Social Order and Authority in Disney and Pixar Films

235 Pages·2021·2.608 MB·English

by  Kellie Deys, Denise F. Parrillo

S O C I A L O R D E R
A N D A U T H O R I T Y
I N D I S N E Y A N D
P I X A R F I L M S
STUDIES IN DISNEY AND CULTURE
Series Editor
Priscilla Hobbs-Penn,
Southern New Hampshire University
The Disney Studies series is a home for critical research related to
Disney and its relationship with culture and global society. This series
welcomes a mixture of monographs and edited collections exploring the
large network of Disney offerings, from animation and film to theme
parks, from corporate leadership studies to urban planning. The goal
of this series is to turn an interdisciplinary lens onto Disney across all
theoretical approaches to track the evolution of imagination and magic
that, to paraphrase Walt Disney, “all started with a mouse.” This series
also welcomes explorations of the intersections between Disney and
acquired franchises, such as Star Wars, Marvel, Fox, etc.
Titles in the Series
Social Order and Authority in Disney and Pixar Films, edited by
Kellie Deys and Denise F. Parrillo
S O C I A L O R D E R
A N D A U T H O R I T Y
I N D I S N E Y A N D
P I X A R F I L M S
Edited by Kellie Deys
and Denise F. Parrillo
LEXINGTON BOOKS
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
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Copyright © 2022 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
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and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher,
except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Deys, Kellie, 1980- editor. | Parrillo, Denise F., 1974- editor.
Title: Social order and authority in Disney and Pixar films / edited by
Kellie Deys and Denise F. Parrillo.
Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, [2022] | Series: Studies in Disney
and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021039020 (print) | LCCN 2021039021 (ebook) | ISBN
9781793622105 (cloth) | ISBN 9781793622112 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Walt Disney Productions. | Pixar (Firm) | Motion
pictures—Social aspects. | Motion pictures—Political aspects. | Motion
pictures—United States—History and criticism. | Animated films—United
States—History and criticism.
Classification: LCC PN1999.W27 S66 2022 (print) | LCC PN1999.W27
(ebook)
| DDC 791.43/6552 —dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021039020
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021039021
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
To Jim, Charlotte, and Emmy,
the best research assistants I could ask for. –K.D.
For Jeff, Sam, my parents, and in memory of Papa. –D.F.P.

CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Introduction by Kellie Deys and Denise F. Parrillo 1
SECTION I 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 9
by Kellie Deys
2 Animated Fantasy and Isolation: The Asian Identity
Vacuum in Disney’s Constructed Universe 25
by Christopher Maiytt
3 The Magic Island of Seabrook High: Disney Retcons the Civil
Rights Movement in High School Musical Descendant Zombies 53
by Aaron Clayton
SECTION II REGULATED WORLDS OF (RESISTING)
CHILDREN
4 Do You Want to Build a Childhood Trauma?:
Parental Agency and Authority in Disney’s Frozen 75
by Denise A. Ayo
vii
viii CONTENTS
5 “Because My World Would Be a Wonderland”:
Fantasy Circumscription & Adult Constructions of Girlhood
in Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953) 93
by Joseph V. Giunta
6 It Isn’t Just His Nose That Grows: Disney’s Pinocchio and
the Erotic Afterlives of Errant Boys 115
by Vincent A. Lankewish
SECTION III CHALLENGING SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS
7 Who Can Be Super?: Examining the Shifted Ability Spectrum
in The Incredibles 139
by Ethan Faust
8 Risk and Reflexivity in Pixar’s The Incredibles 157
by Francine Rochford
9 Out There: Science Fiction and Surveillance in Pixar’s
WALL-E and Up 175
by Farisa Khalid
10 Pixar’s Coco: The Power of Celebrity and Its Impact on
the Adolescent Mind 193
by Susan Ray
Index 211
About the Editors 221
About the Contributors 223
KELLIE DEYS AND DENISE F. PARRILLO
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Kellie Deys and Denise F. Parrillo

When the Walt Disney Corporation launched Disney+ in November
2019, the conglomerate could not have anticipated the vital financial
role its streaming service would play in the COVID-19 world. The virus
initially brought billion-dollar losses to Disney following the closures of
its theme parks and delays in filming. But by August 2020, Disney+ had
amassed over 60 million subscribers, meeting its five-year goal in just
eight months, and topped over 100 million by March 2021 (Hayes and
Hipes 2020; Alexander 2021). After drawing in pandemic-weary families
with early releases of big-name films such as Frozen II and The Rise of
Skywalker and redirected theatrical releases like Hamilton, the Disney
catalogue has never been more widely accessible to audiences. There-
fore, the eyes turned upon screens should be analytical.
It’s not that the Mouse giant hasn’t already garnered its share of
attention. Both film critics and Disney scholars alike have looked at
representations of race, class, gender, sexuality, and place extensively,
and rightfully so. Films featuring traditional and rebellious princesses,
princes, “paupers,” and/or diverse but often still-problematic portray-
als of people from places like Africa, Mexico, and Polynesia call on us
to explore them. Important works such as From Mouse to Mermaid
(1995), Diversity in Disney Films (2013), Debating Disney (2016), and
1