Fantasy, History, and Ideology in Popular Culture: Disney and Society

Transcription

1 Fantasy, History, and Ideology in Popular Culture: Disney and Society English 114 (section 18) Instructor: Lynda Paul Fall 2013 Office: Stoeckel 204 Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Office hours: by appointment Location: Stoeckel 313 lynda.paul@yale.edu Course Description Contemporary popular entertainment genres cartoons, movies, and theme parks, just to name a few frequently feature the fantastic worlds of fairy tales, myths, and legends, all of which seem to offer us a temporary escape from our everyday reality. And yet, the realm of popular fantasy is never actually divorced from the real-life culture and society that produced it. How do the fairy tales, myths, and legends depicted in popular entertainment of the past century intersect with real-world issues such as class, race, gender, and political ideology? This writing seminar investigates this complex and multifaceted question through a close examination of Disney and its role in American society. Topics for discussion include the implicit cultural and historical meanings of Disney s Americanized versions of the Old World s fairy tales; the relationship between Disney s fantastical productions and its historically based works; and the ways in which Disney s multimedia creations have increasingly shaped and been shaped by the public discourse of a globalizing, multicultural world. These topics will be addressed through close readings of academic articles from multiple disciplines (including anthropology, comparative literature, ethnomusicology, history, sociology, and theater studies) and analysis of Disney multimedia objects (including short cartoons, scenes from feature films and theatre productions, selected theme park attractions, and Disney merchandise). Course Goals This course s primary goal is to give students the opportunity to work on their academic writing skills. Students will learn how to read an academic article carefully and critically, how to create persuasive interpretive arguments, how to write compellingly about multimedia objects, and how to integrate their own opinions into a larger critical conversation about Disney and its cultural significance. At the outset of the class, we focus on analyzing academic articles; as a prerequisite to writing their own arguments, students learn how to interrogate and break down the structure of others arguments, identifying where and how an author has (1) set up a problem that needs to be solved, (2) explained the reasons why it is important that we solve that problem (the stakes or motive of the article), (3) proposed to the reader a solution to the problem (a main claim), and (4) offered evidence in support of the proposed solution. As the course progresses, students will begin to integrate the ideas presented in the academic articles (secondary sources) with their own direct observations of multimedia Disney objects (primary sources), learning how to make thoughtful interpretive claims that put the ideas of other authors into conversation with their own views on how sound, image, and text work together or against each other in selected Disney scenes and objects. Eventually, students will conduct independent research on a self-selected academic topic about the Disney phenomenon. Throughout the course, there will be an emphasis on writing and revision as themselves modes of thinking through complex intellectual problems. 1

2 Course Materials Most course readings will be available online, in PDF form, under the Resources tab for this class at classes v.2 (these will include short scholarly articles and excerpts from books). These readings must be printed out in hard copy and brought to class. In addition to the PDF readings, you are required to purchase the following books: 1. The Craft of Research (3 rd ed.), Wayne Booth et. al.: available at the Yale Bookstore or Amazon; ISBN: A Pocket Style Manual (6 th ed.), Diana Hacker: available at the Yale Bookstore or Amazon; ISBN: DVDs of Disney films, audio CDs of Disney soundtracks, and a selection of books about Disney will be available at the library and at the Film Study Center for your use. Course Requirements 1. Attendance and participation: Classroom work will include discussion, writing workshops, and presentations. Each student is required to come to class on time AND to be fully prepared to participate actively. Students are required to do the readings, to print them out ahead of time and bring them to class, and to discuss them thoughtfully. Consistent absences or lack of preparation and participation will lower your grade. 2. Brief writing assignments: For many of the assigned readings, you will be asked to complete short informal writing assignments as homework. 3. Four formal essays, drafted in stages: These essays consist of 1) a short close reading analysis of an academic argument; 2) a slightly longer critical analysis that integrates three secondary sources into your interpretation of a Disney scene; 3) an extended research essay on a Disney multimedia object of your choice; and 4) a capstone essay. 4. Instructor conferences: Over the semester, each student is required to consult with me outside of class in my office hours at least twice, but everyone is encouraged to consult with me for each of the four major essays. Other policies 1. Plagiarism: You must follow the university s code on academic honesty and plagiarism. Any student violation of the code will be reported and may result in a failing grade or suspension from the university. Details about what constitutes cheating and/or plagiarism are available here: 2. Essay format and submission: All essays must follow Chicago citation format for research papers. Essays must 1) be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, 2) be double-spaced, and 3) have 1-inch margins. See the section on Chicago style in A Pocket Style Manual for more information. Digital copies of each of your essays (both first drafts and final versions) must be submitted to me by the deadline in your dropbox folder on classes v.2. In many cases, first drafts must also be submitted electronically to either the class or members of your workshop 2

3 group. Late essays will be penalized, and essays that are more than 3 days late will not be accepted. *Please title your files in the following manner: lastname-essay1draft; lastnameessay1final; lastname-essay2draft; lastname-essay2final; etc. 3. Help: I require each student to attend at least 2 instructor conferences, but I will always be willing and available to discuss questions or concerns about your writing and the class. I also urge you to take advantage of the writing tutors at the both the Residential Colleges and the Writing Center. For more information, see: residentialcollege-writing-tutors and Grading Essay 1 (4-5 pages, close reading analysis of argument) 10% Essay 2 (5-6 pages, critical analysis of Disney excerpt with secondary sources) 20% Essay 3 (8-10 pages, research-based argument essay) 30% Essay 4 (5-6 pages, reflective essay) 20% Additional assignments (pre-writing paragraphs, proposal/bibliography, etc.) 5% Participation (discussion, workshops, attendance) 15% Class Schedule N.B.: Assigned readings are to be printed out and read BEFORE the class for which they are notated on this schedule. The schedule is also subject to change; students are responsible for keeping up with all announced revisions, as well as writing assignments that are announced in class. Introduction W, Aug. 28 Course introduction Introduction to academic arguments and key terms for the semester Unit 1: Fantasy and Reality F, Aug. 30 MONDAY CLASSES MEET TODAY Zipes, Fairy Tale as Myth, Myth as Fairy Tale (1-16) Booth, The Craft of Research, ch. 7 (overview of arguments) M, Sept. 2 NO CLASS: LABOR DAY HOLIDAY W, Sept. 4 Zipes, continued Booth, The Craft of Research, ch. 8 (making claims) M, Sept. 9 Cook, Analysing Musical Multimedia (v-xi, , ) Booth, The Craft of Research, ch. 9 (reasons and evidence) Draft of Essay #1 due by 6:00 p.m. via dropbox 3

4 W, Sept. 11 Peer writing workshop for Essay #1 M, Sept. 16 Hastings, Moral Simplification in Disney s The Little Mermaid Suzanne Rahn, The Dark Rise of Snow White: Narrative Strategies at Disneyland Booth, The Craft of Research, ch. 12 (planning) Booth, The Craft of Research, ch. 13 (drafting) W, Sept. 18 Cummins, Romancing the Plot: The Real Beast of Disney s Beauty and the Beast Swan, Gothic Drama in Disney s Beauty and the Beast: Subverting Traditional Romance by Transcending the Animal-Human Paradox F, Sept. 20 Essay #1 (final draft) due by 6:00 p.m. via dropbox Unit 2: History-Making, Memory, and Nostalgia M, Sept. 23 Hobsbawm, Invention of Tradition, Introduction (1-14) Heehs, Myth and History (1-5) W, Sept. 25 Francaviglia, History after Disney: The Significance of Imagineered Historical Places Francaviglia, Walt Disney s Frontierland as an Allegorical Map of the American West M, Sept. 30 Writing Workshop: Style Bring in articles/sentences, according to assignment Lanham, Revising Prose (x, 1-20, 41-42) Booth, The Craft of Research, ch. 17 (style) Draft of Essay #2 due by 6:00 p.m. via dropbox W, Oct. 2 Peer writing workshop for Essay #2 Read your group s essays/make comments/write letter M, Oct. 7 Carson, Music and the Disney Theme Park Experience Karal Ann Marling, Designing Disney s Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance (excerpt by Doss, ) W, Oct. 9 Booth, The Craft of Research, chs. 3 & 4 (topics to questions to problems) Booth, The Craft of Research, chs. 5 & 6 (problems, using sources) F, Oct. 11 Essay #2 (final draft) due by 6:00 p.m. via dropbox 4

5 M, Oct. 14 Library trip (discussion of resources; the process of gathering bibliographies/ crafting research proposals; annotated bibliographies) Unit 3: Globalization, Multiculturalism, and Utopianism W, Oct. 16 Said, excerpts from Orientalism (1-4, 15, 38-44, 54-60, ) Booth, The Craft of Research, ch. 16 (introductions and conclusions) Writing Mini-Workshop: Structuring a Research Paper M, Oct. 21 Lacroix, Images of Animated Others: The Orientalization of Disney s Cartoon Heroines from The Little Mermaid to the Hunchback of Notre Dame Research proposal and annotated bibliography due in class W, Oct. 23 NO CLASS: OCTOBER RECESS M, Oct. 28 Edwards, The United Colors of Pocahontas : Synthetic Miscegenation and Disney s Multiculturalism W, Oct. 30 Nooshin, Circumnavigation with a Difference? Music, Representation, and the Disney Experience: It s a Small, Small World Outline/map and partial draft of Essay #3 due in class Unit 4: Fantasy, History, & Diversity Made Real : Disney, Theatre, Commerce M, Nov. 4 Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation (12-14) W, Nov. 6 Do Rozario, Reanimating the Animated: Disney s Theatrical Productions F, Nov. 8 Draft of Essay #3 due by 6:00 p.m. via dropbox M, Nov. 11 Peer writing workshop for Essay #3 Read your group s essays/make comments/write letter W, Nov. 13 Research presentations M, Nov. 18 Research presentations, continued W, Nov. 20 Wickstrom, Commodities, Mimesis, and The Lion King : Retail Theatre for the 1990s Booth, The Craft of Research, ch. 11 (warrants) F, Nov. 22 Essay #3 (final, with bibliography) due by 6:00 p.m. via dropbox 5

6 M, Nov. 25 NO CLASS: NOVEMBER RECESS W, Nov. 27 NO CLASS: NOVEMBER RECESS M, Dec. 2 Brater, Del Vecchio, et. al, Let Our Freak Flags Fly : Shrek the Musical and the Branding of Diversity Synthesis and Summary W, Dec. 4 Best and Lowney, The Disadvantage of a Good Reputation: Disney as a Target for Social Problems Claims Last class wrap-up W, Dec. 11 Essay #4 (final) due by noon via dropbox 6