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Rethinking Disney
Private Control, Public Dimensions
Edited Mike Budd , Max H. Kirsch
Sales Date: 2005-11-14
360 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in
Wide-ranging interdisciplinary essays look at the Disney empire.
In recent years, the Walt Disney Company has grown far beyond its beginnings in animated films and theme parks to become a major multinational corporation with global reach. As the company's activities have grown more complex and its influence more ubiquitous, both its internal practices and its attempts to control its now global public environment have generated conflicts that contradict the classic Disney publicity image. The 11 wide-ranging, interdisciplinary essays in this collection cover topics including Animal Kingdom; Gay Days at the theme parks; Disney's connection to sweatshops; commodification of The Lion King on Broadway; the transformation of Winnie the Pooh; Disney's experience in urban planning in Times Square and Celebration, Florida; and Disney's America. A comprehensive introduction contextualizes the essays and relates them to earlier Disney studies.
CONTRIBUTORS include Lee Artz, Sean Griffin, Dick Hebdige, Radha Jhappan, Daiva Stasiulis, and Susan Willis.
Preface
Introduction: Private Disney, Public Disney – Mike Budd
PART ONE: ALTERNATIVE HISTORIES
Dis-Gnosis: Disney and the Re-Tooling of Knowledge, Art, Culture, Life Etcetera – Dick Hebdige
Disney's Bestiary – Susan Willis
PART TWO: CAPITALISM, COMMODIFICATION, GLOBALIZATION
Monarchs, Monsters and Multiculturalism: Disney's Menu for Global Hierarchy – Lee Artz
The Lion King, Mimesis, and Disney's Magical Capitalism – Maurya Wickstrom
PART THREE: HIERARCHIES: RACE, CLASS, GENDER, SEXUALITY
Curiouser and Curiouser: Gay Days at the Disney Theme Parks – Sean Griffin
Anglophilia and the Discreet Charm of the English Voice in Disney's Pocahontas Films – Radha Jhappan and Daiva Stasiulis
PART FOUR: REPRESENTATION, SIMULATION, APPROPRIATION
Everybody Wants a Piece of Pooh: Winnie, from Adaptation to Market Saturation – Aaron Taylor
Truer than Life: Disney's Animal Kingdom – Scott Hermanson
PART FIVE: URBAN PLANNING AND THEMED ENVIRONMENTS
Saying No to Disney: Disney's Demise in Four American Cities – Stacy Warren
Synergy City: How Times Square and Celebration are Integrated into Disney's Marketing Cycle – Frank Roost
Disneyfication, the Stadium, and the Politics of Ambiance – Greg Siegel
Contributors
Index
MIKE BUDD is Professor of Communication at Florida Atlantic University, co-author of Consuming Environments (1999) and editor of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1990). MAX KIRSCH is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Florida Atlantic University, and UNESCO Chair of Human and Cultural Rights. He is the author of In the Wake of the Giant (1998) and Queer Theory and Social Change (2000).
"Disney's octopus-like reach into every corner of our lives has long been an issue of grave public concern. This is the most up-to-date effort to inform and warn us about what each of the tentacles is up to. Required reading!"
~Andrew Ross, author of The Celebration Chronicles
"The authors present unique and compelling looks at a wide range of Disney enterprises. Highly recommended for students and researchers, as well as others interested in popular culture and its role in society."
~Janet Wasko, Professor of Communication Studies, University of Oregon
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