Walt Disney The Father Of Animation

Heidi Wagner

Mrs. Cox

American Studies 3-4

16 February 2015

The Father of Animation

“Walt Disney established a business empire based upon fantasy and what he considered to be good, old-fashioned fun”(The State Historical 1). When Disney was young, his family moved around a lot. Though, most of his childhood was spent in Marceline, Missouri, where he first started to draw. He then moved to Kansas City, where he fell in love with trains. Later, he moved back to Chicago, where he was born, and started taking art classes. A few years later he dropped out of school to begin a career as an artist. Walt Disney is the father of entertainment by changing the animation world and creating his theme park, Disneyland.

In the beginning of his career, Disney

Disney 's films were some of the only things people would watch because of the great quality and the films were enjoyable for every age group not just children. Some of Disney’s greatest hits were; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Sleeping Beauty. Disney had created so many great short films and full-length movies in his lifetime, nobody can come close to what he has done for entertainment. “The studio has established a standard of artistic excellence in animation that has never been equaled”(Kaufman 1). Walt Disney has created a legacy with most of his original films, which are now classics that will never be compared to. Walt Disney’s company has not just stayed making animation films it has evolved with the times. “The company also produces many live-action films and television series”(Froehlich 2). Not only does Walt Disney Studios produce animated films, but since the early years of The Studios many live-action films have been produced. Some of Disney’s live-action classics are Pollyanna, Swiss Family Robinson, and The Parent Trap. His company stayed with making both animated and live-action films after his death in 1966. Now, television has a Disney Channel TV series and original movies.Without Disney 's early work with animation and experimenting with live-action and animation together television and entertainment would not be the same.

One of the main ideas Disney dreamed of was to have an amusement park of his own. “The building of Disneyland in 1955 was a dream come true for Disney… he was able to create a fantasy world for both adults and children”(The State Historical 6). All Disney wanted was to give everyone who watched his cartoons a chance to meet the characters in real life, so their dreams could come true too. To Walt Disney, Disneyland was a place where his characters could come to life and little kids could meet their favorite characters and just have fun. Disney designed Disneyland with inspiration from Marceline, Missouri. “Disney based his ‘Main Street, USA,’ upon the streets of small town America, particularly the buildings in downtown Marceline, Missouri”( The State Historical 6). Marceline was his favorite place, it is where he grew up and began to draw. Basing his theme park off of his home town made it have more of a small town feel to it, unlike the normal theme parks big city feel to it. Disneyland was like a second home to Disney since it was all based off of his favorite place in the world, Marceline, Missouri. Disneyland started out small but soon after the big opening it became a worldwide tourist location. Disneyland was such a big success he wanted to make another on the other side of the country, but he ended up dying before he could finish it; So, his brother finished it for him and named it Walt Disney