Walt Disney Author: Neal Gabler | Language: English | ISBN:
B000MAH7N6 | Format: PDF
Walt Disney Description
The definitive portrait of one of the most important cultural figures in American history.
Walt Disney was a true visionary whose desire for escape, iron determination and obsessive perfectionism transformed animation from a novelty to an art form, first with Mickey Mouse and then with his feature films–most notably
Snow White, Fantasia, and
Bambi. In his superb biography, Neal Gabler shows us how, over the course of two decades, Disney revolutionized the entertainment industry. In a way that was unprecedented and later widely imitated, he built a synergistic empire that combined film, television, theme parks, music, book publishing, and merchandise. Walt Disney is a revelation of both the work and the man–of both the remarkable accomplishment and the hidden life.
From the Trade Paperback edition.- File Size: 4346 KB
- Print Length: 880 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (October 31, 2006)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B000MAH7N6
- Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,537 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #8
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( D ) > Disney, Walt - #13
in Books > Arts & Photography > Graphic Design > Animation - #85
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- #8
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( D ) > Disney, Walt - #13
in Books > Arts & Photography > Graphic Design > Animation - #85
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Entertainers
Walt Disney has become a legendary character of the twentieth century. So much was written about him, and so much was inaccurate, that the legends often attained a currency that was not deserved. How many times have we heard that he was frozen? Gabler (who was the first of Walt's biographers to work with rare Disney family records) opens the book with this statement (it's not true.)
The truth is much more interesting than that.
Disney was an optimistic, hardworking go-getter with an astounding capacity for concentration who fell in love with the early twentieth century's high technology--motion pictures. Motion pictures drawn by hand.
He had the perseverance to start over again every time he failed artistically and financially. And fail he did. This is one of the most unlikely success stories ever told, since the Disney Brothers studio was working in a marginal field (animation) in a minor city (Kansas, then Hollywood, when the animation studios were all in New York), and attempting to make it as an independent producer just as the big studios were forming, eliminating independent competition in all but a few areas by 1928.
He made it because he had the unfashionable idea that quality would out, he had a tremendous amount of luck and he knew how to make appealing entertainment(Mickey Mouse was NOT the first successful character he created). Disney also had a real genius for hiring talented people. A surprising number of remarkable artists started with him in Kansas City, others were trained right on the studio lot.
Mr. Gabler's book is readable and contains much new information. Who would have thought that Charlie Chaplin was, at one time, Snow White's Prince?
"Gabler gained access to the Disney Archives, unexpectedly I'd guess, and found himself in the awkward position of writing a full-scale biography of someone whose best work he didn't care for--in 1995, he referred to Snow White and Dumbo as `treacle cartoons.' Disney clearly interested him less as a person than as a cultural influence." -from the book review by Michael Barrier (google GablerBook - the whole thing is well worth the read)
So, Gabler doesn't like or understand animation and doesn't much care for Walt Disney either; he's only interested in his influence on society? That almost completely explains why I didn't like this book. Of the 880 pages, I only got to page 194 before coming here to read some reviews and try to figure out what's so great about this book and if it's worth trudging through the rest of it. I found myself completely agreeing with all the 3-stars-and-under reviews. In fact, the Q & A with Gabler on this Amazon product page shows what Gabler thinks of Disney. There is an underlying tone of disdain and negativity in his comments; you can tell he's trying to be PC about it but it shows through.
I really wish I'd read that and the reviews before purchasing it. But I relied solely on the hype. It's one thing for a biographer to write an openly negative book about a person (like "Hollywood's Dark Prince.") It's quite another to write a negative book about a well-loved person under the guise of its being the "definitive biography!" And apparently, it also has many factual errors in it that could have easily been avoided.
My other reason for not liking this book besides Gabler's derisive treatment of his subject and ignorance of animation (he refers to Disney's films as "animations") is that it is extremely boring.
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