audiobook Stand Up Straight and Sing! by Jessye Norman in Arts-Photography

Review

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Prejudge at your own risk!By Alan D. CranfordMany biographies on famous people fit an agenda. In the case of Walt Disney; many biographies have axes to grind. Walter Elias Disney was a complex man. Douglas Brode illustrates how the conventional wisdom about Walt Disney isnt accurate. Walts father was a socialist--in the days of the Red Scare; no less. "From Walt to Woodstock" provides ample evidence that Walt Disney was no reactionary--the commonly-held image of the Disney company is of a right-wing conservative corporation promoting an agenda out of the 19th Century.When I ordered this book; I was expecting the thesis to be "Walt the Bohemian." After reading the book; I got the impression that Walt did not set out to create the counterculture; but instead laid the groundwork for it by trying to improve mainstream society. Not just by making great entertainment; Walt Disney field-tested urban planning; social engineering; and mass media techniques. I think Walt did improve mainstream American society. Walt Disney was a progressive man--progress was good! View his presentation of E.P.C.O.T. --made about six weeks before he died--and see for yourself. Go back to 1943 and the release of "Victory Through Air Power." Look at Walt Disneys prophetic "Man in Space."I enjoyed Brodes book. His viewpoints on Disney movies were fresh and new for me; and now I want to see them again to see the things Brode saw in them. Usually I get something out of a book even when I dont like it. Many books on Walt Disney paint a dark picture of an evil; greedy man--if not for the name; I wouldnt know who they were talking about. Brodes Walt is someone Id like to have for a friend.Im happy to add this book to my collection of Walt Disney biographies.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. As implausible as it soundsBy CustomerIn academia; Disney films and cartoons are scrutinized in an unfavorable light. Brode sets out to counter this negativity by uncovering liberal; (and therefore positive); themes in Disneys work.The thesis is that there are many liberal; socialist; and other counterculture themes in Disneys work. Children saw these cartoons and movies growing up and the ideas became embedded in their personalities and thus the hippy movement happened. Brode confuses correlation with causality. He fails to explain why many of these same children ultimately became conservative. He also never explains why future generations of children watching the same cartoons did not have similar cultural movements.Brode uses many inflated arguments to prove his points. One Queen Ant in one cartoon proves Disneys feminism. A snowball fight in a single cartoon escalates to "war" between the ever-belligerent Donald Duck and his nephews. This proves that Walt was anti-war. Several Disney films take place partly in England: Alice in Wonderland; Peter Pan; possibly Sleeping Beauty; 101 Dalmatians; and Sword in the Stone. A few years later; the British Invasion happened. This is a coincidence. To Brode it is evidence. Any person that is outside the norm represents the counter culture. Because Snow White communes with animals; that makes her an early flower child. Mary Poppins is not an "Earth Mother" and does not "Feel Groovy."Good storytelling also convey countercultural themes. Brode claims that because many cartoons are about the financially downtrodden; this proves Disneys sympathy for lower classes and socialist ideas. Or perhaps these characters make better protagonists. Many of the characters rebel against orders and superiors. Few stories are written about people who follow the rules. Early Silly Symphonies are about the individual seasons. This proves Walts fascination with his own mortality. Or maybe these early shorts; suggested by Carl Stalling; not Disney; are just easy tangible things to build animation and music upon.Brode ignores instances that could have helped his case. He talks about the creation of youth-centric culture. Never once does he mention The Sherman Brothers; the prior work in music; or their contribution to Annette Funicellos career as a teen pop star. He mentions Alice in Wonderlands imagery as an example of children being exposed to trippy surrealism. He never mentions the wild; colorful; and uncontained anarchy of Three Caballeros.Brode makes up facts. He mentions a cartoon called and about the "Nifty `90s" that was made in the 40s. He uses this to prove Walt was nostalgic in the 1950s ten years after it came out. He claims Snow Whites Huntsman is tortured; which is never implied. He calls the Mary Poppins song "Tuppence a Day" when it is "Tuppence a Bag." Mr. Banks never "runs barefoot through the park;" nor does he "become a hippy."Brode also ignores many facts about Walt Disney. Disney was a conservative all his life. His animators would pull Roosevelt-related pranks on him. Brode claims he moved to the political right later in his career. He always was. It is true that Walt Disney embraced and developed new technology. However; this does not make him a political progressive. It is also true that he liked liberal; iconoclastic animator Ward Kimball. But this does not mean that Disney was one himself. Perhaps the most infuriating thing in the book was his claim that Disney cartoons and films contain an anti-smoking message; only villains smoke. Many Disney heroes are either animals or children who would not be smoking anyway. Pecos Bill and Jose Carioca are both protagonists who smoke. Brode would realize this had he used "Saludos Amigos" or "Three Caballeros" to prove his points. Besides; one cannot claim Walt Disney was promoting an anti-smoking message when he died of lung cancer himself; another fact Brode ignores.Do not use this book to learn or research Walt Disney or his movies. If you are not intimately familiar with the man or the work he attached his name to; you may be strongly mislead. Track down the movies and cartoons online or at libraries and decide for yourself.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Great idea; but hopelessly poorly researchedBy David A. BedeHow Disney set the stage for the cultural earthquake that was the late sixties...agree or disagree; I really didnt see how that thesis could fail to make for a wonderfully entertaining read. That feeling lasted all the way through the introduction; which is well-written and sets the stage for a fascinating book.But then came Chapter One. The very first paragraph makes it clear that Brode has a poor grasp of his subject. He refers to Bill Haley and the Comets as "a Texas-based band" (they were actually from Pennsylvania) who shook the music world with "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954 (it was released in 1954; but didnt become a big hit until late 1955; and it was not rocks first hit record or even Haleys first hit record); and explains that Alan Freed dubbed the new music "rock and roll". (Freed popularized that term; but did not invent it - and he was using it before "Rock Around the Clock" appeared on the scene.) Minor errors? In most cases they would be; but this book is most likely to appeal to people who know their rock history; and to us; those are not minor errors. What they are is a sign that Brode really doesnt know very much about an extremely important part of the cultural shift he is trying to address here. Just a few pages later; his cluelessness about rock history becomes almost comical as he discusses - apparently seriously - how Disney made its very own contribution to the new music via Annette Funicello. Yes; really. And it only gets worse from there.Well; you might be thinking; at least he knows his stuff regarding Disney movies. Maybe he does; maybe he doesnt (I have my doubts). But its just about impossible to take seriously his claims as to Disneys impact on the cultural landscape of the time when much of what he has to say about that landscape simply isnt accurate. Besides that; even Brode acknowledges the big impact of non-Disney movies like "Rebel Without a Cause" on the changes he addresses. He does draw a lot of interesting parallels between real-life signs of change and those found in Disney movies (i.e. only the bad guys smoke); but correlation is not causation.Still; his argument for that correlation is an interesting one. It would carry a lot more weight if only he had stronger knowledge of the culture he was writing about.