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[CCBC-Net] Mr. Disney
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From: Barthelmess, Thom <Thom.Barthelmess>
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:12:19 -0500
Good heavens that's a pungent bit of vitriol we're ladling on the Disney machine. I'm happy to admit that I prefer the Ernest Shepard Pooh to the Disney movie incarnation (and, if I'm not mistaken, Disney now owns the rights to the Shepard illustrations, too - have you been to Target lately?). I take issue with the broad, manipulative sentimentality of recent Disney fare as much as the next person. But I'm not sure it's fair to blame Disney (Walt or his empire) for "its tendency to overshadow any other version of said stories" or for "The vulgarity, vapidity, and just plain stupidity of popular culture." As librarians we're incensed when someone blames society's problems on literature that we hold beyond reproach. Francesca Lia Block turns teens queer? Censorship! Our Bodies Ourselves promotes promiscuity? Censorship! Harry Potter is nothing more than devil worship? Censorship! My response to adults concerned with the availability of Heather Has Two Mommies and A Day No Pigs Would Die has always been that they are expressions of a point of view. As a public servant, I have a responsibility to folks who appreciate those points of view. I have the same responsibility to you, and am obliged, and pleased, to help you identify and share titles in keeping with your own, personal
(unalienable) set of values. Trying to unring a bell is energy misplaced. The Disney bell is a resonant one. Rather than trying to silence it, or complaining about the cloying sweetness of its tone, wouldn't we be better served spending energy celebrating the original stories? Couldn't we see Disney as a step, not a blockade? Do kids reject the"real" stories because they don't match their Disney perceptions? Absolutely. They're kids. Isn't that why we employ children's librarians? As Garson Kanin has Paul Verral say in the (incomparable) Born Yesterday:
"The point of education is to get bigger, not smaller."
Thom Barthelmess Youth Services Manager Austin Public Library 800 Guadalupe Austin, TX 78701 512.974.7405
Received on Thu 20 Jul 2006 05:12:19 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:12:19 -0500
Good heavens that's a pungent bit of vitriol we're ladling on the Disney machine. I'm happy to admit that I prefer the Ernest Shepard Pooh to the Disney movie incarnation (and, if I'm not mistaken, Disney now owns the rights to the Shepard illustrations, too - have you been to Target lately?). I take issue with the broad, manipulative sentimentality of recent Disney fare as much as the next person. But I'm not sure it's fair to blame Disney (Walt or his empire) for "its tendency to overshadow any other version of said stories" or for "The vulgarity, vapidity, and just plain stupidity of popular culture." As librarians we're incensed when someone blames society's problems on literature that we hold beyond reproach. Francesca Lia Block turns teens queer? Censorship! Our Bodies Ourselves promotes promiscuity? Censorship! Harry Potter is nothing more than devil worship? Censorship! My response to adults concerned with the availability of Heather Has Two Mommies and A Day No Pigs Would Die has always been that they are expressions of a point of view. As a public servant, I have a responsibility to folks who appreciate those points of view. I have the same responsibility to you, and am obliged, and pleased, to help you identify and share titles in keeping with your own, personal
(unalienable) set of values. Trying to unring a bell is energy misplaced. The Disney bell is a resonant one. Rather than trying to silence it, or complaining about the cloying sweetness of its tone, wouldn't we be better served spending energy celebrating the original stories? Couldn't we see Disney as a step, not a blockade? Do kids reject the"real" stories because they don't match their Disney perceptions? Absolutely. They're kids. Isn't that why we employ children's librarians? As Garson Kanin has Paul Verral say in the (incomparable) Born Yesterday:
"The point of education is to get bigger, not smaller."
Thom Barthelmess Youth Services Manager Austin Public Library 800 Guadalupe Austin, TX 78701 512.974.7405
Received on Thu 20 Jul 2006 05:12:19 PM CDT
