lecture notes 3a

Lecture notes 3a

Disney – “point of view” documentary, do not seek to be objective but present a clear point of view, not biased but honest and straightforward in value judgments

American icon, pleasant childhood memories – critical outlook

Conspiracy theorist – critical outlook (don’t buy what film is saying)

Tree map – gender representations = sexualized, seductive, need a man

Race/ethnicity representations = scarce, stereotypical

Commercialization of children culture = vehicle for merchandizing, impact on creative play

Point – counterpoint

Why pick on Disney? Some conglomerates are larger and more powerful than Disney such as Warner Bros. or Hanna Barbara, hasn’t this always happened

-Is a case study, doesn’t pretend to tell the whole story, is a good choice since it is so recognizable, very American and can be generalized to others, tends to hide its true motives under cloak of innocence and fantasy

Are we holding Disney to higher standards because of its presentation of wholesome, family entertainment – so they are hypocritical but what of other companies that don’t pretend this – shouldn’t they be held accountable? They are being honest

-anyone who purports to teach children should be held to higher standards

JC Pennys – Back to School with Jack Daniels

Selective use of examples – is this representative (more anecdotal than systemic quantitative)? Pocahontas, Esmeralda, Megara even Belle rejects Beast’s abuse

- yes, there is some ambiguity, but some things never change – sexy figures, need for love and romance to be happy, yes, this is how fairy tales work but Disney’s updating of stories perpetuates stereotypes

Textual analysis is different from audience analysis – just because it can be interpreted this way doesn’t mean that audiences are doing this, this still needs to be studied (cause vs. correlation), little evidence that Disney productions effect Disney products, people are not dopes and are quite sophisticated, what is the actual effect of watching a Disney movie – fun and entertainment

- but children may not as developmentally along in their critical thinking, we do have evidence that TV watchers are influenced by TV and perhaps we can generalize from this