As many of you know, recently-retired Disney animator Dave Pruiksma is no fan of the way the Company is being run. And for those of you who don't know... Well, you may not recognize Dave's name--but you've seen his work. For instance, Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast. She was his.
Anyhow, here's something he recently wrote that I thought might interest the folks on this list...
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Dear Friends of Disney,
I recently read a book that I feel compelled to tell people about. The book is entitled "Disney, The Mouse Betrayed" a well written, well documented and enlightening comparison of the Disney we all grew up with and a "New Disney", created by the people now running that same company, (apparently right into the ground).
When the book originally came to my attention I thought that it might be a book containing a good deal of hype, sensationalism and unsubstantiated rumor, so I let it sit on my shelf for over a year as I am not interested in that type of thing. But, after opening the book recently to scan the contents, I was happily surprised to find it intelligent, straightforward, thoroughly researched and extremely well documented. The text of the book was prepared by the husband and wife team of Peter and Rochelle Schweizer in the mid-to-late 1990s and it gives a sobering look at the subtle and not so subtle changes to the Disney Corporation in the last 20 or so years.
Please note that this book is not for the faint of heart. There are several chapters that are most disturbing, particularly those involved with the Pedophile problems at the Disney theme parks and also those describing the twisted and brutal "hazing" among the workers at the Disney Fire House which serves the parks in Orlando, Florida. In fact, much of the time I was reading the text I found myself thinking, "How could this be so?" But, as a 20-year veteran of the company who actually experienced many of these changes first hand, (the very changes that lead me to make the difficult decision to leave my beloved vocation of full Disney character animation) I then asked myself, "How could this NOT be so?"
The book contains fair and level headed information supported by excellent documentation and actual reprints of enlightening confidential internal Disney reports that were never intended to be seen by the general public. There are also interviews with employees or "cast members", (both current and those having left the company) and artists, (many of whom I know and have worked closely with) regarding appalling policies and practices held and supported by the "New Disney" right up to the highest level.
After reading this book, I thought about how much worse the company has gotten in the 4 or 5 years since "Disney, The Mouse Betrayed" was published. I pondered how, even now, the company is quickly and quietly, (and I understand without the knowledge or approval of Roy Disney) chipping away at it's very foundation, the Disney animated feature film. The "New Disney", in the name of greed and short term profit, is at this very moment in the process of unceremoniously laying-off most of the artists who have actually helped to make all of the successful classic Disney animated feature films in recent years. These foolish, unimaginative and greedy "leaders" with a recent track record of destroying virtually everything they touch, (witness the startlingly rapid demise of ABC) have actually begun tampering with the very department that has fed and sustained their apparent poor judgement and irresponsible spending for some time. This "Corporate Disney" is, in it's typical fashion, foolishly undermining the good name of Disney Feature Animation by coldly and calculatedly dismantling, it's unique and unparalleled artistry and replacing it with cheap, foreign made product that is in every way derivative of and inferior to the classic Disney animated product.
In the light of these realizations, I found myself compelled to stay away from the unsafe parks, to sell my stock in the company, (if it ever rises to the point where I don't loose my shirt on my investments) and run, screaming, from The Magic Kingdom, never to return. But, please, don't take my word for all of this. I encourage anyone interested in learning what is REALLY going on behind the smiling mask of Mickey Mouse, (in Burbank, CA and around the world) to get his or her hands on a copy of this book, "Disney, The Mouse Betrayed" published by Regnery Publishing in 1998. It is still in print and is widely available. Check the Internet for where to purchase it. I think it will change the way you view corporate Disney forever.
Dave Pruiksma
Retired 20 year veteran of Disney Feature Animation
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John
