Introduction

Hello, my name is Jena Zarza and I am the most amazing person you will ever meet! As you can see, I have a healthy sense of humor, which may someday lead to my downfall. I have a tendency to not take things very seriously, though I think I’ve grown out of that over the years. I’m a freshman undeclared major. I’ve been leaning toward Sociology as a possible major, but I think I should try to figure out what I want to do with my major before I commit to one. I’m from Anaheim…Go Ducks/Angels/Disneyland! I originally started going to UCI Fall of ’05, but left in Winter Quarter. I finally decided college was for me and went to community college in 2006, and decided to come back to UCI this year, making me only freshman status.
Television is my weakness. I love I Love Lucy, Prison Break, House, M*A*S*H, Court Shows, Talk Shows, Games Shows…basically anything but Soap Operas. I also love movies, my favorite of which is A Christmas Story.
I have the biggest small family I know. Confused? Let me explain. I have an immediate family of four (what I would consider small), but I have step-siblings up the wazoo. I have one full sister who is two years younger than me, and the baby of the whole family. I have two step-sisters and two step-brothers from my step-dad, and a step-brother and step-sister from my step-mom, making me the second youngest of eight. Since none of them have ever lived with me, I’ve only experienced being one of two kids, which is why I’d say I have a small, albeit large, family. I love to spend time with my nieces, nephews, and younger cousins. I’ve found over the years that the perfect age group is between 8 and 11 because they are old enough to have semi-intelligent conversations with, but they are young enough to still want to please you and do as they are told.
If I had a super-power, I would totally want to fly. I’ve been obsessed with it since my days of watching Peter Pan, another favorite movie of mine. I think I’d also want mind-reading abilities, that way I could easily out-wit anyone. Along those lines, one of my favorite hobbies is to argue. Not full-on arguing, but bantering, or debating. I love to convince people I’m right, but I don’t have a problem admitting when I’m wrong.
As far as my political views go, I’d say I’m open. Voting, for me, is more like choosing the lesser of two evils, not picking the best of the bunch. I do have a tendency to lean more towards the Democratic side when it comes to public programs, though.
I’ve always wanted to help people that can’t help themselves, and would love to help children in my future career. This attribute is probably the reason behind my great love for animals.
I guess the most important thing about me is that I find no need to try to please others. Of course I’m polite, and very respectful and caring of my friends and family, but I am satisfied with who I am, and am not wiling to change that in order to win the approval of someone else.

John Chapman: Disney's Version Vs. Pollan's

John Chapman, or Johnny Appleseed, is a famous character in American History. In my opinion, he is a somewhat forgotten character. I do not recall learning about him very much in school, and only hearing occasional references to him, and watching the Disney cartoon as a child. Disney created a cartoon about the infamous Johnny Appleseed, and compared to Pollan's views of him, the Disney version is a lot more family oriented. The fact that it is a cartoon says something about what will be included and excluded. Disney created an artistic character version of Chapman. This is not surprising, considering that Disney is a company in the entertainment industry, and their target market is primarily for families with young children. Disney is a story telling company, which creates fantasies. With this in mind, it makes sense that their cartoon would omit controversial aspects of the legend of Johnny Apple Seed. The Disney version of John Chapman is much like the Bill Jones that Pollan meets in The Botany of Desire. It portrays him as a flawless American hero, who should be used as a role model for the country.

Pollan, on the other hand, is an author who is not concerned about if unsuitable content in his book will prevent young children from reading it, because his target audience is mainly adults. His view on John Chapman is more biographical or historical than Disney's. He is more focused on the facts, rather than just making a catchy story to sell. Pollan seems to want to look at the darker side of John Chapman, and points out the many things that shroud Chapman's story. He includes things such as the child bride and alcohol, which would never make it into a Disney cartoon. Pollan is out to set the story straight, and to show that John Chapman was just a regular person, who was in it for the money, and that he was not some hero of the frontier.

The Pollan version of John Chapman is much more believable, because Disney is more likely to not include incriminating facts about so-called role models, because there's a profit in it for them.

What it be vs. what we see … Johnny Appleseed.

Disney aims to tell a great story of a real American hero and role model, Johnny (Appleseed) Chapman, to young children with the hope to inspire them (to maybe appreciate nature). Although Mr. Chapman was real, and his apple trees were real, Disney doesn’t mention some truths Michael Pollan retrieved through his journey when researching the story of the Apple. People along the frontier (as it moved west) did appreciate and know of Johnny Appleseed, but for different reasons. We learn that most of Johnny’s apples went into a bottle of cider, and not served in those yummy foods Disney describes such as apple pies, fritters, cakes, and etc. So people really appreciated the apples because of the alcohol it provided, and some people even deemed it healthier than water. They took Johnny Appleseed in and we want to see it from Johnny’s eyes to see the difference between Pollan’s and Disney’s perceptions. From Disney’s perception, Johnny did stumble across small communities, but he was modest about it. He told his animal friends that he didn’t have the time to receive gratitude from the people because he has to go off planting more trees. In real life, I would presume that Johnny was welcomed into people’s home to sleep and relax. Basically, it wasn’t all about the apples in real life. It was also about the “privileges” that came along with being a hero such as free meals here and there and a place to stay for the night.

Pollan also mentions a rather interesting fact about the apples and humans co-evolving with each other. It is true that we only see it as a one way thing where we benefit from the apples (and everything else we favor to grow), but we are really helping them out big time too. The apples “know” that they need to be on our good side to survive, so generations pass by and they adapt, according to Darwin, to our needs. This is because mankind basically controls the world and we say what grows or what gets chopped down, so in a sense, apples adapted their genes in the way that we would favor them. And not only do we favor them, but we also help continue to distribute their seeds and keep their species alive.

Pollan uses his story of traveling to Ohio to persuade us into reconsidering the world’s view of Johnny Appleseed as a hero, to Johnny Chapman as another guy who saw a profit in growing apples. He has that advantage because he did actually go and find the real Johnny Chapman. He also tells us truthfully that he’s not saying that he’s right, but we can judge ourselves that what he found out was more right than what Disney tells us. After analyzing and pondering about Pollan’s trip, and reconsidering what Disney has to show about Mr. Chapman, I think that Pollan’s assumption is truer than Disney. This is because Pollan can back his facts up and I now see Disney as another Bill Jones in Pollan’s book. (Bill Jones is just someone who wants to make money off of Appleseed by giving people what they want to hear, just another great story.)

Disney vs. Pollan

Disney presents Johnny Appleseed as a hero of American history- a good-doer with only selfless intentions of sharing the fruit of the apple tree. Disney’s goal is to paint a pretty picture of John Chapman, with a fairytale like ending. Their target audience is children and their parents, whom have their children in mind. The intent of the video is not to retell the true story of John Chapman, but to paint a pretty picture and create a happy ending. Disney provides parents with a positive role model for their children, a simple-minded, animal-loving man of song with good intentions; a man that selflessly protects nature for future generations to come. No where is there any hint as to the true intentions of John Chapman.

John Pollan’s more realistic yet cynical retelling in The Botany of Desire, however, is targeted for an adult audience. These adults do not need nor want the fairytale ending that Disney provides for children, but rather would prefer the true version of historical happenings. They want to know what John Chapman was really about. Pollan provides that Chapman was not the selfless man that he was made out to be in American folklores. The infamous Johnny Appleseed was actually planting these apple trees because of the economic benefits that would be reaped by having trees on one’s land. In this historical take, the production of apple cider is another large benefit of owning an apple tree. This version conflicts greatly with the one that Disney likes to sell, a story of innocence and responsibility to the earth. There is no harm in preferring either version of this story. Both provide positive points of a man of innovation and longevity.

Johnny Appleseed vs. Disney Post 1

The two versions of Johnny Appleseed are different pictured in Pollan's book "The Botany of Desire" and Disney's version. The facutal differences like Johnny Appleseed being the hero of the new colony, the west, is present in Disney's Johnny Appleseed. Disney sugarcoates the story of Johnny Appleseed, a fellow who enjoys growing apples until he sees pioneers moving to the west. His guardian tells him to take some seeds, work, and grow apples in the new land. Disney pictures Johnny Appleseed having a easy time planting apples, making new animal friends, and making the folks in the West happy. Disney has a moral in this story, though. Disney tries to tell the story in this way for the audience, which are mostly kids. The moral of the story is that if you have a dream just like Johnny Appleseed, then go for it. Also, if you believe and work hard, then you can build your faith and your dreams will come true. Disney is known to have magical and happy stories especially in Cinderella, and this is also present in their version of Johnny Appleseed. Pollan's version of Johnny Appleseed is different though. It is more factual and practical. Appleseed had a devotion to these apple seeds and had a "willingness to pack and move his apple tree operation to keep pace with ever-shifting frontier" (15). The apples originally started at the mountains of Kazakhstan, where it had different sizes and colors and were very applelike fruits. The apples were also used by a method of grafting by the Chinese, where they would cut wood from a tree and be notched into the trunk of another tree where it would be more delicious and more of its parent. However, Chapman's apple were a big thing in the west. His apples were used for apple cider. "American's 'inclination toward cider' is the only way to explain John Chapman's success" (23). Pollan's audience is more of adults, or people that are interested in historical facts. Disney uses techniques such as images and cartoons, but Pollan uses techniques such as historical facts, Pollan using maps and going to "Brilliant". He emphasizes the plant, apple, as what people most wanted it for, the sweetness. It was a desire that Americans wanted and without it, then they would just "be more solitary, less friended, less supported, if the land yielded only the useful maize and potato, [and] witheld this ornamental and social fruit" (23).

Johnny Appleseed vs. John Chapman

The term “American Hero” is usually reserved for America’s founding fathers, war veterans, or political activists but obviously John Chapman or his folk tale friendly name Johnny Appleseed is the American hero to be reckoned with according to the actor James earl Jones (Darth Vader). Apparently, Johnny Appleseed is a hardworking, size conscious, and God fearing American who planted apple trees in the Ohio River valley during the 1800s bringing the Native Americans and white Pioneers to dancing and singing. It is only natural for me to have this sarcastic view point because Disney’s ethos is only strong enough make five year olds believe. Whereas, Michael Pollan presents more down to earth and cynical view point of John Chapman, a homeless hippie who wonders around the Ohio River valley promoting use of alcohol, to make older and more educated people believe. Obviously the two parties have different agenda where Disney’s intention of Johnny Appleseed is to teach children about hard work and significance of an individual; Pollan’s intention is to point out the fact that John Chapman and Americans were manipulated by apples. Regardless of their intentions they enforce rhetoric that effectively persuades their target audiences.

With Disney’s target audiences ranging from toddlers to preteen, rhetoric cannot be too intimidating. In order to attract that age group Disney employs unconventional techniques of singing and pretty pictures to satisfy logos, ethos, and pathos. However, Pollan’s target audience is a little smarter than the Disney’s target audience where songs and pretty picture will only have negative effects on the ethos. Adding to the list of Pollan’s problems, Pollan is trying to convince the audience that apples have manipulated humans. Pollan responds to his problems by using excessive amount of hyperbole. He is overtly asserting cynical views of Johnny Appleseed to discredit Chapman as an American legend. As a result, circumstances surrounding Chapman’s myth is demystified and the audience begins to see John Chapman the homeless wonderer not Johnny Appleseed the American hero. With John Chapman in people’s minds, Pollan begins to assert the ideas that apples simply exploited Chapman into doing those deeds in order to secure a place in America.

Although Pollan’s rhetoric is far superior to Disney’s I still find Pollan’s theory hard to believe. Pollan does an excellent job to convince me that the apples are manipulating humans but c’mon. Who the hell really buys this crap? It is an interesting theory, but Pollan gives apples too much credit. I find Pollan’s apples manipulating human theory as ridiculous as Disney’s Indians and white settlers of Ohio River Valley brought to singing and dancing because of apple trees.

Pollan v. Disney

John Chapman, more commonly known as Johnny Appleseed, is depicted in contrasting ways in the first chapter of Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire and in Disney’s animated short film Johnny Appleseed. Within the first minute of the film, Disney depicts Johnny as very jolly, singing young man who loves picking apples whereas Pollen introduces Chapman as a man sleeping in a canoe somewhere along the Ohio River. Immediately, Disney is illustrating Johnny as a hard working individual who genuinely loves what he does whereas Pollan reveals Chapman as a restful man traveling to plant more trees for business purposes only. In Disney’s version, Johnny’s guardian angel (sings a sugary coated song and) convinces Johnny to grow trees to enrich the land with apples so the people moving west can feed on them; Pollan’s version of Chapman explains that he would travel ahead of the settlers moving west, sell apples to them, have a local boy look after the apple trees, and continue the cycle. Disney portrays Johnny Appleseed as a role model to its audience of young children. Johnny worked from the goodness of his heart; he traveled for forty years, never in need of thanks from the pioneers and Native Americans that would unite together to enjoy delicious apple desserts made from his apples. Disney’s goal is to show young children that selfishness will get someone nowhere; by giving you will be rewarded by seeing the results of your good work. However, Pollan’s version paints a different depiction of “Johnny Appleseed.” Chapman made a profit out of his work, and the apples provided alcohol, not apple desserts, to the pioneers. Pollan’s audience is older than Disney’s and thus focuses more on facts, not life lessons. Pollan does not sugar coat Chapman and allows certain flaws about him to be revealed. Chapman was arranged to be married to a ten year old girl; he made visits to her and she later broke his heart by flirting with boys her own age. This image of Chapman is the polar opposite of the image depicted in the Disney version since Disney’s audience is young children more interested in a fun story than facts whereas Pollan’s audience is adults more interested in facts than a fun story. The version that is more realistic is Pollan’s since it is not sugar coated with songs and cheery forest creatures helping Johnny for forty years straight; instead, it provides a well rounded look of who John Chapman really was and why he was transformed into a hero for young children. Pollan goes into an analysis of Dionysus, a mythical god, and explains that Chapman is a watered down version of Dionysus suitable to be a role model for a young audience. Since John Chapman planted millions of apple seeds, and these apples changed the way of America, “Johnny Appleseed” landed in American mythology, only slightly altered, of course.

johnny appleseed

The story of Johnny Appleseed is best know to most people in the way Disney's version tells the story: A religious and patriotic man, living his life to help others with an almost childlike innocence. Johnny is portrayed as a man who has devoted his life not only to the growing and cultivation of apples, but also to the earth in general, the first man who the animals need not fear, who respects nature and everything about it. This American hero is a friend to all, and his name is known by many, in the video because he uses his apple trees to help feed the pioneers, who would be lost without his apples, which they show being used in things like apple pie. The Disney version is pretty different form the Pollen's version of Johnny Appleseed, a man who made quite a profit from his apple trees, and who planted them mostly to gain posession of the land. Different, too, is the portrayal of the actual apple. Pollen insists that the only thing the apple would have been used for before grafting ( or without it, at least) was alcoholic cider, not exactly the wholesome apple pie shown in the Disney version. Absent from Disney's version, in addition to the bits about the alcoholic cider and the profiteering is any mention of the rumors that Johnny Appleseed had a child bride ( or intended to have). Obviously, Disney's audience ( young children) would certainly limit the amount of torrid facts or insinuations they could mention. Pollen, on the other hand, is writing for a much older and less naive audience, so facts and even rumors make the cut. Obviously the two versions are very different, but they both show Johnny Appleseed as someone who, intentions aside, helped make the apple what it is today.

Pollan vs. Disney

Michael Pollan, like in the short Disney film, tells the story of John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed, in his novel, The Botany of Desires.  Yet, these two versions of the same story prove to vary upon closer comparison.  In the novel, Pollan reveals that apples originated in Kazakhstan whereas the Disney version of the story implies that the cultivation of this fruit developed in the early settlements of America.  Furthermore, Pollan emphasizes that the apples produced from apple seeds are very different from the actual apple it came from and are not usually eaten.  This demonstrates that the apples that John Chapman produced were used mainly for hard cider, yet the Disney film suggests that these apples were not only edible but extremely sweet and used in numerous dishes such as apple pie, apple tart, and applesauce for the early pilgrims.  Pollan illustrates the fact that John was able to bring the intoxicating affects of alcohol to the early American pioneers while Disney portrays a different enjoyment in the consumption of apples in sweet desserts.  Additionally, John Chapman himself is portrayed differently in each story.  Pollan describes John as almost animal like and complicated in regards to his connection to nature, as he tells of the instance in which John "punished" his foot for stepping on a worm as well as his experience of floating and sleeping on a block of ice.  In contrast, Disney depicts Johnny Appleseed as a simple, innocent, and pious man who solely desires to plant apple seeds.  This way of portraying John is attributed to the fact that children are Disney's main targeted audience.  The scene of pioneers playing games as well as the human like actions of the wild animals is further evidence to the fact that the youth encompasses the audience of Disney works.  Disney shows to promote the value of respect of nature by including Johnny's relationship with the animals of the forest and his own respect towards them.  Another value, which is transmitted through the presence of Johnny's guardian angel to the audience, is the necessity of using one's own talent to help humankind.  In contrast, the targeted audience of Michael Pollan's novel is more of an academic group, leading him to portray this story in a more mature, factual, and realistic manner.  He emphasizes the evolution and domestication of apples into the American culture as well as how it was altered over time because of the fact that apples had to adapt to a different environment of America.  Pollan depicts John Chapman in a more sophisticated way, describing him mainly as a businessman, as he would strategically plant the new apple trees based on where the pioneers were going to settle.  The Disney story implies that Johnny Appleseed planted the trees in order to please the pioneers while Pollan emphasizes John's desire of making a profit as his main source of motivation.  I personally believe that Pollan's version of the story is more factual because the aspects of it are more realistic.  Pollan does not only portray John Chapman in a positive light as the Disney film does, but also his personal flaws and his realistic economic ambitions for planting the apple trees.  

Johnny Appleseed

The Disney and Pollan versions of John Chapman’s life story are both interesting, and each is aimed at different audiences; however, Pollan’s telling of the story is truer than Disney’s. The Disney version emphasizes how Johnny Appleseed was a religious man, and how his planting of apple seeds essentially fed the pioneers. It also emphasizes the wholesomeness and versatility of apples. Basically, the Disney version portrays Johnny Appleseed as a hard worker that should be respected, and as a hero who did no wrong. The Pollan version of John Chapman’s life takes a more scientific approach, in that Pollan gives what he believes to be a factual telling of the story, and does not hesitate to provide possibly degrading information. Pollan portrays Johnny Appleseed as a man who planted apples not to feed the growing country, but for real estate profits and to bring alcohol to the expanding west. Pollan also mentions Chapman’s child bride and possible obsession with young girls. Pollan’s audience is learned adults who want to know the facts about Chapman’s life, despite the facts possibly casting a bad light on the American Legend.
The two stories, themselves, are even told in a different manner. The Disney version is told in a tall tale fashion, where guardian angels, laughing chipmunks, and souls exist. Pollan’s version is told from a first person point of view, where the facts are plainly laid out as he discovers them. The goal of the Disney telling is to provide wholesome entertainment for children with mild educational content. Pollan’s goal is simply to find out how John Chapman contributed to the spread of apples across the Midwest, and due to the more scientific, unbiased nature of Pollan’s telling of the Johnny Appleseed story; it is the truer of the two versions.