Disney's Transition into Television and its Effects on Child Actors

Disney’s Transition into Television and its Effects on Child Actors Disney has expanded their enterprise into many different areas, one of them being television. As Disney has explored the medium of television, they have focused the shows for the audience of children. In 1955, The Mickey Mouse Club was one of the first shows that Disney had on television. In order to appeal to younger audiences, the show had “young attractive stars performing before a live audience, clowns, magicians, cartoons, guest stars, educational elements, and music written for the show” (Pendergast). Children liked to watch the show because they were watching kids that were about the same age as them, and they could relate to the actors. The children watching the show were heavily influenced by the Mickey Mouse Club because they looked up to and saw the actors as role models (Telotte). They wanted to be like the actors, so Disney profited off this generation of children by putting out merchandise related to the show. In this way, Disney started making more and more money because of these child actors. Many people argue about the effect that watching Disney’s television shows and “their positive and negative influence on kids” (Hillstrom). However, what about the effect that Disney’s television shows have on the child actors? These children spend their childhood on the sets of television shows, “being a kid is a full-time job, with scripts to memorize, and tutoring to endure” (Corliss). They are playing the characters of normal kids, without being able to experience a normal childhood themselves, it is no wonder that many child stars get into trouble when they “start growing up and moving out” (Armstrong, Markovitz) and leave Disney, because they have not been able to experience normal life growing up as a Disney actor. Disney’s “ability to grow teen talent” year after year is what makes the Disney Channel so successful (Luscombe). While Disney’s other ventures are not making as much