Team Rodent

How Disney Devours the World

By: Carl Hiassen

Narrated by: Richard Gilliland

Length: 1 hr and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Carl Hiaasen doesn't like the Walt Disney Company. A native of Florida, Hiaasen comes by his dislike for Disney honestly. He has witnessed the relentless success of the Disney machine firsthand with the development of Disney World and other properties around Orlando.

In Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World, Hiaasen paints a witty and sarcastic portrait of a company that can control the press, manipulate local governments, and—because it's Disney—get away with it.

Entertaining and enlightening, Team Rodent takes a critical view of the Disney corporate giant, tracing its destructive impact on the environment, American culture, and the world.

©2010 Carl Hiassen (P)2022 Phoenix Books

'Mauschwitz' (Mouschwitz? ) - whatever...

Whatever - potato / poe-tah-toe. A great read: informative, insightful, ironic, humorous (of course) expose'. Buy it!

Disney's World Exposed!

Carl Hiaasen has turned my world upside down! His comments and anecdotes are so wild that I'm sure he's well on his way to achieving his Lifetime Ban from Disneyworld! I'd love to hear more and to delve more deeply. Who knew! It is all very interesting, but in the end, I'll still go to Disney World and enjoy every minute.

Awful

Time and money I'll never get back. Wish I could go back in time to make myself skip this one.

Too bitter...

Although it was interesting to hear about the pervasive effect that Disney has on modern society, the overall bitter tone of the book was fairly annoying. This was intensified by the narrator, who tended to read the more bitter passages in a whining voice. This is clearly not an example of objective reporting. Regardless, I found much of the information to be quite intriguing, especially in regards to Disney's many failed ventures and in describing the political structure of the company.

Audio

The actual audio recording (not performance) is a little odd for this one…. Not sure if that was an intentional choice to make it sound old and worn out. Just a heads up.

Always wondered…

Wish there were more stories in this topic and that this one was more in-depth but understandably, a tightly guarded “kingdom”. Reading was lacking depth and emotion but Hiaasen is always a great story teller.

Terrible technical delivery

While the content of this book is good, the delivery is terrible. It sounds like the narrator is using a 1960’s microphone or is speaking through a VOIP connection – and this is downloading the book at the best quality level. While the book is cheap with only 2 audio chapters, wait until it’s on sale and then don’t expect much.

love CH!

however, the recording quality of this WDW rant is so terrible that it took away from the fun. This is not investigative journalism but rather a tongue and cheek poke at WDW and some really awful things they've done and continue to do to Florida. think Vegas and what the desert in Nevada used to be before the bulldozers arrived. it's fun and classic CH. All good for a romp, just buy a decent microphone if you're going to do audiobooks!

Excellent story…poor audio quality

This was an excellent story providing insight into the darker side of Disney. Highly recommend, however, the audio quality sounded like an old-timey radio program. Uncertain if that was intentional. The performance was great- only the audio was poor.

Bitter Much?

I read this book as a counterpoint to Neal Gabler's excellent "Disney: Triumph of an American Imagination". While Gabler's work is exhaustively researched and thorough, Hiaasen's venomous jeremiad is almost purely based on emotion. Gabler descibes in great detail exactly how Disney built a brand that has come to be regarded as the gold standard in family entertainment for generations. Hiaasen seems to resent that it even exists.

Hiaassen criticizes Disney for creating an excessively controlled and artificially groomed environment inside their park, he criticized Disney for attracting tacky and uncontrolled sprawl outside the park.

He complains that Disney tries to force a sanitized and standardized narrative style upon the whole world, then accuses Disney of hypocrisy for tailoring its offerings to the tastes of different cultures, or for purveying non-family entertainment through its other brands.

In years past, Disney had (gasp!) a dress code for its employees. Today, Disney offers domestic partner benefits, but, according to Hiaasen, this policy is motivated purely by greed.

The most ironic criticism coming from Hiaasen is that Disney's branded movies are predictable and formulaic. Have you ever read a Hiaasen novel that took place in Wisconsin?

There are a few valid criticisms of Disney - for instance the excessive compensation granted to Eisner & Ovitz by a crony-packed board (hardly unique in American business) - that get lost in the river of bile.

If you already have a chip on your shoulder about Disney, this book will confirm your opinion. If you are looking for a rational critique of the media juggernaut, look elsewhere.