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THE MUSTACHIOED MAN BEHIND THE MOUSE

It’s hard to draw a line between Disney and Walt Disney. Disney is the craggy monster at the top of the mountain in Fantasia; Mr Disney created the mouse. Disney is Aladdin’s all-powerful genie; Mr Disney had a Clark Gable mustache. Disney is an enormous and sunny paradise stretching all the way to the elephant graveyard; Mr Disney... again, I can only think of the mouse. But the man and the legend are indeed distinct, as the Walt Disney Family Museum intends to prove.

A new museum sponsored by Disney--the family, not the multinational corporation--seems strange at first. When it opens in October in an historic building in San Francisco's Presidio district, it will make for a somewhat humble $112m tribute. But this is appropriate. The museum celebrates a great American fantasist--a man, not just a mouse or a billion-dollar brand. 

Presidio military barracks have been sleekly refurbished by the Rockwell Group, a New York-based design firm. Exhibits are organised chronologically and by innovation. In the ticket hall, the famous Academy Award for "Snow White" sits alongside other awards. Items from Disney’s boyhood years then lead to a wall covered in storyboards for "Steamboat Willie": half still-frames, half animated screens. 

Disney was a true pioneer, and each stage of his creative development is chronicled here, from early cartoons to the grand features of his golden years. The original Multiplane Camera that gave depth to "Snow White" is built into the floor of one room; in another a spiral path rises from the floor through a multimedia cosmos of Disney history.  In simpler times, the artefacts would have told the story. But this is a museum for families: expect lots of dazzling, distracting screens and interactive units.

Do we really need to spend more money and time glorifying Walt Disney? Yes and no. For instance, will all shades of the man's life be exposed in the exhibit halls, or just the rosy ones?

I was told that one of the reasons for setting the museum in San Francisco is its proximity to new animation houses, such as Dreamworks and Pixar. Contemporary animators could then mine the archives and perhaps share ideas in the cafe. At a press briefing John Canemaker, an Oscar-winning animator and author, said that Disney's first works depended on just this sort of collaboration and research.

After witnessing Pixar's latest feature, "Up" and last year's "Wall-E", I am indeed convinced that we are living in a new golden age of animation. And yet with "Cars 2" and "Toy Story 3" in 3-D on the way, it looks like a brilliant animation company (ie, Pixar) could equally be swallowed up by its Disney owners, especially at a time when cash is tight. Walt Disney's artistry and ingenuity deserve to be celebrated. But there are reasons why the man got lost in the brand. In order to be a useful site for contemporary animators, the museum would do well to address the awkward balance between artistic integrity and corporate growth. Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" remains breathtaking, yet the company's slide to Miley Cyrus could also function as a cautionary tale.

~ COLIN BAKER
 

Picture Credit: Walt and Lillian Disney on deck of the Rex. Photographic paper. c. 1930. © Disney Enterprises, Inc. / Courtesy Walt Disney Family Foundation