Identity

The best example of identity I can give from my personal experience (as I rarely know many people that do not keep their online and offline lives seperate) would be the Disney company, considering that I have aquanitances who work for the Mouse House.

The aspects of identity that Disney would have would be utilizing its character library (that is, having company-owned websites and YouTube pages dedicated specifically to certain characters), having When You Wish Upon a Star as its opening theme both in the theme parks and in its movies, and using Mickey's head as its standard logo everywhere it presents itself (the logo can be seen in the corner of shows on The Disney Channel & Toon Disney [soon to be Disney XD], can be seen on the back of various merchandise located in its stores and parks, can be seen in the corner of the official website, and even can be picked out--if one looks for it--within aspects of Disney rides themselves [in the ride, such a logo is called a "Hidden Mickey"]).

These things listed above are parts of identity that Disney keeps both online and offline, but there's another identity issue that Disney has. I mean, everyone knows that Disney prides itself on its imposed wholesome family image (that is, Disney is one of those companies that parents trust with entertaining children as young as two years old), but that's all it is...an image. Really, the "magic" of Disney is nothing but a front and inside the workings of the company, how things operate are radically different from how the company outwardly depicts itself. I say this, because though Disney prides itself to be a wholesome family entertainment company, the type of company it keeps and the way it treats employees goes against the image Disney has created. For example, back when Disney was still making the live-action movies like Pollyana and The Love Bug, it had hired as director for one of its then-recent ventures someone not to be trusted with handling a film starring child actors, because not mere months after having the movie came out, evidence against said person was brought forth, thereby proving the director to be a pedophile. Upon finding this evidence, Disney--of course--promptly fired this person, but that doesn't mean that the incident is wiped clean from Disney's records, thereby tainting the supposedly perfect image Disney projects.

As well, official company animators themselves too have made inside jokes towards the company before being let go or leaving of their own accord. The best example of this would be seen in the Disney animated film, The Rescuers, for as Bianca and Bernard--the two mice in the film who help orphan Penny escape the wrath of the villainess Medusa--fly to Medusa's hideout at Devil's Bayou, they pass a window and within mere minutes into the animated shot, an actual depiction of a naked woman can be breifly seen for a few short seconds, also thereby ruining the family image Disney promotes.

As aforementioned, handling of employees also brings the image of Disney into question, because although Disney may give employees some benefits (such as allowing them to live exclusively on Disney property and allowing them free access to the parks on a regular basis), these benefits don't mean much when the living quarters--especially by Disney standards, given the projected image--are horrible (that is, the buildings themselves are run-down and don't have the accessories that most modern-day buildings can afford) and the fact that employees are practically on duty 24/7, which means that they don't have the time to be able to enjoy the park activities on a true personal level (that is, because they're busy maintaining the park operations, the employees themselves cannot fully enjoy what the park can offer were one just visiting for vacational purposes).

Therefore, Disney has multiple identites, both as a proveyor of "magic" and as a corporate entity. Having said that, this student--being a Disney fan himself--hopes that one day, the company will return to founder Walt Disney's original vision when he said that "You're dead when you just market to kids, because adults are kids grown up anyway".

This statement implies that Disney films don't need to be projected as this prestine perfect medium, nor do they need to have the products talk down to the viewing audience or make the audience--or the performers involved--feel like they're being exploited in any way like some projects seem to be doing nowadays.

In fact, as an example. the way things are right now would be exactly why Miley Cyrus wants out of being Hannnah Montanna, because what with her image as a Disney star being the way it is, she cannot be allowed to grow up into her own as a person, due to said image holding her back. Granted, no one wants her to pull a Brittany Spears or Lindsay Lohan, but should she make that choice, she should--in this Disney fan's humble opinion--do it away from the prying gaze of the media and should also be well away from keeping up her image as a Disney idol to millions of little children (girls, mainly). Worse yet, were she to just retire and still attempt to keep up appearances, she could--unfortunately--end up as one-note as her father (that is, she could become as forgotten as her father, considering that it was that Billy Ray heavily campaigned to have his daughter be the star of the Hannah Montanna project, because he is basically living through his daughter, given that he's largely only known for one hit song as a musical artist in Achy Breaky Heart, and that--sadly--defined what amount of a career the man himself had left), and no one would want that. No one would want that, because people would desire for Miley to be different than those who came before her in that they would want for her to leave with some dignity, instead of becoming someone who would do any appearance for a paycheck or becoming a washed-up celebrity with problems.