Great Figures of the World Series | Episode 35 Walt Disney: Founder of Disney, the Man Who Turned Dreams into Industry

In this world,

there are people who make products.
There are people who build companies.
There are people who invent technologies.

However,

“people who turned dreams themselves into a system”

are rare.

Movies end.
Characters have trends.
Hit works are eventually forgotten.

But he was different.
He didn't just create stories.
He created a system where dreams multiply forever.

Mickey Mouse
Snow White
Disneyland

And the current massive entertainment empire.
Many people think of Disney as an animation company.
But that is wrong.

What he truly created was,

“a system that makes you forget reality”

.

Walt Disney
The creator of Mickey Mouse.
Founder of Disney.
1901-1966 | Entrepreneur and producer.

[The poor boy could not buy dreams]

Born in Chicago, USA, in 1901.
It was not a wealthy family.

His father was strict.
He was made to deliver newspapers from a young age.
Working from before dawn.
Going to school.
Working again.

There was little time to play.
But he had one thing he loved.
It was drawing.

Drawing in notebooks.
Drawing on walls.
If there was no paper, he would draw on anything.

The later Disney empire,
actually started from the scribbles of one boy.

And he had thought since he was young:
Reality is not fun.
So I should just create a fun world myself.

[The first company collapses easily]

In his youth, Walt challenged himself with animation production.
However, his first company failed.

Funds ran out.
He couldn't even pay his employees.
The company went bankrupt.

By today's standards, it was a complete failure.
But he did not give up.
Because,

what he loved was not company management.

It was creating stories.

[The greatest betrayal]

Eventually, Walt
succeeded with a character named
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

But then an incident occurred.

During negotiations with a contractor,
he lost the rights to the character.
His employees were poached.
He lost his work.

The foundation of his business disappeared.
In today's terms,
his IP was stolen.

Normally, that would be the end.

Losing the company.
Losing the character.
Losing his partners.

He had lost success itself.

On the train ride home,
an ordinary person would despair.
But Walt was different.

He didn't think about the lost Oswald.
He was thinking about the next character to be born.
He was only looking at the future.

This was Walt Disney.

And what was born on that train,
was the later Mickey Mouse.

[Why a mouse?]

This is the interesting part.
Mickey was not a calculated star from the beginning.
Rather, it was a fresh start after being cornered.

A mouse is small.
Weak.
Found everywhere.

But Walt saw value in that.
Only a limited number of people can empathize with a strong hero.
But anyone can cheer for a weak existence.

In other words, Mickey
was Walt himself.

He went bankrupt.
He was betrayed.
Yet he kept moving forward.

That is why people all over the world could empathize with him.

[Mickey was not just a character]

In 1928, Steamboat Willie was released.
This is where Mickey Mouse appeared to the world.

But the real innovation was not the mouse.
It was the sound.

Animations at the time were silent films.
But Walt
perfectly synchronized the visuals and the sound.

The audience was amazed.
Because it looked like Mickey was alive.
From here on, animation was no longer just children's entertainment.

It became cinema.
It became culture.

[Profit was the fuel for dreams]

Walt had a famous management philosophy.
We don't make works for the sake of profit.
We need profit to keep making works.

This is important.

Rockefeller maximized profit.
Sanders standardized taste.

Walt was different.
He created a system to keep creating dreams.

Make a profit with a movie.
Make the next movie.
Nurture the character.
Make an even bigger work.

In other words, profit was not the goal,
it was the fuel for creation.

[The madness called Snow White]

In 1937, the world's first feature-length color animated film.
Snow White.

Those around him opposed it.
90 minutes of animation?

No one will watch it.
It will definitely fail.

In the industry,
it was called “Disney's Folly”.

But the result was a huge success.
Here, Walt proved it.

People are not watching animation.
They are watching a story.

[Putting humans inside the movie]

Eventually, Walt dreamed an even bigger dream.

Movie theaters were not enough.
Screens were not enough.
He wanted to put humans inside the story.

That is where
Disneyland was born.

Opened in 1955.

But amusement parks at the time were rough.

Dirty.
Dangerous.
Boring for adults.

Walt thought:
Then I should just build one myself.

[The true invention of Disneyland]

Many people think of Disneyland as
a place that shows you dreams.

But that is wrong.

What Walt truly invented was
a mechanism to exclude reality.

No politics shown.

No religion shown.
No sense of daily life shown.
No backstage shown.
Trash cans emptied within 30 seconds.

Cast members are not employees.

They are performers.
Guests are not customers.

They are guests.
Everything is a show.

Everything is a story.
Characters never reveal their true identities.

Backstage corridors are hidden.
He didn't just create dreams.

He thoroughly erased the elements

that remind people of reality.
That is why people were amazed.

It wasn't because they came to an amusement park.
It was because they felt like they had stepped into a story.
What Walt created was not a theme park.

It was a massive device to make people forget reality.

【The Man Called a Dreamer】

Walt was criticized many times.

He only dreams.
It won't make money.
It's just idealism.

But interestingly,
he was not a man of only dreams.

Dream.
Build a system.
Make a profit.
Create an even bigger dream.

It was a cycle of that.
That is why, while being a dreamer,
he was able to build a massive corporation.

However, he was never a gentle man of dreams.
He would not compromise for his ideals.
If he didn't like it, he would redraw it.
He would push forward even when those around him said it was impossible.

Sometimes he clashed with employees,
and sometimes he stood against management.

Because what he wanted to protect
was not the work itself,
but his ideals.

That is why those around him called him a dreamer.

But looking back, that is wrong.
He was not a dreamer,
but a man who reshaped reality.

【The Final Dream】

In his later years, Walt looked even further ahead.

The EPCOT concept.

Many people today
think it is a theme park.
But the original EPCOT was different.

Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow

It was a future city plan.

Not a movie.
Not a theme park.
A city where people actually live.

Transportation.
Housing.
Commercial facilities.
Education.
Technology.

He was trying to design the future society itself.
This is what is interesting.

In the end, Walt
was no longer just an animation company executive.
He was not just a theme park operator.
He was trying to become an urban planner.

But he passed away in 1966
without seeing its completion.
He was 65 years old.

Until the very end,
he was dreaming of the next dream.

【Who He Was Fighting Against】

What Walt was fighting against
was not other film companies.
What he was truly fighting against were

・Boring reality
・Lack of understanding for creativity
・Lack of funds
・Loss of rights
・Bankruptcy
・The common sense that dreams don't make money
・Compromise
・People's resignation

He didn't want to make movies.

He wanted to create a place for people to dream.

【Was This a Strategy?】

Looking only at the results,
it is a success story of one of the world's largest entertainment companies.
But his actions followed a consistent pattern.

Draw a picture
↓
Create a story
↓
Make an animation
↓
Fail
↓
Create a new character
↓
Become world-famous
↓
Make a profit
↓
Invest in the next work
↓
Expand the worldview
↓
Build a theme park
↓
Turn it into an experience
↓
Become a brand
↓
Become a culture

Furthermore,

Create a character
↓
A story is born
↓
Emotional connection occurs
↓
Becomes a product
↓
Becomes a movie
↓
Becomes a theme park
↓
Becomes an experience
↓
Passed down through generations

In other words, Walt
was not making animations.
He was designing a mechanism for dreams to multiply.

【Summary】

Walt Disney was not an animator.
He was a designer of dreams.

He created Mickey Mouse.
He created Snow White.
He created Disneyland.

But what he truly left behind is something else.

Dreaming is not escapism.
Turning dreams into form becomes a business.
And business becomes culture.

He proved that.
Many people look at Disney.

But what Walt was looking at
were the children beyond that.

Children laughing while watching movies.
Children happy to meet characters.
People forgetting reality and dreaming.

Walt Disney was,
for the first time in the world,

the man who turned dreams into industry

.

Next Episode Preview

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