16.045 - Feeling Disney: Pedagogies of Affect

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

The purpose of this symposium is to explore the Walt Disney Company and the myriad ways its curricula and pedagogies manifest, particularly in ways that relate to affect. The essays investigate the shared social and cultural dimensions of fantasies of happiness, hope, and desire--and the fears contained within and repressed or denied by such fantasies--as they are expressed through various Disney discourses, texts, and spaces. Following this affective line of inquiry, the papers also look to disclose the ways that our emotional investments in hopeful narratives of Disney can be counterproductive to a critical stance.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Critical Issues in Curriculum and Cultural Studies

Chair

• Jennifer April Sandlin, Arizona State University

Papers

• Disney and Disavowal: Escaping From Tomorrow - Julie C. Garlen, Georgia Southern University; Jennifer April Sandlin, Arizona State University

• waltdisneyconfessions@tumblr: Screenplay Pedagogy, Psychoanalysis, and Quantum (Third) Spaces - Linda Radford, University of Ottawa; Tasha Ausman, University of Ottawa

• I Dream of a Disney World: Exploring Curriculum and Pedagogy in Brazil's Middle-Class Playground - Sandro Barros, Michigan State University

• "This Is No Ordinary Apple": Learning to Fail Spectacularly From the Queer Pedagogy of Disney's Diva Villains - Mark Helmsing, George Mason University