The House Next Door

I remember a joke on "The Simpsons" that also made reference to Walt Disney supposedly being a Nazi/anti-Semite. Bart and Lisa were watching a documentary on the life of fictional animator Roger Meyers, Sr., who was obviously a parody of Disney. The joke was when it was mentioned that Meyers made a controversial movie called "Nazi Supermen Are Our Superiors." What I'm wondering is where did the idea of Disney being a Nazi come from? I've checked out Wikipedia, perhaps not the most trustworthy source, but they don't even so much as mention this, even to debunk it. Was a Disney an anti-Semite, or are these jokes based on a misunderstanding that's been blown completely out of proportion?

There was some anti-semetic sentiment around Walt Disney studios, but there isn't any signifigant evidence that it eminated from the top. Walt was also known to have attended meetings with the American Nazi Party, but this was mainly to help get his movies distributed into Nazi occupied countries. He also professed an admiration for Riefenstahl. That's about the extent of what's known. What Walt really hated though was commies and, to a lesser extant, unions.

This is much debated---some info at
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1623/was-walt-disney-a-fascist
and
http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/collection/insidestory/inside_1933d.html

I've always thought Disney might have been mildly, unthinkingly anti-Semitic, but much of the myth comes from people confusing Walt Disney with Henry Ford.

I think this has more to do with a world that is portrayed and maybe projectioned in the disney animation movies (let's call: the Disney realm). There's quite a romantic view upon life: Heroes are wellbuild, good and humble persons can be spotted just by looking at their face and bodies, nature is idealized, volk ("people") and lebensraum ("land to live in") are perfectly in harmony with each other where every piece and everyone has his function within the volkskörper ("body of people" sortof). simple life and simple work ethic is endorsed, there is a sense of folklore all over the place. on the other hand, evil shows itself always in body features: evil people have evil looks, are kinda lurky characters and always try to seduce people. just take a look at the evil step mother as an old woman in "snow white": she's really not far away from antisemitic klischees from the time - and she clearly tries to disintegrate the folkloristic idyll that is the work ethic micro society of the dwarfs. the disney movies. so i think it can be said - to a certain degree - that the disney movies present a sort of "inner perspective" of a klischee harmony society that is based on body features and exclusion and is thus not all too far away from the nazi kitsch.

of course, that doesn't make the movies antisemitic and i wouldn't call walt disney an anti-semite just based on the movies. however, there might be a reason why hitler ranked "snow white" among his favorite movies and even had a bootleg copy for private screenings (with dubbed audio that was made mainly just for that reason). so i think, the family guy parody (and we're dealing with parody here which has always an element of exaggeration) hits some nerve for good. (still consider the classic Disneys as cinematical achievements, sure!)