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The ‘dark prince’ and dream women: walt disney and mid-twentieth century american feminism

2005; Routledge; Volume: 25; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439680500137987

1465-3451

Amy M. Davis,

Cinema and Media Studies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgments Amy Davis is a lecturer in the School of Media Studies at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, where she teaches the history of Hollywood cinema and American animation history. The focus of her research has been Hollywood studio animation, with special emphasis on the Disney studio, and her previously published papers have been on animated Disney feature films. Notes Janet Wasko, Understanding Disney: the manufacture of fantasy (Cambridge, UK, 2001). Ibid., pp. 132–133. In reference to the title of the Marc Eliot ‘tell-all’ sensationalist biography Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince (London, 1995). See, for example, Eliot's Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince, chapter one, pp. 3–14; Steven Watts, chapter one, pp. 3–59; and Bob Thomas, Part One: The Midwest Years, pp. 21–66. Steven Watts, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American way of life (New York, 1997), p. 12. After Hazel Bounds Sewell divorced her first husband, she and her daughter, Marjorie, came to live with Walt and Lillian Disney for several years. Accessed via ‘Library/Marjorie/Walt, Lilly, Hazel, Marjorie’ of the CD-ROM Walt Disney: an intimate history of the man and his magic. CD-ROM. (Santa Monica, CA: Pantheon Productions Inc, 1998). ©1998 Walt Disney Family Educational Foundation, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. ©1998 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. From the CD-ROM Walt Disney: an intimate history of the man and his magic. Accessed via ‘Library/Marjorie/Walt, Lilly, Hazel, Marjorie’. Marvin Davis would eventually be the man whom Disney would later ask to undertake the architectural design and conceptualisation of Disneyland for him. Steven Watts, The Magic Kingdom, pp. 14–15. Ibid., p. 14. Ibid., p. 15. Ibid., p. 15. John Canemaker, from his essay ‘Walt as Boss’ on the CD-ROM Walt Disney: an intimate history of the man and his magic. Accessed via ‘Library/Expert Essays/Walt as Boss’. Virginia Sapiro, Women in American Society: an introduction to women's studies (4th edn, Mountain View, CA, 1999), p. 452. Ibid., p. 453. Ibid., pp. 453–454. Sara M. Evans, Born For Liberty: a history of women in America (New York, 1989), p. 230. Ibid., pp. 231–262. Mire Koikari, Rethinking gender and power in the US occupation of Japan, 1945–1952, in Gender and History, 11(2) (July 1999), pp. 313–335; 313–314. Ibid., p. 313. For a full discussion of this, see Evans, Born for Liberty, especially chapters 5–9. John Canemaker, ‘Walt as Boss’ on the CD-ROM Walt Disney: an intimate history of the man and his magic. Accessed via ‘Library/Expert Essays/Walt as Boss’. John Canemaker, Before the Animation Begins: the art and lives of Disney inspirational sketch artists (New York, 1996), p. 112. Joan Scott, Ordeal by Disney: little bit goes a long way, Film Comment, 23(6) (Nov/Dec 1987), p. 52. Scott, Ordeal by Disney: little bit goes a long way, Film Comment, 23(6) (November/December 1987), p. 52. Richard Schickel, The Disney Version: the life, times, art and commerce of Walt Disney (New York, 1985), p. 95. John Canemaker, ‘Walt as Boss,’ from the CD-ROM Walt Disney: an intimate history of the man and his magic. Accessed via ‘Library/Expert Essays/Walt as Boss’. Robin Allan, Walt Disney and Europe: European influences on the animated feature films of Walt Disney (London, 1999), p. 87. Janet Wasko, Understanding Disney, p. 227 (endnote 6, chapter 2). Jean-Pierre Isbouts, Walt: The Man Behind the Myth, released 2001. Written by Katherine Greene, Richard Greene, and Jean-Pierre Isbouts; Directed by Jean-Pierre Isbouts; Produced by Cathie Labrador, Katherine Greene, Richard Greene, Walter Elias Disney Miller, Amy Boothe Green, and Howard E. Green; Director of Photography: Eric Trageser; Narrated by Dick Van Dyke. Allan, Walt Disney and Europe, p. 90 (endnote 27). John Canemaker, from his essay ‘Walt as Boss’ on the CD-ROM Walt Disney: an intimate history of the man and his magic. Accessed via ‘Library/Expert Essays/Walt as Boss’. Scott, Ordeal by Disney Film Comment, 23(6) p. 56. John Canemaker, from his essay ‘Walt as Boss’ on the CD-ROM Walt Disney. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Whether or not this acceptance of women as profession equals extended to the concept that they should be paid as equals, however, cannot be known at this time as this information does not seem to be available in the public domain, and the closure to outsiders of the Disney Archives prevents investigation into this matter. The Testimony of Walter E. Disney Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 24 October 1947. See Eliot, Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince, pp. 152–157; 230–245. Watts, The Magic Kingdom, p. 349. Specifically, Disney both names artist David Hilberman and gives the committee the correct spelling for Hilberman's name. Testimony of Walter E. Disney Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 24 October 1947. Ibid. Ibid. John Canemaker, from his essay ‘Walt as Boss’ on the CD-ROM Walt Disney. Ibid. Bob Thomas, Walt Disney: an American original (New York, 1994), p. 159. Robin Allan, Walt Disney and Europe, pp. 42–43. Richard Maltby, Sticks, hicks and flaps: classical Hollywood's generic conception of its audiences, in Melvyn Stokes and Richard Maltby (eds) Identifying Hollywood's Audiences: cultural identity and the movies (London, 1999), p. 25. Sheila Rowbotham, A Century of Women: the history of women in Britain and the United States (London, 1999), p. 315. David McKay, American Politics and Society (3rd edn) (Oxford, 1993), p. 125. Robin Allan, Walt Disney and Europe, pp. 42–43. Ibid. Voice recording of Walt Disney, in ‘Library/Walt talks about appeal to adults’, ‘Library’ section of the CD-ROM Walt Disney: an intimate history of the man and his magic. Steven Watts, The Magic Kingdom, p. 15. Walt Disney's Last Will and Testament, found at http://www.urbanlegends.com/disney/walt_disneys_will.html For example, Marc Eliot attempts to read an inherent sexism (as well as a degree of sibling rivalry) on Disney's part into his Will. Marc Eliot, Hollywood's Dark Prince, p. 268. Anonymous, Cinderella: The fairy princess comes gloriously to life in Walt Disney's newest feature-length film, Look, 31 January 1950, p. 54. See Lynda Haas, Eighty-six the mother: murder, matricide, and good mothers, in Elizabeth Bell, Lynda Haas and Laura Sells (eds) From Mouse to Mermaid: the politics of film, gender, and culture (Bloomington, 1995), pp. 193–211.