How important was Walt Disney in the last millenium?

[Mushu]

For the past view days in my history class, we have been watching bits of a video about the top 100 most important people of the last millennium.

And can you guess who # 91 was? If you guessed Walt Disney, then you were absolutely wrong!
But if you guess Walt Disney again when I ask you who you think # 62 was, then you will be absolutely right!

Any thoughts? Do you think that he should be higher on the list? Lower? Although you should probably see the rest off the list before you choose…but I don’t really have time to post the whole thing right now and we have only gotten up to 50 so far.

[goofystitch]

#62 sounds about right. Walt did a lot of amazing things in his lifetime. From innovative new forms of entertainment to getting kids interested in historical figures and science to planning a model city to end the problems of traffic and crime. However, as important as these things were, there were others who did things that helped change the world, such as Mother Theresa who I would guess was in the top 10 of the list. Walt Disney is my personal hero and from all that I've read and seen about him, he seems like an extroardinary person and I think that 62 is a great number.

[Jeffel]

#62 for the last century, perhaps, but #62 for the last millennium!? As much as I love the guy, that seems a little high. I want to see the rest of this list.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Walt Disney's importance for popular culture and "everything" shouldn't be underestimated. #62 on the list of important people of the 20th century might seem reasonable. But for the whole 2nd millennium? That's a tough one - I'd assume there are too many emperors and philosophers in the way...

[kaijueguy]

Personally I think 62 is a fair placement, although I would have gone for a lower number. Walt Disney managed a business that changed the way cartoons were made; helped introduce storyboarding to motion pictures; developed the multiplane camera technique; brought quality-made family entertainment to the television airwaves in the 1950's.

No other movie mogul can claim to the success and foresight of the Disney vision or has been able to create and sustain an entertainment empire the way that Walt did. He was a philosopher, an educator, an entertainer and an all-around genius. He was helping to break down walls that divided cultures and introducing people to different ways of thinking through an entertainment media focused at educating the children. All the attempts at resurrecting The Mickey Mouse Club have missed that point. His True-life adventure Series paved the way for the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. He always seemed to have his finger on the pulse of society and was always a step ahead of it, pushing it forward.

The Disney vision is important enought o impact the entire world. People might not know the names of presidents, philosophers and dignitaries and long after the names of conquerors have been forgotten, Walt Disney's name remains.

Seriously, it would truly be a sad thing if their had never been a Walt Disney. He helped change more things than most people realize.

[PixarFan2006]

62 is fair for Walt Disney. I'll have to look at the list later though.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

People might not know the names of presidents, philosophers and dignitaries and long after the names of conquerors have been forgotten, Walt Disney's name remains.

You could turn out to be right, although we really don't know yet - since it's only been 40 years, which isn't much in the long run (given that we are indeed talking "millennium", not "century" here).

[Mushu]

I want to see the rest of this list.

In a couple weeks after my class finishes the video I'll try to post the whole list. (Or at least most of it since I might miss a couple people.)

[brownie]

Is this like a History Channel or A&E type-thing? Spoiler (just in case): Where the guy who invented the printing press was #1? I'm actually surprised that Walt Disney was #62 for a 2,000 YEAR period! That's seriously impressive. I would definitely say that he would be in the top 5 people of all time in the entertainment industry, though.

[UncleEd]

Who ranks number one on this list? I would assume your top 10 most important people in history for the last 2,000 years would include Hitler, Jesus, Pope John Paul II, and maybe someone like George Washington or Reagan. Nikola Tesla should be on there but I doubt he even made the list. According to Historians Nixon is one of the greatest presidents historically but Watergate taints his image to us today and it will be future historians who can look at his career objectively.

[myr_heille]

Who ranks number one on this list? I would assume your top 10 most important people in history for the last 2,000 years would include Hitler, Jesus, Pope John Paul II, and maybe someone like George Washington or Reagan. Nikola Tesla should be on there but I doubt he even made the list. According to Historians Nixon is one of the greatest presidents historically but Watergate taints his image to us today and it will be future historians who can look at his career objectively.

Well it's not the last 2000 years, but the last millenium (1000-1999). So too bad for Jesus! I think Gutenberg and Einstein should definitely be on it, but that's just my two cents. I'd like Joan of Arc too, because she rules.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Well it's not the last 2000 years, but the last millenium (1000-1999).

Or, according to the calendar system, rather 1001-2000. Entirely different discussion, though.

[myr_heille]

Well it's not the last 2000 years, but the last millenium (1000-1999).

Or, according to the calendar system, rather 1001-2000. Entirely different discussion, though.

Haha, I knew I messed that up! Thanks for the correction

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Or, according to the calendar system, rather 1001-2000. Entirely different discussion, though.

Haha, I knew I messed that up! Thanks for the correction

All right, no need to discuss that further here, then. But this (the "millennium question") HAS indeed been material for quite heated discussions!

[UncleEd]

My bad! For some reason I was thinking a millennium was 2,000 years. Duh! I knew better.


I think a lot of evil men would have to be any "most important" lidt because they usually set world changing events in motion. I heard this is why Disney removed their computer guests could vote on at Epcot. Hitler and Walt were sweeping the votes as was some of the Imagineers who stacked the votes. So the machines were removed.

[Prudence]

Seems about fair. Who was number one?

[brownie]

This Gutenberg guy who invented the printing press.

[Mushu]

Alright, so my class finally finished watching the video yesterday. And I have everyone on the list except for numbers 40-21 since I lost the folder that I put them in. Hopefully I’ll be able to get them from my friend sometime this weekend. Anyway, since the list is long, I probably won’t post the whole list, but if anyone wants to know what number a certain person is or what person number *insert a number from 100-1 except for 40-21 here* is than I’ll be happy to let you know.

Also, my teacher passed around a few books with countdowns in them. One of them was titled The Top 1000 People of All Time or something like that. I checked to see what number Walt Disney was in this book and he placed 494. I just thought that some of you would like to know that.