History According to Disney: "Truthiness," Part II

People who examine how the Disney corporation interprets and presents historical themes to the public have coined the term "distory" to describe the "dis"tortions and "dis"information usually promoted by the company. (The Disney production I most love to hate is Pocahontas--truly appalling.)

Surprisingly, Disney has not done much with the Lewis and Clark saga, although via a web search, I found on a site called Beer Travelers a description of a bar dubbed the Territory Lounge in a Disney World hotel called the Wilderness Lodge. According to Beer Travelers, the bar "pays tribute to the Lewis and Clark Expedition with a huge map of their travels on the ceiling."

This reminded me of a passage in a text I once used when I taught a course on the anthropology of capitalism and commodification. In Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism (1999, first edition), anthropologist Richard Robbins discusses the general idea of "distory" and then offers some of the animatronic historical figures at Disney World's EPCOT by way of illustration.

The oratory coming out of the figures' mouths has been heavily edited and reworded (when compared to their original speeches or writings) to better fit Disney's interpretive goals. These goals include "not telling history like it really was but as it should have been," according to a Disney spokesperson. An exhibit designer explains that at Disney World, they "program out all the negative, unwanted elements and program in the positive elements."

One of the EPCOT figures is Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce. I have provided C. E. S. Wood's dramatic version of Joseph's 1877 surrender speech in the previous post. Here is Disney's version, from Robbins' book:

"Enough, enough of your words. Let your new dawn lead to the final sunset on my people's suffering. When I think of our condition, my heart is sick. I see men of my own race treated as outlaws, or shot down like animals. I pray that all of us may be brothers, with one country around us, and one government for all. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

No matter who really came up with what we now call the surrender speech--Chief Joseph or Lt. Wood--there is no doubt that Disney softened the "negative, unwanted elements." As Robbins writes, "Instead of freezing children, the death of the elderly, and a military campaign that ended only after the deaths of hundreds of American and Nez Perce soldiers, Joseph's surrender speech has been turned by Disney into a testimonial to brotherhood and the nation-state."

The thing that makes academics care so much about how Disney interprets history--and they do care, as the dozens of scholarly books and articles about it should indicate--is the corporation's sheer power and reach (or perhaps we should say its "grasp"). Tens of millions of people all over the planet are exposed regularly to Disney films and television programming, and millions more visit Disneyland or Disney World every year. Since most people do not have the skill or inclination to question the corporate interpretations of history they experience, the message Disney wants to send is the message that gets sent--and received. For many people, objective truth is irrelevant anyway; "truthiness" is more than enough.

Richard Robbins' textbook mentioned above is now in its third edition (2005) and has a companion website with many features readers may find interesting.