Many Disney films present an ideology of dysfunctional families, could this continuous use of the theme be regarded as an auteur.
Item 1: Peter Pan (1953)
I am using Peter pan as my focus film. Peter Pan is a well known story that focuses on children going to Neverland where there are no parents, most characters in the film do not have parents like peter pan, the lost boys, the pirates and Wendy, John and Michael although they do have parents they do not get along with them and were quick to run away from them. This film was made after Walt Disney’s mother death and that could have influenced only one set of parents featuring and all the other children being considered as orphans. This film consists of the Darling family's dysfunction which leads to their children running away and Peter Pans lack of parents, forcing him to create his own family with the Lost boys, where no one takes on the role of the parents leading to a dysfunctional family.
Item 2: Bambi (1942)
Bambi is a deer that lives in the woods and his mother gets shot by a hunter and his dad is distant and not that caring towards him. Bambi has to grow up with her friends like Flower and Thumper whose parents are not featured in the film. This was made after the death of Walt Disney's mother, to re-enforce the idea of Walt Disney past influencing film and shows how Bambi copes with the loss of his mother. This demonstrates dysfunctional family in the way of a missing mother figure and an absent father figure, so Bambi creates a family with his friends.
Item 3: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Snow Whites Mother and farther are dead and she is looked after her step mother the evil queen who wants to kill her. Snow white has grown up without proper parents to look after her, however this film was made before Walt Disney’s Mother died so the lack of parents would be to quicken character development and to make the story better. The dysfunction in this film is a absent father figure and a step mother who doesn't care for her step daughter creating family dysfunction.
Item 4: Web article
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/521551/Walt-Disney-mum-death-film-characters-motherless
This is a web article about the theory of why Disney studios have a continuous theme of dysfunctional families in their films. It shows how there is a sympathetic reasoning behind the dysfunctional family. This website also contains films to back up the argument that the loss of Disney's mother effected him so much, that the characters in his films couldn't have a full functional family.
Item 5: Web biography of Walt Disney
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000370/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
This web biography of Walt Disney talks mainly about his films that he has made which include many of dysfunctional families like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, just to name a few. It also gives dates his films to give an idea of a Disney studio timeline. I will use this to compare the dates of when Walt Disney's mother died to when the films were made to see if Walt Disney's films were effected by his mothers death. This will be useful because it is a well known and credible site, with all of Disney's films in order with the dates next to them, clearly showing the information needed.
Item 6: Web biography
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8807
This is web biography on Flora Disney, Walt Disney's mother explaining her life and the date of her death and this allows me to compare the date of Walt Disney's mothers death to films with a strong theme of dysfunctional families. This is useful information of how his Walt Disney's mother died, as well as dates for me to use to help back up my point of how Walt Disney blames himself for his mothers death, which will be useful in my argument.
Item 7: Web magazine article
http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2014/09/disney-secrets-beauty-and-the-beast
This is a article from glamour magazine explaining Disney's use of dysfunctional families and mentions a different idea put forward by Don Hahn who is a Disney executive producer about the dysfunctional families in Disney films and why it recurs often which would act as a more reliable source as it comes from someone who works at Disney and has continued the theme of dysfunctional families. I intend to use Don Hahn's theory and compare it to the idea that the theme is used as a remembrance to Disney's mother.
Item 8: Website
http://www.ew.com/article/1992/12/18/dysfunctional-disney
This website lists the films and characters with a dysfunctional family background and how they are dysfunctional. The website lists well known Disney characters, their family situation and resulting neurosis, I can use these as examples to back up my points and from watching the Disney films, these characters have appeared in I can tell that there is truth in the information which allows me to use the source more because i feel it's more reliable.
Item 11: Book of Disney stories
This is a book full of written stories of Disney's films. So I can use more than the three films I have already picked as evidence to back up my dysfunctional families. This book I find is very reliable as it not only tells the story but has pictures to illiterate the words on the page and the book is part of Disney merchandise and they wouldn't put their name on a books which hold incorrect versions of their films.
Item 12: website on disneyfication
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Disneyfication
This website explains what disneyfication is and how it works. Using this i can relate Disney's theme of dysfunctional families to its use of fairy tale endings. This will help explain the darker side of Disney. It also gives some good examples of use of disneyfication in my presentation.
Item 13: Walt Disney and Europe book by Robin Allan
This book gives details on snow white and the seven dwarfs, who is one of my focus films, it also says about how some of the films were adapted from the grim tales and that links with the disneyfication source. This book shows the original story and how it was transformed to Disney, it also contains some good quotes that help me explain the dysfunction entwined in theses films and stories.
Item 14: The Routledge Companion to Philosophy Film.pdfThis book explains the Auteur theory clearly which i can apply to Walt Disney and by knowing the definition of an auteur I can argue whether or not Walt Disney's work makes him an auteur. It also has useful quotes that i can use in my presentation script to help back up my arguments on Walt Disney being an auteur.
Item 15: Documentary- The man behind the myth
This is a documentary of Walt Disney's life. This goes through in detail him childhood and family life. This is a good source to use because it is not only facts about Walt Disney but views from people who knew him or worked close to him. It also gives details that were left out of online biography's like how big his family was and it talks about the death of the mother and the effect on the family, which transformed Walt Disney's family into a dysfunctional one, which I can imply had an impact onto his films.
Item 16: Pan's Labyrinth: Disobedient Fairy Tale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbZNkMn3PvQ#t=250
This video is based on Pans Labyrinth but it entwines the view on Disney films and how the Disney films have a very fairy tale ideology, where the prince always saves the princess. I can use this to explain and compare Disney films to other fairy tale films (pans Labyrinth) without the fairy tale ideology.
Item 17: Definition of different family types
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/dysfunctional+family
This is a website that names and defines different family types including dysfunctional families. this will help me get across what dysfunctional family is to help explain how Disney uses it in his films. It also gives me other family types and definitions which i can refer to like he used this family in this film instead of the dysfunctional family and talk about what it means.
Item 18: Disney quotes
http://quotesgram.com/disney-movie-quotes-about-family/
There is one quote in particular where Walt Disney shows his view on family, this shows the value he holds family under and i can compare this value to how he shows family in his movies.
Item 19: A website
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-12-25/features/9204270263_1_caretaker-character-neurosis
This website lists the characters of Disney, like Aladdin and Bell etc. and who there caretaker is and what the effect of that Caretaker had on the character, like there resulting neurosis, which i can use to show the effect of the family dysfunction that Disney incorporates into his films. This is also useful in emphasising the family dysfunction as a recurring theme
Rejected items
101 Dalmatians (1961)
When the minions of Cruella De Vil abduct a litter of Dalmatian puppies, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement. I didn't use this film because it does not have a dysfunctional family in the sense of a broken family, the fil is more about dogs being gognapped than being a family.
Documentary- Walt Disney’s racism reveled
I didn't use this source because it has nothing to do with the dysfunctional families entwined in the Disney films but it focuses on Disney himself and his behavior at work, which is not relevant to my question in any way.
Imdb movie list
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls050794833/
This is a list of other film which have the theme of dysfunctional families similar to Disney films but my focus is on Disney and not about other films with the same theme.
Walt Disney interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7c5EZwZLFA
This is an interview with Walt Disney and he discusses making movies with people and TV being a competition for the cinema. This has nothing to do with my question or any of the points i'm going to make, making this a useless source.
Article on Disneys ideologies
https://anniegrant19.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/disney-film/
This article talks about the ideology of the perception that males are stronger then females as well as exploring the ideology of racism, but doesn't mention dysfunctional family which is the ideology and theme my question is focused upon.
Article on Disney lessons
https://bkhemphill.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/4-terrible-lessons-from-disney-princess-movies/
This is an article about the terrible lessons Disney princesses give young children, although interesting i do not think that it relates to what my question is about because it doesn't mention dysfunctional families or any ideology.
