614. Walt Disney: The Great American Storyteller
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How did Walt Disney's early life influence his career?
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When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do. So if you're still with us, that was When You Wish Upon a Star, which is, of course, the official company anthem of Disney. Now, Disney, which effectively began as a young man tinkering, basically pursuing a hobby, is now a business worth $200 billion. Everybody knows the name of Disney. It's the owner of Star Wars franchise, of Marvel, of course, of theme parks everywhere on the planet, most famously Disneyland and Disney World in America. It is an organization that has an almost unparalleled grip on the world's imagination, particularly of children, which is when the imagination is most formative.
Now, Tom, You were very keen to kick off with this song, partly because you were desperate to do those vocals because you'll have any opportunity to sing on the show for some reason. But also, I think, because the song captures something of the nostalgia and the sentimentality that is at the core of Disney. I don't mean those things pejoratively because, of course, they're tremendously appealing for a lot of people, aren't they?
Yeah, it's the great anthem of Disney. And it's a reminder as well that Disney has its origins in the kind of the golden age of Hollywood. But more specifically, it's a reminder of the company's origin in the dreams and the distinctive personality of the man that you just mentioned. the filmmaker who founded Disney, gave it his name, the figure who probably more than any other, I would say, embodies American culture in the 20th century. And that is, of course, Walt Disney.
Oh, definitely. He's one of the most important cultural figures globally of the 20th century, I would say.
Yeah, absolutely. And so the lyrics of When You Wish Upon A Star, which you read rather than sang, but you read it very beautifully. Anything your heart desires will come to you. I mean, that may seem very schmaltzy to people, but I would argue that it is up there with Rock Around The Clock. So the Bill Haley classic that really kind of ushered in rock and roll as a song that marks a key turning point in the culture of 20th century America.
Totally. I think anybody who's tempted to listen to the show and say, oh, Disney, why are they doing Disney? It's just a thing for children. I think completely misses the impact that Disney has had in shaping the imaginations and therefore the cultural political choices of hundreds of millions of people and Ever since Disney really broke through in the 1930s, I suppose.
Yeah. And that song, I mean, it's the first song in history to have been sung by a talking insect, for instance. So that's definitely a first. I mean, obviously, it's not literally sung by a talking insect.
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