Abstract
Beginning in the late 1920's, the Disney enterprise flooded the United States and indeed much of the globe with short cartoons, live-action films, comic books, colossal theme parks and consumer merchandise. This leisure empire became a universal symbol of the United-States. The economic impact of Walt Disney's enterprise is undeniable and actually Disney's enterprise is the world largest media company. But I don't want to talk about the enterprise to try to understand this entertainer's enormous popularity and enduring impact on generations of modern Americans, young and old alike, and to explain how Disney has become so influential. It seems that it is because Walt Disney operated not only as an entertainer but also as a historical mediator: his creations helped Americans to come to terms with the unsettling transformations of the twentieth century and Disney entertainment projects were consistently nourished by connections to the mainstream American culture.
