The Disney Fetish

Seán J. Harrington

Narrated by Emil Nicholas Gallina

Available from Audible

Book published by Indiana University Press

Long considered a figurehead of family values and wholesome adolescence, the Disney franchise has faced increasing criticism over its gendered representations of children in film, its stereotypical representations of race and non-white cultures, and its emphasis on the heterosexual couple. Against a historical backdrop of studio history, audience reception, and the industrial-organizational apparatus of Disney media, Seán Harrington examines the Disney classics through a psychoanalytical framework to explore the spirit of devotion, fandom, and frenzy that is instilled in consumers of Disney products and that underlie the fantasy of the Magic Kingdom. This compelling study demystifies the unsettling cleanliness and pretensions to innocence that the Disney brand claims to hold.

Seán J. Harrington is a writer and academic based in London. He is a lecturer in screen media at Brunel University and is currently involved in interdisciplinary research in the areas of animation and digital game design.

REVIEWS:

“This book of Lacanian cartoon metaphysics is a wild ride, like a hacked and rewired attraction at Disneyland. It will decimate and reanimate your memories of the Disney Classics, in its carambolage of psychoanalysis, studio history, characterology, audience reception, artists' chimeric reappropriations, narrative readings and post-Marxist cultural studies.”

—Esther Leslie, Professor in Political Aesthetics, Birkbeck, University of London

“Through a synthesis of theoretical perspectives, Harrington masterfully critiques and complicates Disney consumption, providing valuable insights about media consumption generally. This unique and fascinating analysis of the perversity of the Disney world provides another opportunity to understand media and media audiences. A welcome addition to the study of Disney.”

—Janet Wasko, Professor and Knight Chair in Communication Research, University of Oregon