Today's Disney Institute class focused on leadership and Walt Disney. Although much of the information given about Walt was fairly basic, the leadership training component was quite interesting. The presentation was excellent, and the understanding and use of group dynamics by the two facilitators was masterful.
It is a really interesting group of people who comprise my 20 or so classmates. Their careers include law enforcement, government workers, and IT professionals among others. One gentleman traveled from Australia to take every one of the Disney Institute courses back to back. He runs a successful restaurant chain, but had been working without a break for years and has decided to take a few months away from the business to recharge.
I was, as I guessed, the only minister in the room. But I was very surprised to find that there are two minister's wives in the class. One is married to a Methodist minister in Raleigh, North Carolina. She even knew who Norman Wirzba is (and after my sabbatical, I'm beginning to ask who doesn't!).
The evening was focused on forming a definition of leadership. Motivators were used to get the conversations started. It was a very interactive format, including some blind computer polling. The process modeled a way to ensure engagement and participation.
We were taken to Disney Hollywood Studios and got to see some of the backstage areas (including some that I had seen before on foot as I ran the Disney Marathon.). In the park, we went through the attraction called "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream." It is a sort of museum of the company's interpretation of Walt's life and work (it is much smaller than the family museum and even smaller than the one in Marceline--what it omits due to the lack of space seems rather telling in its own way).
We received homework for the evening and were sent off on our way.
I was a bit surprised that the company so heavily relies on Walt's image and ideas as it trains its cast members. He is almost still a presence even though he has been gone 40 years. I am quite sure he would not recognize the company now, and I am not sure he would approve of what it is doing, but his legacy is continually being refined and at times redefined by those who follow. Anyone who says to heck with Walt would not last long here. If you want to go in a new direction, the key is to find some justification no matter how slim from Walt's life or words and then do what you want to do.
In some ways, Walt's legacy is living as it is moved and shaped by people who never even knew him but bear his name. I suppose a bit like the church which shapes Jesus' legacy.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Out of Step
I went early this morning to Cincinnati to catch my Delta flight to Orlando. This my more serious trip to Disney World. Tomorrow, my class on Disney leadership through storytelling will begin.
As I sat at the gate and looked over the passengers, I noticed it was a very young crowd. How young? When they announced pre-boarding for those with infants or young children, almost two-thirds of those waiting got in line.
For me this is the last trip of a long summer. I am glad to be here, but flying has slipped into a mind-numbing routine at this point. Most of my travel has been on weekdays so far and those who have surrounded me have the zombie-like expression that can only be cultivated by those whose travel is frequent and required.
My Saturday morning traveling companions were cut from a different cloth. I was really out of place traveling alone and with a purpose other than fun on my mind.
I knew it was different when a throaty cheer went up when the plane left the ground. Not something you hear as the red eye from San Francisco goes wheels up!
There were a lot more cries during the flight (not only from the children, but also from the exasperated parents). The plane was abuzz with the sounds of video games and movies. It was like a kid's birthday party at 30,000 feet.
Then finally we approached Orlando. An excited murmur swept the cabin as parents told their children what was outside of the window. As we were on our approach to the airport, but still quite a way away and high in the air, a child's voice called out loud enough for everyone to hear, "Daddy, I see our hotel!"
I was reminded of the time when my kids were small and the magic that Disney promised was a reality in the wonder in their eyes. They are bigger now, more world-wise and the teen age years are not so slowly draining the whimsy from their lives. I even remembered back just a little to my own childhood.
For a moment or two on that plane, I was transported back to that unfiltered expectant joy that only the young and innocent can attain. I savored that lost time and mourned its necessary passing. Because just for a moment I remembered when I could see the hotel from the plane even though I'd never been there and had only my imagination to paint its existence for me. "Daddy, I see our hotel!" I smiled a conspiratorial smile.
As I sat at the gate and looked over the passengers, I noticed it was a very young crowd. How young? When they announced pre-boarding for those with infants or young children, almost two-thirds of those waiting got in line.
For me this is the last trip of a long summer. I am glad to be here, but flying has slipped into a mind-numbing routine at this point. Most of my travel has been on weekdays so far and those who have surrounded me have the zombie-like expression that can only be cultivated by those whose travel is frequent and required.
My Saturday morning traveling companions were cut from a different cloth. I was really out of place traveling alone and with a purpose other than fun on my mind.
I knew it was different when a throaty cheer went up when the plane left the ground. Not something you hear as the red eye from San Francisco goes wheels up!
There were a lot more cries during the flight (not only from the children, but also from the exasperated parents). The plane was abuzz with the sounds of video games and movies. It was like a kid's birthday party at 30,000 feet.
Then finally we approached Orlando. An excited murmur swept the cabin as parents told their children what was outside of the window. As we were on our approach to the airport, but still quite a way away and high in the air, a child's voice called out loud enough for everyone to hear, "Daddy, I see our hotel!"
I was reminded of the time when my kids were small and the magic that Disney promised was a reality in the wonder in their eyes. They are bigger now, more world-wise and the teen age years are not so slowly draining the whimsy from their lives. I even remembered back just a little to my own childhood.
For a moment or two on that plane, I was transported back to that unfiltered expectant joy that only the young and innocent can attain. I savored that lost time and mourned its necessary passing. Because just for a moment I remembered when I could see the hotel from the plane even though I'd never been there and had only my imagination to paint its existence for me. "Daddy, I see our hotel!" I smiled a conspiratorial smile.
Friday, August 6, 2010
The Bright Light's of Hollywood
When William Faulkner was down on his luck, he decided to go to Hollywood and write for the motion picture industry. From time to time between the 1930's and 1950's, he wrote movies to make some quick money. The motion pictures he penned starred the biggest names of his day, but are largely forgettable.
Joseph Blotner in his biography of Faulkner relates the following story.
"Faulkner's first days in Hollywood were portentous. He arrived on a Saturday, not long before quitting time. His boss, Sam Marx, noticed that he had been drinking, and that he had a bleeding cut on his head. Faulkner said he had been hit by a cab while changing trains -- in New Orleans -- but that he was fine and wanted to get right to work:
"We're going to put you on a Wallace Beery picture," Marx told him.
"Who's he?" asked Faulkner. "I've got an idea for Mickey Mouse."
After explaining that Mickey Mouse films were made at Disney Studios, Marx had his office boy take Faulkner to the screening room to see Beery as a prizefighter in The Champ, as the new film, Flesh, was to feature Beery as a wrestler. Faulkner did not want to watch, preferring to talk to the office boy: "Do you own a dog?" he asked the boy, who said no. Faulkner said, "Every boy should have a dog." He should be ashamed not to own a dog, and so should everybody else who didn't own a dog.
Faulkner soon walked out, saying that he knew how the story was going to end. When alerted, Marx initiated a search, but Faulkner had disappeared. When he showed up again, nine days later, he explained that he had been wandering in Death Valley, but that now he really was ready to work."
Oh what a Mickey Mouse picture it would have been!
Joseph Blotner in his biography of Faulkner relates the following story.
"Faulkner's first days in Hollywood were portentous. He arrived on a Saturday, not long before quitting time. His boss, Sam Marx, noticed that he had been drinking, and that he had a bleeding cut on his head. Faulkner said he had been hit by a cab while changing trains -- in New Orleans -- but that he was fine and wanted to get right to work:
"We're going to put you on a Wallace Beery picture," Marx told him.
"Who's he?" asked Faulkner. "I've got an idea for Mickey Mouse."
After explaining that Mickey Mouse films were made at Disney Studios, Marx had his office boy take Faulkner to the screening room to see Beery as a prizefighter in The Champ, as the new film, Flesh, was to feature Beery as a wrestler. Faulkner did not want to watch, preferring to talk to the office boy: "Do you own a dog?" he asked the boy, who said no. Faulkner said, "Every boy should have a dog." He should be ashamed not to own a dog, and so should everybody else who didn't own a dog.
Faulkner soon walked out, saying that he knew how the story was going to end. When alerted, Marx initiated a search, but Faulkner had disappeared. When he showed up again, nine days later, he explained that he had been wandering in Death Valley, but that now he really was ready to work."
Oh what a Mickey Mouse picture it would have been!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Race Relations
It is accepted, even expected, that a "Southern" writer will deal with the difficult questions of race relations. The complex questions of how those who were once slaves and masters relate to each other both then and now is fertile ground for exploration.
William Faulkner certainly deals with this part of Southern culture. He displays all the ambiguities of two races of people living in close enough proximity to form relationships that transcend and subvert their culturally assigned roles.
He treats the African-American characters in his novel with honest depth. They can be saints and sinners. Sometimes they are oppressed and other times they are actually in charge of their situation in spite of what their oppressors think.
Ultimately, he sees the blacks and the whites of the South bound together in a complex web of relations that is slowly destroying them all just as the Old South is slowly limping to its own destruction.
Unlike many other Southern writers, Faulkner was concerned with another race that inhabited the region. He named his fictional Mississippi county "Yoknapatawpha" which he made from two Chickisaw words. "Yocona" and "Petopha" which mean "split" and "land." Faulkner claimed the combinations meant "water flowing slow through the flat land."
The whites did not arrive in the land until early 1800, before their arrival, it was the territory of Native Americans. Faulkner haunts his stories with this first presence. Their being pushed from the land is the first sin of the white people who would found their business on the backs of others.
William Faulkner understood that many of the South's problems were based on the long history of racial misunderstanding and domination. Faulkner doesn't provide easy answers to the questions he asks, but he reminds his readers that their fates are intertwined. Any progress will only come when all the races move ahead.
William Faulkner certainly deals with this part of Southern culture. He displays all the ambiguities of two races of people living in close enough proximity to form relationships that transcend and subvert their culturally assigned roles.
He treats the African-American characters in his novel with honest depth. They can be saints and sinners. Sometimes they are oppressed and other times they are actually in charge of their situation in spite of what their oppressors think.
Ultimately, he sees the blacks and the whites of the South bound together in a complex web of relations that is slowly destroying them all just as the Old South is slowly limping to its own destruction.
Unlike many other Southern writers, Faulkner was concerned with another race that inhabited the region. He named his fictional Mississippi county "Yoknapatawpha" which he made from two Chickisaw words. "Yocona" and "Petopha" which mean "split" and "land." Faulkner claimed the combinations meant "water flowing slow through the flat land."
The whites did not arrive in the land until early 1800, before their arrival, it was the territory of Native Americans. Faulkner haunts his stories with this first presence. Their being pushed from the land is the first sin of the white people who would found their business on the backs of others.
William Faulkner understood that many of the South's problems were based on the long history of racial misunderstanding and domination. Faulkner doesn't provide easy answers to the questions he asks, but he reminds his readers that their fates are intertwined. Any progress will only come when all the races move ahead.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Time Flows Downhill
Stories exist in time.
When Walt Disney told a story, his concept of time within the worlds he created was a simple past, present and future. Once upon a time (past) the story takes place. The events happen one after another, with no real sense of minutes, hours or days. One moment follows the next. The scenes advance time without any specifics though, other than maybe day or night. It all ends when the characters live happily ever after (future).
J.R.R. Tolkien was much more concerned about careful chronology. Prior to writing his stories of Middle Earth, he calculated the moon phases for his specially created calendar. He charted the movement of storms through his world on a calendar. He researched the amount of time it took to ride a horse across different terrain.
Tolkien not only was meticulous about time, he took risks as a storyteller by looping his stories. He would follow one group of characters for an extended period. His telling would then go back in time to pick up another plot and bring it up to the present. His editors told him that no one would want to read a story where the main characters are absent for more than a hundred pages at a time. They were wrong.
William Faulkner seems to have been obsessed with questions of time. His novels rarely follow linear time. They are instead often filled with chapters that appear contrary to chronological sequence. This can make his stories difficult to follow. But at the same time, his narratives are richer as the juxtaposition of events which would generally be separated because of time often reveal deeper meanings.
We tend to expect our narratives to proceed in linear time, but Faulkner shows his mastery of storytelling by refusing to follow convention and expectation. In The Sound and the Fury, which tells the stories of a families generations in the course of four days. Benjy, one of the Compson brothers, is mentally challenged and experiences everything as if it is in the present. Another of the narrating brothers, Quentin is obsessed with time. The family slave Dilsey narrates the final chapter which is punctuated by the church bell marking the hour for worship on Easter Sunday.
Storytellers have many tools at their disposal. Faulkner realized that one of them was a time machine.
When Walt Disney told a story, his concept of time within the worlds he created was a simple past, present and future. Once upon a time (past) the story takes place. The events happen one after another, with no real sense of minutes, hours or days. One moment follows the next. The scenes advance time without any specifics though, other than maybe day or night. It all ends when the characters live happily ever after (future).
J.R.R. Tolkien was much more concerned about careful chronology. Prior to writing his stories of Middle Earth, he calculated the moon phases for his specially created calendar. He charted the movement of storms through his world on a calendar. He researched the amount of time it took to ride a horse across different terrain.
Tolkien not only was meticulous about time, he took risks as a storyteller by looping his stories. He would follow one group of characters for an extended period. His telling would then go back in time to pick up another plot and bring it up to the present. His editors told him that no one would want to read a story where the main characters are absent for more than a hundred pages at a time. They were wrong.
William Faulkner seems to have been obsessed with questions of time. His novels rarely follow linear time. They are instead often filled with chapters that appear contrary to chronological sequence. This can make his stories difficult to follow. But at the same time, his narratives are richer as the juxtaposition of events which would generally be separated because of time often reveal deeper meanings.
We tend to expect our narratives to proceed in linear time, but Faulkner shows his mastery of storytelling by refusing to follow convention and expectation. In The Sound and the Fury, which tells the stories of a families generations in the course of four days. Benjy, one of the Compson brothers, is mentally challenged and experiences everything as if it is in the present. Another of the narrating brothers, Quentin is obsessed with time. The family slave Dilsey narrates the final chapter which is punctuated by the church bell marking the hour for worship on Easter Sunday.
Storytellers have many tools at their disposal. Faulkner realized that one of them was a time machine.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Faulkner and Religion
An examination of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Walt Disney and William Faulkner might lead a person to the conclusion that Faulkner was the most religious of the three. After all, Tolkien never makes mention of the Christian tradition in his fiction. Disney goes to great effort to remove any hint of religion from his work.
Faulkner's work, however is pregnant with Christian themes. The characters make reference to Christian figures and often are part of church communities. He uses the name of David's son Absalom as one of his titles. The narrative structure of his novel The Sound And The Fury takes place in Holy Week.
Tolkien was a devout Catholic whose faith was an important part of his daily life. He took great pride in the fact that one of his sons became a priest. But he avoided religion in Middle Earth because he saw it as a pre-Christian world.
Disney was raised in a very religious home, but never made religion a central part of his life. He enrolled one of his daughters in a catholic school for a few years as a child, but moved her to public school when he felt she was becoming too deeply involved in the religious aspect of the education. He did once write a devotion for Guidepost Magazine, but he never attended church. He seems to have had some minimal form of faith.
William Faulkner became very familiar with the Bible as a child. But he doesn't seem to have committed himself in any way to Christian practice. He was married in a Presbyterian church, but that appears to be the extent of his religious observance. He seems likely to have considered himself an agnostic.
For a non-religious person, the references and allusions to Christian themes are surprising in both their accuracy and their deft application. When asked about this Faulkner said that to write about the South, one had to write about religion. He believed, what he called the "Christian legend" to be an important way to understand the people who populated his world.
The Christianity practiced in Faulkner's narrative world is very much like that in real life. For some of his characters, religion is a crutch and a sham. For others, it is their consolation and hope in the midst of desperation. The church bells ring with hypocrisy, racism, community and compassion. And it is always ambiguous for God never clearly intervenes in the stories.
Without being a Christian, you can understand the worlds created by Tolkien and Disney. But without a Christian background, much of Faulkner is lost. It seems ironic that the author who arguably had the least religious faith of the three was least afraid to address it in his books.
Faulkner may have doubted the existence of God, but he certainly understood the universal hunger of people for God.
Faulkner's work, however is pregnant with Christian themes. The characters make reference to Christian figures and often are part of church communities. He uses the name of David's son Absalom as one of his titles. The narrative structure of his novel The Sound And The Fury takes place in Holy Week.
Tolkien was a devout Catholic whose faith was an important part of his daily life. He took great pride in the fact that one of his sons became a priest. But he avoided religion in Middle Earth because he saw it as a pre-Christian world.
Disney was raised in a very religious home, but never made religion a central part of his life. He enrolled one of his daughters in a catholic school for a few years as a child, but moved her to public school when he felt she was becoming too deeply involved in the religious aspect of the education. He did once write a devotion for Guidepost Magazine, but he never attended church. He seems to have had some minimal form of faith.
William Faulkner became very familiar with the Bible as a child. But he doesn't seem to have committed himself in any way to Christian practice. He was married in a Presbyterian church, but that appears to be the extent of his religious observance. He seems likely to have considered himself an agnostic.
For a non-religious person, the references and allusions to Christian themes are surprising in both their accuracy and their deft application. When asked about this Faulkner said that to write about the South, one had to write about religion. He believed, what he called the "Christian legend" to be an important way to understand the people who populated his world.
The Christianity practiced in Faulkner's narrative world is very much like that in real life. For some of his characters, religion is a crutch and a sham. For others, it is their consolation and hope in the midst of desperation. The church bells ring with hypocrisy, racism, community and compassion. And it is always ambiguous for God never clearly intervenes in the stories.
Without being a Christian, you can understand the worlds created by Tolkien and Disney. But without a Christian background, much of Faulkner is lost. It seems ironic that the author who arguably had the least religious faith of the three was least afraid to address it in his books.
Faulkner may have doubted the existence of God, but he certainly understood the universal hunger of people for God.
Monday, August 2, 2010
William Faulkner?
When I interviewed Mark Pinsky about Disney and the Disney corporation, he confided in me that what particularly piqued his interest in my summer project was the name William Faulkner. In summary, this was his mindset. Walt Disney's work is accessible to anyone. J.R..R. Tolkien wrote books that have a wide popular following and little critical acclaim. But William Faulkner is not very accessible at all. He is critically acclaimed and popularly unknown. His prose is dense and nuanced. He writes on a dark stage with few heroes, while Disney and Tolkien are all about the lead characters who bear light and hope.
To be honest, I still am figuring out where Faulkner fits in all this. I chose him because I love his writing style and complexity. His pictures of the South are pregnant with layered meanings and ambiguities. You can feel the stifling heat and social mores in every sentence he writes.
I thought first about Faulkner because he was a contemporary of Disney and Tolkien. He was shaped by the same global culture that produced the others. While his world is clearly "Southern" in its sensibilities, he was certainly shaped by coming of age during The Great War.
Tolkien fought in France, although an illness limited his exposure to the trench warfare there. Disney was too young to join the armed services, but he lied about his age and became a red cross ambulance driver also serving in France.
Like Disney, Faulkner was too young to fight for his country in World War I. Also like Walt, his desire to be a part of the action led him to prevaricate to serve. William Faulkner fled to Canada, effected a new persona who was old enough to join and enlisted in the RAF.
The only problem was the armistice came before he had completed his training. So Faulkner took his earnings and bought a full RAF uniform. He wore this upon his return to Oxford, but also now had an accent, a cane and a limp that he hadn't had when he left for the North. In fact, he seems not to have had them when he began his journey back home.
He told those that asked that he had been injured in the service. The people of Oxford seemed to have not thought much of Faulkner's new war hero stance. They took to calling him "Count No Count." This was their shorthand for the prominent view that the dandy Faulkner was a no account count.
William Faulkner was as colorful as the characters in his fiction. It is going to be a fun month!
To be honest, I still am figuring out where Faulkner fits in all this. I chose him because I love his writing style and complexity. His pictures of the South are pregnant with layered meanings and ambiguities. You can feel the stifling heat and social mores in every sentence he writes.
I thought first about Faulkner because he was a contemporary of Disney and Tolkien. He was shaped by the same global culture that produced the others. While his world is clearly "Southern" in its sensibilities, he was certainly shaped by coming of age during The Great War.
Tolkien fought in France, although an illness limited his exposure to the trench warfare there. Disney was too young to join the armed services, but he lied about his age and became a red cross ambulance driver also serving in France.
Like Disney, Faulkner was too young to fight for his country in World War I. Also like Walt, his desire to be a part of the action led him to prevaricate to serve. William Faulkner fled to Canada, effected a new persona who was old enough to join and enlisted in the RAF.
The only problem was the armistice came before he had completed his training. So Faulkner took his earnings and bought a full RAF uniform. He wore this upon his return to Oxford, but also now had an accent, a cane and a limp that he hadn't had when he left for the North. In fact, he seems not to have had them when he began his journey back home.
He told those that asked that he had been injured in the service. The people of Oxford seemed to have not thought much of Faulkner's new war hero stance. They took to calling him "Count No Count." This was their shorthand for the prominent view that the dandy Faulkner was a no account count.
William Faulkner was as colorful as the characters in his fiction. It is going to be a fun month!
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