The MouseTrapped video is a good example of the approaches of political economy because it deals with the actual money and wages attributed to those who work at Disney. The fact that Disney is a billion dollar corporation and they only pay their employees an extremely low wage shows what they really value above all: money. Grossberg acknowledges that political economy is generally focused on a need for power and to strive for the preservation of social norms, which is seen as Disney ignores their suffering workers to retain the same financial quota and have the “appearance” of happiness. It is hypocritical for them to enforce a false sense of family values when in actuality they care about money. Grossberg states that, “cultural studies ignores the institutions of cultural production, it celebrates popular culture and gives up any oppositional role; second, because cultural studies ignores economics, it is incapable ofunderstanding the real structures of power, domination, and oppression in the contemporary world” (55). The idea of cultural studies can also be seen in the film Mickey Mouse Monopoly, the first words that come out of the little girl’s mouth are, “I think Disney makes movies because people like their movies.” This would attribute to Disney as a cultural theme and trend of interest throughout the world for children and adults, it reestablishes that Disney is popular because of culture and not necessarily because of political means. Disney is praised as wholesome and appropriate when truly much of their money is spent make sure no one will contradict this. The subliminal messages, for example when Ursula from the Little Mermaid talks about the importance of being pretty and using body language to get what you want creates inappropriate and stereotypical messages to children.
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