ENG 470
Disney's Influence on Children's Literature and Children's Culture
Syllabus for Fall 2022 in .pdf format
Read the material before class so you are ready to discuss in class. Please bring books and .pdf materials to class.
Disney and the Critics
- Frances Clarke Sayers's "Walt Disney Accused"
- Lucy Rollin's "Fear of Faerie: Disney and the Elitist Critics"
- Jill May's "Walt Disney's Interpretation of Children's Literature"
- Jack Zipes's "Breaking the Disney Spell"
Early Animation
- Read for class: Neal Gabler's Walt Disney (Introduction & chapters 1 & 2).
- Watch in class: The Walt Disney Story (1973). Winsor McKay's Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). Max Fleisher's Invisible Ink: Out of the Inkwell (1923).
Alice, Oswald and Mickey
Read for class:
- Steven Jay Gould's "A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse"
- Maurice Sendak's "Walt Disney/1"
- Neal Gabler's Walt Disney (chapters 3 & 4)
Watch before class: Alice's Wonderland (1923)
Watch in class: Trolley Troubles (1927) & Steamboat Willie (1928)
The Silly Symphonies
Read for class:
- Neal Gabler's Walt Disney (chapter 5).
- "The Ratcatcher (The Pied Piper of Hamelin)" & "The Three Little Pigs" in Favorite Fairy Tales
Watch in class: Skelton Dance (1929), Flowers and Trees (1932), The Pied Piper (1933) & Three Little Pigs (1933).
Snow Drop (Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs)
Read for class:
- Neal Gabler's Walt Disney (chapter 6)
- "Snowdrop (Snow White & Seven Dwarfs)" in Favorite Fairy Tales
Watch for class: Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).
PowerPoint: "Snow White: Setting The Disney Standard" by J. O'Donnell
Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio
Read for class: Sept 13 Chapters 1-15. Sept 15 Chapters 16-36
Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1940)
Read for class:
- Neal Gabler's Walt Disney (chapter 7).
- Maurice Sendak's "Walt Disney/2"
- Joan Acocella on Pinocchio. In The New Yorker website her article is titled "The Transformation of Pinocchio" or read the article in .pdf format where the title is "Puppet Regime: The further and further and further adventures of Pinocchio."
Pinocchio PowerPoint Presentation
Watch for class: Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1940)
Felix Salten's Bambi
Read for class: Sept. 22. Chapters 1 - 10. Sept. 27. Chapters 11-35.
Disney's Bambi (1940)
Read for class:
- Neal Gabler's Walt Disney (chapter 8).
- Kathryn Schulz's "Bambi is Even Bleaker Than You Thought". Also can be read on The New Yorker website
- Bambi presentation by Kaylee Deboe
Lewis Carroll's Alice books
For class Oct 6: read all of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and chapters 2 & 4 of Through the Looking-Glass
For class Oct 11.
- Read Neal Gabler's Walt Disney (chapter 9)
- Watch:Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Watch in class: Disney's Thru the Mirror (1937), Disney's Donald in Mathematic Land (1959)
Presentation on Alice in Wonderland film by Cassandra Karn (in .pdf format)
Disney on Television and Disneyland
Read for class
- Neal Gabler's Walt Disney (chapter 10).
- Kathy Merlock Jackson's "Synergistic Disney: New Directions for Micky & Media 1954-1955"
- Richard deCordova's "Mickey Mouse in Macy's Window: Childhood, Consumerism, & Disney Animation" (This Prezi by Kristen Cole in 2015 includes images of scenes mentioned in the chapter.)
- "A Park with a Powerful Spell" from LA Times July 17, 2005. includes quotations from Margaret King
- Margaret J. King & J.G. O'Boyle. "The theme Park" (link may not work)
Watch: Mickey Mouse Club (1955) and Walt Disney's Disneyland: Davy Crockett (1955).
interesting, not required. The Center for Cultural Studies and Analysis in Philadelphia is led by Margaret King and J.G. O'Boyle.
Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House
Read for class:
- Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House
- Steven Watts's "Disney and American Culture"
Watch: Disney's The Little House (1952)
Eleanor Porter's Pollyanna 
Read for class. Oct 20 - Chapters 1-15. Oct 25 - chapters 16-32
Pollyanna Grows Up on Project Gutenberg
Disney's Pollyanna (1960)
Read for class: K. Brenna Wardell's "`Almost a golden glow around it': The Filmic Nostalgic of Walt Disney's Pollyanna"
Watch: Disney's Pollyanna (1960)
P. L. Traver's Mary Poppins
Read for class. Nov. 1 - Chapters 1-6. Nov. 3 - Chapters 7-12
Disney's Mary Poppins (1964)
Read for class
- Neal Gabler's Walt Disney (chapter 11).
- Sue Matheson's "From Page to Screen: Dysfunction, Subtext and Platonic Idealism in Mary Poppins"
Watch for class: Disney's Mary Poppins (1964)
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Books
Read for class: "Mowgli's Brothers" "Kaa's Hunting" "Tiger-Tiger!" "How Fear Came," "Letting in the Jungle," "Red Dog" & "The Spring Running."
Disney's The Jungle Book (1967)
Watch for class: Disney's The Jungle Book
A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh
Read for class: A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh
Disney's Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)
Read for class: Paula Connolly "The Metafictive Playgrounds of Disney's Winnie the Pooh: The Movie Is a Book"
Watch: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
The Snow-Queen
read for class: H.C. Andersen's "The Snow- Queen" in Favorite Fairy Tales
Disney's Frozen (2013)
Watch: Disney's Frozen
Disney Resources
Walt Disney Birthplace (Tripp Avenue and Palmer Streets in Chicago)
Disney family home in Marcelline, Missouri
Disney, Culture and Society Research Network
Walt Disney Archives and Disney History. Both on D23
Paper Calls
CFP for a specific Disney Studies area for the Popular Culture Association's national conference this spring. Here is the link to the details for the CFP: https://pcaaca.org/area/disney-studies-special-topic-2023.
Resources for scholarly book review
Read this .pdf that includes two pieces: "Why Write a Book Review" and "Tips for Academic Book Reviewers."
Review by Jan Susina: Fashioning Alice: The Career of Lewis Carroll's Icon, 1860–1901 by Kiera Vaclavik