Disney in the Classroom - Aug 12, 2002

Disney in the Classroom
Page 1 of 3

by Lee Suggs (archives)
August 12, 2002
Lee talks about how he teaches the 1930s with the help of Disney.
 
A student imagines a scene from Mickey's Good Deed
 
Disney in the Classroom - The 1930s
 
In October of 1929 the Stock Market crashed.  As the effects of the Crash spread throughout the country millions of Americans lost their jobs or had their wages dramatically reduced.  Over the next few years the economic disaster, now called the Depression, deepened.  By 1932 nine million families had lost their savings in bank failures, the Dust Bowl had destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of farmers, and economic disaster had spread throughout the world.  Desperate, discouraged, and afraid Americans needed one thing above all else:  hope. 
    
"Sullivan's Travels (1942) centered on John L. Sullivan, a Hollywood director who determines to leave behind the silly comedic movies on which he has based his character and make a profound social statement by filming a searing drama about the suffering of common people during the Depression.  Sullivan disguises himself to gather material.  Unfortunately through a series of mishaps he ends up in prison, and is put to work on a chain gang.  While in prison Sullivan learns an important lesson.  After a terrible day in the sun he and the other prisoners are herded into a black rural church for a few moments of entertainment.  As the lights go down and a movie starts Sullivan is astonished to see an audience of beaten down people erupt in waves of joyful, cathartic laughter at an unexpected sight--a Mickey Mouse cartoon.  After his release Sullivan returns to Hollywood, where he abandons his plan to make an "important" drama and rededicates himself to making comedies.  Why?  In his own words, 'There's a lot to be said for making people laugh.  Did you know that's all some people have?' "  (a paraphrase of Watts, p. 69)       
 
As the story above relates Disney cartoons made people laugh during a time when life was far from happy or amusing.  The opportunity to laugh makes people feel better no matter what their situation is.  However, I think many Disney cartoons provided more than just amusement.  I think they provided hope.  It is no coincidence that the worst years of the Depression (1931-1934) were also the time that Mickey Mouse reached the height of his popularity.  Depression Era Americans viewed Mickey as an extension of themselves.  Poor, abused, and always struggling to survive; yet joyful despite his condition.  Mickey Mouse became a powerful symbol of how people wanted to live their lives.  So that students can understand how important hope is to give and to receive we watch three 1930's Disney shorts.  The first shows what people hoped they could do during the worst of times, the second shows what they hoped they could do if they were taken advantage of in the workplace, and the last shows that when people do find hope that they will find a way to express their joy to the world. 
 
(Much of the inspiration, the quote above, and pictures for this article come from The Magic Kingdom:  Walt Disney and the American Way of Life, by Steven Watts; and from "The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts")
 
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