DVDizzy Forum

Ok, this is a bit of an odd request, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of any universities where there's a Disney related module included as part of a film studies course.

I'm currently looking around for unis and film/english is looking like my most probable course and if I could somehow incorporate Disney into that it would be fantastic.

I'm in the UK, so any British unis would be preferred but heck, I wouldn't mind going abroad if I found something worthwhile. So, any ideas?

I don't think there are any, sadly. The good thing is that it's not hard to study it yourself. If you are looking to study the Disney films, get the book "The Disney Films" by Leonard Maltin. It gives in-depth critiques of every film made while Walt was alive, and then summarizes the decades at the studio after Walt's passing.

If you want to study Disney history in general, it is best to start with Walt. The book "Walt Disney: An American Original" by Bob Thomas is very brief and informative and is the best place to start for an overall feel of the company's history. If you want to know way more after that, get "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the Imagination" by Neil Gabler. It took 7 years to write and he worked directly with the Disney Archives, reading every document written by or about Walt. It's amazing!

In order to "study" Disney I'd say we could recommend a lot more book titles than those.

I don't know of any particular "Disney module" anywhere either, but I'd guess it shouldn't really be impossible to "incorporate" something Disney into film/English/language/culture studies somewhere.

I think an animation course would be more likely to have a section on Disney. But that doesn't seem to be the area you want to focus on.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard of this anywhere either, but I do think that there should be a Disney Studies minor (or some sort of study program... or, given how unrealistic that is, at least a course or two) offered at universities, featuring a curriculum comprised of courses from Media/Film Studies, Communications, English, Resort Management, etc. Goodness knows there's enough to study. I've done some work in this regard at my university and when I was planning on entering grad school, it's something I hoped to take further. Sadly, I don't see it happening anytime soon, as Disney's corporate identity will send academics running.

As Lars pointed out, there are literally thousands of fantastic books written on Disney -- both critical and commercial. I currently have about 15 borrowed from the library in addition to my own personal collection. If you'd like any suggestions, feel free to email me.

-Aaron

Jeffel wrote:Ok, this is a bit of an odd request, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of any universities where there's a Disney related module included as part of a film studies course.

Part of the indoctrination/orientation into the Disney way for new castmembers at Walt Disney World is taking "Traditions" at Disney University. It's pretty much a long-ass 5-hour primer that glosses over Disney's life, the company's better known films/products/celebrities, quickie resort and park information, followed by a seminar on proper Disney and work behavior, look, expectations, etc. The actual Disney-related parts isn't much (read: the bigger a Disney fan you are, the more you already know so it's a rehash), but still quite interesting.

The only part I enjoyed in the class was the game, where we broke up into groups, and each group had about a minute to write down as many DAC characters as they knew. Our group won, mainly because my friends gave me the paper and pen and just said, "Go, Albert!". A minute and 40-odd characters later, we got these little plastic Disney figurines as our prize.

Most of the other classes for Disney U are business/marketing/hospitality classes and I don't think I've read about an actual Disney studies class there. If there was one, I'd definitely take it.

Escapay

I did actually find a really awesome looking course (in Liverpool, I think) but it stopped running about 2 years ago. I tried to find he page on the web again but I can't find it.

I've find a couple of other things but they tend to be at really crappy unis, and it's also pretty hard to search for because most of the results you sem to get are about the Disney University.

Disney also travels around the country and gives seminar classes on running a business from the Disney perspective. It looks really cool and I was planning on signing up until I saw the price. Very expensive!

-Aaron

AwallaceUNC wrote:Disney also travels around the country and gives seminar classes on running a business from the Disney perspective. It looks really cool and I was planning on signing up until I saw the price. Very expensive!

-Aaron

They're "running a business from the Disney perspective"