The Walt Disney Company is celebrating its 100th birthday with a museum show. You’ll see a hologram of its founder and a Sleeping Beauty book that comes to life – but is it an exercise in Walt-washing?
How do you celebrate the centenary of the second biggest media company on the planet? This October marks 100 years since Walt Disney founded his eponymous film studio and began producing silent shorts known as the Alice Comedies. Though the mouse who needs no introduction was not created until 1928, Disney is capitalising on the anniversary of the far less recognisable Alice with a concert, a merchandise collection and an ambiguous-sounding “multi-sensory friendship experience” for over-18s. The jewel in Prince Charming’s crown, however, is a touring exhibition which opened in Philadelphia in February, came to Munich in April and is arriving at the Excel in London in the October, with tickets going on sale on 18 July.
Disney100: The Exhibition is made up of 10 galleries, organised not chronologically but thematically: in one you can learn about music, and another is all about theme parks. Guests can see hundreds of props and costumes as well as play with interactive installations – press this button to hear Moana sing in Hebrew! Pull this lever to play a different underwater Disney scene!
