Refelection: Thomas Jefferson and the Common Men, Christopher Wise and Us

The founding fathers of the United States of America did not intend for democracy to take form as the average American might describe it today. Many of us believe "democracy" means that every person has a voice, a say in the structure and the performance of the government. But Thomas Jefferson and his friends in powder wigs believed that a republic, the government that we truly have today, can only work if it is the Elite in power. The Elite class being the educated, the most moral, and therefore the most responsible. Oh My Disney does a spotlight on governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas https://ohmy.disney.com/movies/2014/06/21/villain-spotlight-series-governor-ratcliffe/ and talks about how we hate Ratcliffe because he has no redeeming qualities. However, Governor Ratcliffe is not just an awful person, he also has an air of supremacy, in this case it is not only white supremacy, but he just feels like he’s better than everyone else and therefore should be in charge.

            While the founding fathers do not warrant the same hate as Ratcliffe, they also believed that their class, educated and esteemed white men, were better fit to hold knowledge than anyone else. In this age of social media, where technology is improving at an exponential weight, more information can be spread at a rapid pace, and is available to more people. A Buzzfeed article https://www.buzzfeed.com/lukebailey/disney-tumblr-tbh-i-just-want-silver?utm_term=.bsyZZBv85L#.jyy66BEaxk discusses times that Tumblr users have posed informal and entertaining questions about Disney, but blogging on Tumblr is also often used among young academics, such as college students, to pose ideas and introduce arguments.

            These students, although in their teens and twenties, become the Elite for the small audience that read their blogs. And because the internet is such an immense place, that group can range from fifty followers of a personal page to over hundreds of millions of readers on Buzzfeed https://www.quantcast.com/buzzfeed.com#crossPlatformCard. The Elite introduce information and make decisions, in this case through opinions and re-blogs, that the rest of the “common people” absorb.

            On a grander scale, university professors and academic professionals are some of society’s Elite. They have initiated the conversations of gender norms, parental guidance, and Disney in the world of scholars, a world of some of the most powerful people in the nation. And Disney is a fairly recent topic. Disney is notorious for the fact that criticizing its films and business has long been taboo. The top five books on Goodreads’ “Top 66 Books for the Disney Critic were all written after 1996.” Henry Giroux, one of the most notable Disney critics, published a popular and fairly early article in 1993, “Beyond the Politics of Innocence: Memory and Pedagogy in the ‘Wonderful World of Disney'.” But, what about the other 70 years of Disney?

            Today the President tweets. In 140 characters Obama’s staff can instantly send a message from a cellphone to the world. Crimes are recorded on Facebook Live Cams and sent directly to news channels. Today, scholars can discuss the events that lead to ideas and information as soon as they happen. And since we’re about 70 years late on firsthand Disney events, scholars who critique Disney have a huge responsibility to introduce thorough ideas and accurate interpretations to the public. The ideas and interpretations that Disney scholars create don’t only influence thoughts, they spur public outcry and commercial action. Scholars said Mozart makes our babies smarter, we bought classical music tapes and Disney produced Little Einsteins, if scholars said Disney makes your children insensitive to gender, racial, and political issues, would we still go see Moana?

            Of course we would. Because we love Disney. But that is not the point. The point is that whether we like it or not, a few govern the many. And when “the few” refer to Scuttle, the seagull in the Little Mermaid, as a crane it becomes hard for the many to listen to what the few has to say doesn’t it? In short, Professors at Harvard University, students at Duke, and really popular Tumblr blogs become a community of the Elite, all contributing ideas and thoughts to a new and engaging conversation about studying media and the power of Disney. As the group authors such as Dianne Macleod and Christopher Wise have an immense responsibility to be well versed in their topics and steady in their arguments. Because the rest of us, depend on it.