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CALL FOR PAPERS

Animating History: “Disney Americans” and Other Myths

Area of multiple panels for the Film & History Conference on “Film & Myth”

September 26-30, 2012

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

http://www.filmandhistory.org

Deadline: June 1, 2012



We live in a world made of myths, legends, and histories that are

communicated, and often, conflated, by our entertainment media. For many

of us, history’s earliest lessons have been animated – brightly-colored

and endearing, with soundtracks that range from comical to compelling –

taught by movies and television programming. These lessons and legends,

inextricably linked to the studios that produced them, are the building

blocks of not only Western popular culture, but also, our collective

constructions of the past. Disney’s Pocahontas, BBC’s Horrible Histories,

and Animaniacs’ “The Ballad of Magellan” all shape our early

understandings of histories and cultures, in ways that sometimes last long

after we have turned off Saturday morning cartoons.



How does animation shape our conception of history and historical

mythology? What are the benefits and drawbacks of the “Disneyfication” and

co-opting of cultural products and national histories? What periods of

history attract the most attention in animation? What historical myths are

coming into prominence in the media as we move toward an increasingly

globalized media culture?



This area, comprising multiple panels, will include presentations on

animation produced for film, television, and new media, in both Western

and non-Western modes of animation.



Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:



•        Telling history – animation as education (Liberty’s Kids; That’s

America, Charlie Brown; Time Squad )

•        Myths and legends – Co-opting and crafting cultural narratives

(Mulan; Hercules; Robin Hood; Ben and Me)

•        Alternate histories – Animated counternarratives (UPA, Warner

Bros., independent animators)

•        Selling “history” – Collect the complete set! (Disney, Warner

Bros., Cartoon Network)

•        History’s greatest hits – Popular genres in animation

•        Animation and national identity – Porky as the American everyman

•        Saturday (morning) school – history lessons from Bugs Bunny,

Tintin, Schoolhouse Rock and

        Johnny Quest



Proposals for complete panels (three related presentations) are also

welcome, but they must include an abstract and contact information,

including an e-mail address, for each presenter. Please e-mail your

200-300 word proposals by June 1 2012 to the area chair:



Tiffany L. Knoell

Area Chair, 2012 National Film and History Conference

Animating History: “Disney Americans” and Other Myths

Bowling Green State University

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Cynthia Miller

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