“Though Walt [Disney] and [Hugh] Hef[ner] were a generation
apart (Walt was born in 1901, Hef in 1926), in many ways they are strikingly
similar. Both were raised by a warm, supportive mother and a father who could
be distant and demanding. Both had backgrounds in commercial art; both served
in wars but saw no action; both were serial entrepreneurs, though neither was
particularly interested in the minutiae of business; both became world famous
for success in a single medium and moved on to create complex ecosystems of
media, formats, and environments. Most significantly, Walt and Hef simultaneously
perfected what we might call the Factory Model of Desire, wherein the only
fantasies that endure are those that can be fulfilled by a preexisting,
branded, mass-marketed commodity.” —Critic and digital-media theorist Peter
Lunenfeld, “The Factory Model of Desire,” Believer Magazine,
Issue 79 (March 2011)
