With his thumbprint on the most ubiquitous films of childhood, Walt Disney is widely considered to be the most conventional of all major American moviemakers. The adjective Disneyfied has become shorthand for a creative work that has abandoned any controversial or substantial content to find commercial success. But does Disney deserve that reputation? Douglas Brode overturns the idea of Disney as a middlebrow filmmaker by detailing how Disney movies played a key role in transforming children of the Eisenhower era into the radical youth of the Age of Aquarius. Using close readings of Disney projects, Brode shows that Disney's films were frequently ahead of their time thematically.Long before the cultural tumult of the sixties, Disney films preached pacifism, introduced a generation to the notion of feminism, offered the screen's first drug-trip imagery, encouraged young people to become runaways, insisted on the need for integration, advanced the notion of a sexual revolution, created the concept of multiculturalism, called for a return to nature, nourished the cult of the righteous outlaw, justified violent radicalism in defence of individual rights, argued in favour of communal living, and encouraged antiauthoritarian attitudes. Brode argues that Disney, more than any other influence in popular culture, should be considered the primary creator of the sixties counterculture--a reality that couldn't be further from his conventional reputation.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
University of Texas Press
ISBN-13
9780292702738
eBay Product ID (ePID)
90243486
Product Key Features
Book Title
From Walt to Woodstock: How Disney Created the Counterculture
Author
Douglas Brode
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Publication Year
2004
Number of Pages
286 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
229mm
Item Width
152mm
Item Weight
708g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Douglas Brode
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
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