My favorite part of Tracy Mollet's "With a smile and a song..." essay? The POSITIVITY. Not that the rest of the readings we have been doing haven't been interesting (they have!), but it was also great to read a piece that wasn't bashing Disney for all his flaws, greed, OCD, etc. Yes, the other readings did bring up valuable points, but so did Mollet.
In 11th grade I took an American history course. One of the most memorable lessons was the day that my class talked about The Wizard of Oz as an allegory for economic America in the 1890s. It was full of symbolism. The yellow brick road represented the gold standard of the time that lead to the green Emerald City, which represented the fact that the greenbacked paper money had no actual value. All of the characters stood for things in society as well. For example, the scarecrow represented the farmers that struggled as America shifted towards the big business boom.
I loved that lesson because, whether or not it was 100% true, enough evidence existed so that the connection seemed totally believable! Mollet's analysis of Snow White was so sufficiently supported with details from the film. She really sold her point to me! The way I see it, Mollet and I are similar in that we both see the positive side of Disney. She took this optimistic view a few notches further. With enough evidence and analysis, she was able to create a very convincing argument.
The reason Mollet's essay was so effective is because her points were SO true. In Snow White, the hard-working dwarves prevail over the greedy witch. This parallels American history, in which the cooperative attitudes of 1930s workers were successful while the selfish indulgence of the 1920s failed. The dwarves led simple lives, which turned out victorious in the end. Disney's signature "happily ever after" motif proved to be very relevant in that case that everything did work out after the Great Depression.
Overall, job well done on this essay!
PS: I also chucked at the "Not So Grimm" pun. Solid wordplay, Mollet.
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