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1. Walt Disney Movies
During the 1990's, the feature-length animated film made a strong comeback to movie theatres and has become a popular format in the new millennium. Almost all of the movie studios have released an animated film of some sort in the last decade (Rohter 1991). The drive was originally fueled by the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Little Mermaid, and Toy Story. These films resulted in enormous profits at the box office and million more in merchandising and video sales. The reason for the success of animation is because Walt Disney and other media companies address the most common problem of the entertainment consumer, "Where can we take the kids?"
Of all the Disney products, the feature-length film has reached the largest audience. Disney feature films have been around since the premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, one of the top grossing films in history (Dirks 1999). Disney has been producing feature-length animated films for over sixty years, and they are still box-office hits. Originally, Disney animated films were shown every eighth year to give each new generation a taste of the Disney message. Who in this country has not been touch by the magical kingdom of Disney in some way? If you haven't visited one of the theme parks, it is almost certain that at some time in an American individual's life a Disney feature-length film has appeared. In fact, a study conducted by Michael Real in the mid-seventies on the impact of Disney products disclosed new insight into this American institution. Responses to the survey speak to the power of the Disney message: "Disney products were a very important socializing force on my early childhood. Yes, I grew up on Disney films. All the characters get married, have kids, the men work...middle class stereotypes even in cartoons" (Real 1977: 73). Now that the films are being sold on video, children can watch the Disney messages over and over again. According to James Murrow, "the theatrical re-releases and TV reruns permit children to have sustained Disney experiences" (Murrow 1978: 34). The popularity and availability of these films make them an important contributing factor to the socialization of children, not to mention adults who have already...