Guiding Ideas for Analysis
Questions for Deconstructing Disney[1]
Overarching Questions:
What would children learn from this text
(film ---video game --- theme park---cartoon character)?
Why has the composer portrayed the characters in this particular way?
What view of the world is the text presenting?
Leaders and Followers
Who is the protagonist (lead character/ “good guy” or “good girl”)?
Who is the antagonist (“bad guy” or “bad girl”)?
What are the characters’ motivations? What do they want out of life? What’s their mission?
Who plays the servant?
Who is working, and who is being served? Is being served or being a servant ever questioned?
Gender and Sexuality
How are men depicted? What jobs do the men do?
How are women depicted? What jobs do the women do?
Are there same sex oriented people? If so, how are they depicted?
Race and Ethnicity
What are the races of the characters?
To what roles are people of minority status and women designated?
If there are ensemble (multiple lead roles) casts, who is the leader? Are persons of minority and status constructed as leaders or followers?
Money and Power
What are the characters’ socio-economic class statuses?
What role do money, possessions, and power play in the film? Who has it? Who wants it? How important are money, possessions, and power play in the film?
Body Image
What is the body type of each character like?
How does the film portray overweight people? Thin people?
What opportunities do “pretty” people get? How are “ugly” people depicted?
Age and Difference
How are children constructed in this text?
How are adults constructed in this text?
How does the text depict people of different ages?
Power at Play
What messages are repeated?
Why is the text written the way it is? How else could the text have been written?
What language choices did the composer make in the text?
How does the text retell previous versions (also known as variants) to create its meaning?
How many interpretations of the text are possible? How do I feel about the text?
[1] Sources include: Christiensen, Linda. (2011). Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us: Critiquing Fairy Tales an dCartoons. Rethinking Popular Culture and Media and Rogow, F. (2004). “Creating media literacy.” Paper presented at the Northeast Media Literacy Conference, Storrs, CT.