First cartoons and amusement parks

In 1923, brothers Walter and Roy Disney founded a small animation studio Disney
Brothers Cartoon Studio. Walter took the lead role in the company, so the studio
was later renamed The Walt Disney Company.
The first series of works presented by the studio was called "Alice's Comedies" -
based on the tale of Lewis Carroll. It was a series of silent short animated films,
which combined the shooting of live actors and hand-drawn animation. By the
way, there are more than 50 pictures about Alice's adventures in the Disney piggy
bank.
The popularity of the company originated in 1927, after the release of cartoons
about Oswald the Rabbit.
But the rights to the character of Oswald then belonged to Universal Pictures, and
Disney wanted to create its own. So in 1928, Mickey Mouse was born. The mouse
was originally called Mortimer, presenting with him the short cartoon "Crazy
Plane." Having received success, Mickey mouse becomes one of the symbols of
The Walt Disney Company, and later - of the entire American pop culture. In the
1930s, the company created other famous characters - Pluto, Goofy and Donald
Duck.
Disney has earned huge capital from the popularity of these heroes. Immediately
after the release of cartoons, characters began to be drawn in comics and on
various objects, to make toys based on cartoons. Also, with the help of Mickey,
Donald and other heroes, various companies began to advertise their products. To
do this, they bought licenses from Disney that allowed the use of cartoon images
for commercial purposes.
The most popular character was, of course, Mickey Mouse. Now the recognition of
his brand is 97% - this is more than Santa Claus. For these merits, Forbes
magazine awarded the mouse the title "The richest fictional hero." Indeed, the
Mickey Mouse brand brings about $6 billion in revenue to Disney every year.

Disney and Prejudice (преджудис)

Disney cartoons contain many prejudices about race, gender and gender. What is
only the image of the classic princess, which was imposed on girls for many years.
This image is directly related to stereotypical ideas about women - to clean, wear
beautiful dresses and be unable to solve problems without a husband (prince).
Even psychologists have proven that cartoons and games with Disney princesses
contribute to the formation of gender stereotypes in children.

The world is changing, attitudes towards prejudice are too. The audience demands
that the company reconsider its views, keep up with the times and not impose
stereotypes on the audience. The company listens, and in 2012 the cartoon "Brave
at Heart" was released, in which Disney for the first time shows that princesses can
ride, shoot archery and climb rocks, and not spend their lives dreaming of a
beautiful prince.
Not complete in Disney projects and without racism. In the cartoon "Peter Pan"
there is discrimination against Native Americans. The inhabitants of the fictional
country of Neverland in the cartoon are called "red-skinned." "The Jungle Book"
depicts a parody of African Americans: the orangutan character Louis sings jazz
according to the script and is lazy a lot. And in the film "Lady and the Harlot"
there are Siamese cats C and Am. Their depiction is a stereotype directed against
Asians.
In new projects, the company tries to avoid manifestations of racism and other
discrimination, such as homophobia. So, African-American Halle Bailey was
chosen for the role of the Little Mermaid, and LGBT characters began to appear in
cartoons and films. By the way, not everyone appreciated the dark-skinned Little
Mermaid. Social networks even launched the hashtag # NotMyAriel, which hit the
top. One of the most frequent arguments of indignation - Halle Bailey does not
correspond to the tale of Hans Christian Andersen: the heroine of the work
allegedly must have a white skin color.