THEORY FINAL REQUIREMENT: PSYCHOHISTORY
WALTER ELIAS DISNEY
(December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966)
Imagining the world without a touch of magic is unbearable, especially if you grew up as child with lots of dreams, imagination and fantasy. We may be heartbroken when we finally came to the realization that all we learn in childhood was a lie: Santa Claus, Tooth-fairy, Easter Bunny and other comical characters but we may not be aware that it’s actually a vital experience because these figment of imagination helped us cling onto bigger dreams as we grew up so it’s fine to enjoy our childhood believing onto non-existential beings.
Speaking of believing, I believed that there could only be one person that had influenced many young people to have dreams of their own; with his inspiring story and optimistic personality I am very happy to have him as my psychohistory subject; the co-founder of Walt Disney Company, Walter Elias Disney.
PART I – Biography
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago Illinois, raised by his Irish-Canadian father, Elias Disney, and his loving mother, Flora Call Disney, who was of German-American descent. He was one of five children, four boys and a girl. After his birth, their family moved to Marceline, Missouri where Walt lived most of his childhood.
As a child, he had a very interest in drawing and art. When he was on his seventh years old, he sold small sketches and drawings to their nearby neighbors. In fact, he spent more time on it than his school work, he doodled pictures of animals and nature. His knack for creating enduring art forms took shape when he talked his sister, Ruth, into helping him paint the side of the family’s house with tar.
Few distances from their family farm, there were Santa Fe Railroad tracks that crossed the countryside. He often put his ear against the tracks to listen for the approaching trains. Through his vivid imaginations of recapturing the freedom he felt when he’s aboard those trains, he built his own miniature train set of it.
He then went to McKinley High School in Chicago. There, he divided his attention between drawing and photography, and contributing to the school paper. At night, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts to better his drawing abilities. During these carefree years of country living, the young Walt began to love and appreciate nature and wildlife, family and community, which were a large part of agrarian living.
Though his father could be quite stern, and often there was just little money, Walt was encouraged by his mother, and older brother, Roy. When his family moved to Kansas City, he continued to develop and flourishes his talent for artistic drawing. Besides that, he tried out on acting and performing. At school, he began to entertain his friends by imitating his silent screen hero, Charlie Chaplin. At his teacher’s invitation, Walt would tell his classmates stories, while illustrating on the chalk board. His father was against all this, but nothing stopped him so every night he sneaked out of the house to perform comical skits at local theaters.
He experienced rejection once during the fall of 1918, he attempted to enlist for military service but he was rejected because he was underage. But instead, he joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas to France, where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring Red Cross officials. His ambulance was covered from stern to stern, not with stock camouflage, but with Disney cartoons.
Once Walt returned from France, he began to pursue a career in commercial art. He started a small company called Laugh-O-Grams, which eventually fell bankrupt. With his suitcase, and twenty dollars, Walt headed to Hollywood to start anew.
After making a success of his “Alice Comedies,” Walt became a recognized Hollywood figure. On July 13, 1925, Walt married one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds, in Lewiston, Idaho. Later on they would be blessed with two daughters, Diane and Sharon.
In 1932, the production entitled Flowers and Trees (the first color cartoon) won Walt the first of his studio’s Academy Awards. In 1937, he released The Old Mill, the first short subject to utilize the multi-plane camera technique.
On December 21, 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated musical feature, premiered at the Carthay Theater in Los Angeles. The film produced at the unheard cost of $1,499,000 during the depths of the Depression, the film is still considered one of the great feats and imperishable monuments of the motion picture industry. During the next five years, Walt Disney Studios completed other full-length animated classics such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi.
Walt Disney’s dream of a clean, and organized amusement park, came true, as Disneyland Park opened in 1955. Walt also became a television pioneer, Disney began television production in 1954, and was among the first to present full-color programming with his Wonderful World of Color in 1961.
Walt Disney is a legend; a folk hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity was based upon the ideals which his name represents: imagination, optimism, creation, and self-made success in the American tradition. He brought us closer to the future, while telling us of the past, it is certain, that there will never be such as great a man, as Walt Disney.
PART II – Personality Theory
Optimism, Fictionalism and Creativity. Having said these, there could only be one personality theory I could attach into the substantial biography of Walter Elias Disney, the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler, focusing on his six main tenets. Adler’s Individual psychology presents an optimistic view of people while resting heavily on the notion of social interest, that is, a feeling of oneness with all humankind, a quality stored in the character of Walter Elias Disney.
Adlerian Theory can be summarized into six main tenets:
(1) The one dynamic force behind people’s behavior is the striving for success and superiority. It is the sole dynamic force behind every people’s action. This first tenet describes Walt Disney’s early life. At early age, he is certain where he wants to go, that is, in the field of arts. Knowing that in his early age ignites his desire onto pursuing his dream. He started small at selling sketches to his neighbors, building miniatures for his own entertainment even though his father forbids him in continuing his desire; he strived to let nothing discourage him until he gets what he wants. There’s a point in his life where he was rejected, that was in the military, but he found way to compensate for it (Striving Force as Compensation) by joining the Red Cross instead, through that he could still help the humanity without losing his personal identity, proof of that is he painted his ambulance with his own cartoons.
(2) People’s subjective perceptions shape their behavior and personality. It states that the manner in which people strive is not shaped by reality but by their subjective perceptions of reality, that is, by their fictions, or expectations of the future. The second tenet also deals in the early life of Disney and at the latter part of it. At early life, he started to develop a fictional goal in his life. That is to share his artistry to humankind. The goal may not be as clear when he was young as he only likes to just draw, sketch, perform but at latter part of his life concluded his final goal, to animate his own art on television, share it with people, let people experience it; it became possible when he made an award-winning cartoons and when he built his own theme-park. This fictionalism gave unity to his personality.
(3) Personality is unified and self-consistent. Adler believed that all behaviors are directed toward a single purpose. When seen in the light of that sole purpose, seemingly contradictory behaviors can be seen as operating in a self-consistent manner. The third tenet can be seen in Disney’s struggle in noticing his art. It conforms on Disney’s self-consistency of personality. During the times when he was rejected by several companies, not wanting to hire him doesn’t kill his fire on getting what he wants. He remained consistent on his goal thus being consistent to his own self purpose and belief.
(4) The value of all human activity must be seen from the viewpoint of social interest. It is described as the feeling of oneness with all humanity. The fourth tenet can be seen from Disney’s teenage life. It is said that the origin of social interest comes from the support system of an individual, the parents. His parents have contrast opinion on his desire making him more persevere throughout all the things he encounters despite the toughness of it. By his mother approval he continue on his goal because he knows someone is looking forward into it and by his father disapproval, it made him more determined to prove his self.
(5) The self-consistent personality structure develops into a person’s style of life. It refers to the flavor of person’s life. The fifth tenet can be observed in Disney’s latter life. As a child they lived on a country side, and he definitely doing what he likes which is making art. When he became successful, he continue doing his legacy, he doesn’t forget who he is and his personality remained consistent thus proving that despite the changes of his style of life he doesn’t lose his original self making his personality unified and self-consistent still.
(6) Style of life is molded by people’s creative power. It is our ability to choose our course of action. The final tenet implies the reasons of Disney’s success. Through his movement of controlling his life he did reached what his final goal is. Through his creative power, Disney became a free individual, living the life he want, that is bounded by the struggles and hardships he went through. All these happened because of his drive to control his future, his style of life is molded by his own creative power.
