Film Review: The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales

One of the challenges critics of our contemporary form of capitalism face, is how to make the analysis of that beast clear to a broad audience. Let’s face it, most academic books on the topic are hard to understand. Moreover, many people hardly ever read a non-fiction book about politics, let alone the economy. Film is in this respect a great medium, since it is easier to digest than reading a book. And often a picture says more than a thousand words.

Some years ago, I was teaching ‘ethics of capitalism’ to an interdisciplinary group of undergraduate students. Many of them had never had any economics, and since any third-year student could take this course, I had students in that class from all over the university – history, philosophy, economics, geography, anthropology, sociology – even a student from theoretical physics. In the last week of the course, we zoomed in on the financial crisis, and I was worried how to teach such complex material. So, in addition to giving a lecture, I also organised a screening and discussion of Inside Job, and that worked very well. The film was pretty effective to further process the dry material from the lecture, and put all of it into a broader perspective.

I was reminded of this great use of a documentary to help us understand our economic system, when I recently saw the documentary The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, which was released last year. From what I understand, it’s been shown only in a number of limited places in the USA and at filmfestivals, and is only available for rent in North-America; I got access to the film via a link because I interviewed Abigail Disney for the book I’m writing.

In this film, Abigail Disney tells the story of how the Disney company changed since her grandfather (Roy Disney) and her great-uncle (Walt Disney) started the company. It tells the story of workers at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, who work full time jobs and still cannot make ends meet, because the wages they are paid are well below the living wage.

This poverty does not remain some abstract fact, but is given a human face. The film tells the story of four of the workers who are trying to make ends meet: the couple Ralph and Trina, who are in their 40s/50s and have three kids, and who have been working at Disney for more than 10 years; Artemis, who has been working at Disney for 8 years; and Ellie, a 26 year old woman who has two jobs, including one at Disney. None of them can afford to live on their own in stable housing. Ralph and Trina live with their kids at the house of Trina’s mother; Artemis moves from one temporary place to the next; and Ellie is still living with her parents, even though she would like move out. With the pay they earn as full-time Disney workers, they cannot stay out of poverty and lead a modest middle class family life.

Leading a modest middle class family life as a Disney worker was possible in the 1950’s, 60s and 70s. And inequality in the company was considerably more limited. In 1967, Roy Disney’s pay, including stock options, was 78 times his lowest worker’s pay, which was typical for a CEO at that time. In 2018, Disney’s CEO earned 2000 times the salary of a Disney custodian.

One of the things that struck me most seeing this film, was how well the movie succeeded in giving a dignified picture of Trina and Ralph, Ellie, and Artemis – portraying them in a very respectful way, yet at the same time showing their vulnerability because the company, and more generally the economic system, is failing them. So often in public discourse the poor and vulnerable are portrayed in a less respectful way, sometimes also depicting them as responsible for their own failures; this movie does precisely the opposite, and shows strong people who are not giving up, despite being utterly squeezed by those who decide on their working and hence living conditions. And this the story of very many American workers.

In addition to the stories of Ralph and Trina, Ellie, and Artemis, a number of writers and scholars are interviewed who help to put the story of Disneyland in a broader context – the changes in the American Economy (labour market, government regulation, etc.) since the 1970s till today. There is some discussion of the shift to free market thinking with some really crazy footage of Milton Friedman normalising the idea that everyone is purely pursuing their own interest in society. For Abigail Disney the film is also personal, since she is part of the Disney family, shares in the family fortune, and is convinced that her grandfather would be appalled by the current situation. But it is at the same time the story of American capitalism over the last 75 years – and, in some respects also of other capitalist economies (though economic inequality as well as pay gaps in the US certainly trump those in Europe).

I am convinced that we need an entire arsenal of means and methods to debate what is happening to economic inequality, what is causing it, what it does to ordinary people, and what role our prejudices play in implicitly accepting the current state of affairs (for example, racial or class prejudices, or prejudices about unions). One of the reasons I’m very glad we still have Crooked Timber (despite its ups and downs), is that truly independent public spaces are needed to discuss these matters, and to learn from each other. But books, blogs, and newspapers need to be supplemented with other media – and films that tell a moving story, and that make us think, are one of those means. If we want to reclaim a less inegalitarian economic system and a fair social contract, we should of course organise, but also in terms of debate and persuasion frappez, toujours frappez. We should keep talking about what is happening to the most vulnerable under capitalism, and how come inequalities have exploded. The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales does precisely that, and with its focus on Disney in a unique way.