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A Cultural History of the Disney Fairy TaleThe Renaissance Era (1989–1991)

A Cultural History of the Disney Fairy Tale: The Renaissance Era (1989–1991) [This chapter interrogates the adaptations of European fairy tale narratives released during Disney’s most critically and commercially successful era: 1989–1999. By the time the Walt Disney Studio released The Little Mermaid in 1989 (Clements and Musker 1989), things had changed considerably for the United States and for the company itself. The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 brought about a new popular conservatism in American society, the influence of which was felt into the presidency of George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993 and beyond. Reagan’s claims to ‘make America great again’ issued forth a nostalgia for traditional family values, accompanied by an anti-feminist backlash. This socially conservative framework adapted to contemporary life through a shift towards post-feminism: women could choose to be whatever they wanted in modern America. This fusion between past and present, traditionalism and progress, manifests within The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (Trousdale and Wise 1991) as heroines show increased agency and ambition, but conclude their narratives in heterosexual marriage. This increased role for women was recognised within the popular liberalism of Clinton in the 1990s. Furthermore, as a result of economic changes brought about by Reagan’s neoliberal embrace of deregulation and marketisation, the American Dream itself was privatised in the 1980s. The Disney fairy tale is thus significantly more globalised in scope, emphasising the power of America’s market forces and consumerism as the American Dream reached into the post-industrial era.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Cultural History of the Disney Fairy TaleThe Renaissance Era (1989–1991)

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
ISBN
978-3-030-50148-8
Pages
47 –74
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-50149-5_3
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[This chapter interrogates the adaptations of European fairy tale narratives released during Disney’s most critically and commercially successful era: 1989–1999. By the time the Walt Disney Studio released The Little Mermaid in 1989 (Clements and Musker 1989), things had changed considerably for the United States and for the company itself. The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 brought about a new popular conservatism in American society, the influence of which was felt into the presidency of George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993 and beyond. Reagan’s claims to ‘make America great again’ issued forth a nostalgia for traditional family values, accompanied by an anti-feminist backlash. This socially conservative framework adapted to contemporary life through a shift towards post-feminism: women could choose to be whatever they wanted in modern America. This fusion between past and present, traditionalism and progress, manifests within The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (Trousdale and Wise 1991) as heroines show increased agency and ambition, but conclude their narratives in heterosexual marriage. This increased role for women was recognised within the popular liberalism of Clinton in the 1990s. Furthermore, as a result of economic changes brought about by Reagan’s neoliberal embrace of deregulation and marketisation, the American Dream itself was privatised in the 1980s. The Disney fairy tale is thus significantly more globalised in scope, emphasising the power of America’s market forces and consumerism as the American Dream reached into the post-industrial era.]

Published: Nov 22, 2020

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