Babes in Tomorrowland

Sammond Nicholas Sammond

Description

Linking Margaret Mead to the Mickey Mouse Club and behaviorism to Bambi, Nicholas Sammond traces a path back to the early-twentieth-century sources of "the normal American child." He locates the origins of this hypothetical child in the interplay between developmental science and popular media. In the process, he shows that the relationship between the media and the child has long been much more symbiotic than arguments that the child is irrevocably shaped by the media it consumes would lead one to believe. Focusing on the products of the Walt Disney company, Sammond demonstrates that without a vision of a normal American child and the belief that movies and television either helped or hindered its development, Disney might never have found its market niche as the paragon of family entertainment. At the same time, without media producers such as Disney, representations of the ideal child would not have circulated as freely in American popular culture.In vivid detail, Sammond describes how the latest thinking about human development was translated into the practice of child-rearing and how magazines and parenting manuals characterized the child as the crucible of an ideal American culture. He chronicles how Walt Disney Productions' greatest creation-the image of Walt Disney himself-was made to embody evolving ideas of what was best for the child and for society. Bringing popular child-rearing manuals, periodicals, advertisements, and mainstream sociological texts together with the films, tv programs, ancillary products, and public relations materials of Walt Disney Productions, Babes in Tomorrowland reveals a child that was as much the necessary precursor of popular media as the victim of its excesses.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Communication studies
• Media studies

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 20 juillet 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822386834
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

B A B E S I N TO M O R R OW L A N D

BA B E S I N

Tomorrowland

WALT DISNEY AND THE MAKING

OF THE AMERICAN CHILD,

1930--1960

Nicholas Sammond

DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS

D U R H A M A N D L O N D O N 2 0 0 5

© 2 0 0 5 D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S

A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D

P R I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D S TA T E S

O F A M E R I C A O N A C I D - F R E E P A P E R



D E S I G N E D B Y A M Y R U T H B U C H A N A N

T Y P E S E T I N D A N T E A N D B E R T H O L D

B O D O N I B Y T S E N G I N F O R M A T I O N

S Y S T E M S , I N C .

L I B R A RY O F C O N G R E S S C A TA L O G I N G -

I N - P U B L I C A T I O N D A TA A P P E A R O N T H E

L A S T P R I N T E D P A G E O F T H I S B O O K .

S E C O N D P R I N T I N G , 2 0 0 6

D I S N E Y I M A G E S A N D M A T E R I A L A R E

P R O T E C T E D U N D E R C O P Y R I G H T S O F T H E

W A LT D I S N E Y C O M P A N Y. T H E R E F E R E N C E S

T O D I S N E Y M A T E R I A L A N D T H E U S E O F

D I S N E Y I M A G E S I N T H I S B O O K A R E M A D E

U N D E R T H E F A I R U S E P R O V I S I O N S O F U . S .

C O P Y R I G H T L A W , W H I C H P R O T E C T T H E

R E P R O D U C T I O N O F A W O R K ‘ ‘ F O R P U R P O S E S

S U C H A S C R I T I C I S M , C O M M E N T, N E W S

R E P O R T I N G , T E A C H I N G , S C H O L A R S H I P, O R

R E S E A R C H . ’ ’ T H I S B O O K I S N O T A U T H O R I Z E D

B Y T H E W A LT D I S N E Y C O M P A N Y.

It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day. If you could keep awake (but of course you can’t) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying up drawers. You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you had picked this

thing up, making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it were as nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that out of sight. When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on.

—J. M. BARRIE, Peter Pan

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Contents

AC K N OW L E D G M E N T S

ix

I N T RO D U C T I O N : T H E C H I L D

D I S N E Y M A K E S D I S N E Y

25

1

M A K I N G A M A N AG E A B L E C H I L D

I N M I D D L E TOW N

135

81

A M E R I C A’ S T RU E - L I F E A DV E N T U R E

R A I S I N G T H E N AT U R A L C H I L D

D I S N E Y M A P S T H E F RO N T I E R

247

300

195

C O N C L U S I O N : T H E C H I L D A S V I C T I M O F C O M M O D I T I E S

N OT E S

387

R E F E R E N C E S

427

F I L M O G R A P H Y

I N D E X

455

453

357

Acknowledgments

This book has benefited enormously from the careful reading, insightful criticism, and thoughtful comments of many colleagues and friends, and the few words offered here can only begin to repay them. Thanks go first to Chandra Mukerji, who has been for many years an unfailing mentor and critic, and my first inspiration for this project. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Eric Smoodin, who gave unselfishly of his knowledge of cinema history in general, and of Disney in particular. The Critical Studies writing group at the University of California, San Diego, listened carefully to various versions of this work and pushed me to make more of it. In particular, group members Patrick Carroll and Corynne McSherry questioned weak points and celebrated strong ones, and I have suffered their criticism quite happily. Howard Brick, Margaret Garb, Timothy Parsons, Mark Pegg, and Robert Vinson at Washington University, St. Louis, also provided much-needed direction, close reading, and construc- tive suggestions. At different and crucial moments, Henry Jenkins atand Charles McGovern, first at the Smithsonian and later at William and Mary Col- lege, acted with unstinting generosity as critics and editors, and I will always be grateful to them. Shelley Stamp in the Department of Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, also offered valuable support and encouragement. My deep and sincere thanks go to my editor Ken Wissoker for having faith in me as an author, and for his seemingly endless patience, humor, and good- will, which saw me through doubt and hesitation on more than one occasion. Courtney Berger and Kate Lothman at Duke University Press were also un- flagging in their support and guidance, for which I am very grateful. I offer my warm appreciation to Yrjo Engestrom and Carol Padden in the Communication Department at the University of California, San Diego, who taught me much about Marx and about the history of childhood, respectively. At various times, Alison Schapker, Mark Sussman, Mark Frankel, Jon Nichols, Anthony Freitas, and Susan Sterne each offered insights and critique for which I remain indebted. Thanks are also due to Erik Knutzen, Kelly Coyne, Pat Kelly, and Caroline Clerc for making of my time in San Diego an experience in the