The Edutainer: Walt Disney, Nature Films, and American Understandings of Nature in the Twentieth Century

Throughout much of the twentieth century Walt Disney wielded considerable influence in American culture. By identifying and commercially exploiting a strain of environmental thought that sentimentalized and romanticized nature, Walt Disney influenced the attitudes of millions of Americans concerning how they conceptualized environmental issues. The Walt Disney Company’s nature documentaries and their popularity as both entertainment as well as educational material helped disseminate the virtues of conservation within the American mindset. The Disney interpretation of conservation clashed with other post-war environmental understandings of the ethic, as did the company’s consistently inaccurate representations of nature on film. Disney’s particular strain of environmentalism, based on an Edenic appreciation for nature, the belief that to conserve land it must be developed, and practice of moralizing to humans through anthropomorphized depictions of animal behavior, stood out in contrast to other existing post-war environmental mindsets during the controversy surrounded the proposed construction of a vacation resort in Mineral King, California, following Disney’s death.

Grantor dc:publisher

Temple University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Roy, Travis Brandon

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Isenberg, Andrew C. (Andrew Christian)

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Lavelle, Peter B.

• History
• Disney company
• Documentaries
• Environmental history
• Nature
• True-life adventures
• Walt Disney

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Dc Identifier Other

958157446

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/3501