It is probably no surprise to the passive reader of this blog (all two of you) that I am a fairy tale enthusiast. It’s a topic I keep returning to time and time again, and it’s a topic that provides hours of academic muddling for this mythologist. That’s what scholars such as the Jungians find so fascinating about fairy tales. In their simplicity, they speak archetypally, deeply, meaningfully… They can become… Continue reading
The Rise of Dark Fairy Tales
Author: PriscillaJun 7
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Filed under: American Myth, Culture Thinking, Disney, Fairy Tales, Literature, Popular Culture, Theme Parks | Tagged as: Disney, fairy tales, Kingdom Keepers, shadow
Mickey and Friends: Psyche’s Formula?
Author: PriscillaJul 27
Working my way through the Disney cartoon canon, it’s interesting to note how the Disney characters don’t only work in concert to entertain us, but they seem to function as components of myth/psyche (depending on how you want to approach this). Furthermore, at any given time, any one of them can function as a hero (especially Mickey, Donald and Goofy) or a group… Continue reading
Fairy Tales and Utopian Ideals
Author: PriscillaJun 29
There are some scholars that, as much as I would like to try, I just cannot avoid. They are the ones that add conversation and dialogue to my research, taking it to a deeper level. Sure, it would be easy to ignore them, but then I’d be just as shallow a researcher as the Shallow Researcher “archetype” at the core of my academic shadow projections. Today’s unavoidable researcher: Jack Zipes.… Continue reading
Filed under: Culture Thinking, Disney, Fairy Tales | Tagged as: Disney, Disneyfication, fairy tales, Grimmification, Jack Zipes, Utopia
The Importance of Cultural Context
Author: PriscillaJun 15
After my last inspired post, I went semi-consciously offline for awhile – literally and figuratively. I’ve spent the last couple weeks delving into the core research for three dissertation chapters, and have come to the conclusion that too much reading is not conducive to either writing or blogging. But every now and then a question pops up that I feel a need to address, in large part because… Continue reading
Filed under: Culture Thinking, Disney, mythology | Tagged as: cultural context, Disney, myth, mythology
Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier
Author: PriscillaMay 27
Born on the mountaintop in Tennessee, 
Greenest state in the Land of the Free.
Raised in the woods, so’s he knew every tree.
Killed him a b’ar when he was only three!
Davy! Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier!
When it comes to Frontierland, it’s impossible to work on the land without giving some time and noddage to Davy… Continue reading
Filed under: American Myth, Disney, Popular Culture | Tagged as: Davy Crockett, Disney, Frontierland
Pirate Week Wrap-up: My Review of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Author: PriscillaMay 21
The first thing I will comment on is that the film wasn’t as bad as some of the reviewers are saying, but it is clear that the franchise has lost steam. I don’t know how much of this is the doing of the director or how much is due to the fact that one a small number of the characters… Continue reading
Pirate Week: Pirates Day–Trilogies vs. Quarternities
Author: PriscillaMay 20
it’s here! It’s here! Huzzah! Huzzah!
So yesterday, the fabulous Roger Ebert posted on his Twitter feed, his review of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. He begins by saying, “Before seeing ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,’ I had already reached my capacity for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies, and with this fourth installment, my… Continue reading
Filed under: Culture Thinking, Depth Psychology, Disney | Tagged as: Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean, quarternity, trilogy
Pirate’s Week: Yo Ho and X Atencio
Author: PriscillaMay 19
So I’ve always been profoundly curious just what those pirates were singing on the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction:
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,
Drink up, me ‘earties, yo ho.
We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot,
Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho.
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.
We extort
Review of a new myth: the Kingdom Keepers Series
Author: PriscillaApr 26
I was at Disneyland the first time I discovered Ridley Pearson’s Kingdom Keepers series. I went to the park after a session at Pacifica, during which my cohort and I were discussing the intricacies of modern fairy tales. During the class, I had the epiphany for the perfect video game, one that would fuse the principles of Kingdom Hearts (i.e. a hero who is assisted by the Disney characters over… Continue reading
Disney and Sex–A Misguided Interpretation of Princesses
Author: PriscillaApr 20
So I’m at the PCA/ACA conference, which so far is a really fascinating experience. Being an introvert, I haven’t made any new professional best friends yet, but I have bought three books, which I will review once I read them because they just sound like the perfect way to spend my dissertation research time. Of course, they’re dissertation-worthy, but yet not dissertation-necessary, which is the case of just about all… Continue reading
Filed under: Conferences, Disney, Fairy Tales | Tagged as: Conferences, Disney, Disneyfication, fairy tales, PCA/ACA