Because Ideas Matter...
The faculty and staff of Butler University's College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences presents
Recommended Readings
Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World
by Carl Hiaasen, Ballantine Books 1998
Reviewed by J. Rocky Colavito
Disney and its various corporate
manifestations are so entrenched in the public consciousness that
they are as recognizable as other American symbols. But behind the
symbols lurks a corporation similar to any other huge conglomerate,
and Carl Hiaasen, in this short, powerful, and highly agendaed
attack on all things Disney, gives the reader a look at the dirt,
greed, and disregard behind the Mouse.
Hiaasen's focuses his attacks on Disney's incursions into the
Florida environment, and the subsequent over-development that
accompanied Disney World's construction. Hiaasen's bias is obvious
from reading the back cover; his stated aim to being permanently
banned from anything Disney world wide, and, with this book, he may
well succeed.
Rape of the environment, legal envelope pushing, shoddy
veterinary practices, and less than savory behind the scenes
activities at the Magic Kingdom; all these and more find their way
into this scathing and highly engaging (Hiaasen has a flair for
turning a sentence, and his darkly humored prose, though not for
everyone's taste, makes for entertaining reading) dissection of
what Disney did to Hiaasen's Florida, and why the public needs to
see the Mouse for what it really is: a corporation that put its own
interests ahead of the environment of Florida and all those who
inhabit it.
A one-sided attack? Without any doubt, but also thought
provoking and something that might make you wonder if the rumors
about sexy sublimation in Disney products might have some truth
after all.
- J. Rocky Colavito is professor of English and Director of
Writing Programs at Butler University.