Cultural Legacy of Disney - (Studies in Disney and Culture) by Robyn Muir & Emily Aguiló-Pérez & Hannah Helm (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book critically engages with the Walt Disney Company as a global media conglomerate as they mark their 100th year of business. The chapters include discussions of company management, transmedia presence, and audience engagement as well as content analyses of cultural representations.

Book Synopsis

This book critically engages with the Walt Disney Company as a global media conglomerate as they mark their 100th year of business. It reflects on and looks forward to the past, present and future of the company and the scholarly engagement surrounding it through three key areas: Disney as a Company, Disney's Representations, and Relating to Disney. 'Disney as a Company' identifies the corporate and management cultural changes over Disney's 100-year history, with contributors examining Disney's transnational media influence, changes in management strategy, and Disney's recent transmedia venture: Disney+. 'Disney's Representations' features chapters critically engaging with gender, disability, and iconic characters that imply cultural change. 'Relating to Disney' embodies the crucial work examining how audiences engage with Disney, with contributors exploring fashion, Disney Fandom and identity, and how people engage with the space of the Parks. This edited collection explores the newer additions to the company, but also reflects on the company's past over its 100 years. The chapters provide a diverse examination of the many facets of one of the most successful global media conglomerates, providing scholars, students, and interested audiences a global and interdisciplinary snapshot of the Walt Disney Company at 100 years.

Review Quotes

This book is a grand vision of the present and future of Disney, covering a wide range of research areas that serve as an effective primer not only for where Disney Studies are presently, but where they might be going next. The chapters do excellent work locating the connections between different historical moments - Hester's discussion of Boy Bands and Jim Crow, Zhuang's locating the early translations of Disney, Martin's framing of generational fandom - that speaks to the growing strength of Disney Studies. There is a clear sense of personal engagement in these articles that foreground lived experience, with Erin Pritchard's chapter being of particular importance in the larger conversations of the intersections of disability, representation, and Disney. This is a timely, well-researched, thoughtful consideration that points to the many futures of Disney Studies - this would be an excellent textbook for a Disney-centric course, providing a variety of disciplinary approaches to the question of Disney.

"A timely celebration of all things Disney from the last one hundred years, The Cultural Legacy of Disney is a new and exciting title to explore the diversity of work coming out on the Walt Disney Company today. The book tackles everything from images of Mickey in China to Disney fashion and fandom, and shows a field of study very much alive, exciting and interdisciplinary. The book covers a range of important themes including corporate strategy, stereotypes and representation, and global engagement. The editorial team of Muir, Rowe, Helm and Aguilo-Perez do an excellent job of bringing together the very latest research into the world's leading multimedia organization, and of showing how and why we still love the Mouse in the 21st century. The book is a delight for all to read, and an excellent introduction to the field of Disney Studies."

"This exciting new collection, shepherded by some of the leading scholars in Disney studies, provides a kaleidoscopic view of the field today. With chapters on the company's investments across media, technologies, franchises, The Cultural Legacy of Disney testifies to the intellectual vibrancy of Disney scholarship--and the need to examine and analyze the company from a variety of disciplines and critical approaches. It makes an important contribution to this rich area of inquiry."

About the Author

Emily Aguiló-Pérez is assistant professor of English at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
Hannah Helm is lecturer in English literature at the University of Salford.
Robyn Muir is lecturer in media and communication at the University of Surrey.
Rebecca Rowe is assistant professor of children's literature at Texas A&M University-Commerce.