointed out a lot of good points about the content that the Disney Corporation has produced. Disney has the image of being a pure and good source of entertainment. It portrays a magical self-image and has successfully cast a spell on the American public. I believe this book shows just how great of an influence a single company controlling a mass medium can have on millions of people. From Mouse to Mermaid serves the crucial role of challenging the standards and stereotypes that Disney has perpetuated for nearly a century under the disguise of family entertainment and colorful fluffy characters.

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