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In the field of sociology, the term Disneyfication describes the commercial transformation of things (e.g. entertainment) or environments into something simplified, controlled, and 'safe'—reminiscent of the Walt Disney brand (such as its media, theme parks, etc.).
The term broadly describes the process of stripping a real place or thing of its original character and representing it in a sanitized format where references to anything negative or inconvenient are removed, and the facts are simplified with the intent of rendering the subject more pleasant and easily grasped. In the case of physical places, this involves replacing the real with an idealized, tourist-friendly veneer—resembling the "Main Street, U.S.A." attractions at Disney theme parks. Based on rapid Western-style globalization and Consumerism lifestyles, the term Disneyfication is mostly used derogatorily to imply the social and cultural homogenization of things. In other words, according to The Disneyization of Society, "to Disneyfy means to translate or transform an object into something superficial and even simplistic." The term can also be used to describe the internationalization of American mass culture; the notion of entertainment that is bigger, faster, and better but with worldwide, Americanization uniformity. More specifically, some may use Disneyfication to be associated with a statement about the cultural products of the Disney company itself, denoting the general process of rendering material (a fairy tale, novel, historical event) into a standardized format that is recognizable as being a product of the Walt Disney Company according to Bryman.
The Walt Disney Company created a monumental shift in the world of popular culture since the decision to use Mickey Mouse as the icon and purveyor of the American Dream. The company gained the ability to influence the world with the power of association and gradually created cultural shifts as a result of Disneyfication becoming so popular in the west. The desire and demand for Americanization or Disneyfied culture spread to other countries through film, songs, architecture, stories, and other real-world elements. Over time, each concept in popular culture defined the overall culture of the time it was developed and Walt Disney's addition to Hollywood altered local and international perceptions of popular culture through Disneyfication, which is typically used to alter a topic in popular culture like stories, amusement parks, or fan conventions. Events like wars and other major world events became the driving forces behind these cultural shifts and can be held accountable for the push to Disneyfy the world, or as the definition insinuates, to make a safe space or thing in an unsafe environment or time. The Walt Disney Company was created as a result of creating something out of a desire to comfort scared individuals or to alter the appearance to appeal to family-friendly ideals in a controlled manner, but the term Disneyfication did not come until 1959.
At the start of the Company's history, after World War I, Walt Disney was inspired to use his interest in expanding the imagination to cure the world's distress and anguish. After coming back from the war in 1918, the young Walt Disney took his first step in the animation world and got a job that allowed him to draw for a film company. By 1922, Disney spent his time recruiting animators in order to jumpstart his first company, Laugh-o-Grams, which led to Walt Disney's first out-of-the-box idea. In 1923, halfway through the filming of Alice Comedies, the company went broke and forced Disney to sell his camera in order to move in with an uncle in Hollywood. Disney became the epitome of the American Dream and started a billion-dollar company in a run-down garage. By 1928, Walt Disney began working with a distributor that allowed for the creations of the company to be recognized by hundreds, including the success of the famed character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit whose rights were later given to another company. Mickey Mouse became the most famous character in the world and the new face of the Walt Disney Company. Mickey's success became far greater than anticipated by the Disney animators and his fame surpassed that of the actor Charlie Chaplin among all ages and was used in global platforms such as international political propaganda because of his popularity among people. Every artwork produced since then has been a clear trademark of the Disney name and, in turn, every cultural aspect in the Disney films or world has been changed to fit the Disneyfication process.
The term Disneyfication was coined by Lawrence Lipton in 1959, while Disneyization was coined by New York University's Peter K. Fallon and popularized by Alan Bryman in The Disneyization of Society (2004), in which he described it as "the process by which the principles of the Disney theme parks are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world." Though the two are largely used interchangeably, Bryman states his preference of Disneyization over Disneyfication because he takes the latter to be accompanied by negative connotations and described four dimensions of Disneyization in particular:
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