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Disneyfication !
& Disneyzation: !
how they shaped !
and influenced media !
and entertainment industry !
in Croatia!
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SAE Institute Ljubljana
Hrvoje Hrsto
Student number: 10280
Date of submission: 3 November 2014!
BAP 1113
Word count: 15,149

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I hereby declare that I wrote this written thesis on my own and without the use of any
other than the cited sources and tools and all explanations that I copied directly or in
their sense are marked as such, as well as that the dissertation has not yet been
handed in neither in this nor in equal form at any other official commission.!
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Ljubljana, 03.11.2014
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3. Abstract!
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When it comes to The Walt Disney Company, there is no deniability that it is a powerful
entertainment and media entity. Its influences are extensive and there are almost no
currently living people on Earth that have not identified “animated movie” with Disney at
least once. Family values and kids entertainment are the core of Disney, and the
general picture is lighthearted. Yet, behind all that stands a powerful machinery that
controls every aspect of its production and nothing is coincidental. That is why two new
expressions emerged in the media: disneyfication and disneyzation. So how does the
machinery of dreams actually work?!
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In this thesis, terms of disneyfication and disneyzation are explored, analysed and
clarified because they are often merged or interchangeably used. It is an
interdisciplinary approach that encompasses social and technological aspects with
business philosophy. I have critically assessed positive and negative influences,
actions and ramifications of the said concepts, both from the perspective of industry
and customers. Then I have transferred and applied the findings on current Croatian
market. I have also given a historical view of certain important events and made
observational parallels between Croatian events and Disney proceedings. Research
was purely academic and secondary in the nature, with the exception of several
personally conducted interviews with the chosen professionals. All of the findings have
helped me to establish how exactly Disney shaped the industry and if there are any
effects in Croatian industry.!
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4. Preface!
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This project was taken on because of two reasons. First was pure love towards Disney
animated movies and movies in general. Second reason was personal and
professional curiosity of how exactly things work in movie industry. Although I am
primarily audio guy, if sound is combined with moving pictures it can convey powerful
messages and produce strong emotions. However, in order to understand what exactly
is setting things in motion, I decided to look deeper and explore the business
philosophy and there is no better example of long-lasting media entity than almost 100
years old Disney Company.!
!
After defining my ideas and calling it disneyfication in my head, I soon found out that
there is already definition for that, and not only that, but for the disneyzation too. I
proceeded with the already established terms, but now I had to apply them on Croatian
situation. Task was a bit confusing, especially because there was no evident
connection. As it goes, after some time of research, connections started to emerge but
they were not clearly labeled or numerous. Some aspects of the research have left me
with the hope of better movie and entertainment industry in Croatia, and others brought
up the desire to move to Disneyland and stay there.!
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There is some hope for Disney in Croatia and for businesses that want to be Croatian
Disney but there are numerous financial, administrative and political obstacles. It is
never good if everything is the same, but it is confusing if everything is different and
unique. It is nice to have interests that you could discuss with anyone in the world, but
some things are best if they are limited edition.!
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5. !
Acknowledgments!
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I would like to thank everybody without whom this project would be impossible, or
much, much harder to do. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.!
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First of all, my mentor Chantal von Mourik, Nataša Vidaković and Viktor Drnić that had
connections in right places, Nikica Gilić, Hrvoje Turković, Krunoslav Lučić, Ankica Jurić
Tilić and Ivica Drnić for their time and expertise, Igor Čorić and Dora Jelaković for
simply being there, and every and each member of my family (Vesna, Zoran, Karmela,
Marija) that suffered from my behaviour while researching and writing this project. !
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6. Table of Content!
Abstract! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! i!
Preface! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ii!
Acknowledgments! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! iii!
Table of Content! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! iv!
1. Introduction!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1!
Part I! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 3!
2. Review of the existing concepts of Disneyfication and Disneyzation! ! 3!
! 2.1 Defining Disneyzation! ! ! ! ! ! ! 3!
! 2.2 Defining Disneyfication! ! ! ! ! ! ! 5!
3. Activities that shaped disneyzation and disneyfication through history! ! 7!
! 3.1 Early Disney! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 7!
! 3.2 Disney theme parks! ! ! ! ! ! ! 9!
! 3.3 Digital Disney! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 11!
4. Disney and non-Disney animated films! ! ! ! ! ! 15!
5. To Disnefy, discussion of pros and cons! ! ! ! ! ! 18!
Part II! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 23!
6. Situation in Croatia!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 23!
7. Yugoslavian years! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 24!
8. After Yugoslavia! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 27!
! 8.1 Cultural situation! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 27!
! 8.2 State of business and technology! ! ! ! ! 30!
9. Disney in Croatia! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 34!
10. Industry and market overview through interviews with Croatian professionals! 35!
11. Possible future developments of disneyfication and disneyzation in Croatia! 37!
12. Conclusion! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 38!
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Appendix A - Interview Structure! ! ! ! ! ! ! 40!
Appendix B - Interview with Nikica Gilić! ! ! ! ! ! 43!
Appendix C - Interview with Hrvoje Turković!! ! ! ! ! 45!
Appendix D - Interview with Krunoslav Lučić!! ! ! ! ! 48!
Appendix E - Interview with Ankica Jurić Tilić! ! ! ! ! 51!
Appendix F - Interview with Ivica Drnić! ! ! ! ! ! 54!
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References list! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 57!
Bibliography! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 69!
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7. 1. Introduction!
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The concept of the project was to explore The Walt Disney Company and its influences
in the industry of media and entertainment. The reason why I picked Disney as a
company was because it is one of the most long standing entities that is, in spite its ups
and downs in the past, now called one of the most powerful companies in the world. It
is also one of the biggest companies with five main sections: Media Networks, Parks
and Resorts, The Walt Disney Studios, Disney Consumer Products and Disney
Interactive. Disney is so culturally rooted in the mind of the world population, especially
when it comes to western hemisphere, that it spawned two definitions: disneyfication
and disneyzation.!
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I took upon exploring those two concepts and their positive and negative sides The
main task was the definition and distinction of the two because they are often used
interchangeably, and the main question to answer was if those two processes have
influenced Croatia, and in what way.!
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Paper is generally divided in two big parts. First big one is about Disney. I am
explaining and exploring Disney Company and what are exactly disneyzation and
disneyfication. Main starting points were two books, “The Disneyzation of Society” by
Alan Bryman and “The Mouse Machine” by Jay P. Tellote. Upon reading them I
explored other sources and analysed cultural, social, technical, historical and business
aspects of the topic. First two chapters are explaining what disneyfication and
disneyzation are. Next three chapters are showing historical and technical development
of Disney: from the early days of developing sound and colour on film, over
development of Disney theme parks, to modern days and digital technology. In the next
part I analysed why is general public often attributing animated features to Disney,
although they were not produced by them. In the last part I discuss pros and cons of
disneyfication and disneyzation from the social and business point of view.!
!
Second big part is about Croatia. First chapter of this part is historical review of the
cultural, technological and business state of Croatia while it was still part of Yugoslavia.
That gives a in-depth perspective and explains certain aspects and the perception of
the situation in Croatia today. Next two chapters are explaining current state of affairs
in Croatia from cultural, business and technological perspective. They also give a view
of political, administrative and financial situation. After that, next chapter analyses
Disney and presence of its products. Next is overview of industry and market through
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8. summarised interviews with Croatian professionals. Last part before the conclusion is
theoretical discussion about possible future developments of disneyfication and
disneyzation in Croatia.!
!
Majority of the research was secondary in nature. Books, articles and journals were
acquired through physical or digital purchase or read online. For the research of
Croatian part of the project, I felt that it was necessary to have interviews with
professionals in the fields that are connected to the project, and to have a survey of the
general population. Interviews were conducted with several professionals in the
industry and they were chosen because of their reputation and expertise. Hrvoje
Turković, Nikica Gilić and Krunoslav Lučić are all members of the academic staff on
Zagreb University with interests and papers with movie industry related themes. Ankica
Jurić Tilić is one of the most respected and busiest Croatian movie producers, and she
is also producer of “Koko” franchise. Ivica Drnić is award winning sound editor,
composer and a colleague. After some time I found survey that covered general public
and topic of movies in Croatia in a bigger extent that I planned, so I decided to drop my
survey and concentrate on other parts of the research. Also, after finding out about
already existing definitions about disneyfication and disneyzation I adapted my thesis
title, but the essence of the topic and main question, stayed the same.!
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In the end, hypothesis was that although Disney is present indirectly in Croatia, its
influence is big, especially from cultural aspects. However, size of the Croatian market
and bad monetary and administrative situation are preventing more technical and
business aspects to progress.!
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9. Part I!
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2. Review of the existing concepts of Disneyfication
and Disneyzation!
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Disneyfication and disneyzation are concepts that are connected with The Walt Disney
Company. They are not considered complete new inventions, but rather extensions and
upgrades of already existing concepts. Very often they are mixed up or used
interchangeably, but they mean two separate concepts. While disneyfication affects
narrative and cultural aspects of the brand, disneyzation affects principles of
transforming something to resemble Disney theme parks physically and in the way it
works. !
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! 2.1 Defining Disneyzation!
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In his 2001 article Alan Bryman suggested Disneyzation as a complementary notion to
McDonaldization, that was used by sociologist George Ritzman in his 1993 book “The
McDonaldization of Society”. Methods in both Disneyzation and McDonaldization
existed in other practices like bureaucracy or scientific method. In 1934 term Fordism
was created by Antonio Gramsci as one of the first terms that encompassed certain
practices with an influencing brand name in the certain industry. Disneyzation as such,
not only affects visual parts of the brand, but also its key functioning elements that are
working, very often behind the scene, unnoticed or blended with their environment.
According to Bryman (2004) that is accomplished through four aspects: theming, hybrid
consumption, merchandising and performative labour.!
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Theming is first and of the more obvious elements. It infuses themes and symbols in
one particular place, like theme parks, restaurants, malls, hotels, zoos and other places
where services or products are offered by a certain brand. It can also build up services
with defined routine, thus providing a unique experience and allowing providers to
charge more for goods or services. That also builds up an artificial history and gives an
enhanced appeal. It also provides psychological element by giving assurance to the
clients that the service will always have a certain quality level. !
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10. Hybrid consumption allows customers to consume more different goods on one place
with more services. That way customers are encouraged to stay longer and spend
more with appeal of more choices in one space. Beside Disney theme parks, malls are
excellent examples where you can shop, eat or be entertained at one single relatively
small and confined space.!
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Merchandising is closely related to theming, with its promotion of logos and images.
This allows brands to establish themselves even outside of its primary location, and
mark their goods and services. That way they effectively distinguish themselves from
the competition. With that, synergy of CDs, DVDs, books, movies, toys and other kind
of mechanise is accomplished. Customers are reassured that they will get goods of the
certain quality and nothing less. In the end, brands can expect higher consumption of
their products and consequently, higher revenue.!
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Performative labour upgrades regular employees’ obligations. It makes them not only
providers of a certain service, but it also makes them entertainers. It establishes roles
by which employees must behave and take care of themselves, meaning that they
have to uphold their physical appearance. That is expressed through regulations that
allow or restrict certain clothing, hairstyles and other customisable parts of the physical
appearance. That way customers can be reassured in a stability of a brand, and trust in
brand’s employees, through service and experience.!
!
Combining these elements, it is easily seen why Disney theme parks are flagships of
Disneyzation. Everything in them is themed with brands that were created or bought by
The Walt Disney Company. You can go on rides, buy souvenirs and toys, watch
performance shows, eat and spend money in various ways. If you look, you will be able
to see characteristic, three circle, Mickey Mouse logos everywhere, and there are even
hidden ones. That way they are assured that you will notice the brand even if you are
not actively looking for it. In the end, all employees are not just employees. They are
named castmebers and they are performers that are constantly cheerful and friendly.
Best example are employees that have a job to act as a characters from Disney
movies. In any circumstances they are not allowed to break a character while they are
on job. All of these elements can be seen in hotels, zoos, malls and other non-Disney
places that are suitable for both of the processes. They serve to create an environment
that can be safely controlled.!
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11. The substitution of ersatz reality at that level seems to me kind of dangerous,
but that’s a lonely voice in the wilderness now because you can’t walk into a
restaurant or anything else without encountering some form of Disneyfication.
Everybody has a theme and a damned Tiki Room or something. (Schickel,
2006, pp.15)!
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! 2.2 Defining Disneyfication!
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Disneyfication defines more intangible aspects of the Disney influence. According to
Bryman (2004) it defines transformation of something, most often narrative, into a
simpler, family and child oriented product. It is closely related to Disney movies
because they are products that have narration as one of their main elements. There
are many examples of movies that were criticised or praised because of the changes
that they have made to their narrative.!
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In “The Little Mermaid” (1989), tragic ending of a Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale is
replaced with traditional Disney happy end with a wedding. In fairytale, Little Mermaid
cannot will herself to kill the prince and in consequence return to the sea. She instead
lets prince and his new wife to live, and throws herself into the sea. Then she dissolves
into the sea foam and transforms herself into a spirit. In the Disney version, prince’s
potential new wife is actually the Sea Witch that granted Little Mermaid legs. In the
culmination, Little Mermaid looses her legs and Sea Witch’s disguise is revealed.
Prince then kills the witch and Little Mermaid is once again granted legs by her father
Triton, the king of the sea. She then marries the prince and the movie ends on the
happy note. Although narrative starts to drift apart from its original source right from the
beginning, it is the ending of a movie, versus ending of original fairytale, that many
critics do not approve. !
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That drifting from the narrative and the punch-line of the original story happened in
other movies too. While original fairytales are often full of graphic violence, revenge
tales and sometimes even sexual harassment, Disney always cut or heavily adapted
graphic scenes to make them child appropriate in their movies. For example,
“Cinderella” (1950) that was adapted from fairytale by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, is
greatly sanitised. In Grimm’s Cinderella, there were three balls on three nights. That
gave the prince enough time do devise a plant to smear pitch on the stairs on the last
night so he could steal Cinderella’s shoe and look for her later. When he came looking
for her, stepsisters cut parts of their feet to fit into the lost shoe and additionally,
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12. Cinderella’s father hid her from the prince and did not mention she was his daughter. In
the end, stepsisters had their eyes poked out on Cinderella’s wedding day. In the
Disney version, Cinderella’s shoe slipped by accident on the evening of the only one
ball and stepsisters simply did not fit in the shoe. Additionally Cinderella’s father was
dead, and the main antagonist was her stepmother. In the end, all eyes were in place
on the wedding day.!
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In many instances, Disney changed messages of the fairytales in order to put their
values in the movies. In instance of “Frozen” (2013) that was adapted from Hans
Christian Andersen’s “Snow Queen”, critical acclaim was universal and positive, but the
differences between original source material and its Disney adaptation are so
numerous that listing them would greatly defer from the topic. Although it can be
argued that Disney “ruins” fairytales, especially those of the Brothers Grimm, one
important argument must be included. Although Grimm’s fairytales are one of the best
known fairytales and they are widely accepted, they are not originals, but mere
collection of folklore tales. !
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In instance of “Sleeping Beauty” (1959), the original source material is “Little Briar
Rose” by Grimm Brothers. However, that was orally transmitted version that was
previously written by Charles Perrault, which in turn was based on “Sun, Moon and
Talia" written by Giambattista Basile, which in the end was based on a folk tale. There
are many elements that vary between those versions such as: main heroine’s name
which is most commonly Briar Rose or Aurora, her being married and already mother of
two versus being single, being impregnated by the prince while sleeping or not, being
woken up by one of her babies or the prince, and other variations. Another dimension
to this traditional tale was added in another incarnation of this story by Disney. In live
action movie “Maleficent” (2014), narrative focuses on the main antagonist from
Disney’s version of the “Sleeping Beauty” and turns her in the anti-heroine. In this
version Maleficent protects Sleeping Beauty, and she is awoken by Maleficent’s kiss,
effectively substituting power of romantic love with the power of motherly love.!
!
It is understandable why Disney movies, animated or live action, are flagships of
Disneyfication. Although they are not always the most profitable parts of the certain
Disney franchise, they are the one that the franchise is most often identified with. They
are able to tell a story like no other media form can. They go from point A to point B and
they provide a stern base for potential upgrades of the transmedia story.!
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13. 3. Activities that propelled disneyzation and
disneyfication through history!
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! 3.1 Early Disney!
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Both disneyfication and disneyzation would not succeed without many technological
and creative advancements that were provided by Walt Disney himself, or his company.
Some of the technologies and techniques were developed and used for the first time in
Disney movies and theme parks. Other times they were adapted from the competition,
and after Disney used them, they got widely used in the industry. However, there were
inventions that were not so successful or ahead of their time, and in the end they were
abandoned, most often because of the financial losses.!
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One of the first innovations was “Alice’s Wonderland” (1923) where Walt Disney
combined real actress with the animated world, instead of the more common practice
at that time, animated character in the real environmnet. Although that short was not
distributed, it spawned numerous Alice shorts that were produced during 1920’s. That
recipe of mixing live-action with animation was successfully repeated many times,
including long animated features like “Mary Poppins" (1964) and “Who Framed Roger
Rabbit” (1988). However, 1920’s were marked with financial instability, pressure of fast
production, eventual bankruptcy of Walt’s first Laugh-O-Gram Studio and many legal
problems. That resulted in Walt’s eventual abandoning of Alice and Oswald the Lucky
Rabbit, his first animated character. In 1923, together with his brother Roy Disney, Walt
formed Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, that three years later became Walt Disney
Studio.!
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In the early days of the film, Disney was one of the first adapters of sound on film and
he was influenced by the synchronisation of “The Jazz Singer” (1928). Synchronisation
is one of the reasons why Mickey Mouse got instantly popular with his third produced,
but first released short “Steamboat Willie” (1929). Although sound on film was already
present at that time for several years, it was one of the first animated movies that
synchronised movement on the screen with the sound and music, and it was
advertised as the first one, according to Lee and Madej (2012, p.39). That technique of
mimicking every action on the screen with the accompanying score became so popular
that it got its own name: Mickey Mousing. Soon after that first short, Mickey became
one of the most popular cartoon characters. Other animated shorts incorporated
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14. Mickey Mousing, for example Disney’s “Silly Symphony” series, that eventually became
a testing platform for Walt and his various techniques.!
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There are other examples of successful combination of existing technology with
business. “Lady and the Tramp” (1955) was the first animated feature that used popular
CinemaScope technology developed by Fox. At the same time Walt Disney studios
became first major Hollywood studio that produced regular programming,
“Disneyland” (1954) for ABC, and regular colour programming, “Walt Disney’s
Wonderful World of Color” (1961) for NBC, directly for television. Although both series
had basically the same format, move from ABC to NBC was made because of NBC’s
ability to transmit colour on television. At that time, colour television was more of a
irregularity than common item in many households, but Walt pushed for it.!
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One of the more famous Walt’s inventions was Fantasound, a pioneering multi-channel
sound system that predated stereo and surround systems by couple of decades. It was
created for “Fantasia” (1940) and it was almost instantly critically acclaimed. It is an
important point in history of sound on film, however, there were several factors
including transport, amount of equipment, film’s lukewarm public reception and eminent
World War II crisis, that contributed to discontinued use of Fantasound and eventual
dismantling of all systems but one.!
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However, the biggest Disney influence and contribution to movie industry and history is
“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937). It was first full length animated feature and
Walt won an honorary Oscar for it. He also perfected two-story multiplane camera that
gave extra depth and more realistic “illusion-of-life” animation. It was used later in other
movies, but before “Snow White” it was tested in “The Old Mill” (1937), a cartoon from
Silly Symphonies series. Movie was an unprecedented thing in Hollywood and
additionally, it was in Technicolor. Although colour was present for over a decade in
Hollywood feature films, and Disney was already using it in his short movies, it was still
a novelty. Movie’s production was a big risk, but it paid of financially. It was highest
grossing film at the time, and a critical success that changed Hollywood’s look on
animated features. Neupert (1994, chapter 7) argued that Disney helped Technicolor in
equal amount that Technicolor helped Disney. It also established Technicolor as a
feasible and cost effective technology, although years would pass before it becomes a
standard in the industry. That movie was one of the main factors in pushing colour into
the mainstream film production.!
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15. ! 3.2 Disney theme parks!
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Setting aside movie industry and The Walt Disney Studios for a moment, another major
Disney business segment, and contribution to the entertainment industry, are theme
parks. Responsible for the vacation resorts and theme parks, Parks and Resorts part of
the Disney Company manages everything from the concept to managing them.
Although founded in 1971, the first Disney Theme park was open in 1955. Placed in
Anaheim, California, Disneyland Park, originally just Disneyland, was designed under
the Walt Disney himself. Influenced by Tivoli Gardens from Amsterdam, Walt wanted to
make theme park that would be an upgrade from the usual american luna parks, like
the one on Coney Island. In the following decades other theme parks were open: Lake
Buena Vista in Florida in 1971, Tokyo in 1983, Paris in 1992, Hong Kong in 2005, with
Shanghai currently in development and setting to open in 2015.!
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According to Telotte (2008, p.119) Disney wanted to create an amalgam of amusement
park and movie experience. It was important for Walt to connect the works from his
movie studio with the various attractions in the park, so that they gave away a
cinematic feel even outside the movie theatres. Although Disney theme parks are
famous for implementing new attractions that are connected to the movies that the
movie studio has released, there were successful adaptations of park rides into the
movies, most prominently Pirates of the Caribbean franchise that was coincidentally
the last ride that Walt has overseen himself before his death. Constant adaptation and
dynamic change of ideas and concepts that are popular and valuable for the audience,
is what makes Disney theme parks continuously successful.!
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To develop these ideas for his first theme park, Walt founded WED Enterprises in 1952
that would later be renamed in the more popular Walt Disney Imagineering, or simply
Imagineering. Forged from words imagine and engineering, Imagineering team is the
creative force that manages all stages of all Disney theme parks, cruise ships and local
entertainment venues worldwide, from creating to building. !
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One of the first technological obstacles was bringing a two dimensional animated
features into the real world. The first solution was in the field of primitive robotics, or
how Disney trademarked it, Audio-Animatronics. It is a combination of electronic
controls, recorded sound and movements for an animated three dimensional model
that fits into the “illusion-of-life” philosophy that was implemented in animated features.
One of the more famous early models is animatronic Abraham Lincoln that was
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16. presented at the New York World’s Fair in 1964-65. Later, it became a centrepiece in
the Disneyland’s “Hall of Presidents” attraction, which was later filled with Animatronics
versions of other USA presidents. Technology is in the centre of all Disney theme parks
and most of it is not visible to the visitors because it serves as a working place for the
castmembers and it is hidden underneath the park in the form of tunnels and operating
rooms. !
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Walt did not want Disney theme park to be the place just for entertainment. Just like in
his television shows and animated movies, he wanted to include an educational
dimension. By combining these two a term edutainment was created and it embodies
both principles. This concept is well described in relatively new ride in Florida theme
park called “Dinosaur”, previously named “Countdown to Extinction”. It was renamed
after few years to inter-promote with the feature “Dinosaur” (2000). Attraction itself is
relatively traditional indoors ride filled with animatronic characters, and it focuses on the
modern theories about dinosaurs and their extinction. It offers education about
prehistoric events, not only a joyride with twists and turns and surprises. It also shows
Disney’s marketing and business side with the adapting and renaming process to fit it
to the relatively popular movie. However, sometimes changes are necessary.!
!
ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, or abbreviated Alien Encounter attraction was
not a ride, but a theatre attraction with special effects. It replaced Mission to Mars in
1995, and it was replaced by Stitch’s Great Escape in 2004 Mission to Mars was the
original ride from the Disneyland in Anaheim that was open along with the park. It was
first called Rocket to the Moon, then renamed Flight to the Moon and the name was
finally settled after first successful Moon landing, to Mission to Mars, because the
theme of the attraction was unexplored territory. Over time, attraction became outdated
so the location was refurbished and attraction was replaced with science fiction themed
Alien Encounter. However, the attraction was criticised for being too dark and
sometimes violent in its content, and it was not intended for children under 12 years of
age. Not even a decade later it was replaced with much more benign Stitch’s Great
Escape! attraction. Although the story changed, the latter two attractions shared a lot of
technology and sets. There was much less infrastructural changes between them, than
between Mission to Mars and Alien Encounter. !
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Attractions and rides are not the only parts of theme parks that are technologically
advancing, shows and parades can get upgraded too. In 2014, Disney applied for three
patents, invented by Stark, Trowbridge and Wong, that could potentially change parts
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17. of parades and all three of them are addressing some sort of aerial performance.
Floating Projection Screens is for displaying images or lights on the screen in the sky.
Marionettes Articulated and Supported by Airborne Devices is for the flying and floating
marionettes and puppets that could potentially replace balloons with hot air that usually
have no or very restrictedly movable parts. Floating Pixels or shortened “flixels” could
potentially replace fireworks and laser lights. However, as this project is written, these
patents still need to be approved or not, by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office, but
nonetheless they show leaps in technology and its potential application.!
!
Even a visitor’s experience can be upgraded. Magic Bands are convenient gadgets,
especially if you are staying in a Disney Resort. It replaces hotel room key, ticket for the
rides, it will link your credit card so you can buy food, beverages and merchandise
without credit cards, it allows you to get a FastPass+ which is a reservation for rides so
you do not have to wait in line and it will link PhotoPass photos to your Disney account.
Magic Bands are waterproof and implemented with RFID chips so when you order
something in the restaurant, waiter will know your location instantly. This wearable
technology collects data and it could potentially be implemented in museums, zoos,
airports and other places where visitors could potentially need a crowd control service.
Although this method is implemented to accommodate more visitors, there are some
critics that are opposed to monitoring technology and scheduling their free time in
theme parks. !
!
However, Disney Company has legacy in innovations, so in 2008 they launched Disney
Research with slogan “Science at Play”. It is a network of research labs that are
pursuing scientific and technological innovations in media and entertainment industry.
Their research areas are in computer graphics, video processing, computer vision,
robotics, wireless communication and mobile computing, human-computer interaction,
behavioural sciences, materials research and machine learning and optimisation. !
!
! 3.3 Digital Disney!
!
With the many advances in entertainment technology, The Walt Disney Company
became popular and influential entertainment entity, especially after opening its first
theme park. However, somewhere around the time of death of Walt in 1966 and Roy in
1971, Disney sunk in a creative and financial slump and company struggled to maintain
its traditional audience. According to Mills (1982, p.52) in 1981 Disney’s share at
american box office was just 4%. That lasted about 20 years, from the late 1960’s until
11

18. the end of the 1980’s. It ended with the publication of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and
“The Little Mermaid”. !
!
At that time so called Disney Renaissance started and it marked 1990’s with several
movies that got strong positive critics and that were financially very lucrative. Two best
examples are “Beauty and the Beast” (1991) that was the first animated movie
nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture, although it lost to “The Silence of the
Lambs” (1991), and “The Lion King” (1994) that became the highest grossing
traditionally animated film of all times. It is not coincidental that it was the time when
digital technology was becoming more and more widespread, so producing traditional
animation got faster with the help of digital technology. !
!
Disney experimented with digital technology in film in the late 1970’s, but one of the
first most prominent examples of that experimentation was “Tron” (1982), first film that
combined live action and computer animation. It is relatively late addition to science
fiction and technology driven movies, considering that for example “Star Wars” (1977),
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), “Superman” (1978) or “Alien” (1979) were
already established as modern classics, at the time when “Tron” hit the theatres. Today
“Tron” has a cult status and it even spawned a sequel “Tron: Legacy” (2010), and
according to Mills (1982, p.52) it was “the first Hollywood film dealing with electronic
games”. However, film focused too much on technology and its story got criticised
because of it. It was not a box-office success, although it covered its cost production.
That did not encourage Disney to make similar live action movies, although it started to
implement digital technology in its animated movies, starting with often forgotten “The
Black Cauldron” (1985). Usage of digital technology became more apparent and
critically praised in the 1990’s movies like “Beauty and the Beast”, where the technique
is most visible in the ballroom scene, or “Aladdin” (1992), most apparent in the
animation of magic carpet character, that was far too complex and time consuming for
the traditional animation.!
!
However, 1995 brought us first fully computer animated feature film “Toy Story” and
once again, shift in industry’s and audience’s perception of the animated movies
changed. Although Disney bought Pixar some fifteen years later, in 1991 they signed
co-production deal. Venturing in this kind of movie making was a relatively odd move
for Disney, since it was famous for its “illusion-of-life” approach in all animated features,
while Pixar had more caricature approach. Eventually, this relationship encouraged
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19. Disney to venture on its own computer animated journey, and a decade later they
released “Chicken Little” (2005). !
!
Disney-Pixar relationship was either praised for its innovations and stories, or criticised
that it is killing traditional animation. Although it certainly did not kill it, it most definitively
damaged it a lot. Since “Chicken Little”, Disney released only two traditionally animated
features: “The Princess and the Frog” (2009) and “Winnie the Pooh” (2011). Perhaps
the future is in fusion of hand drawn animation and digital modelling, that was
previewed in Academy Award winning “Paperman” (2012). !
!
In essence, “Paperman” applies a 3D technique that has no classic models, but rather
painted models in the programme. Instead of giving away the feeling of obviously 3D
rendered models, it gives a stylised 2D painted impression. It was not the first time that
Disney experimented with mixture of 2D and 3D. For the first time in “Tarzan” (1999),
Disney used Deep Canvas technique, which basically allows 2D characters to move in
the 3D environment. Creating of a sequence would start with background modelling,
then animation of the 2D characters, and then 3D environment would be manually
painted. Although “Paperman” and “Tarzan” have a similar 2D feeling to them, unlike
“Tarzan”, “Paperman” has no traditionally animated sequences, at least not in the
traditional pen-on-paper or stylus-on-graphics-tablet sense. Coincidentally or not, for
the whole traditional versus computer animation debate, “Tarzan” is considered the last
movie that was produced in the Disney Renaissance era and in the following decade,
computer animated movies would slowly outnumber traditionally animated ones. On
2013 annual meeting of shareholders (Child, B. 2013a) Disney CEO Bob Iger said: !
!
To my knowledge we’re not developing a 2D or hand drawn feature animated
film right now … There is a fair amount of activity going on in hand drawn
animation but it’s largely for television at this point. We’re not necessarily ruling
out the possibility [of] a feature but there isn’t any in development at the
company at the moment.!
!
A bit ambiguous statement that allows multiple interpretations, but it definitively proved
that traditional animation is not dead at Disney, at least not yet. However, adding that
statement to the 2014 news of studio Ghibli’s stop in production and restructuring, with
rumours of possible closing, it can not be denied that 2010’s are a difficult time for the
traditional hand drawn 2D animation on global plane.!
!
13

20. One of the biggest advantages of computer animation over traditional animation is the
time used for production. It is much faster to produce computer generated 3D feature
than traditional 2D feature. With advances in technology it was not only industry
production that got faster. Audiences are now used to streaming, instead of renting or
buying movies, music and other digitally available products. With internet and new on-
demand providers like Netflix, online stores like iTunes or streaming services like
Spotify, consumers do not have to leave the safety of their homes to enjoy latest
digitally available media. That change was mirrored in the massive closing of physical
stores of Blockbuster, the biggest USA-based movie and games rental service provider. !
!
For that purpose, in 2014 Disney launched Disney Movies Anywhere with technology
called Keychest: a digital movie locker service that relays on cloud computing. Rather
than owning a physical or downloaded copy of the movie, customer gets a unique key
that allows him or her to stream the content on numerous devices and services. With
Keychest, customers instantly update their services, such as on-demand providers,
and with each purchase the movie is instantly available for viewing. !
!
This came as a response to the launch of UltraViolet in 2011, a digital rights library that
was accepted as a industry standard by many studios, most notably the rest of the
major film studios like Paramount, Columbia, Warner Brothers, Universal and 20th
Century Fox. UltraViolet was accepted by other companies that are not necessarily
involved in filmmaking, such as IBM or Microsoft that are working with digital services
and products. Although this gives an easier and better customer service, it brought up
new debates in the digital rights management that are still defining what rules are
applicable when it comes to copyright and new media.!
!
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21. 4. Disney and non-Disney animated films!
!
Disney animation has its historical value. It does not matter if it is realistic approach of
“Snow White”, tripping world of “Alice in Wonderland” (1951) or anthropomorphism of
“The Lion King”. Disney animated feature films left long and lasting influence on other
movie makers and movie studios. In a same manner that Google became synonymous
with internet search or Jeep with off-road vehicles, “Disney movie” became a
synonymous with “animated movie”. Silvestar Mileta (2008, p. 30) said “…everything
that was created in animation after Disney was necessarily compared to it.” and he was
repeating what many others said before him, like Paul Welles or Giannalberto
Bendazzi. Very often animated features from other studios are given a “Disney”
etiquette, and some venture in that area more than others.!
!
One of the movies that most often gets a “Disney movie” mark is “Anastasia” (1997) by
Fox Animation Studios. Out of the many elements, the most prominent is Anastasia,
heroine and the princess that fits the standards for The Disney Princess Collection
franchise perfectly. It is an adaptation of the Russian urban legend that the Grand
Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, daughter of Tsar Nikolai II, survived the
family execution. In the Disney manner, story distorted several key elements, brought
new characters and a villain with magical powers in a form of Grigori Rasputin. It also
features several musical numbers, of which “Journey to the Past” and the whole
soundtrack were nominated for the Academy Award, an honour that many Disney
movies songs and soundtracks had. “If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery,
then the folks at Disney should feel royally complimented by Twentieth Century Fox's
new animated feature about Tsar Nicholas II's youngest daughter. Anastasia has all the
new-Disney trademarks” (Gantz, 1997)!
!
However, the biggest reason why it looks so Disney-like is behind the scenes. Don
Bluth and Gary Goldman were directors of the movie, but they were also former Disney
animation directors that previously worked together on “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
too” (1974), and “The Rescuers” (1977). They left Disney in 1979, along with John
Pomeroy, to start their own animation studio “Don Bluth Production”. That studio alone
is responsible for several Disney-esque movies that more or less stood the test of time,
but most prominently “The Land Before Time” (1988), ”All Dogs Go to Heaven” (1989),
both under the Sullivan Bluth Studios name, and ”Thumbelina” (1994) under Don Bluth
Entertainment name. Besides “Anastasia”, during their time in Fox Animation Studios,
they also worked on “Titan A.E.” (2000) that was often compared with Disney’s
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22. “Treasure Planet” (2002) because of its implementation of 2D and 3D animation and
location in outer space, although plots differ significantly. Not all of the mentioned
movies were financially successful or were positively reviewed by the critics, but they
were all described as Disney-esque.!
!
To get away from Bluth and Goldman, there are examples from other authors and
studios. Most notable are “The Swan Princess” (1994) by Nest Family Entertainment
and “The Prince Of Egypt” (1998) by Dreamworks, both from the time of so called
Disney Renaissance that occurred during the 1990’s. They best showcase elements
that are considered as parts of the “Disney movies”. !
!
“The Swan Princess” drew its source material from the ballet “Swan Lake” by Pyotr
Ilyich Tchaikovsky. During the movie, main heroine princess Odette gets cursed and
there is an abundance of comic relief animal sidekicks. The curse can be overthrown
by the act of love and there is a villain that will not stop before he reaches his goal or, in
this and many other cases, his demise. Although it was considered a box-office flop, it
spawned four direct to video sequels and Odette is often on the lists of popular non-
Disney princesses, alongside Anastasia.!
!
“The Prince of Egypt” draws its source from the Bible, more precise the life of Moses,
whose destiny is revealed to him during the movie. With male main character, it is
aligned with boy oriented values, like heroism and strength, like it is in
“Hercules” (1997), and love, is a secondary theme, unlike in animated features with
princesses. Main villain and his sidekicks do not stop until the casualties are too big,
which happens at the climax of the movie when the main character’s destiny is fulfilled.
However, “The Prince of Egypt” does not escape major Disney connection, because
executive producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, was a former chairman of The Walt Disney
Studios. !
!
“The Swan Princess” and “The Prince of Egypt” are disneyfied in a sense that the plots
got changed drastically from its source materials so they could be adapted to be child
appropriate. Major complicated conflicts are simplified and graphic violence is avoided
as much as it could be. Happy end is achieved wether by changing the end, like in “The
Swan Princess”, or stopping the story at the right time, like in “The Prince of Egypt”.
However the main element in both movies is the animation that can be described as
“illusion-of-life” that Disney is famous for.!
!
16

23. When it comes to animated movies, 2D and 3D, there are rare examples of movies or
franchises that have a clear distinction for being non-Disney. Perhaps financially most
successful is DreamWorks with several movies like “Shrek” (2001),
“Madagascar” (2005), “Kung Fu Panda” (2008), “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010) and
their sequels, but they are very often compared to Pixar animation, which is a Disney
company, so the difference argument is not so solid. !
!
Artistically most distinctive are movies by Japanese studio Ghibli and its now retired
director Hayao Miyazaki. However, Ghibli is influenced by Japanese school of
animation which is widespread in Asia, so there is abundance of other relative similarly
animated movies like “Akira” (1988), “Steamboy" (2004) or “Paprika” (2006).
Additionally, there is a Disney connection, because Ghibli made a deal in 1996 that
Disney will distribute all of their movies internationally. !
!
Another distinctive animation studio, famous for its stop-motion animation is British
Aardman Studios, with movies like “Chicken Run” (2000), “Wallace & Gromit: The
Curse of the Were-Rabbit” (2005) and “Flushed Away” (2006). That is a unique
animation technique that Disney was not particularly involved or successful with, with
the exception of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993), but that particular movie is
associated primarily with the aesthetics of Tim Burton, rather than Disney. !
!
When it comes to other international animated features and studios, that are critically
acclaimed and financially feasible, examples are far and few in between and they are
mostly european movies like “Persepolis” (2007). It is not an easy task to make a non-
Disney movie that will have a Disney-like numbers, financially or audience wise.!
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17

24. 5. To Disnefy, discussion of pros and cons!
!
Disneyfication and disneyzation are most often used in a negative and a devaluating
way, to describe something that is dumbed down. “To Disnefy means translate or
transform the object into something superficial, or even simplistic.” (Bryman, 2004, p.5)!
!
To say that these processes have only negative or obtuse connotations is over
simplistic. They have shaped industry and the audience in positive and negative ways.
However, when it comes to discussing Disney and its influence, first thing that most
people think of are children in general. Disney products are generally family oriented,
but most discussions are children oriented because they are easier to influence.
Although movies are the most prominent Disney products, they are consumed in movie
theatres few times a year on average, at least until they get their home release.
Disney’s biggest American influence comes in the form of television programme, most
prominently specialised channels that are aimed at preteens and adolescents. Media
Networks is one of the five major business segments of The Walt Disney Company.!
!
After “Disneyland” on ABC in 1954, Disney’s second television venue was in the form
of “The Mickey Mouse Club” (1955). It eventually got two revivals and with occasional
breaks, it lasted until 1995. Castmembers from the show were called Mousketeers and
accordingly, everything revolved around Disney and Mickey Mouse. Television series
was an extension of the Mickey Mouse Club, an actual club that held its meetings in
theatres. It started in 1930 in California as a theatre club that had its meetings on
saturday afternoons with organised activities and watching of the latest cartoons.
Eventually other clubs were founded and they grew in numbers. They spread
internationally, until with time they were phased out by technology and television series. !
!
On television, Disney Channel and ABC are the most recognisable stations of the Walt
Disney Television division, but Disney is also present in the worldwide capacity with
Disney-ABC Television Group. There are several other stations that are also aimed at
kids in USA solely, and they have precise marketing strategies. Disney adapts to its
market and that is the best shown in the rebranding of cable network Toon Disney to
Disney XD in 2009. Team of researchers, with now Disney cable networks senior Vice
President Kelly Peña, did a 18 month research to find emotional, psychological and
sociological hooks for boys aged 6-14. According to Brooke Barnes (2009) that
demographic was responsible for the $50 billion in spending worldwide, and Disney
wanted to find a way to capitalise that. Although cable television rating numbers were
18

25. not bad, it was shown that exactly that demographic group was alienated from the
Disney production in the 2000’s. At that time, Disney had more girl oriented media
franchises like Disney Princesses and shows like “Lizzie McGuire” (2001), “That’s so
Raven” (2003) or “Hannah Montana” (2006). They were perfectly crafted as powerful,
but still innocent franchises that fit the Disney mold. !
!
However, when it comes to Hannah Montana, precisely Miley Cyrus as a performer,
and term performer is used because Disney stars were often singers and actors, the
allure of innocence sometimes falls apart after the artist’s departure from Disney. While
kids in the audience enjoy the shows, Disney kids stars are under the spotlight of
Disney and the press. It is often attributed to the constant work and press obligations,
that the underaged stars had no time to mature properly. They were always under
continual observation by the audiences and industry. Over the time, multiple former
Disney stars were in the press for their bad or illegal behaviour, most often while in
their 20’s. !
!
Lindsay Lohan, star of “The Parent Trap” (1998) and “Freaky Friday” (2003) became
more popular for her DUIs and court proceedings than acting. Shia LaBeouf of the
“Even Stevens” (2000) fame, had more successful career than Lohan, but is also
famous for trespassing and assault allegations. Previously mentioned Miley Cyrus
continued her singing career successfully, acting little less successfully, but she is often
criticised for hyper-sexual appearance and usage of marijuana. Former Mouseketeer
Britney Spears, had a slow public meltdown that escalated in her shaving her head in
2007, but eventually she regained her public image and career.!
!
There are other examples of troubled ex Disney stars, and some of them recovered like
Spears, but legally and morally speaking, Disney can not be blamed for their actions
after their departure, at least not completely. However, if Disney could have partial
responsibility in the behaviour patterns of bad stars, then it could have partial
responsibility for the good behaviour and non scandalous stars too. !
!
Selena Gomez from “Wizards of Waverly Place” (2007) continued her singing and
acting career quite successfully. Raven-Symoné of “That’s so Raven” continued acting
on film, television and Broadway. Hilary Duff from “Lizzie McGuire” also continued with
acting on film and TV, and she also had some music success. Zac Efron, from High
School Musical franchise, continued working on film and became one of the most
successful ex-Disney stars and is now considered A-list Hollywood actor. Although
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26. Disney can not be held for the whole success or failure of certain ex employees, it can
be partially responsible for their success as an excellent starting point, or it can be
partially responsible for their failure for adding extra psychological pressure on them.!
!
The company's approach makes Disney a particularly useful case for
understanding corporate strategies directed at youth in the new media
environment. At the same time as Disney represents nostalgia and tradition, it has
become a global leader in transforming digital technologies into profit-making
platforms and developing a consumer-centered discourse that deflects criticism
away from, while it softens, what can only be called boldly commercial self-
promotion. (Giroux. 2011)!
!
In the end Disney will, as any other corporate company, think about its own benefit first.
With disneyfying, they are choosing the safest route that offers pretty product, but that
is not always the case. An example that combines technological and cultural aspects of
disnefying is the 2013 controversy, of design and animation of the female heroines in
“Frozen” and retroactively, “Tangled” (2010). Lino Di Salvo, head animator for “Frozen”,
told Fan Voice’s Jenna Busch:!
!
Historically speaking, animating female characters are really, really difficult, ’cause
they have to go through these range of emotions, but they’re very, very - you have
to keep them pretty and they’re very sensitive to - you can get them off a model
very quickly. So, having a film with two hero female characters was really tough,
and having them both in the scene and look very different if they’re echoing the
same expression; that Elsa looking angry looks different from Anna being angry.!
!
The article with the statement was removed from “Fan Voice”, but others quickly
reported the quote, like Laura Stampler (2013). Disney spokesperson later stated that
quote was taken out of context and that it was more of a statement of technical issues
in CG animation, rather than animating male versus female characters. But with or
without the statements, there is undeniable similarity between physical appearances of
Elsa and Anna, and additionally Rapunzel from “Tangled”. With characteristically round
heads, very big eyes, relatively small noses and mouths, and tiny waists, there is no
denying that their physical features are very similar, intentionally or not.!
!
Another similar controversy that happened the same year, involved Disney/Pixar
heroine Merida from “Brave” (2012). While inducting her in The Disney Princess
20

27. Collection, a teenage tomboy that was introduced in the movie got a makeover where
her figure was more curvaceous, but skinnier and generally more mature looking. That
backlashed and petition was launched on Change.org. It reached over 100,000
signatures in a little over a week and gained the support of Brenda Chapman, creator
of Merida (Child, B. 2013b). In the end, petition got 262,296 signatures and the new
revamped image of Merida was removed and replaced with the original one from the
movie.!
!
To move beyond the social influence and look of the princesses, Disney is well known
known for its acquisitions, especially post 2000. Most prominent were the ones of Pixar,
Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm. Those brands already have had established
identities and formed audiences. There were no major financial problems and there
was no problem of brand establishing. !
!
Pixar and Disney had a long business relationship prior to the acquisition. However,
that buy-out was very significant for the animation department. Pixar, and its 3D
oriented animation, allowed Disney to revive its animation department. Since the end of
Disney Renaissance, Disney animated features had no major box office successes,
with exception of “Lilo & Stitch” (2002). After acquiring Pixar, only two major animated
features were produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios in the traditional 2D
animation: “The Princess and the Frog” and “Winnie the Pooh”. From that point 3D
releases were more lucrative, starting with “Bolt” (2008). Many critics proclaimed
Disney’s acquisition of Pixar as a move that killed traditional animation and Pixar’s
creativity, since “Toy Story 3” (2010) was the last Pixar movie that got positive reviews
from critics. !
!
Unlike Pixar, Marvel had no major critical or financial misses in the movie department
so far. It’s biggest creative contribution to the movie industry is the construction of the
so called Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although the origin and development of that
creative and business model predates Disney acquisition, thanks to the Disney
distribution network it gained worldwide influence and it even spread on the television
with “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” (2013) and, at the point of writing this text, yet to
be broadcasted “Marvel’s Agent Carter” (2015) on ABC. Additionally four other shows
that are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will premiere on Netflix. In short, it is a
strategy that entangles multiple superhero franchises and characters in one fictional
universe. !
!
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28. It was virtually unprecedented model in Hollywood and it spread over to other major
movie studios, mainly to those that have ownership of other comic book characters.
20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures have their own Marvel properties that they
acquired before the Disney buy-out, and Warner Bros. has ownership of DC
characters, Marvel’s biggest rival in comic book industry. Fox will focus on development
of X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises. Their universe is already in production and it
will include movies that were released after “”X-Men: First Class” (2011). Sony, with its
Amazing Spider-Man franchise (not to be confused with 2000’s Spider Man trilogy), is
currently developing movies based on other Spider-Man characters like Sinister Six
and Venom. However, the biggest expectations are on Warner Brothers and DC that
started their own cinematic universe with the “Man of Steel” (2013). With Superman,
Batman and Wonder Woman, they have some of the most popular comic book
characters in general, and they are expected to rival Marvel’s Avengers superhero
team-up with their own Justice League movies.!
!
What is also left to be seen is the development of the Star Wars universe. With
Lucasfilm, Disney bought Star Wars, another franchise that has worldwide popularity.
After acquisition, it was quickly announced that the new trilogy will go in the production,
with the first film scheduled for release in December of 2015. Unlike Pixar, whose
target audience are kids, or Marvel whose target audience are teenagers and young
adults, Star Wars franchise has longer cinematic history and its target audience is
much bigger, comprehending older audiences. That automatically brings wider
customer margin, but its own history can become its own enemy. Audience
expectations are big and if the first film is not financially feasible, it can stop the
development of the rest of the trilogy.!
!
In the Marvel manner, Disney decided to have one universe, but this time in the gaming
industry. Although Toontown Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game
that had multiple famous Disney characters in it, is now defunct, in 2013 Disney
Interactive Studios, released “Disney Infinity”. It is action-adventure sandbox video
game that also utilises physical figurines that could be additionally bought, and it
started with Disney and Pixar characters. Sequel “Disney Infinity: Marvel Super
Heroes” was released in 2014 and it adds Marvel characters to the game, while there
are still some allegations about Star Wars characters in its still unannounced third
“Disney Infinity” instalment. Considering the popularity of Star Wars, it is not
unreasonable assumption and, in my personal prediction, its publication will probably
happen somewhat parallel with the publication of the new Star Wars movie.!
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29. Part II!
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6. Situation in Croatia!
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When it comes to Croatia and its history and influence in the entertainment industry,
there are not many influences on other markets, but there are several critical examples
and points in history. Of course, those can not be put on the same level with the global
giant like Disney, but there are some areas, especially in the animation, that show a
different school of thought and technique. However, just like the certain political
situations in the USA influenced Disney production, most prominently World War II,
Croatian political situation influenced its own entertainment industry, most notably
Homeland War in the 1990’s.!
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30. 7. Yugoslavian years!
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Before the World War II, there were no big movie productions in Croatia, so there is no
reason to talk about Disney’s influences. In a global sense, even after the War finished,
movie industry was still in its infancy. There were always years of latency between first
technical breakthroughs in the USA and coming of the same technologies in Croatia,
then part of Yugoslavia. First Croatian movie “Brcko u Zagrebu” (1917) was not
preserved, and it was filmed two to three decades after the first movies ever. First
Croatian sound movie “Šešir” (1937) came almost a decade after the first sound motion
picture, but that period can be considered even longer if we take in account that the
first feature length Croatian movie “Lisinski” came out in 1944. Although movie and
media industry started to develop, World War II set back Croatian production that was
still in its early stages.!
!
Consistent movie production starts with establishing state firm Hrvatski Slikopis in
1942. Just like Disney at the time, its primary production was for propaganda and the
movie industry suffered worldwide because of War. At that time, most influence and
technology came to Croatia from Germany and according to Kruno Heidler (2007, p.12)
movie professionals were in small numbers. Bigger movie business started in 1944
with establishment of Yugoslavian state movie business firm, but the actual Croatian
movie production started in 1946 with the establishment of Jadran Film. It was the first
movie firm that was modelled with Hollywood studios in mind. So called “movie city”
was built in Zagreb between 1953 and 1955 and it was modernised and upgraded in
the following decades. Around 1980 it was one of the best production houses in
Yugoslavia and Europe in general, especially if we consider numerous co-productions
with foreign studios from other Europen countries and United States. However, the big
difference between so called East and West was that the Yugoslavian movies, unlike
American ones, were state funded. That changed in 1956 when the law about financing
cultural products changed, and movies were now only partially funded by the state.
Perhaps because of the state funding, or the cult of Tito, the most funded and
distributed were movies with war and antifascist themes like “Bitka na Neretvi” (1969). !
!
During Yugoslavian years, Jadran Film produced number of movies in different genres
and a lot of them became Yugoslavian classics. For example “Plavi 9” (1950) was a
first comedy that also has sports elements, “Ciguli Miguli” (1952) became first banned
movie and it was shown in movie theatres decades later, “Vuk Samotnjak” (1972) is
dramatic move for children and “Glembajevi” (1988) is adaptation of the turn of the
24

31. century novel by Miroslav Krleža. Foreign co-productions were also successful, with
examples from B-productions like “Winetou” (1963) and its numerous sequels, and
“The Dirty Dozen: The Series” (1988). There were also critically acclaimed examples,
like Orson Welles’ adaptation of Franz Kafka’s “The Trial” (1962) and Oscar winning
“Sophie’s Choice” (1982). !
!
There was another successful movie company that was founded in 1946. Named
Poduzeće za Raspodjelu Filmova, it was the sole distributor and importer of foreign
movies until 1970. In 1954 it was renamed to its current name Croatia Film, and it
begun with movie production in the 1960’s. Its most prominent movies are both from
the 1970. Children oriented “Družba Pere Kvržice” was the most viewed Croatian film
in foreign markets for a long time, and musical “Tko Pjeva Zlo Ne Misli” is still
considered by critics and the audiences as one of the best, if not the best Croatian
movie of all times. Croatia Film also released first two Croatian animated features,
“Čudesna Šuma” (1986) and “Čarobnjakov Šešir” (1990).!
!
When it comes to animation in Croatia the most prominent establishment is Zagreb
Film. Founded in 1953, in 1956 it opened studio for animated movies. With authors like
Nikola Kostelac, Vatroslav Mimica, Dušan Vukotić and Vladimir Kristl, Zagreb School of
Animated Films, as it was called, quickly became internationally recognised and
critically acclaimed. Animation was very often experimental, avant-garde and not
always aimed at children. It was invented out of necessity for more cost effective
movies and it thrived as a friendly competition between authors. Its crown jewel is
“Surogat” (1961) from Vukotić that became first non American winner of Academy
Award in the category of Short Subjects, Cartoon, which is now known as Best
Animated Short Film category. It is also the good example of why Zagreb School
became popular and recognised. Its animation is geometrical in character and its
theme is nature versus artificial which ends in tragedy. Another successful, but children
oriented, example is animated series “Profesor Baltazar” (1967) by Zlatko Grgić. It has
vibrant colours, flat and geometric style, there is no “illusion-of-life” animation, and
according to Luigi Scarpa (2011) it influenced movies like “Yellow Submarine” (1968).
Baltazar became one of the few animated series that were distributed internationally,
including UK, USA, Australia, Germany and many other countries. Its character is still
internationally recognisable and it became the mascot of Zagreb Film.!
!
Zagreb School of animation was welcomed as a refreshing alternative to Disney
animation, but to say that there were no Disney advocates would be a lie, especially
25

32. because brothers Walter and Norbert Neugebauer, duo of brothers that were
cartoonists and animators, were avid advocates of Walt and his animation. However,
according to Jurica Starešinčić (2007, p.38) Vukotić, as the most prominent member of
Zagreb School, felt necessary to distance himself from Disney. It can be said that
Zagreb School tried to avoid Disney animation on purpose, so in a way, that is still a
Disney influence, in a sense of wittingly avoiding it. However, this generation of authors
did not generate equally capable future generations, although there were respectable
names of so called second and third generation, so during the 1970’s the potential for
continuing international success stopped. Even Zagreb Film as a studio fell in debts
during 1980’s and virtually collapsed in the early 1990’s.!
!
However, before the total dissipation of influence of Zagreb School, The World Festival
of Animated Film Zagreb, or better known as Animafest Zagreb, or simply Animafest,
was founded in 1972. It is the second oldest European animated film festival, next to
1960’s founded Annecy International Animated Film Festival. The latter two were held
interchangeably every second year,. According to Gunnar Strøm (2002, p.9) Animafest
was “important in bringing the animators from both sides of the Iron curtain together”
since it was in Yugoslavia, a state that was, and at the same time that was not, a
communist. state Since 2005, Animafest is held annually and it is still very often listed
as one of the top 10 worldwide animation festivals. !
!
!
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26

33. 8. After Yugoslavia!
!
1980’s were marked world-wide as politically unstable period that culminated in the fall
of communistic regime on the turn of 1990’s with symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall.
Yugoslavia as a socialist federal state was not an exception, and the sovereign
Croatian state emerged in its dissipation. However, separation was not peaceful and
1990’s were marked in Croatia and other ex-Yugoslavian countries with a war that
would become known as a Homeland War in Croatia. In accordance with that, all
entertainment and movie business was abruptly stopped, and all media interest was
shifted toward social and war themes.!
!
! 8.1 Cultural situation!
!
During the 1990’s, Croatian cinematography and media went tough the same motions
that many transitional countries went through. Fall of communism brought the fall of
censorship, although its weakening could have been felt couple of decades earlier, but
the official fall of Yugoslavia brought official shift in censorship ideals. That did not
necessarily brought more critically acclaimed, watched or audience loved movies in
general. According to Tomislav Kurelec (2008, p.25) ability of authors to directly
express their ideas, that until then have been hidden behind metaphors and symbols in
Yugoslavia, have degraded the artistic values of many movies and works in general.
However there are two exceptions embraced by the audience. First was “Kako je
Počeo Rat na Mom Otoku” (1996) by Vinko Brešan that had Homeland War theme
mixed with a lot of black humour, which established a pattern for a lot of later movies.
That was proved as a mix which Croatian audience loved and went to movie theatres
for. Brešan tried to repeat the success with “Maršal” (1999), which was planned as the
first Croatian blockbuster, and although it can be considered as a success, it did not
meet financial expectations, so further attempts at Croatian blockbusters were stopped.
The other exception is the most successful Croatian animated feature “Čudnovate
Zgode Šegerta Hlapića” (1997) which remains the only Croatian animated feature to
the date.!
!
Over time, Croatian audience developed a certain animosity towards its media
products, most prominently movies. Majority of producers and investors are not
planning movies as blockbusters, in a sense that they have planned out strategy from
the beginning to promotion, distribution and expected box office. Financed at least
27

34. partially by the state or national television, Croatian movies are, like the majority of
European movies, seen as cultural products, rather than commercial ones like the
Hollywood movies are. However, even when it comes to foreign blockbusters, numbers
are often underwhelming even for Hollywood standards. The main reason is very small
market, which for effect has a small chance for profit. Even the critically acclaimed and
most viewed movies in Croatia rarely reach 250,000 viewers, which is considered as
extremely high number of viewers. Igor Saračević (2004, p.21) said that only seven
movies crossed that number in the 1998-2003 period, which averages one movie per
year. If the criteria is lowered to 100,000 viewers, that will bring up number up to 30
blockbusters, which makes average of four movies a year. Although these numbers are
showing the state before the construction of first Croatian multiplex CineStar in Zagreb,
the mind set of the audience and producers are very much alike some ten years after. !
!
In a recent study (HAVC, 2013, pp.49), 61,4% of the examinees stated that they never
watch Croatian movies in movie theaters. Five top reasons for not watching were as
follows: ‘they are not interesting’, ‘foreign movies are better’, ‘I rarely go to the movie
theatre, and then I do not watch domestic movies’, ‘I am waiting for them to come to
television’ and ‘they are bad’. Top three associations for “Croatian movies” were that
they are ‘bad’, ‘boring’ and contradictory to second one, ‘good’. Although one of the
main conclusions is that slight majority of Croatian audience is associating Croatian
movies with negative statements, another important conclusion was that slight majority
of Croatian audience is thinking that Croatian movies have made a positive shift
towards better quality in recent years.!
!
The latter statement is also reflected in another part of the study. According to it, the
best Croatian movie of all times is already mentioned “Tko Pjeva Zlo Ne Misli”, while on
second place is also mentioned “Kako je Počeo Rat na Mom Otoku”. However, next
four entries in order are “Svećenikova Djeca” (2013), “Što je Muškarac Bez
Brkova?” (2005), “Sonja i Bik” (2012) and “Metastaze” (2009), which are all fairly new
movies, even without considering ones that were made during Yugoslavian years. The
rest of the movie list is mix of new Croatian movies and old classics from the
Yugoslavian era.!
!
Another trend emerged in recent years: movies with children and for children. It started
with “Duh u Močvari” (2006) although the big boom came in the next decade with titles
like “Koko i Duhovi” (2011), “Duh Babe Ilonke” (2011), “Zagonetni Dječak” (2013),
“Šegrt Hlapić” (2013) and “Ljubav ili Smrt” (2014). “Šegrt Hlapić” became the most
28

35. watched Croatian live action movie for children and according to Box Office Mojo
(2014), it was the 5th most grossing movie in Croatia that year. It wold be the most
watched motion picture for children if it was not for 1997 animated feature that
coincidentally had the same literary template. Unfortunately, besides that animated
example, according to Hrvoje Turković (2006, p.3) “there is no concentrated creative
animation milieu and no recognisable artistic movement anywhere in Croatia today.”
But to get back to live action, more interesting is series of movies that revolve around
Koko, another well known literary character created by Ivan Kušan.!
!
“Koko i Duhovi”, “Zagonetni Dječak” and “Ljubav ili smrt” are one of the rare examples
of Croatian movie franchise. They all follow the same characters, that are
impersonated by the same actors, with the same crew behind the camera. Just like
perviously mentioned “Šegrt Hlapić” they are all relatively faithfully adapted from their
source materials. Although filming with kids has its own setbacks, and according to
Juraj Lerotić (2013, pp.28) casting agencies are not of much help in Croatia when it
comes to kid actors, this particular franchise is good example of successful and well
executed business model. Ankica Jurić Tilić (2014), producer of Koko movies, stated
that she was generally satisfied with the development and success of the movies, but
the biggest obstacle were finances, and if they could they would film all the sequels in a
tighter schedule. However, they did not want to pressure kid actors and mess with their
education and mental health, especially when it came to promotion. Company wanted
to protect them from the potentially aggressive media and, although they knew they
were doing a disservice to themselves, they had personal and moral problem with
exploiting kid actors for profit. That did not mean that there was no promotion, or that
audience was not acquainted with this incarnation of Koko. Since it is a kids franchise,
promotion was sometimes even done by the kid from different schools and their
journalistic groups. In some instances, like premiers, there was a need for a crowd
control to protect kid actors from their kid fans. !
!
However, that franchise is an exception to the rule. Although there are ceremonial
premiers for majority of big Croatian movies, the reason why there are no attempts at
romantic comedies or movies with similar lighter themes is the absence of genuine
Croatian movie stars. In previously mentioned study (2013), when it comes to the main
criteria in picking which movies to watch, for Croatian audience most important are
actors. Without Croatian actors that would have the effect of attracting the audience in
movie theatres just by their name, Croatian filmmakers are relying on the narrative
elements, which often results in two extremes: comedies that are powered with
29

36. regional humour or socially heavy themed dramas. In that way, disneyfication perhaps
influenced Croatian movie making, but its influence is not big or obvious like in
Hollywood. Croatian audience and move makers still like Croatian movies when they
are not too disneyfied, or in this instance, simple.!
!
! 8.2 State of business and technology!
!
When it comes to disneyfication and disneyzation in Croatia, there are some severely
restricting factors that allow us to observe them mostly through the prism of movie
business. Perhaps the most successful disneyzation example outside of the movie
scope, is the chain of City Center One malls. With three malls, two in Zagreb and one
in Split, it is a popular place for shopping. It has constant thematic image that combines
logo with yellow and black colours in the malls, online and in their magazine. They
successfully combine all four elements that Bryman defined in his book. However, in
most cases Croatian business and production simply can not reach the Disney level,
because of financial, historical and political reasons. !
!
The biggest obstacle in Croatian movie production was already mentioned Homleand
War. It did not only shift the interest of the audience and industry, but it also influenced
many of the mentioned production houses and studios. During the 1990’s, Zagreb Film,
as the main animating studio went virtually bankrupt, Croatia Film slowly stopped their
live action production, although it had a spark of success with animated “Čudnovate
Zgode Šegrta Hlapića” and Jadran Film became a victim of bad business decisions,
laws and privatisation. They all started to recover in the next decade. Zagreb Film
avoided disappearance with merger with Filmoteka 16, and it still has the best technical
infrastructure for animation. However, it passed the title of the most prominent
institution, when it comes to animation in Croatia, to Animafest. Croatia Film had their
animated success with “Hlapić” which spawned sequel in a form animated series from
2000. In 2008 they started with broadcasting of the first Croatian channel for kids
Dječja Televizija. Unfortunately, the most successful Jadran Film did not recover to its
former glory. Majority of equipment was sold, part of the “movie city” land was sold in
controversial transaction for construction of “Garden Mall” and most of the staff either
quit or got fired during the years. Financial malversations combined with bad leadership
destroyed Jadran Fillm’s reputation and ability to be the best production company in
the region for the foreseeable future. Many critics are sceptical if it is possible to repair
it at all.!
!
30

37. Today, the main difference between European and American movie making is
financing. Disney and Hollywood are operating on a system of investors and producers,
which gives movies a commercial character. It is an investment that is carefully
calculated and it is expected to pay off. In Croatia, as in most of the Europe, majority of
the movies are financed partially by the state because they are considered primarily as
a cultural products. There are independent exceptions, like “Show Must Go On” (2010)
by Nevio Marasović, which was the first SF Croatian feature, but they are rare and less
powered by finances, and more by the enthusiasm and the free time of the people
involved in their production. Until 2008, audiovisual creations could get the money if the
creators applied for the Ministry of Culture’s announced public bid for the financing, and
that money was collected from the taxpayers. In 2007 the Law for audiovisual
businesses was changed and modernised, and for a consequence in 2008, HAVC,
Croatian Audiovisual Centre, was created. From that point, HAVC became the
organisation that is responsible for the announcing of the public bids for financing.
However, that change is major, since the majority of filmmaking money is still coming
from taxpayers.!
!
That law change did not only benefit domestic audiovisual production, but the foreign
too. The main point that brought foreign investors in Croatia was the change that
allowed foreign investors to get tax return. The biggest business and tourist investment
that was brought in its second season, was the production of HBO’s “Game of Thrones”
(2011). Series concluded shooting its fourth season in Croatia in the moment of writing
of this text. Other companies recognised the opportunity too, so among others, BBC
shot several projects, most prominently part of the series five of “Doctor Who” (2005 )
in Trogir in 2009. There were also productions from France, Germany, Switzerland,
Finland, Denmark and Sweden. That not only gave financial boost to production in
Croatia, but it also gave boost to tourism in a form of film tourism, but that for of tourism
is still in its beginning stages.!
!
That does not mean that Croatian production suddenly got better financed. There are
still financial problems, especially for marketing and promotion. While A-production
American movies spend half or more of its budget on marketing, Croatian A-movies
spend their whole money on production, and sometimes, even that is not enough to
cover it. Promotion in Croatia is strictly conservative, with couple of billboards,
advertisements in more popular newspapers and possibly TV commercials that are
most often on HTV, Croatian National Television, and they are usually part of the co-
production deal. According to Oremović (2012, p.110) 1-2% of the movie budget is
31

38. spent on promotion, and it is mostly spent on secondary promotion activities like design
of posters, promotional photographs, creating trailers and others activities that are
considered as a promotional minimum. There is also the problem of distribution,
because distributors are getting more money from foreign movies, so they are not
particularly interested in distributing domestic movies. !
!
Another factor is the way that domestic audiences are consuming the media. Domestic
movies are mostly watched on television while movie theatres are reserved for foreign
high budgeted movies. There was also a crisis with movie theatres during the 1990’s
and early 2000’s. Besides outdated technology, there was big time discrepancy
between international and domestic premiers of the same foreign movie titles. That
problem started to resolve in 2003 with the construction of the first big Croatian
multiplex CineStar in Zagreb. During the following years, other multiplexes were built in
other cities and another chain of multiplexes emerged, Cineplexx. Those multiplex
chains are another example of the disneyzation in Croatia because they follow all four
points that were established in Bryman’s book. In 2011 first IMAX was built and in the
following years other technical advances were implemented in movie theatres , like 3D
projectors, Auro 3D surround and 4K standard of 60 frames per second. Today,
cinematic technology in Croatia is on par with the worldwide standards.!
!
However, when it comes to home consumption, there is a big problem of piracy. A lot of
television programmes and movie titles are downloaded, torrented or streamed online
on or from illegal sites. With the easier access to internet, rental places started to go
out of business. While there was 1500 video stores in Croatia in 2005, in 2010 only 150
were open according to Maja Posavec (2010). However, there is rise of number of legal
services in recent years. Cable televisions like MAXtv have VOD, Video on Demand,
libraries, and national televisions have them too, for example OYO for Nova TV, or an
online archive of their shows, like HRT. The first independent video streaming service,
Pickbox.tv came in 2014.!
!
As for the children’s programme, besides already mentioned Dječja Televizija by
Croatia Film, another specialised channel for younger kids, RTL Kockica, started with
broadcast in 2014. This need for specialised programmes for children emerged
because of the lack of quality in the children programming on the national television
channels. Although there are educational and entertainment shows, good ones that are
acclaimed by parents, educators and critics are few and far in between. There is also
lack of kid performers, although there have been and there are several kid and teenage
32

39. performers that are popular, and that term is used loosely, among kid audiences. For
example, actor Antonio Parač that embodied previously mentioned Koko, or Endi that is
a popular teenage singer. However, there are no kid performers in the sense that they
sing and act, but there are also no grown up examples in Croatia, if we disregard
actors in musical theatres. !
!
Domestic production of original television programme for children is almost non
existent, and the majority of those that are broadcasted are either imported, or mosaic
shows that are made out of short features. During Yugoslavian years, Televizija Zagreb
had several hit programmes like “Mendin Program” (1958), “Zlatna Nit” (1976), or
series like “Jelenko” (1980) or “Ne Daj se Floki!” (1985). 1990’s brought two HRT hits,
an educational kids game show “Turbo Limač Show” (1991) and “Briljanteen” (1994)
which is aimed at teenagers. Both of them were made as a mix of education and
entertainment, a recipe whose success was not repeated post 2000. !
!
That lack of interest in edutainment is one of the reasons why there are no major
theme parks in Croatia. Krunoslav Lučić (2014) said it adequately, that here is a
common misconception among Croatian educators that learning should not be fun.
Walt started Disneyland, both television show and theme park, as a place where kids
could have fun and learn something. While Croatian schools are educational without
much fun, contradictory they want kids to have fun. That is best shown in excursions to
Gardaland, a major theme park in north of Italy. They are offered, and often mandatory,
in majority of elementary and high schools at some point during education in Croatia. !
!
There were also rumours about building big theme parks in Croatia. For example Kraš,
company that is in business of sweets confection, planned to build Krašograd in Zagreb
around 2006, but the plan fell through. In 2013 there were rumours for theme park by
Mirnovec, company in pyrotechnic business, near Biograd na Moru that would have
roller coaster and other rides typical for big theme parks, but for now there are no news
or developments.!
!
For now, the only theme park in Croatia is Dinopark Funtana near Poreč that was
opened in 2009. It has performers, shows and a lot of educative elements about
dinosaurs that include numerous life sized robotic models of dinosaurs. However, it has
no big thrilling roller coaster rides, so it can not be put in the same category as any of
the Disney theme parks, but instead it can be seen as an advanced luna park.!
!
33

40. 9. Disney in Croatia!
!
During Yugoslavian years, Croatian television with its most prominent Televizija Zagreb,
was more influenced by Warner Bros. then Disney. For political, distributional and
language reasons, Televizija Zagreb did not want to go through Televizija Beograd for
Disney cartoons, so they were buying the rights for Warner Bros. cartoons. Instead of
Mickey Mouse, Croatian generations became more acquainted with Bugs Bunny and
the rest of characters created by Tex Avery. Croatian synchronisation was very well
executed, so the other Yugoslavian televisions started to copy it too. That tradition was
brought over to sovereign Croatia. According to Vanja Došen (2010) Disney
commended Croatian synchronisation of their movies as the best in Europe. As for the
Disney on television, many television houses broadcasted Disney movies, animated
and live action, and RTL had a whole day marathon on 8.4.2014 called “Disney dan”
which no other media company ever had on any Croatian national broadcasting
network. There are also local versions of Disney Channel and Disney DX on cable
provider MAXtv.!
!
When it comes to merchandising, the first Disney influences came in the form of
comics, mainly “Mikijev Almanah”. It was first published in 1967, but that publication
was in Serbian and although it was distributed through Yugoslavia, it was printed in
Serbia and it can not be considered Croatian publication. First Disney publication in
Croatian language was comic magazine “Miki Maus i prijatelji” that started with
publishing in the 1994 and eventually it branched out to other editions, mostly by
Egmont publishing house. Other Disney products, licences and original are available
through various dealers and resellers, most often toy and media through companies
like Algoirtam or Sophoslab, because there is no official Disney store in Croatia. !
!
However, not all Disney products and cooperations were approved by the public. In
2006, PIK Vrbovec, a meat industry company, launched several products with Mickey
Mouse on their design and one dish for deep frying in the iconic shape of Mickey’s
head. That provoked campaign by Animal Friends Croatia, an animal rights group, to
stop this promotion which eventually lead to cease in production of the mentioned food
items. However, in general, Disney and its products are positively received and
consumed in Croatia, either directly through media, or indirectly by the products in
retail.!
!
34

41. 10. Industry and market overview through interviews
with Croatian professionals!
!
When it comes to recognisability of terms disneyfication and disneyzation, majority of
interviewees did not heard of them. If they did, they were not sure about their
definitions and they connected them to cultural trends in a sense that they simplified
and dumbed down things. After explaining the terms, they agreed with them, but they
also noted that they are not Disney exclusive, and they attributed them to globalisation
and commercialism.!
!
While some of them noticed some ramifications of them in Croatia, and some explicitly
said that there are no ramifications, nobody said that they were big changes in Croatian
media and business industries. Biggest reasons for that were often mentioned finances
and different, subsided, type of financing Croatian movies. There are also
complications with administration and partially politics and laws, but they are changing,
which brought new wave of interest from foreign investors. Marketing strategies are
almost non existent for Croatian movies and media franchises.!
!
When it comes to Croatian franchises, and especially media franchises, they agreed
that there is potential and some attempts, but they are not financially cost effective and
they are not expected to be successful. Major problem is the small size of the market
and the big expenses that do not pay off in majority of the cases. Another problem is
the way that audiences are seeing domestic media and movies. Although audiences
are seeing rising trend in quality of Croatian movies, they are still binding mostly
negative associations with them. Additionally, Hollywood movies are percept as
commercial products, while domestic movies are percept as cultural product and in
general they are thought as boring. Foreign movies can overshadow domestic ones to
a degree and there is a lack of genuine movie stars in Croatia, but in general Disney
rises standards, which is a good thing. However, buy outs and mergers are mostly
seen as a negative thing that results in homogenised and boring products.!
!
As for the technology and consuming the media, during the 2000’s Croatian providers
and distributors caught up to western standards and today the latency between
premiers of big features is noticeably smaller then it was during the 1990’s. Television
is underused for the children’s programme and there is no interest in edutainment.
That, combined with small market and financial and administrative problems, is the
35

42. reason why there are no major theme parks in Croatia, although there is consumer’s
interest for them.!
!
While there is no clear or simple explanation why is Disney synonymous for animation,
it is clearly a leader that set standards in the field. While Zagreb School of Animated
Film had some success in Yugoslavian years and was not primarily influenced by
Disney, its influence is now only historical. As for the production and the state of
production houses in Croatia, situation is bad, which is best reflected in the collapse of
Jadran Film.!
!
In conclusion, presence of disneyfication and disneyzation got mixed estimates. Hrvoje
Turković said that they are not present, Nikica Gilić said that they are coming, but
slowly, Ankica Jurić Tilić and Krunoslav Lučić said that they are partially present, and
Ivica Drnić said that they are mostly present. However, the main conclusions were that
the processes could never reach their full potential because of the financial restrictions,
size of the market and the perception of the domestic audience towards domestic
products. !
!
!
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36

43. 11. Possible future developments of disneyfication and
disneyzation in Croatia!
!
When it comes to disneyfication in Croatia, there is room for some improvements,
which can primarily be observed through movies. Croatian movies are generally
separated in two categories: those for adults and those for children. While children
movies are somewhat disneyfied, they are aimed at adults too. Big percentage of them
is adapted from the already well known literary templates and they are pretty faithful to
the original works, but they are never simplified to the point where the majority of adults
would loose interest. Additionally, there are no major changes in the stories, like it is in
the instance of “Frozen”, so even if they are very disneyfied, they are not mutilated to
the point of no recognition, and that is a good thing. Croatian children movies are still
retaining their independence and intelligence, so when they are disneyfied, they are
disneyfied enough for Croatian and European audiences, and they should not be
disneyfied more. !
!
However, when it comes to disneyzation in Croatia, there is much more room for
improvement, but there are also a lot of restrictions. Mainly for the financial reasons,
small market and lack of interest in edutainment, commercial products are destined to
aim at very small number of audience. With some investments in media, marketing and
promotion, potential franchises could grow more. They should also aim at international
markets and try to spread in that direction. There is great potential in literary works of
Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, which could be transferred to big screen in animated form,
since, in most cases, fantasy genera requires a bigger budget in live-action form, than
animated one. There should also be further education and investment in the 3D
animation, which could potentially expand on the popular Animafest. Considering
Jadran Film, there is potential for revitalisation on account of its rich history, but it is in
need of big investments and right leadership. As for the theme parks, there is much
room for improvement. Dinopark is great start, but it is lacking thrilling roller coaster
rides so its improvement should be in that direction. !
!
Of course, the main obstacles for any kind of advancement are administration and
finances, and both of those are not in favour for domestic products. However, while
administration laws are getting more complicated, financial laws are improving and
modernising, which is reflected in newly found investments by foreign companies. !
!
37

44. 12. Conclusion!
!
As one of the most influential corporations in the world, Disney does more than
provide entertainment: it also shapes in very powerful ways how young people
understand themselves, relate to others and experience the larger society. (Giroux,
2011)!
!
Disneyzation and disneyfication are two strategies that are integral parts of The Walt
Disney Company and most often are targeted at younger audiences. They are
complete processes that work on multiple levels when it comes to media and
marketing. To say that Disney had no influence in Croatia, would be unreasonable. It is
a global company that has been an active media franchise for almost a century, and a
powerful and influential media conglomerate, especially in the post 1990 era. Disney
provoked some kind of reaction in Croatia as a media space, either by embracing its
influence, or actively resisting to it. From the gathered data it can be established that D!
disneyfication and disneyzation have left at least partial mark in Croatia.!
!
However, since they are a wholesome strategies that extend beyond the realm of
movie making, and go to merchandising, online presence, theme parks and other
elements that were mentioned previously, they have not reached its full potential in
Croatia. One of the main elements that is missing is theme parks. Without presence of
Disney theme park, or other local imitation that could develop a local franchise,
disneyzation can not be fully developed. Theme parks are one of the backbones of The
Walt Disney Company and there is no example in Croatia that could serve the same
purpose. With that, hybrid consumption is very restricted and it is related to events,
rather than brands and places. Another element where Disneyzation is failing is
merchandising. Although there are attempts in branding, they can be considered more
of a marketing tools, than strategy that will help to establish a brand and bring a profit.!
!
Unlike disneyzation, disneyfication is a bit more present. Today, its process of
simplifying the narrative is present and characteristic not only to Disney, but it is also
trending in so called western media. There have been, and always will be opposing
currents to powerful trends, but disneyzation in its core has family values, which is
something that majority of the world nations, including America and Croatia, and
industries are deeming valuable in their own ways. For professionals and industry,
targeting wide audience is profitable and the best way to achieve that is to not offend
anyone. Family values are values that are not aligned with only very small number of
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