Why did Tolkien dislike Disney?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

July 1964 is the entry that I will quote the entry in full here:
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A somewhat fuller entry:

Originally Posted by Tolkien

to a Miss J.L. Curry, dated 15 July, 1964.

"[...] I recognize his talent, but it has always seemed to me hopelessly corrupted. Though in most of the 'pictures' proceeding from his studios there are admirable or charming passages, the effect of all of them to me is disgusting. Some have given me nausea [...]"

He also accused Disney of being in his business practices "simply a cheat: willing and even eager to defraud the less experienced by trickery sufficently 'legal' to keep him out of jail"; he adds that his own affairs are in the hands of Allen & Unwin ("a firm with the highest repute"); that he is "not innocent of the profit-motive" himself (although "I should not have given any proposal from Disney any consideration at all. I am not all that poor [...]"

As to the broader question of 'films' vs other exposure- it seems very clear now that the letter of 1937 could not possibly have been influenced by Snow White, which T didn't see until Lewis took him in 1939. This is not however to say that Tolkien hadn't seen Disney animation at that time, since the 'Silly Symphony' cartoon shorts were routinely played as part of the prologomena to films, on both sides of the Atlantic.

I think this more likely than books (although we can't rule out daily comic strips, I suppose; did The Times or Telegraph even contain 'funny pages' in the 30s?) Tolkien's comment on the Browning's Pied Piper and "cheap and vulgar plastic toys" suggests that comic books/cartoon picture-books were likely Not Welcome chez Tolkien.

[Ardent]

In the film 'Adam's Family Values' the sensibilities of Tolkien and Disney come face to face in a summer camp. Anyone who has seen it will know what I mean, but if you haven't then imagine how Legolas and Gimli might feel having been forced to watch Disney films all night. Fantasia's Night on Bare Mountain with its balrog emerging from the pit, Snow White's dwarves, hippos in tutus... chilling.

As to the two authors copyrighting their work I do not find it surprising or a problem; if I had put years of experience into my works I wouldn't want their messages skewed or lost either. I'd be more in favour of the Tolkien-esque than Disney-esque but either way something of 'me and mine' would innevitably be lost. Even where the two converge they remain distinct; "Tra la la lally down here in the valley" is as far from 'The Lay of Gilgalad' as it is from "Hi ho, hi ho".

That said, both have had a huge influence on me. In childhood I 'got' Disney and though I have grown out of that simplicity I still remember when things like 'The Sourcerer's Apprentice' and 'Dumbo' were new to me, how they made me feel. I have not traded one in for the other but, like a tree, the one ring has grown outside the other. Indeed, one might say that when dealing with the ancient stories Tolkien is more like Saruman, taking them and their languages apart to show us many colours. Where Disney shows us the 'baddy' and the 'happy ever after', Tolkien shows us the 'baddy-who-was-just-like-us' and the happy ending 'at-the-cost-of-eternal-loss'.