Deconstructing Disney: Asking Questions about the Stories We Tell Our Children

 

For this week’s class you are watching the Walt Disney “Classic” Peter Pan or The Jungle Book. In viewing the film think about:

1) How is childhood portrayed and constructed?

2) How is race portrayed and constructed?

3) How is gender portrayed and constructed?

 4) How is reality and fantasy portrayed and constructed?

 

Using the example of at least one scene from the film and connecting at least one key term from this week’s readings and lecture-address one of the above issues in the space provided below (and on the back of this page).

 

 

Barbie Nation:  Come on Barbie Let’s Go Party!

 

For this week’s class you viewed the film Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour and read a selection of works that dealt with the idea of representation.

The point of this activity is to:

a) Take a mass produced, main stream commodity, like Barbie and examine the notion of representation

b) Whose stories get told through playing Barbies and whose stories remain silent?

 

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

1) BE SURE TO READ ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS

2) This is an individual activity – and it will be collected for grade

 

ACTIVITY

*Using either a real Barbie or a blank sheet of paper, create an example of a Barbie that Mattel never made.

*In addition to your Barbie, you will write a 1 page report that answers the following questions:

What/who your Barbie is?

Why Mattel never would make your Barbie?

What can this tell us about representation?