Interpreting and Experiencing Disney

Description

Ever since the premiere for the first Mickey Mouse cartoon in 1928, Disney has played a central role in American popular culture, which has progressively expanded to include a global market. The company positioned itself to be a central role in family entertainment, and many of its offerings – from films to consumable products – have deeply embedded themselves into not only the imaginations of children and adults, but also into the threads of one’s life experience. It is difficult to go through life without encountering one Disney product. Because of this, fans of Disney build connections with their favourite characters and franchises, some of which are fuelled further by Disney’s own marketing practices.

Similarly, Disney responds to the cultural values of the era through its films and other media offerings. In this volume, scholars from varying backgrounds take a close look at facets of the Disney canon as more than agents of entertainment or consumption, and into underlying messages at the very heart of the Disney phenomenon: the cultural response that drives the corporation’s massive production and marketing machine. The relationship between Disney and its fans is one of loyalty and love, shaping cultural behaviours and values through the brand and its products. Disney responds in kind with a synergistic approach that makes it possible to experience Disney in any format at any given time.

Primary readership will be academics, researchers, educators, scholars and students working in the fields of media and cultural studies, especially those interested in marketing and branding, and in the Disney Company in general. The accessible writing style and the range of topics covered make it suitable for postgraduate students and academics working in these fields, as well as third-year undergraduate students.

The book will also appeal to academics working in the related fields of tourism studies, film and television studies and, given the focus of some of the chapters, in gender studies.

Although academic in focus, the accessible writing style does mean that it may also have appeal to the non-academic reader and fans of Disney.

Introduction

Part 1: Interpreting Disney

Abbreviating Mickey Mouse: The art of remediation in Disney cartoons

‘You grow up to be a Duck fan in your mother’s womb': The bond between Finnish people and Donald Duck

Toad, Alice, and Peter: From England to Disneyland and back again

Egalitarian or stereotypical?: Gender representation in Disney feature fairy tales of the twenty-first century

Father still knows best: Exploring the construction of traditional masculinity as depicted in portrayals of fatherhood in Disney Princess movies

Poisoned apples: Womanhood in Disney’s Snow White

A rhetoric of classism and reading cultures in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Part 2: Experiencing Disney

‘Our cartoon city upon a hill’: Disneyland, Disney World, and American identity

Can Small World ever be politically correct?

Reading the Disney Princess attractions: Narrative adaptation, immersion, and control in the Magic Kingdom’s expanded fantasyland

Online brand communities: A case study of Disney

I’m Disney bound: Costuming as psycho-spiritual practice

A journey from girl to womanhood: The influence of Disney Princess fashion on the female gender

Sujets

• Cinéma
• Cinéma
• Cinéma
• Cinema
• Pixar Animation Studios
• Film
• Mickey Mouse
• ART
• Disney
• Cultural Studies
• Disneyland
• Pixar
• Popular culture
• Película fotográfica
• Genres

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 10 décembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789384765
• Langue: English

Extrait

Interpreting and Experiencing Disney
Interpreting and Experiencing Disney

Mediating the Mouse
EDITED BY
Priscilla Hobbs
First published in the UK in 2022 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2022 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Copyright © 2022 Intellect Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover designer: Aleksandra Szumlas
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Production manager: Georgia Earl, Debora Nicosia
Typesetting: Newgen

Hardback ISBN 978-1-78938-474-1
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-475-8
ePUB ISBN 978-1-78938-476-5

Printed and bound by Lightning Source

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This is a peer-reviewed publication.
Contents
Introduction
Priscilla Hobbs
PART 1: INTERPRETING DISNEY
1. Abbreviating Mickey Mouse: The Art of Remediation in Disney Cartoons
Brent Cowley
2. ‘You Grow Up to Be a Duck Fan in Your Mother’s Womb’: The Bond between Finnish People and Donald Duck
Katja Kontturi
3. Toad, Alice and Peter: From England to Disney-Land and Back Again
Robert Neuman
4. Egalitarian or Stereotypical? Gender Representation in Disney Feature Fairy Tales of the Twenty-First Century
Irena Sever Globan and Vuk Vuković
5. Father Still Knows Best: Exploring the Construction of Traditional Masculinity as Depicted in Portrayals of Fatherhood in Disney Princess Movies
Elizabeth A. Mansley and Katie N. Mirance
6. Poisoned Apples: Womanhood in Disney’s Snow White
Dakota Robertson-Schüle
7. A Rhetoric of Classism and Reading Cultures in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
Deidre Anne Evans Garriott
PART 2: EXPERIENCING DISNEY
8. ‘Our Cartoon City upon a Hill’: Disneyland, Disney World and American Identity
Bethanee Bemis
9. Can Small World Ever Be Politically Correct?
Rebekah Lovejoy
10. Reading the Disney Princess Attractions: Narrative Adaptation, Immersion and Control in the Magic Kingdom’s Expanded Fantasyland
Alaine Martaus
11. Online Brand Communities: A Case Study of Disney
Elizabeth A. Whalen
12. I Am Disney Bound: Costuming as Psycho-Spiritual Practice
Dori S. Koehler
13. A Journey from Girl-to-Womanhood: The Influence of Disney Princess Fashion on the Female Gender
Bianca van Dam
Contributors
Index
Introduction
Priscilla Hobbs
It all started with a mouse. Or, rather, it might be more appropriate to say it all started with a mouse watch. While the Disney Studio was already a decade old when the first Mickey Mouse Watch was produced by the Ingersoll-Waterbury company in 1933 (New England Historical Society 2019 : n.pag.), the licensing of the Mouse created a whole new way of consuming and being a part of a film, creating a fan phenomenon. This simple accessory launched a wave of other products bearing the familiar faces of the Disney canon: Mickey and his friends, famous characters from the Silly Symphonies such as the Three Little Pigs, and later Snow White and her seven dwarf friends.
The 1930s encompassed the Great Depression and the political unrest that eventually led to the Second World War. Perhaps counter-intuitively, this decade changed attitudes towards consumption – here applied both to one’s spending habits and to one’s ingestive behaviours – with this shift continuing trends that had begun in the previous decades. Several social events were converging during the 1930s, and cultural consumption was as much a symptom as a cause. The economic insecurity, political unrest and progressive social policies led to behaviours in the United States akin to what psychologists now call the ‘poverty mindset’. This occurs when one goes for a period of time with limited resources but then spends when presented with the first chance. In the 1930s, the new consumptive innovation was the ability to buy branded products at a cost-effective (read: cheap) price. For just a little more, one could purchase an everyday product, such as a school tablet, with Mickey’s visage smiling all over it. Those rounded ears and caring smile brought a little bit of light and comfort to uncomfortable times. Communities also began to surround the mouse, notably the establishment of Mickey Mouse Clubs in local theatres to give children a place to congregate and keep out of trouble outside of school.
Which brings me back to the mouse watch. Ever the entrepreneur, Walt Disney recognized the need for alternative revenue streams during the Depression, as other studios shared in the struggle to stay afloat after key figures lost a lot of money in the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Walt licensed the Mouse (Walt’s name for Mickey) to Kay Kayman, a merchandising executive who helped plaster Mickey’s familiar face beyond the walls outside the movie theatre. The Mickey Mouse watch was a simple watch with a picture of Mickey in the watch face with his arms ticking the time:

The cheap cheerful watch was just what the public wanted. During a promotion at Macy’s, 11,000 Mickey Mouse watches sold in one day. In a little over two years, Ingersoll-Waterbury sold more than 2.5 million Mickey Mouse watches at $2.98 apiece.
(New England Historical Society 2019 : n.pag.)
The key to the Disney experience is the company’s ability to market wonder, dreams and magic, three things that carry different meanings to each person, making the Disney experience personal and emotional. The connections we forge with Disney, whether positive or negative, relate directly to the extent to which we value these things.
One way or another, the global footprint of the Disney Corporation arguably reaches deep into the rounded four corners of the world. Through merchandizing and various entertainment franchises, Disney has managed to transcend even some of the firmer cultural boundaries and reach out to the people, noting how their ‘employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences that are both universally and locally cherished’ in more than 40 countries (The Walt Disney Company 2018 : n.pag.). In addition to the United States, Disney owns and operates properties or attractions in the Asia Pacific, notably the Shanghai Disney Resort (‘the Company’s largest foreign investment to date’); Japan, with a variety of businesses from Tokyo’s Disney Resort to media production; the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa), ‘dedicated to creating innovative entertainment experiences for children and families’; and Latin America, with a focus on entertainment and consumer products (The Walt Disney Company 2018 : n.pag.).
Consumption, convergence and synergy
The heart of consumption is the role the commodity plays in one’s life. For Karl Marx, the experience of commodities is divided between production and consumption. The ‘means of production’ is defined as ‘commodities that possess a form in which they […] enter productive consumption’ (cited in Ritzer 2005 : 49) and the ‘means of consumption’, or ‘commodities that possess a form in which they enter individual consumption of the capitalist and working class’ (cited in Ritzer 2005 : 49). These two categories note the distinction between the tools and resources necessary for production and those commodities that are consumed by the individual. The existence of this latter category supports the notion that consumption may have a function beyond that of necessity. In other words, ‘the means of consumption are not means but rather the end products in [Marx’s] model of consumption; they are those things […] that are consumed’ ( 2005 : 50). Key to Marx’s theory, it should be noted, is control. In a capitalist society, if the means of production are owned by an elite class, then it stands to reason that that class controls the consumption experience. By extension, if the experience of consumption is controlled, then so too is the consumer.
With the establishment of consumer experience comes a level of engagement. Max Weber expressed concern that

the modern process of rationalization […] exemplified in capitalism and in the bureaucracy, has served to undermine what was once an enchanted (i.e., magical, mysterious, mystical) world. Rational systems in general, and the bureaucracy in particular, have no room for enchantment. It is systemically rooted out by rational systems, leaving them largely devoid of magic or mystery.
(Ritzer 2005 : 54)
In other words, as the West adopted Enlightenment rationalization and mechanized industry, according to Weber, the means of consumption became increasingly disenchanting. Without magic or mystery, consumption is not fulfilling, which has the danger of inspiring overconsumption, as though seeking to satisfy a desire. This can be captured in the Lacanian concept of jouissance or the excess of enjoyment (Hewitson 2015 : n.pag.).
For Jacques Lacan, a post-modernist writing a century after Marx, desire always comes in excess and is ‘impossible to pin down or limit to the ostensible thing we require. Even as demands are articulated and sometimes met, desire slips through – beyond any kind of possible, complete satisfaction’ (Pick 2015 : 90). It is this place of desire that Disney merchandising unwittingly targets. While the company’s outward intent at securing licensing in the early 1930s was to develop another revenue stream, the foundations were also laid for a notable Disney behaviour that has defined much of the company’s history: whenever a fad gains traction, Disney needs to find a way to profit from it, thus controlling the fan experience.
Medi