A new documentary looks at Walt Disney, the man, and his pursuit of futurism in his life and work. The perfectly titled, “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: The Futurism of Walt Disney” is available to watch for free online
The film interviews various historians, former Disney Imagineers, and other Disney legends. Along the way we explore his innovations, like the first synchronized sound animation in 1928, to the modern theme park, and his vision of building the ultimate dream of urban planning – the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, aka E.P.C.O.T..
I love how the film challenges some of the popular conceptions about Walt. Like that he was sexist or racist. There’s no doubt Walt was a man of his time, but for his time he was rather progressive. There were some other more recent documentaries that gave short shrift to these ideas.
Filmmaker Christian Moran has been producing documentaries since 2008. It took him a year and a half to produce this documentary about Walt Disney.
I’ve always been attracted to the futurist side of Walt. I had no idea this documentary was being created, but having watched most of it, I think its safe to say it’s one of the better ones I’ve seen and the only one that focuses exclusively on this aspect of Walt’s life.
Note: If you like the documentary, you’ll probably also enjoy Moran’s companion book “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: Walt Disney and Technology.”
I believe that if Walt Disney had lived, he would have continued to work to revolutionize the way we live. Even if EPCOT turned out to be impractical, there were parts he would insisted find a way into daily life. What part of Walt’s legacy of futurism, do you feel the closest to?
I love what you said here –
“I love how the film challenges some of the popular conceptions about Walt. Like that he was sexist or racist. There’s no doubt Walt was a man of his time, but for his time he was rather progressive. There were some other more recent documentaries that gave short shrift to these ideas.”
I feel exactly the same way and have said almost exactly the same thing to so many people of late. We seem to forget that you cannot hold men and women of history to the same standards we hold today, that’s unreasonable and ridiculous. This was an incredible man, a visionary who faced every hardship and setback, and never gave up on his dreams. I love this man so much. I’m looking forward to the film.
Thanks for letting us know about this, John. It truly was excellent. And I echo Samantha’s comments on your write up exactly.
Comments are closed.