Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World

By Carl Hiaasen

Book Overview

New York Times bestselling author Carl Hiaasen shows how high the cost of Disney "magic" is in this critique of the company and its influence across America.

As a lifelong Florida resident living in the shadow of Disney World, award-winning author Carl Hiaasen has had a front-row seat to the inner workings of the Walt Disney Company. In the nine sharp, assertive essays that make up Team Rodent, Hiaasen explores how Disney maintains its pristine public image despite public scandals; highlights the dangers of allowing one corporation such sweeping power; and urges us to think critically about the Disney empire. Writes Hiaasen: "The message, never stated but avuncularly implied, is that America's values ought to reflect those of the Walt Disney Company, and not the other way around."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345422805
• ISBN13: 9780345422804
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A wickedly funny polemic on a fullly deserving corporation

As someone who witnessed, firsthand, the attempts by Disney to force feed their American history theme park down the throats of the good people of Northern Virginia, I can say that every word, comma, period and exclamation point in Carl Hiaasen's polemic rings clear and true. Also, sad but true, I have witnessed what Disney has done to Florida, as Hiaasen's so eloquently details in Team Rodent. In my and my collaborator Parke Puterbaugh's book, Florida Beaches (Foghorn), we detected the Disney fallout on nearly every beachhead on the Atlantic coast, and anyone who loves the Panhandle beaches better get ready to be disgusted because Disney (under the guise of a holding company) is getting ready to do to that area what it did to Orlando. I can say, from experience, that Disney is deceptive, sneaky, arrogant, bullying and they also lie regularly, when it behooves them. It would not surprise me in the least that the people who rated this book one star were hired by the company...or are stockholders.

Hiaasen's wit helps numb the pain of reality

Having grown up in Pinellas county Florida in the 60s it was easy to hate and be militant toward the obvious developers such as Hunt Corp., etc. In "Team Rodent", Carl Hiaasen provided me with the much-needed jolt to get over the quasi-hypnosis caused by a bunch of cuddly cartoon characters. Disney is nothing more than a corporate conglomerate that is wreaking far-reaching havoc on the environment under the guise of good family fun. Hiaasen's humor is not only welcome, it is necessary as it enabled me to get through the material that otherwise would have had me throwing up. I read this entire book on one flight and couldn't help but laugh out loud when reading about his scenario of the bull alligators in Bay Lake. People around me were giving me funny looks. It's not often a book causes me to lose control to that extent. There is a glimmer of hope offered when reading how the people in Virginia were able to thwart Disney's plans near Manassas. Unfortunately for Florida it's too little, too late. The only negative I could come up with in the book is the reference to orcas as "killer whales". A similar expose' needs to be done on Sea World. And by the way Carl: Let me know if you need any assistance with those bull alligators.

Hiaasen always hit the mark

Regardless if you agree with Hiaasen or not (I agree with him whole-heartedly) you have to admire his talent as a writer and envy his extensive vocabulary. I pity the readers who missed the treasure trove of delicious humor. If only more people were as passionate about the environment.

a plague in the global village

At last, at least from a British perspective, we have a short, albeit long overdue, attempt to disabuse people of the notion that Disney's warped uber-morality provides suitable 'rules to live by' as we approach the end of the 20th century. It may seem, at times, to be a personal venting of bile against the Mouse, but the dubious rodent's antics have had a global effect, because to be simplistic, America is to a great degree a country that has evolved around an image of itself rather than a reality and Hollywood, especially in the case of Disney, has propogated this image as a social paradigm throughout the world. God knows there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that when you're sitting in a darkened Cinema, but once this same dangerously naive propaganda leaves the Cinema and begins to walk abroad (literally) then more than ever we need people like Carl Hiassen to remind us that rats transmit fatal diseases.

Hiaasen Attacks Apple Pie

First of all I must admit that if I heard that Carl Hiaasen had edited the Dubuque, Iowa telephone book, I would rush out and buy it. I enjoy him because I love his humor, and because I share his environmental concerns. As a retired senior executive of a large corporation, I also have no illusions about the goals of business. We need gadflies, and Carl's buzzing about can only bring issues to the surface to be thought about and discussed. Disagree with him you may, but I see nothing wrong in presenting facts about the power and plasticity of the Disney world. Many folks want their big brother provided sanitized entertainment, and will evidently brook no criticism of the source of their pleasure. For myself I am interested to find out how yet another big business manipulates local governments and the press. It's fascinating to read how devoted fans will pay 25 to 40% more for a home because its built by Mickey and his friends, while disregarding the fact that the same guys built substandard housing in Miami. The way people are mesmerized by the fantastic plastic world of Disney sometimes scares me. Its like some dystopic future world from a science fiction novel.I will agree that $8.95 is a lot to pay for 83 pages, but it sure is good quality Hiaasen.