Representation Of The American Dream In Disney Animation With Special Reference To The Lion King And Big Hero 6

Disney is now the leading player in the entertainment industry all over the world, and it has created a self-contained universe in which the preferred values and norms are disseminated and represented by its products� everything from films and television programs to theme parks and resorts. The unique characteristics and big success attributed to Disney Company make it the focus of a multitude of scholars from various fields. Although Walt Disney insisted that the Disney products were nothing but entertainment, scholars and critics still consider the Disney phenomenon seriously and regard it as the focal point for cultural and social studies. During the years of the foundation of Disney Company, popular culture continues to be analyzed from different perspectives. Thus, as prominent examples of popular culture, the products distributed by Disney Company have been interpreted in a plethora of ways.Generally speaking, the theoretical and methodological explorations were applied to content analysis. And the most prevalent forms were aesthetic, feminist,psychoanalytical, Marxist analysis, as well as cultural studies.On the basis of Althusser's theories on ideology and Baudry's assertions on cinematographic apparatus, the thesis takes a fresh look at Disney animated films, The Lion King and Big Hero 6 in particular. By disclosing Disney's specific formula by which the American dream is constructed, the thesis tries to demystify Disney's representation of the American dream, which forms the very heartland of Disney animation from their inception in Snow White through to recent films such as Frozen,and Big Hero 6. Most importantly, the thesis is to screen America's ambition ofcultural hegemony in the age of globalization.The thesis mainly consists of three parts: introduction, body and the conclusion. The introduction part provides a historical review of various researches on Disney animated features, a brief introduction to the American dream, the research methods, research questions and main structure.The body part includes three chapters. Chapter one presents an understanding of Ideology, its diversified implications proposed by several theorists in the cultural studies, and the relevance between the theories and the two films chosen in the thesis. Chapter three demystifies how Disney transplants the American dream in its animation. Utilizing a specific formula, Disney animation features the following characteristics: reinventing folk tales or literary works, adopting happy ending narrative style, and constructing stereotyped themes and values. Chapter four studies two of Disney's popular films, The Lion King and Big Hero 6, and their corresponding originals, and discloses the American values represented in them, which all together provide a better understanding of Disney's manipulation of other cultures and America' s hegemonic power in the age of globalization.At last, the author of the thesis comes to the conclusion. Disney animation,as a powerful Ideological State Apparatus, utilizes a systematical process and a variety of techniques, namely, a stereotyped style, a standard formula of story and characters to build an imaginary world. It is a world in which the reality is whitewashed and beautified, thus the audiences can sense a kind of familiar and satisfactory feeling, a world in which Disney communicates the message about the values in the American ideology, and a world which severs to the promotion of American supremacist capitalism. And then the author informs on the ideologized nature of Disney animation and the hegemonic power of America.