Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability

Although its early films featured racial caricatures and exclusively Caucasian heroines, Disney has, in recent years, become more multicultural in its filmic fare and its image. From Aladdin and Pocahontas to the Asian American boy Russell in Up, from the first African American princess in The Princess and the Frog to "Spanish-mode" Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 3, Disney films have come to both mirror and influence our increasingly diverse society. This essay collection gathers recent scholarship on representations of diversity in Disney and Disney/Pixar films, not only exploring race and gender, but also drawing on perspectives from newer areas of study, particularly sexuality/queer studies, critical whiteness studies, masculinity studies and disability studies. Covering a wide array of films, from Disney's early days and "Golden Age" to the Eisner era and current fare, these essays highlight the social impact and cultural significance of the entertainment giant.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

1126351697
Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability

Although its early films featured racial caricatures and exclusively Caucasian heroines, Disney has, in recent years, become more multicultural in its filmic fare and its image. From Aladdin and Pocahontas to the Asian American boy Russell in Up, from the first African American princess in The Princess and the Frog to "Spanish-mode" Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 3, Disney films have come to both mirror and influence our increasingly diverse society. This essay collection gathers recent scholarship on representations of diversity in Disney and Disney/Pixar films, not only exploring race and gender, but also drawing on perspectives from newer areas of study, particularly sexuality/queer studies, critical whiteness studies, masculinity studies and disability studies. Covering a wide array of films, from Disney's early days and "Golden Age" to the Eisner era and current fare, these essays highlight the social impact and cultural significance of the entertainment giant.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

19.99 In Stock
Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability

Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability

Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability

Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability

eBook

$19.99 

Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers

LEND ME® See Details

Overview

Although its early films featured racial caricatures and exclusively Caucasian heroines, Disney has, in recent years, become more multicultural in its filmic fare and its image. From Aladdin and Pocahontas to the Asian American boy Russell in Up, from the first African American princess in The Princess and the Frog to "Spanish-mode" Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 3, Disney films have come to both mirror and influence our increasingly diverse society. This essay collection gathers recent scholarship on representations of diversity in Disney and Disney/Pixar films, not only exploring race and gender, but also drawing on perspectives from newer areas of study, particularly sexuality/queer studies, critical whiteness studies, masculinity studies and disability studies. Covering a wide array of films, from Disney's early days and "Golden Age" to the Eisner era and current fare, these essays highlight the social impact and cultural significance of the entertainment giant.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781476600093
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date: 01/04/2013
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 315
File size: 2 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Johnson Cheu is an assistant professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures at Michigan State University in East Lansing. He has published work in disability studies and popular culture, as well as poetry and creative essays.
Johnson Cheu is an assistant professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures at Michigan State University in East Lansing. He has published work in disability studies and popular culture, as well as poetry and creative essays.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Re-casting and Diversifying Disney in the Age of Globalization (Johnson Cheu)
Section I—Beyond the Fairest: Essays on Race and Ethnicity
Cannibals and Coons: Blackness in the Early Days of Walt Disney (Kheli R. Willetts)
Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros: The Representation of Latin America in Disney’s “Good Neighbor” Films (Karen S. Goldman)
Mapping the Imaginary: The Neverland of Disney Indians (Prajna Parasher)
A “Vexing Implication”: Siamese Cats and Orientalist Mischief-Making (Kimiko Akita and Rick Kenney)
White Man’s Best Friend: Race and Privilege in Oliver and Company (Natchee Blu Barnd)
Blackness, Bayous and Gumbo: Encoding and Decoding Race in a Colorblind World (Sarah E. Turner)
Section II—Traditions and Transformations: Essays on Gender and Sexuality
Fighting the Cold War with Pinocchio, Bambi and Dumbo (Danielle Glassmeyer)
“You the Man, Well, Sorta”: Gender Binaries and Liminality in Mulan (Gwendolyn Limbach)
“What Do You Want Me to Do? Dress in Drag and Do the Hula?”: Timon and Pumbaa’s Alternative Lifestyle Dilemma in The Lion King (Gael Sweeney)
Mean Ladies: Transgendered Villains in Disney Films (Amanda Putnam)
Section III—Of Beasts and Innocents: Essays on Disability
“You’re a Surprise from Every Angle”: Disability, Identity and Otherness in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Martin F. Norden)
Dopey’s Legacy: Stereotypical Portrayals of Intellectual Disability in the Classic Animated Films (Karen Schwartz, Zana Marie Lutfiyya and Nancy Hansen)
A Place at the Table: On Being Human in the Beauty and the Beast Tradition (Tammy Berberi and Viktor Berberi)
Section IV—Up and Out: Essays on Reimaginings and New Visions
Is Disney Avant­Garde? A Comparative Analysis of Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Jan Svankmajer’s Alice (1989) (William Verrone)
(Indivi)duality in Return to Oz: Reflection and Revision (Ana Salzberg)
Securing the Virtual Frontier for Whiteness in Tron (Michael Green)
A Womb with a Phew! Post­Humanist Theory and Pixar’s Wall­E (Walter C. Metz)
Home Is Where the Heart Is: Pixar’s Up (Dennis Tyler)
Filmography
About the Contributors
Index
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews