Team Rodent

Team Rodent, in short:

Team Rodent is a non-fiction book written by Carl Hiaasen about the Walt Disney Company and its stance towards the outside world. The book's primary focus is on non-film related Disney enterprises such as Disney World and their effects on the environment and local culture. (Taken from Wikipedia's article on the book.)

My friend, Matt, a Floridian, loaned me this interesting book about the famous mouse. It was a straight-forward way of looking at the dreamy corporation where no wrong can occur. Turns out wrong does occur for Disney, and Hiaasen points out various examples. If Disney does wrong, someone complains or files against Disney and pushes hard enough, Disney will usually write a check and be done with it. I don't recall Disney ever really having admitted fault by Hiaasen's accounts.

It makes for something interesting to think about, how Disney affects everyone. You don't have to go to the park and pose with Pluto to interact with Disney; all you have to do is watch Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Lost or Dancing with the Stars. Disney owns ABC. Unless you're a non-TV watcher like me, I bet I just touched on everyone who reads my blog.

It's pretty absurd the lengths that Disney goes through, legally and politically, to keep it's happy, perfect, Mickey Mouse with a spotless reputation.

Personally, I'm kind of torn. I grew up watching Disney movies - The Classics, at that, and those were some darned good cartoon full-length movies for children. That being said, I feel like I'm being duped if I'm a fan of Disney. Disney is pretty sneaky. Now I'm in on a lot of dirty details about Disney that the vast majority of the public isn't even slightly aware of because of how swiftly Disney cleans up afterwards.

Disney is a hungry beast. I think any Orlando resident - probably any Florida resident - can tell you that Disney affects the world in big ways.

Anyway, interesting read for sure, especially if you live in Orlando.

Wikipedia Article