Demonising Disney is nothing new. Disney films have long been synonymous with a certain conservative, patriarchal, heterosexual ideology, occupying a centre-stage position at the heart of the evil empire. Deconstructing Disney takes issue with knee-jerk polarities, overturning classical oppositions and recognising that, just as the Disney ‘text’ has changed, so too must the terms of critical engagement. This book is a sharply focused deconstruction of the political culture — and the cultural politics — of the Disney canon in the years since the emergence of the so-called New World Order. Eleanor Byrne and Martin McQuillan offer a critical encounter with Disney which alternates between readings of individual texts and wider thematic concerns such as race, gender and sexuality, the broader context of American contemporary culture, and the global ambitions and insularity of the last great superpower. The movies discussed include The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Pocohontas, Snow White, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Dumbo, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Hercules and Mulan.
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About the Author
Eleanor Byrne is a Lecturer in post-Colonial Literature at University College Worcester and writes on aspects of culture and postcoloniality.Martin McQuillan teaches in the Department of Literature at Staffordshire University. His first book, Post Theory, was published in 1998. He is a founding member, with Helene Cixous, of EPOPEA: the project initiated to defend the rights of cultural producers in Europe.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Painfully academic and clinical study of animated features,
This review is from: Deconstructing Disney (Paperback)
I thought this book would be more all encompassing, but it analyzes only the specifics of the animated features from 1989 to 1999 and ignores the rest of the company and the parks. Not a topic I care about. It is also laughably pretensions and academic. The word 'oeuvre' is used 16 times before page 25. Here's just a piece of an actual run-on sentence from page 15..."one a Heideggerian-by-way-of-de-Man-Bennington-and-a-tradition-of-idnigenous-socialism, the other a post-colonialist-Bhabbha-Spivakc-Young-turning-left-at-feminism". I couldn't make this stuff up. About as fun as drinking bleach. You would think that such a clinical dissection would at least be accurate, but the introduction alone has four glaring factual errors that instantly made me distrust any of the subsequent information. Some of the errors: Disney died in 1967, they're building a park in Beijing, Tokyo Disneyland isn't open yet, and calling Animal Kingdom 'Safari World'. This was written in 1999, so thereÃ*s no excuse for not checking these facts. All in all a tedious read.
18 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligent and to the point,
This review is from: Deconstructing Disney (Paperback)
While the essays are a little overly verbose and unapproachable, the subjects they speak to are difficult to find elsewhere. In my personal research of Disney, I have not been able to find a more useful critique of the cinematics and plot of Disney movies
4 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Please reissue this book,
By gobirds2 (New England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Deconstructing Disney (Hardcover)
This is a very insightful book. If you like depth on a subject, this book is for you. Essential reading for Disney fans. I never was able to locate a copy of my own.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
To suggest that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the simultaneous, financial and artistic resurgence of Disney in The Little Mermaid (1989) is not mere coincidence might be condemned as wild speculation. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Lion King, Native American, Snow White, New World Order, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear, Middle East, Bill Clinton, John Smith, South Africa, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lee Shang, King Triton, Late Capitalism, Lost Boys, Mickey Mouse, Gulf War, The Rescuers Down Under, Toy Story, Eastern Europe, Pride Rock, Tiananmen Square, Festival of Fools, Hans Christian Andersen, Jacques Derrida New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
To suggest that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the simultaneous, financial and artistic resurgence of Disney in The Little Mermaid (1989) is not mere coincidence might be condemned as wild speculation. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Lion King, Native American, Snow White, New World Order, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear, Middle East, Bill Clinton, John Smith, South Africa, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lee Shang, King Triton, Late Capitalism, Lost Boys, Mickey Mouse, Gulf War, The Rescuers Down Under, Toy Story, Eastern Europe, Pride Rock, Tiananmen Square, Festival of Fools, Hans Christian Andersen, Jacques Derrida New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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23
books
cite this book:
See all 23 books citing this book
- The Little Mermaid (Disney/Book and Cassette) by Walt Disney on 29 pages
- Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, The Work of Mourning & the New International (Routledge Classics) by Jacques Derrida on 12 pages
- The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen on 9 pages
- Disney's the Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective (Classic Storybook) by Mouse Works on 6 pages
- The Rescuers Down Under (Mouse Works Classic Storybook Collection) by Walt Disney on 6 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust by Mark I. Pinsky on 6 pages
- Animation and America by Paul Wells on 4 pages
- The American Child: A Cultural Studies Reader by Caroline F. Levander on page 297, page 298, and page 299
- From Antz To Titanic: Reinventing Film Analysis by Martin Barker in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Deconstruction: A Reader by Martin McQuillan in Front Matter, and Back Matter
See all 23 books citing this book
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