Pre-class 10/10-Adrianne

I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the Dorfman reading. The satiric language actually made me laugh to myself. The first part I found interesting about this reading was the reaction piece defending Disney. The journalist is quoted saying “we children and grownups will have to get used to reading about our own society, which, to judge from the way it is painted by the writers and panegyrists of our age, is rough, bitter, cruel, and hateful. It was Disney’s magic to be able to stress the happy side of life, and there are always, in human society, characters who resemble those of Disney comics” (111).  This excerpt reminded me of Baudriallard with his argument that we choose to ignore the reality because we enjoy the imaginary. We recognize that Disney comics (like Disneyland) do not properly reflect reality, but we choose to live in the imaginary regardless. 

Dorfman and Mattelart state:

 “Juvenile literature is justified by children it has generated through a vicious cycle. Thus, adults create for themselves a childhood embodying their own angelic aspirations, which offer consolation, hope and a guarantee of a ‘better,’ but unchanging, future. This ‘new reality,’ this autonomous realm of magic, is artfully isolated from the reality of the everyday” (113).

Although this reading focuses specifically on Disney, I found the explanation of the “vicious cycle” interesting and was reminded of Rom-Coms-specifically the 1990 film, Pretty Woman. Clearly this film was not made for children. However it is definitely Disneyfied, both with the character’s own ideologies and when critically analyzing the film.  Julia Robert’s character admits multiple times that she has always wanted the “fairytale” and that is how the film eventually ends. It is a grown up fairytale with the female (in this case, a prostitute) is saved by the male (in this case, a billionaire).  My argument is that this circle is continues in adult media outlets which begins with the juvenile media. In Pretty Woman, Robert’s character even acknowledges the falsities of the fairytale, yet chooses to ignore it.

“Similarly, readers find themselves caught between their desire and their reality, and in their attempt to escape to a purer realm, they only travel further back into their own traumas” (113). 

As a reader, when watching films like Pretty Woman or a Disney film, although you are escaping from the reality, it simultaneously worsens the reality.You see the ideal, the “magic,” you also realize it can never fully be achieved, but its does not stop you from trying to achieve it or staying in this imaginary mindset.