Defintion of Disneyfication at Wikipedia
Walt Disney, the dude, was an interesting and resourceful fella. I have respect for the man behind the mouse. I also have tons of respect for the digital artists and computer whizzes who make Disney’s visually breathtaking animated movies. Having known a few, I even respect those poor saps that have to spend their summers wearing giant costume heads at the Disney branded theme park experience. The rest of Disney, however, can get bent.
Selena, Persephone Magazine
Fear or distaste for the real Grimm fairy tales is as ubiquitous as it is hoary. There may be no more systematic case of bowdlerization than Disney’s treatment of them.
WSJ, In Defence Of Real Fairy Tales
Elyse at Skepchick, while wondering why men feel that they’re not welcome at conferences with ‘women’ in the title, thinks it starts in childhood and brings up Disney’s movie marketing as an example:
…there still seems to be an idea that white and male is a default, neutral thing that appeals to everyone, and straying from that is somehow focusing on special demographics. For example, Disney’s Tangled is an adaptation of the Rapunzel story. But Disney had to work very hard to make sure that boys weren’t turned off by watching a movie about a girl. For one, they didn’t call the movie “Rapunzel”. The story is narrated by the male lead, despite the movie being about Rapunzel’s journey. Or if you pay attention to Pixar’s marketing of Brave, […] you’ll notice, for example, that they advertised during the NFL draft… but that preview shows the female lead for maybe 2 of the almost 60 seconds, and gives the very distinct impression that the movie is about tough men… especially bothersome since this is the very first Pixar movie about a girl.
Girls Still Have Cooties
FURTHER READING
Tumblr Artists Diversify Disney Because Disney Won’t Do It Themselves from Jezebel
5 Ways Disney Films Are Bad For Married Men from GMP
The Disney Characters You Never Saw from io9
Why J.R.R. Tolkien felt “a heartfelt loathing” towards Walt Disney and his movies at Fansided.
FAN PHENOMENA: DISNEY
Sabrina Mittermeier’s edited volume Fan Phenomena: Disney (Intellect Books, 2023) analyzes the fandom of Disney brands across a variety of media including film, television, novels, stage productions, and theme parks. It showcases fan engagement such as cosplay, fan art, and on social media, as well as the company’s reaction to it. Further, the volume deals with crucial issues—race and racism, the role of queerness, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the advent of the streaming service Disney+—within the Disney fandom and in Disney texts.
The authors come from a variety of disciplines including cultural and media studies, marketing and communications, cultural history, theater and performance studies, and more. In addition to interviews with fan practitioners, the essays feature both leading experts in fan and Disney studies alongside emerging voices in these fields. A vital new addition to the growing subdiscipline of fan studies, it will be popular with scholars of cultural studies, cultural history, and media studies.
interview at New Books Network
