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Schedule of Meetings, Readings, & Screenings

  

All screening times given below are approximate.

Key to abbreviations for assignments listed on this page:

FMTM From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture. Elizabeth Bell, Lynda Haas, and Laura Sells, editors. 1995. ISBN: 978-0253209788
DD Deconstructing Disney  Eleanor Byrne and Martin McQuillan, 1999. ISBN 0745314511
View N-SDL View the assigned film via Netflix (N), streaming (S), DVD (D), and/or on DVD reserve in the Library (L) before class
TBA To be announced
Online You can access several of the readings below online; just click on the hyperlink for that reading. If a reading is not hyperlinked, it is only available in the texts listed above. Note that the online readings are PDF files, readable only via Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you may download it for free at http://www.adobe.com

Please note: this syllabus is subject to change (with notice).

 

Week 1         Introduction

August 16-18

In-class Screening: Mickey Mouse Monopoly (Media Education Foundation 2002, 52 min.)
Reading & Quiz: Henry Giroux, "Memory and Pedagogy in the 'Wonderful World of Disney'" (FMTM 43-48 only)
Reading & Quiz: Lee Artz, “Monarchs, Monsters and Multiculturalism” (in Rethinking Disney 75-83 only)
Assignment: In-class writing assignment # 1

 

Section 1: Animated Nature

Week 2      Honesty and Morality

August 23-25

View N-D, S: Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen, 1940, 88 min.)  (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Jack Zipes, “Breaking the Disney Spell” (FMTM 21-33 only) Also available online
Reading & Quiz: Claudia Card, "Pinocchio" (FMTM 62-71)

 

Week 3        I Wanna Be Like You

August 30-September 1

View N-D: The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reiterman, 1967, 78 min.) (Study Guide)
T In-class Screening: Bambi (David Hand, 1942, 67 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: David Payne, "Bambi" (FMTM 137-147)
Reading & Quiz: Susan Miller and Greg Rode "The Movie You See, The Movie You Don't" (FMTM 86-102)

 

Week 4        "Masterpiece" Marketing

September 6-8

NO CLASS ON TUESDAY FOR LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
View N-D: Fantasia (James Algar and Samuel Armstrong, 1940, 120 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Moya Luckett, "Fantasia: Cultural Constructions of Disney's 'Masterpiece'" (from Smoodin, Disney Discourse 214-236)

 

Week 5      Life on a Leash

September 13-15

View N-D: 101 Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi and Hamilton Luske, 1961, 79 min.) (Study Guide)
T In-class Screening: The Lady and the Tramp (Clyde Geronimi and Wilfred Jackson, 1955, 76 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Patrick M. Murphy, "The Whole Wide World Was Scrubbed Clean" (FMTM 125-136)
Reading & Quiz: Eleanor Byrne and Martin McQuillan, “’You Can’t Lionise the Lion': Racing Disney" (DD pp. 94-100 only)

 

Week 6        The Circle of Life

September 20-22

View Library only: The Lion King (Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, 1994; 90 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Lee Artz, “Monarchs, Monsters and Multiculturalism” (in Rethinking Disney 83-98)
Reading & Quiz: Eleanor Byrne and Martin McQuillan, “’You Can’t Lionise the Lion': Racing Disney" (DD pp. 100-105 only)
Take-Home Essay 1 distributed Thursday; due at the start of class next Tuesday via email Word attachment and printout.

 

Section 2: The Disney Princesses

Week 7        Whistle While You Work

September 27-29

 TUESDAY: EXAM 1  Bring a scantron, 2 pencils, and 2 pens.
View N-D: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, 1937; 84 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Jack Zipes, “Breaking the Disney Spell” (FMTM 33-42) Also available online

 

Week 8        So This Is Love

October 4-6

View N-D: Sleeping Beauty (Clyde Geronimi, 1959, 75 min.) (Study Guide)
T In-class Screening: Cinderella (Clyde Geronimi and Wilfred Jackson, 1950, 76 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Elizabeth Bell, “Somatexts at the Disney Shop: Constructing the Pentimentos of Women’s Animated Bodies” (FMTM 107-124)

 

Week 9       Part of Your World

October 11-13 

View N-D, S: The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements and John Musker, 1989, 83 min.) (Study Guide)
T Reading & Quiz: Jill Birnie Henke, et. al., “Constructions of the Female Self: Feminist Readings of the Disney Heroine”
Th Reading & Quiz: Laura Sells, “’Where do the Mermaids Stand?’ Voice and Body in The Little Mermaid” (FMTM 175-192--okay to just skim the conclusion)

 

Week 10       Taming the Beast

October 18-20

View N-D: Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, 1991, 90 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Susan Jeffords, “The Curse of Masculinity: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” (FMTM 161-172)
  Mean Girls trailer vs. "Disney Mean Girls" mash-up

 

Week 11      "Almost Human / Almost There"

October 25-27

View N-SD: The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker, 2009, 97 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Dorothy Hurley, “Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princesses”
Reading & Quiz: Kate Harding, "Disney doesn't want princess cooties" (from www.Salon.com)
Take-Home Essay 2 due next Tuesday via email Word attachment and on hard copy.

 

Section 3: Cultural Appropriation

Week 12       Queering Disney: Religion, Sexuality, & French Literature

November 1-3

TUESDAY: EXAM 2  Bring a scantron, 2 pencils, and 2 pens.
View N-D, S: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, 1996, 91 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Eleanor Byrne and Martin McQuillan, 2 excerpts from from Deconstructing Disney: "Introduction" pp 7-14 only and “King of the Swingers: Queering Disney”  (DD pp. 133-143 only)

 

Week 13       "It's barbaric, but hey, it's home"

November 8-10

View N-D, S: Aladdin (Ron Clements and John Musker, 1992, 90 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Jack Shaheen, “Aladdin: Animated Racism” (from Cineaste)
Reading & Quiz: Eleanor Byrne and Martin McQuillan, excerpt from from Deconstructing Disney: "Spectographies: Conjuring Disney" (DD p. 73-82 only)

 

Week 14       PC Neocolonialism

November 15-17

View N-D: Pocahontas (Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg, 1995, 84 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Derek Buescher & Kent Ono, “Civilized Colonialism: Pocahontas as Neocolonial Rhetoric”
Reading & Quiz: Gail Tremblay, “Reflecting on Pocahontas”
Reading & Quiz: Eleanor Byrne and Martin McQuillan, excerpt from from Deconstructing Disney: “’You Can’t Lionise the Lion': Racing Disney" (DD pp. 105-110 only)
  BRING YOUR LAPTOP TO CLASS ON THURSDAY
Online Course Evaluations this week

 

Week 15        Class Choice

November 22-24

View N-D: Class choice Disney/Pixar film: Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, 2000; 96 min.)
Study Guide: What makes Up a Disney film and what makes it different from Disney?
Thursday class canceled for Thanksgiving Break
Online Course Evaluations this week

 

Week 16       China's Story of Fa Mu Lan

November 29-December 1

View N-D: Mulan (Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, 1998, 88 min.) (Study Guide)
Reading & Quiz: Maxine Hong Kingston, “White Tigers”
Reading & Quiz: Sheng-Mei Ma, “Mulan Disney, It’s Like, Re-Orients: Consuming China and Animating Teen Dreams” in The Emperor's Old Groove 149-64
Online Course Evaluations end this week
In-class writing assignment # 2 on Thursday
Class party potluck on Thursday: Bring food!
Take-Home Essay 3 due next Tuesday via email Word attachment and on hard copy.

 

Final Exam

Tuesday, December 6, 10:15a-12:15p in UC 272. Bring a scantron, 2 pencils, and 2 pens.