Deconstructing Disney

Catalog description

This course studies how Disney films reflect and skew the traditional fairy tales on which they are based, in order to further discern how Disney constructs its ideologies and promotes particular identities. Disney created these films within particular historical and cultural contexts; as such, the course considers how their creative circumstances from the 1930s right up to the present day yielded their particular intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, capitalism, and nation. Additionally, the course considers how audiences can interpret these popular cultural texts in ways not necessarily designed or even forethought by Disney.