Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy

Death in Disney Films: Implications for Children’s Understanding of Death

This study examined the potential influence of Disney films on children’s concepts of death. A content analysis was performed on 23 death scenes from 10 selected full-length Disney Classic animated films. The portrayal of death focused on five categories: character status; depiction of death; death status; emotional reaction; and causality. The findings indicate that some animated Disney films ...

What does Batman think about SpongeBob? children's understanding of the fantasy/fantasy distinction.

Young children reliably distinguish reality from fantasy; they know that their friends are real and that Batman is not. But it is an open question whether they appreciate, as adults do, that there are multiple fantasy worlds. We test this by asking children and adults about fictional characters' beliefs about other characters who exist either within the same world (e.g., Batman and Robin) or in...

Understanding the Origins of Defects and Variability in Composites Manufacture

As the volume of advanced composites components for aircraft applications continues to rise and primary structures are increasingly made from advanced composites it is necessary to review the quality of the materials, processes and design practices that are used to generate those composite structures. As production rates are expected to expand very markedly the quality target must be zero defec...

Disney through the Web looking glass

Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses

The popular Disney Princess line includes nine films (e.g., Snow White, Beauty and the Beast) and over 25,000 marketable products. Gender role depictions of the prince and princess characters were examined with a focus on their behavioral characteristics and climactic outcomes in the films. Results suggest that the prince and princess characters differ in their portrayal of traditionally mascul...