The Internet and the “Disneyfiction” of history. Why books, librarians, libraries remain essential

Carrie Grimshaw
Digital Resources For Children and Teens
11/28/07

Books, librarians, and libraries remain essential today because they are the key to keeping history accurate and recorded. The internet and ‘Disneyfiction’ can lead to incorrect information and inaccurate histories. Although, the internet and ‘Disneyfiction’ do have their good points, history has become ‘clouded’ by them. Therefore, Books, librarians, and libraries are needed in society to preserve accurate history.

The internet brings about an excessive amount of information to people that can be both accurate and inaccurate. Due to the internet, Information and E-Learning is changing. Thompson and Randall state, “Education is another aspect of our everyday life that is undergoing a sea change, as it gets transformed by the Internet and other related enabling technologies” (pg. 290). Paul Thompson and Bernard Randall’s Can E-Learning Spur Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship? explains the pros and cons of internet use concerning E-Learning. Both are afraid that creativity will be lost in this environment if E-Learning is not taught to incorporate all aspects of learning. They describe the internet as pervasive and but also highlight the positive outcomes that is could have.

The positive outcomes of the internet are that good and accurate information is readily available. However, some websites can look ‘prestige’ and really may not be accurate. The website Wikipedia is a great example of this. Wikipedia is a user edited encyclopedia available online (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page). Due to the fact that users are allowed to update, not all information that is posted is 100% accurate. For example, the definition for ‘hiccup’ is not 100% accurate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiccup). According to Wikipedia, the definition needs the “attention from an expert on the subject” and “This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cleanup and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style). This means that a registered user that is a doctor has not given their ‘expert’ definition on that subject and that the article may be grammatically incorrect. On the other hand, the definition for headache is actually very accurate information (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headache). No Wikipedia warnings are posted for this definition and this definition correlates with other more ‘educational’ definitions. It correlates with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke which explains headaches accurately (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/headache/headache.htm). Be that as it may, many people go to Wikipedia for educational purposes and use it on a day to day basis as an online encyclopedia. This shows that how information on the internet can become ‘history’ to people who are using this site for their sole educational purposes.

Good and accurate information can be found on the internet by using some searching tips which were discussed in class on 10/28 under Google Game Discussion thread. Angelica Ferria highlights the Watkins and Elder’s “Google Game” article to show better examples of searching techniques. Ferria states “Google game - This game was designed by media specialist in Pennsylvania. They use it for their accelerated 9th grade class but it can be adjusted for 7-10th. It starts by teaching students the Google search logical (quotation marks, – sign, site:). The point of the game is to use a combination of these strategies to find the answer to a question posed by the teacher with the least amount of hits returned.” Also, I found it interesting that other students in our class (in addition to myself) were not familiar with the ‘site:’ tip. Ellen Basso wrote on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 11:10am, “I really need to work on MY Google search skills. This is a great activity with practical value to students. I, too, did not even know how to add the :site to the search string. Thanks for showing this to us.” I think using searching tips like this will help students use the internet to find accurate information and to understand the difference between accurate history and ‘Disneyfiction’.

Disneyfiction or Disneyfication is often referred to as a negative term. Nel mentions the earliest definition of Disneyfication was depicted in, “Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart’s How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist ideology in the Disney Comic says that Disneyfication ‘is Dollarfication: all objects are transformed into gold’ (Dorfman and Mattelart 1984:62)” (Nel pg. 13). This means Disneyfication will create ‘happily ever after’ endings and appealing morals in order to make a profit. On the other hand, Nel shows a different point of view concerning Disneyficaiton, “In Inside the Mouse: Work and Play at DisneyWorld, Karen Klugman (1995) defines ‘Disneyfication’ as ‘the application of simplified aesthetic, intellectual or moral standards to a thing that has the potential for more complex and though provoking expression’
(1995:103)” (Nel pg. 3). Nel goes on to list examples of Dr. Suess’ works including the film Grinch (2000) to a lesser extent as Disneyfication. The bottom line is that Disneyfication is about money without caring about the consequences of teaching inaccurate historical/stories or ‘changing history’ to the children.

A prevalent example of Disneyfiction and the ‘changing history’ is the production of 1995’s animated film Pocahontas. The idea of ‘changing history’ is that when children are told a story; they believe that that story is historical accurate. Children are easily led and usually accept that a story of historical nature is told by a creditable source therefore they assume that the information is accurate. Thus, the accurate history is lost to children in favor for happy endings or inaccurate stories that are told by major corporations, who are mostly concerned with making a profit.

According to Disneyfiction, the film Pocahontas was a love story between John Smith and Pocahontas. However, other historical accurate sources such as books, articles, and websites explain that the story was mostly likely not a love story. In addition, the age difference between the two was never highlighted in the Disney’s version. The reality was that Pocahontas was 11 years old and John Smith was 28 years old. Also, the dialect differences were never pointed out in the film; both Pocahontas and John Smith speak English when they meet, which is inaccurate. Karen Robertson’s Pocahontas at the Masque discusses the reality and impact of Pocahontas’ adventures in England; meanwhile the film Pocahontas ends with our heroin waving goodbye to John Smith with the assumption that she stays in America parted from Smith forever. Although, some elements of the story were accurate, such as the Indian way of life and culture, other parts such as how the ‘lover’s’ parted were not as accurate. In the film, John Smith is shot in battle and needs to go back to England for treatment and Pocahontas is informed of all of this. It reality, Pocahontas is told that John Smith died, “In October 1609, John Smith was badly injured by a gunpowder explosion and was forced to return to England. When Pocahontas next came to visit the fort, she was told that her friend Smith was dead.” (The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities http://www.apva.org/history/pocahont.html ). Therefore, the Pocahontas example concerning Disneyfiction shows how this medium ‘changes history’ with inaccurate storytelling.

This essay proves that books and libraries are essential in society because they preserve accurate history. As some resources on the internet and ‘Disneyfiction’ show sometimes other mediums can ‘color’ accurate history into fiction. Books will never go out of style or out of use because they have their own prestige due to publication. As technology changes so will the face of libraries such as including more electronic and technical resources however the idea of libraries will stay the same. Moreover, libraries have their useful place in society as the preserver of books and archives but also as a continued presence of democracy in this country. As librarians, we need to uphold our duty of librarianship by creating a democratic and free library environment. Thus, books, librarians, and libraries are essential to society and will not become obsolete in our society.


Works Cited

Nel, Philip. (Sep 2003). “The Disneyfication of Dr Seuss: Faithful to Profit, One Hundred Percent?” Cultural Studies, 17:5, 579-614.

Robertson, Karen. (1996). “Pocahontas at the Masque.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 21:3, 551-583.

Thompson, Paul and Bernard Randall. (Dec 2001). “Can E-Learning Spur Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship?” Educational Media International, 38:4, 289-292.

The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, “Pocahontas”
http://www.apva.org/history/pocahont.html

Students comments in class –Google Game Discussion Thread 10/28/07
Watkins, Katrine and Kathleen Elder, ‘The Google Game’ School Library Journal Jan2006 http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6296500.html

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/headache/headache.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cleanup

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiccup

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headache

Introduction to LSC533

Hello All,

My name is Carrie Grimshaw and this is my 10th course in the program. I have enjoyed all the courses that I have taken so far. I like the fact that most are available to take on Webct or at Worcester State College. I live in Leicester, MA which is very close to Worcester. I have several years experience working in libraries. I have worked at Charlton Public, Assumption College, and Holy Cross College. I currently work at Holy Cross College in Worcester as the Electronic Reserve Assistant. I deal with reserve materials and the transfer of that information to online websites. I am interested in Academic libraries but also have a special place in my heart for Public Libraries as well. I really like the school environment and look forward to learning how school libraries are different from other libraries. Also, I enjoyed LSC530-Reading Interests of Children; it was very creative. Throughout my life, I have always loved libraries. My dream one day is to become a Director.