Currently, I am working on the following projects...
Disney's Corporate Monsters: Exploring the Monstrous in Disney depictions of Corporate Evil
Solicited for inclusion in the Canadian journal Studies in Religion , this paper explores the recurring theme of the corporate monster in Disney films, theme parks, and online role-playing games. It has been argued extensively in liberal critiques of Disney that the Walt Disney Corporation masquerades behind a mask of innocence while simultaneously pursuing a relentless corporate agenda. Implicit in the critiques is the assumption that one cannot be both aggressively capitalistic and heavy-handedly corporate in structure and policy (as the Walt Disney Company arguably is), while simultaneously authentically advocating individualism, free thought, innocence and “fun.” Drawing on David Chidester's model for understanding religion as the “work” of defining what it means to be human, and in contrast, what it means to be monstrous, this paper argues that Disney entertainment products reveal a similar struggle to reconcile discrepant identities within the body of its own work. Disney's MMOG game “ Toontown Online ,” for example, pits corporate “Cogs” against sacralized ideals of “fun” and “work.” Pirates of the Caribbean , both the successful film trilogy and the online MMORG, contrast the goal of world domination by the East India Trading Company to the irreverent and anti-establishment “work” (“by the strength of their backs and the sweat of their brow”) of Pirates. Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc . pits fun loving factory workers against corporate fear-mongers out to make a profit at any cost. Disney's theme park ride Alien Encounter (now rebranded as Stitch's Great Escape ) highlights the dangerous consequences of corporate greed. The implications of Disney's portrayal of the corporate monster for understanding sacralized themes within Disney entertainment products, and for understanding Disney's own ambivalent response to corporate power, is explored.
The Ambiguous Captain Jack Sparrow: Destabilizing Power, Race, Gender and Religion in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.
Currently being revised for consideration for publication by The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture , the paper addresses the accusations within academic literature that Disney promulgates a racist, sexist, imperialist, anti-democratic, and consumerist ideology within its entertainment empire. As noted within this proposal, scholars have decried Disney's depiction of ethnicity, gender, class, politics, and religion, and have argued that Disney films reflect a nostalgia for a white, colonial, male-oriented Christian past and an uncritical acceptance of overtly consumerist culture. This article examines these academic criticisms of Disney through the lens of Disney's film trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean . The paper argues that Disney's Pirate film trilogy destabilizes traditional models of ethnicity, gender, politics and religion through the figure of Captain Jack Sparrow. Exploring Jack as a Trickster figure highlights dichotomies such as good and evil, life and death, male and female, human and divine, democracy and imperialism, freedom and slavery, and points to a broader trend within Disney films to problematize accepted categories. As a result, the article suggests that Disney's ideological “message” is much more nuanced in these films than academic critics give Disney credit for.
Christmas as Culture: Exploring Christmas at Walt Disney World.
This project is an ongoing study of Christmas at Walt Disney World, involving fieldwork at the four WDW theme parks in December 2009 and 2010, and to be completed this December in 2011. Disney celebrates the Christian holiday of Christmas (rather than Winterfest, or some other generic winter-themed holiday), complete with nativity sets, gospel choirs, Christmas Carols and the reading of Bible verses. Live-action theatrical and other staged productions such as “Holiday Wishes,” the Christmas parade held in conjunction with “Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party,” “The Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights,” “Christmas Around the World,” and EPCOT's Candlelight Processional construct a multi-layered experience of Christmas in the parks. Only EPCOT, Disney's cultural showcase, and the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, however, features the religious dimensions of Christmas. The visual, auditory, and narrative constructions of “Christmas” at EPCOT and the Osbourne Lights are deconstructed in this project, revealing Disney's packaging of Christmas as culture. Overt religious elements are both legitimized and trivialized as manifestations of cultural significance, independent of any theological dimensions.
When Edmund and Aslan met Mickey: The Disnification of The Chronicles of Narnia .
This paper represents an analysis of one Disney film – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – in light of the Disney Boycott discussed in this proposal. As discussed, t he relationship between Disney and certain constituencies within the conservative Christian community has been strained. Although the Disney Boycott has officially ended, suspicion of Disney films and motives remains strong among some members of this community. When Disney announced that they were making The Chronicles of Narnia , it is not surprising that this news was greeted within this community with suspicion, as the novel by C.S. Lewis that this film is based upon has long been beloved by the Christian community. Since the release of the first Narnia film by Disney, however, there has been virtually no negative reaction on the part of conservative Christians to the film. Can we conclude from this that Disney's Narnia is faithful to the religious dimensions of C.S. Lewis's original novel? This paper argues that the film in fact departs theologically from the novel in two very important ways. What these differences might indicate and the reasons why these changes have been apparently overlooked by Disney's conservative Christian watchdogs will be explored. The paper will utilize the theoretical models proposed for the current research project to comment on the religious dimensions of this specific Disney film, and what the audience response among conservative Christian critics of Disney might indicate regarding the nature of the current ‘cultural divide.'
Straight to DVD: The Disney Princess sequels and the “subversion” of traditional female gender roles.
Disney animated feature films have been criticized by scholars for their portrayal of stereotypical and patriarchal gender roles. Snow White, after all, sings cheerfully when given the opportunity to cook and clean for seven men; the Little Mermaid gives up her voice (symbol of individuation and empowerment) in order to ‘get her man;' Beauty stays in an abusive relationship with her Beast in the hope that her love will ‘change' him… the list of examples is nearly endless. However, conservative Christian critics of Disney have charged that Disney undermines traditional “family values,” including traditional gender roles. Although this accusation is primarily aimed at Disney corporate policies, Disney entertainment products have also been accused of this “subversion.” So where does this “subversion” of traditional gender roles emerge, if at all, in Disney entertainment products? This paper argues that Disney's straight to DVD Princess sequels DO challenge patriarchal gender norms, if only in a qualified way. While maintaining the emphasis on marriage and family for Disney Princesses, these films also portray the Princesses and/or their daughters as rebellious, heroic, resourceful, and liberated, with identities and motivations independent of their male partners. This paper will examine the Disney Princess straight-to-DVD sequels using theories drawn from feminist scholarship, and will consider the idea that the Disney Princesses might in fact represent surprising examples of the post-modern feminist hero.
