University of Essex

PA334-6-AU-CO:
Childhood Inc.: Disney and the Globalization of Childhood

The details

Year: 2023/24

Department: Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies

Campus: Colchester Campus

Term: Autumn

Level: Undergraduate: Level 6

Status: Current

Start date: Thursday 05 October 2023

End date: Friday 15 December 2023

Credits: 15

Last updated: 14 September 2021

Requisites for this module

Pre-requisites: (none)

Co-requisites: (none)

Pre and / or co-requisites: (none)

Prohibited modules: (none)

Key module (requisite for): (none)

Key module for

BA L520 Childhood Studies,
BA L521 Childhood Studies (Including Year Abroad),
BA L522 Childhood Studies (Including Placement Year),
BA L523 Childhood Studies (Including Foundation Year)

Module description

Are Disney films good for children? How do they represent issues of gender, race, colonialism, and sexuality? And what is Disney's role in the globalization and commercialization of childhood? In this module, we will explore the centrality of the Disney corporation to the construction and globalization of childhood in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Founded in 1923, the Disney company rapidly expanded throughout the latter half of the 20th century, coming to define our idea of childhood, both locally and globally. From movies, to theme parks, to branded commodities, Disney has permeated many aspects of childhood, impacting both how children experience themselves and how they experience the world around them.

In order to unpack this impact, we will approach Disney from a global perspective, considering how the company emerged, expanded, and eventually came to have such an influential relationship to childhood. To this end, we will view and discuss one of Disney's most famous cultural productions--the Disney movie--considering how these films, which are designed for and viewed by children around the world, represent issues of race, gender, colonialism, sexuality, and politics.

Additionally, we will also consider Disney`s wider role in the spread of Western capitalism and consumerism. Our wager, throughout this class, is that, far from being political benign, media made for and distributed to children has a significant impact on the organization of culture and politics globally and, together, we will aim to understand its effects through Disney.

Module aims

The aims of the module are:

1. To help students consider the role of culture, consumerism, and representation in childhood
2. To expand student`s awareness of the impact of film and media on children`s lives
3. To introduce students to varied approaches to issues of gender, sexuality, race, class, colonialism, and nationality.
4. To foster student awareness of how children understand and assimilate different social identities.
5. To help students think historically and politically about cultural products designed for children
6. To give students the tools to critically evaluate film and visual media
7. To deepen students` understanding of globalization and its effects

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module:

1. Students will become familiar with the history and present politics of the Disney corporation
2. Students will be able to think critically about representations of race, gender, sexuality, colonialism, etc in film and media
3. Students will gain better psychosocial understanding of how culture and media shapes children`s subjectivity and their perceptions of their environment
4. Students will develop their abilities to think critically about intersectionality
5. Students will understand the historical process of globalization and how it relates to children and childhood
6. Students will be better able to developed informed perspectives on how to respond to issues of diversity and inclusivity in their own future work with children.

Module information

Syllabus

Lecture 1
Disney & Corporate Childhood

Required Reading
View in Class: Steamboat Willie (Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney, Walt Disney Productions, 1928) [8 min.]

Elizabeth Bell, et. al., `Introduction: Walt`s in the Movies` From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture, p. 1-17

Henry A. Giroux and Grace Pollock, `Are Disney Movies Good for Your Kids?: How Corporate Media Shape Youth Identity in the Digital Age,` in Kinderculture: the corporate construction of childhood. P. 73-92.

Further Reading
Henry Giroux, `Introduction: Disney`s Troubled Utopia,` The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence, p. 1-17

Henry Giroux, `Disney and the Politics of Public Culture,` The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence, p. 17-61

Lecture 2
`Who's the Fairest of them All?`: Whiteness & The Disney Princess

Required Reading
VIEW: Snow White

Tiya Miles, `Mirror, Mirror on the Wall,` Women Worldwide: Transnational Feminist Perspectives on Women, Ed Janet Lee and Susan M. Shaw, McGraw Hill, p. 98-100

Dorothy Hurley, `Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princesses,` The Journal of Negro Education 74.3 (2005): 221-232

Further Reading
Peggy McIntosh, `White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack` (1989): https://www.wcwonline.org/Fact-Sheets-Briefs/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack-2

Lecture 3
Sing It, Sister!: Voice, Embodiment, & Femininity

Required Reading
VIEW: The Little Mermaid

Laura Sells, `'Where do the Mermaids Stand?: Voice and Body in The Little Mermaid,` From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture, p. 175-192

Further Reading
Elizabeth Bell, `Somatexts at the Disney Shop: Constructing the Pentimentos of Women's Animated Bodies` From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture, p. 107-124

Pamela Colby O'Brien, `The Happiest Films on Earth: A Textual and Contextual Analysis of Walt Disney`s Cinderella and The Little Mermaid,` Women's Studies in Communication 19.2 (1996): 155-183

Lecture 4
He's a Beast: Masculinity, Class, & Heteronormativity

Required Reading
VIEW: Beauty & the Beast

Susan Jeffords, `The Curse of Masculinity: Disney`s Beauty and the Beast` From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture, 161-172

Further Reading
KA Martin and Emily Kayzak, `Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children's G- Rated Movies,` Gender and Society, 2009.

Lecture 5
Anthropocentric Interlude: Between Child & Animal

Required Reading
VIEW: The Jungle Book

Susan Willis, `Disney's Bestiary,` Rethinking Disney: Private Control, Public Dimensions. Ed. Mike Budd and Max H. Hirsch. Middleton, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2005. 53-74.

Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart, `From the Child to the Noble Savage` How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic (New York: International General, 1984): p. 48-58

Further Reading
Scott Hermanson, `Truer than Life: Disney`s Animal Kingdom` in Rethinking Disney: Private Control, Public Dimensions, Ed. Mike Budd and Max H. Hirsch (Middleton, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2005): 199–230.

Cynthia Chris, `The Disneyfication of Nature` in Watching Wildlife (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 2006): 28-44.

Patrick D. Murphy, `The Whole Wide World was Scrubbed Clean`: The Androcentric Animation of Denatued Disney,` From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture, 125-136

Megan Condis, `She was a beautiful girl and all of the animals loved her`: Race, The Disney Princesses, and Their Animal Friends,` Gender Forum 2015

Nicholas Sammond, `Dumbo, Disney, and Difference: Walt Disney Productions and Film as Childre`s Literature,` The Oxford Handbook of Children`s Literature. (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011): 147–166.

Lecture 6
A Whole New World: Race & Orientalism

Required Reading
VIEW: Aladdin

Said, Edward. `Introduction,` Orientalism. p. 1-38.

Further Reading
Erin Addison, `Saving Other Women from Other Men: Disney`s Aladdin,` Camera Obscura 11 (1993): 4-25

Jack Shaheen, `Aladdin: Animated Racism,` Cineaste 21.3 (1993), p. 49

Henry Giroux, `Children's Culture and Disney`s Animated Films,` The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence, p. 83-121

Lila Abu-Lughod, `Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others,` American Anthropologist vol 104.3 (2002): 783-790

Lecture 7
Colonial Romances

Required Reading
VIEW: Pocahontas

Jacquelyn Kilpatrick, `Disney`s 'Politically Correct` Pocahontas,` Cineaste 21.4 (1995), p. 36-37

Derek Buescher & Kent Ono, `Civilized Colonialism: Pocahontas as Neocolonial Rhetoric,` Women`s Studies in Communication, vol 19.2 (1996): 127-153

Further Reading
Radha Jhappan and Davia Stasiulis, `Anglophilia and the Discrete Charm of the English Voice in Disney`s Pocahontas Films,` Rethinking Disney: Private Control, Public Dimensions. Ed. Mike Budd and Max H. Hirsch. Middleton, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2005. Pp. 150-180

Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart, `From the Noble Savage to the Third World,` How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic (New York: International General, 1984): 59-80

Andrea Smith, `Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide,` Conquest: Sexual Violence & American Indian Genocide. Durham: Duke UP (2005): p. 7-34

Derek Buescher & Kent Ono, `Deciphering Pocahontas: Unpackaging the commodification of a native American woman,` Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol 18.1 (1999): 23-43

Lecture 8
Democratic Imaginaries: Disney, Politics, & Multiculturalism

Required Reading
VIEW: The Lion King

Eleanor Byrne and Martin McQuillan, `'You Can't Lionize the Lion: Racing Disney,` Deconstructing Disney (1999): 94-100

Matt Roth, `The Lion King: A Short History of Disney-Fascism,` Jump Cut, no 40. March 1996 p. 15-20

Further Reading
Rosina Lippi-Green, `Teaching Children How to Discriminate,` English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States, p. 101-129.

Annalee Ward, `The Lion King`s Mythic Narrative: Disney as Moral Educator,` Journal of Popular Film and Television (1996), 171-178

Maurya Wickstrom, `The Lion King, Mimesis, and Disney`s Magical Capitalism,` Rethinking Disney: Private Control, Public Dimensions. Ed. Mike Budd and Max H. Hirsch. Middleton, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2005. 99-124

Lecture 9
Disney Rebooted: Ecofeminism & Indigeneity

Required Reading
VIEW: Moana

Jill Birnie Henke, et. al., `Constructions of the Female Self: Feminist Readings of the Disney Heroine,` Women`s Studies in Communication, 19 (2): pp. 229-249

Lecture 10
Disney-World: Disneyland, Consumer Culture, and the Globalization of American Childhood

Required Reading
Henry Giroux, `Globalizing the Disney Empire` & `Turning America into a Toy Store` The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence, p. 157-220

Further Reading
Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, `Imagines of Empire: Tokyo Disneyland and Japanese Cultural Imperialism,` Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kingdom, p. 181-202

Lee Artz, `Monarch, Monsters, and Multiculturalism: Disney`s Menu for Global Hierarchy,` Rethinking Disney: Private Control, Public Dimensions. Ed. Mike Budd and Max H. Hirsch. Middleton, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2005. 75-98.

Henry Giroux and Grace Pollack, `Disney, Militarization, and the National-Security State after 9/11` n The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010): 133–56.

Richard deCordova, `The Mickey in Macy`s Window: Childhood, Consumerism, and Disney Animation,` Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kindgom, p. 203-213

Louis Marin, `Utopic Degeneration: Disneyland` in Utopics: The Semiological Play of Textual Spaces, Trans. Robert A. Vollrath (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International, 1990): 239–58.

Jean Baudrillard, `The Hyperreal and the Imaginary` from `The Precession of Simulacrum` in Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. Sheila Faria Glaser. University of Michigan Press, 1994. 12–14.

Greg Siegel, `Disneyification, the Stadium, and the Politics of Ambiance,` Rethinking Disney: Private Control, Public Dimensions. Ed. Mike Budd and Max H. Hirsch. Middleton, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2005. P. 299-324.

Learning and teaching methods

10 x 1 hr Lectures 10 x 1 hr discussion seminars Independent Learning During this module, successful students will be expected to complete at least 20hrs of non-seminar additional study. This amounts to at least 2hrs additional study per week. The set readings which you must read to prepare for seminars are laid out in the weekly structure but we recommend a number of full texts that you should consult more fully.

Bibliography

Sun, C.-F. (2001) ‘Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood & Corporate Power.’ Available at: https://essexuk.kanopy.com/node/41557.
Giroux, H.A. and Pollock, G. (2011) ‘Is Disney Good for Your Kids? How Corporate Media Shape Youth Identity in the Digital Age’, in Kinderculture: The Corporate Construction of Childhood. 3rd edn. Boulder, US: Westview Press, pp. 73–92.
Whitley, D. (no date) ‘“Learning with Disney: Children”s Animation and the Politics of Innocence.”’, Journal of Education, Media, Memory and Society, 5(2).
Cottrell, W. (1937) ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ Walt Disney. Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2F000A06BD%3Fbcast%3D121365512.
Hurley, D.L. (no date) ‘Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princess’, The Journal of Negro Education, 74(3), pp. 221–232. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40027429.
Layng, J.M. (2001) ‘The Animated Woman: The Powerless Beauty of Disney Heroines from Snow White to Jasmine’, The American Journal of Semiotics, 17(3), pp. 197–215. Available at: https://www.proquest.com/docview/213749805/DE4EFA3BA6B24136PQ/9?accountid=10766.
Clements, R. and Musker, J. (1989) ‘The Little Mermaid.’ Walt Disney. Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2F0000402A%3Fbcast%3D125794410.
Bell, E., Haas, L. and Sells, L. (1995e) From mouse to mermaid: the politics of film, gender, and culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctt16gz53v.
Trousdale, G. and Wise, K. (1991) ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Walt Disney. Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2F0006E47C%3Fbcast%3D89592081.
Reitherman, W. (1967) ‘The Jungle Book.’ Walt Disney. Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2F05B76E16%3Fbcast%3D121803156.
Musker, J. and Clements, R. (1992) ‘Aladdin.’ Walt Disney. Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2F013E7B15%3Fbcast%3D92847242.
Said, E. (1994) ‘Introduction’, in Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, pp. 1–38. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=842875&site=ehost-live.
Gabriel, M. and Goldberg, E. (1995) ‘Pocahontas.’ Walt Disney. Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2F02B70CCD%3Fbcast%3D110206617.
Kilpatrick, J. (no date) ‘Disney’s “Politically Correct” “Pocahontas”’, Cinéaste, 21(4), pp. 36–37. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aft&AN=505721436.
Buescher, D.T. and Ono, K.A. (1996) ‘Civilized Colonialism: Pocahontas as Neocolonial Rhetoric’, Women’s Studies in Communication, 19(2), pp. 127–153.
Clements, R. and Musker, J. (2016) ‘Moana.’ Walt Disney. Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2F0E212CB3%3Fbcast%3D133498569.

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam	Description	Deadline	Coursework weighting
Coursework	Annotated Bibliography		30%
Coursework	Film Analysis		70%

Exam format definitions

Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Reassessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Module supervisor and teaching staff

Supervisor: Dr Carolyn Laubender, email: c.laubender@essex.ac.uk.

Teaching staff:

Contact details: Student administrator, room 5A.202, telephone 01206 874969, ppsug@essex.ac.uk

Availability

Available to incoming Essex Abroad / Exchange students: Yes

Available to Outside Option: Yes

Available to Audit: No

External examiner

Name: Prof Heather Montgomery

Institution: The Open University

Academic role: Professor of Anthropology and Childhood

Resources

Teaching materials: Available via Moodle

Lecture recording: Of 27 hours, 22 (81.5%) hours available to students:
5 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

Further information

Department website: Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies

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Module Directory

PA334-6-AU-CO:Childhood Inc.: Disney and the Globalization of Childhood