When you wish upon a media conglomerate: Disney's depiction of rurality

While I don’t consider myself a “Disney adult,” my friends argue my Little Mermaid socks and Mickey Mouse bucket hat suggest otherwise. Regardless of my title, I admit I have fond memories visiting Disneyland with my family.

However, I know visiting Disneyland is a privilege. As a previous blog post discusses, the difference in average household income between metro and non metro areas has increased by nearly 30 percent since 2016. Given the rising costs of attending Disneyland or Disney World, families from metro areas are better situated to afford the trip.

Yet, Disney’s influence isn’t confined to physical theme parks. The company owns or has a stake in a plethora of companies including: ABC, ESPN, National Geographic, FX Networks, Hulu, Pixar, Marvel, 20th Century Studios, Lucasfilm, A&E Networks and Vice Media. This monopoly allows Disney to influence and control media narratives.

But, as discussed in a previous blog post, nearly 25 percent of rural Americans lack access to high speed broadband internet, a higher number compared to their urban and suburban counterparts. As such, those who can access media owned by Disney likely skew more urban and suburban.

Therefore, overall, Disney likely speaks to a largely suburban and urban audience, and thus can mold audiences’ perceptions of rurality.

The company, begun by Walt Disney, originally reflected the more small town, rural values of Walt’s childhood. Although born in Chicago, Walt spent years of his childhood on a farm in Marceline, Missouri, which today has a population of 2,123. As such, when Walt began The Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in 1923, many films centered on Mickey Mouse in rural America. In fact, Walt Disney described Main Street, USA, which is how all visitors enter Disneyland, as a typical small town in the early 1900s. Indeed, the street was inspired by Walt’s time in Marceline.

But, as the world expanded and urbanized in the latter half of the 20th century, so too did Disney. Around the time Disneyland opened in 1955, 64 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas, compared to 83 percent of the population now. In line with the demographic change, Disney has created more movies and shows set in cities. And, audiences have responded favorably. Today, for example, two of the highest grossing cartoon Disney movies are Incredibles 2 and Inside Out 2: the former taking place across multiple large, fictionalized cities and the latter in San Francisco.

While less frequent, however, Disney has not stopped depicting rurality. Thus, it is important to consider how a primarily suburban and urban audience views and understands these depictions in the 21st century.

While not nearly as high grossing as Incredibles 2 or Inside Out 2, one of the more obvious displays of rurality is Disney Pixar’s Cars, the 2006 movie about anthropomorphic vehicles. In the film, Lightning McQueen, a race car, gets stranded in the rural town Radiator Springs. One of the protagonists of Cars is Tow Mater, described as a tow truck with buck teeth and a Southern accent with a hillbilly twang.

The inspiration for Tow Mater came from a real life man, Douglas “Mater” Keever, a construction superintendent living in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina. Cars director John Lasseter struck up a friendship with Keever at Lowe’s Speedway in 2001. He met him on what locals anointed “Redneck Hill,” the place hardcore fans camped out to watch races. When they first met, Keever introduced himself as:

Mater . . . tuh-mater, but without the tuh.

Lasseter faced a creative block during development of the movie, before remembering his interaction with Keever. He called him in the middle of the day, asking if the Cars team could use his name. Keever happily agreed, and even made a brief cameo in the movie. In fact, his exact introduction to Lasseter became Tow Mater’s introduction to Lightning McQueen. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Keever stated:

You don’t know what Pixar has done for Mater. They’ve taken a poor old country boy and got him involved in something awesome . . . They paid me for my name, and for me to come out there and record my parts and stuff. They really looked after Mater. Paid for my mo-tel. They really bent over backwards.

While Disney paid Keever for contributions, we don’t know the exact amount. Thus, it’s hard to gauge whether Keever was fairly compensated for inspiring one of the most beloved characters in Cars, a movie that grossed over $240 million. Plus, Disney further capitalized on Cars’ popularity by building a real-life Radiator Springs for Disneyland.

Additionally, some label the character Tow Mater problematic, arguing he’s a stereotype of low class, rural white people. A Daily Yonder article entitled “Speak Your Piece: Hollywood’s Rural America is a Scary Place” opens with the simple question:

Why does Hollywood think rural America is either ridiculous or evil?

Tow Mater is no doubt ridiculous, and it's hard to know if urban and suburban audiences laugh at him or with him. Or, if Cars successfully conveys deeper themes about rural communities. But, perhaps the most weight should be given to the fact that the rural man who inspired Cars likes the movie. Additionally, Cars tells a story about two strangers from different backgrounds who form a strong friendship, a beneficial message for a primarily suburban and urban audience.

Whether Disney’s more modern approach to rurality necessitates celebration, criticism, or a mix of both, is a tricky question. I don’t have a clear answer. But, even as a potential Disney adult, one thing is clear to me. With great power comes great responsibility. Given Disney’s immense power, we should ask tough questions to ensure the company provides positive representations of marginalized communities.