Diving into the world of Disney

Disney’s imprint on US culture. How Disney Built America is an ambitious series that showcases the iconic entertainment conglomerate’s vision, achievements, and influence, making the case for Disney’s centrality to US culture today. Viewers are introduced to founder Walt Disney and the challenges he faced to build the entertainment empire we all know today, for better or for worse.

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The interviews are a strong point. Along with archival footage and some reenactments, viewers hear from historians, academics, and even podcast hosts, who offer insight into film history and some of the tricks behind Disney’s biggest successes.

The main claim is that America wouldn’t be what it is without Walt Disney. Our take? It's a bit of a reach. The innovations Disney made were indeed groundbreaking, but the show’s emphasis on the fundamental role that the company played in shaping US culture feels like a stretch — especially considering that it overlooked some negative aspects including property protection cases.

The series’ leading men weren’t as inspiring as we’d expected. Walt Disney (Jason Gaignard) is somewhat stiff and lacks the charisma that you’d expect from someone who built such a massive business empire. Roy Disney (Derek Kealy) was portrayed as a pessimist, which doesn’t do justice to the role he played in Disney’s success. Also, critics argued that some of the guest commentators being content creators or podcasters did not qualify them to add their input on the matter.

The work might be a bit biased. The series is a testament to Walt Disney’s accomplishments, but it is worth noting that the History Channel — the producer of the series — is a subsidiary of A&E Networks, a company that is 50% owned by Disney.

WHERE TO WATCH- You can watch the series on OSN+ or catch the trailer on YouTube (runtime: 0:43).