Relentless Creativity – Walt’s visions

The Original Creativity of Walt Disney Himself

I can still remember being a pre-teen and on Friday nights “The Wonderful World of Disney” would be available on regular broadcast television. My parents never relented to buying cable, so this was always something that felt like an event.

More than the featured cartoon were the introductions of Walt himself. I’d learn about terms like “squash and stretch”, and the great lengths to which the iconic founder would go to in making a cartoon real. 

If you watch the opening of Bambi, there seems to be a parting of the trees as you are taken through the wardrobe to the land of talking animals. Walt had giant glass panes with artwork on them that could be moved and shifted to create this effect. For scenes in Cinderella, Walt had a set built to resemble the modest quarters of the film’s star. An actress would act out scenes as artists sketched at a fevered pace. Art’s studio was not just dedicated to cartoons, but to innovation and capturing an audience.

That type of drive and magic exists in so few creators. John Lassiter and Brad Byrd certainly have such a drive and magic. (need a transition to this) A very young George Lucas invented whole companies to create his ambitious contributions. THX, Industrial light and magic, and Skywalker sound have been utilized by countless productions. 

More than anything, Walt left us each a blank ticket. He poured his life into providing a pass into escapism. No, I wasn’t in danger due to the haunted exploits of a headless horseman, but for a moment it felt like I was. For a moment I gasped as the character of Toad traded his house for a stolen motor car. It was a shared journey where every character gave us permission to follow along. It was, and still is, the ticket to a magical moment.

The hope of a return to those days of leaving behind all inhibitions and stressful realities of life are what keep so many of us hoping to see a return to glory for Disney. It is too painful to think of that magic no longer existing. From 5 to 85, laughing at Robin Williams’ incredible performance as the genie is a moment nothing can replace.

Walt could have had dreams, made sketches, and lived amongst the proletariat class. Perhaps he read Robert Frost and saw the path, equal in wear, but much more difficult and poured himself into it. His passion and relentless push to give his visions to the world, as in the Frost poem, that has made the difference since. A return to magic is not impossible, that’s what is so beautiful. It just needs the next relentless dreamer to take the path. (or leadership role).

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