A New BATCH of Disney Stars!

Before reading ahead, begin by watching this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZgXg_7kVI8

For those of you who are unaware of The Onion News videos, it is a fake news channel that parodies many elements of modern culture. In this case, they are presenting an inside look at the Disney Genetic Imagineering Compound, where Disney stars are genetically engineered and “grown”.

During our class discussion this week regarding the “commodification of image” and its prevalence in TV programs such as American Idol, I couldn’t help but be reminded of this video. Essentially, the entire video parodies this idea of “commodification” by literally portraying the actors as “products” to the point where they have model numbers and even experience “bugs”.

The faux doctor further exemplifies the idea of the actors being products when saying, “we use the same DNA structure for all of our stars, and then we tweak minor details”, such as hair color or skin tone. Basically, all these stars are identified as being cookie cutter replicas of eachother—each with the same abilities and just different looks to attract/identify with different viewers.

This postmodern notion that media simply reflects itself is further illustrated when the geneticist discusses how it doesn’t matter whether Disney wants to put them “behind the camera, or in a concert”. Essentially, talent has become a secondary necessity, whereas image is the priority—with sufficient image appeal, they can make non-singers singers. If we think about other “successful” entertainers, like Britney Spears for example, we see this same trend in action: though she is considered a pop singer she truly lacks talent in the vocal department and was only famous because of her physical attributes and the catchy songs that sound no different from other cookie cutter pop songs. Essentially, most everything—even people—are being commoditized. It is unfortunate because the cycle only seems to produce less talent and more of the same.