Today, The Walt Disney Company is everywhere – the name is slapped onto movies, television channels, theme parks, cruises, action figures, and so much more. This entire company, now worth an estimated $130 billion, was all started by one man – Walt Disney. Without Disney’s unique creative process, the company may not be what it is today.
When first looking at Disney’s work and seeing Mickey Mouse alongside his other famous characters, it’s easy to only see the side of Disney that was a dreamer. However, Walt Disney had a unique creative process that consisted of three different sides of his personality. Not only was Disney a dreamer, but he was also a realist and his own critic. Disney was able to use the part of him that was a dreamer to come up with his ideas for his animations, movies, and theme parks. Disney knew that it was easy for him to get carried away with these ideas, however, so he would turn to the part of himself that he knew was a realist. This was the side of him that took his ideas and tried to think of ways that they could realistically be created with the real-world limitations. Finally, Walt would take his creative idea and his plans to realistically go about it’s creation and critique it. When Disney would critique his ideas, he would look at it from every possible angle to try to produce an end result that was as perfect as humanly possible.
It was Disney’s ability to be able to critique is own creativity and find real-world ways to bring his creative ideas to life that made him so successful. He was able to not only see his creative vision, but also the realistic version of his creative vision – something that is much harder than it sounds for many creatives. Instead of letting his creative ideas overwhelm and consume him, he compartmentalized each aspect of his creativity and then combined them in such a unique way it ultimately impacted the entire world.
Walt Disney passed away in 1966 at the age of 65, just ten years after the grand opening of Disney Land in California. Although his life was shorter than many, he made lasting impacts on the entire world and founded one of the biggest companies in the world today. I think that it’s amazing that one person could come up with all of the creative ideas that feed into Disney from one animation of Mickey Mouse that was created in 1928. If Walt could see The Walt Disney company today, I think that he would be amazed at the progress that Disney has made, both in their animated films and the numerous product lines that the company currently offers.
I think that it would be hard to argue that Walt Disney is anything but a Big-C creative as his innovations and ideas truly did change not only American culture but impacted the entire world. After Walt Disney, the entertainment industry was completely changed forever. If Disney had never created his animations starring Mickey Mouse, it is very possible that animated cartoons and films would not be where they are today because animation was never popularized and perfected by Disney. His unique idea to incorporate characters from animated cartoons and films into theme parks is also something that was revolutionary at the time. Walt Disney Land and Walt Disney World are he standards of theme parks in today’s society, with numerous other theme parks across the entire world attempting to mimic them.
Sources:
https://www.designorate.com/disneys-creative-strategy/
https://d23.com/about-walt-disney/
https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-family-net-worth-fortune-media-walt-2019-6
I would agree that Walt Disney is a big-C creative! His innovation in the world of animation was unparalleled. I think being your own critic is very important to being a creative as well - his need for perfection was a requirement when it came to innovating.
ReplyDeleteI like how you point out what kind of a creative Walt Disney was; he was not the type of creative who made wacky things and did the best he could to bring them to life, realism be damned. Instead, he was someone who dreamed big but kept his eyes firmly on the prize at all times; he did not think of how to make his ideas better and dream larger, but instead he thought of how to shore up his ideas and fix the weaknesses before presenting an improved idea, showing he was a practical man as well. A good combination of traits to create one of the most popular animated characters of all times.
ReplyDeleteWalt Disney's daughter, Diane Disney Miller, often visited and donated large sums of money to my elementary school in Chicago, aptly named after Walt Disney himself. I can very vividly recall that whenever she'd visit, she'd talk a lot about her father and his creative process. She often brought small sketches that he drew when formulating ideas for various animated characters that many children would come to love, such as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. Although, it was very hard to view the actual drawings themselves due to the amount of scratches that Disney would leave — a testament the maddening level of self-criticism he pitted his creativity against. I find it incredibly interesting how he was able to reel his creativity into check— seemingly whenever he believed it was necessary, but there is no doubt in my mind that it was this self-imposed limitation on his creativity that allowed for him to have such a profound impact on the world of animated cinema in all aspects, rather than a niche category within the field.
ReplyDeleteI would most definitely agree that Walt was a big-C creative. I find it interesting how he was able to make a mouse a staple symbol of Disney and that is loved by so many, when most people find the idea of mice to be unappealing. His creativity allowed him to shape realistic things and create pure and lovable fantasy. I found it interesting how he used his imagination and then would check himself with his realism. This made me appreciate his work even more, knowing that it was not just reckless creativity but had many factors involved. I still often wonder how Mickey Mouse and associates were able to walk and talk, but Pluto the dog was just a dog. I would love to learn what creative processes went into that decision. I would also love to research what motivated him. I wonder if it was completely extrinsic and for the monetary gain, or if there was something more intrinsic that fueled his creativity.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! Walt Disney is a great example of a big-C creative! His imagination truly altered the world and, even in death, he continues to make an impact. His creativity and imagination propelled animation into the art form that it is today, inspiring so many generations of children. When I was reading this post, it did spark my interest into what Walt's creative process would look like. I think it would be so cool to learn exactly how he created Mickey and had the imagination to sustain such a successful brand.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Walt Disney is definitely a big-C creative, especially looking at the potential it had then and what it grew into now. I think it is interesting how you explain the different aspects of his personality, including how he was a "realist", his own biggest critic. This helps him focus his ideas into a marketable product and turning it into the Disney we know today, as opposed to keeping his creativity as a creative concept.
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