It's a Disney World!
Find out why with the American Culture Program

Read Along With Us This Semester

Looking for some good reading this spring?
Join us as we explore a variety of themes and topics in American life through the lens of Disney.

Week 1: Jan 16-20
The Chicago World’s Fair
DVD: Expo: Magic of the White City
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Eric Larson

Week 2: Jan 23-27
History of Travel and Tourism
Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States, Cindy Aron
4^th of July, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land, Daniel Wolff

 Week 3: Jan. 30-Feb 3
Coney Island
Good Old Coney Island: A Sentimental Journey Into the Past, Edo McCullough
Amusing the Millions: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century, John F. Kasson

Week 4: Feb 6-10
Williamsburg and Jamestown
Pocahontas: The Evolution of an American Narrative, Robert S. Tilton
New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg, Richard Handler and Eric Gable

Week 5: Feb 13-17
Myth and Fairy Tale

Lieberman, Marcia K.  “’Some Day My Prince Will Come”: Female Acculturation through the Fairy Tale.”  In Don’t Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England.  Ed. Jack Zipes.  NY: Methuen, 1986.  Pages 185-200.

The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales.  Ed. Jack Zipes.  Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000.  The sections on a least two fairy tales.

Stone, Kay.  “Things Walt Disney Never Told Us.”  Journal of American Folklore 88.347, Women and Folklore (Jan. - Mar., 1975): 42-50.

Zipes, Jack.  “Breaking the Disney Spell.”  In From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture.  Ed. Elizabeth Bell, Lynda Haas, and Laura Sells.  Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1995.  Pages 21-42.

Week 6: Feb 20-24
Propaganda
DVD: Disney on the Front Lines
Video: Davy Crockett
Disney TV, J.P. Telotte

Week 7: Feb 27-March 3
Roadside Attractions/Tourism
Roadside Religion: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange and the Substance of Faith, Timothy K. Beal
The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class, Dean McCannel

March 6-10 – SPRING BREAK

 Week 8: March 13-17
Race
Articles TBD

Week 9: March 20-24
The Disney Parks
Designing Disney's Theme Parks, Karal Ann Marling
Married to the Mouse, Richard Fogelsong

Week 10: March 27-31
Corporate America
DVD: The Corporation
The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company, Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson

Week 11: April 3-7
Community
Celebration Chronicles: Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Property Values in Disney's New Town, Andrew Ross
Selections from Disney and the Quest for Community, Steve Mannheim

Week 12: April 10-14
Disney Abroad
“Bwana Mickey: Constructing Cultural Consumption at Tokyo Disney," in Cultures of U.S. Imperialism, Mary Yoko Brannen
Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World, Carl Hiassen

Week 13: April 17-21
The Big Trip!
“Disney World: Public Use/Private Space,” in Signs of Life in the USA, Susan Willis

Week 14: April 24-28
From Walt to Woodstock: How Disney Created the Counterculture, Douglas Brode