Social Order and Authority in Disney and Pixar Films contributes to an essential, ongoing conversation about how power dynamics are questioned, reinforced, and disrupted in the stories Disney tells. Whether these films challenge or perpetuate traditional structures (or do both), their considerable influence warrants careful examination. This collection addresses the vast reach of the Disneyverse, contextualizing its films within larger conversations about power relations. The depictions of surveillance, racial segregation, othering, and ableism represent real issues that impact people and their lived experiences. Unfortunately, storytellers often oversimplify or mischaracterize complex matters on screen. To counter this, contributors investigate these unspoken and sometimes unintended meanings. By applying the lenses of various theoretical approaches, including ecofeminism, critiques of exceptionalism, and gender, queer, and disability studies, authors uncover underlying ideologies. These discussions help readers understand how Disney's output both reflects and impacts contemporary cultural conditions.
Kellie Deys is associate professor of English at Nichols College where she chairs the English department and the Honors program. Denise F. Parrillo is associate professor of English at the Community College of Rhode Island.
Introduction by Kellie Deys and Denise F. Parrillo Section 1: Maintaining Social Orders 1. "We Don't Like What We Don't Understand": Mob Mentality and Individualism in Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Kellie Deys 2. Animated Fantasy and Isolation: The Asian Identity Vacuum in Disney's Constructed Universe by Christopher Maiytt 3. The Magic Island of Seabrook High: Disney Retcons the Civil Rights Movement in High School Musical Descendant Zombies by Aaron Clayton Section 2: Regulated Worlds of (Resisting) Children 4. Do You Want to Build a Childhood Trauma?: Parental Agency and Authority in Disney's Frozen by Denise A. Ayo 5. "Because My World Would Be a Wonderland": Fantasy Circumscription & Adult Constructions of Girlhood in Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953) by Joseph V. Giunta 6. It Isn't Just His Nose that Grows: Disney's Pinocchio and the Erotic Afterlives of Errant Boys by Vincent A. Lankewish Section 3: Challenging Social Constructs 7. Who Can Be Super?: Examining the Shifted Ability Spectrum in The Incredibles by Ethan Faust 8. Risk and Reflexivity in Pixar's The Incredibles by Francine Rochford 9. Out There: Science Fiction and Surveillance in Pixar's WALL-E and Up by Farisa Khalid 10. Pixar's Coco: The Power of Celebrity and its Impact on the Adolescent Mind by Susan Ray Index About the Editors and Contributors
