Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films

Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's FilmS/i> provides wide-ranging scrutiny of one of the most lucrative American entertainment genres. Beyond entertaining children-and parents-and ringing up merchandise sales, are these films attempting to shape the political views of young viewers? M. Keith Booker examines this question with a close reading of dozens of films from Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, and other studios, debunking some out-there claims-The Ant Bully communist propaganda?-while seriously considering the political content of each film.

Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's FilmS/i> recaps the entire history of movies for young viewers-from Snow White and the Seven DwarfS/i> to this year's UP/i>-then focuses on the extraordinary output of children's films in the last two decades. What Booker finds is that by and large, their lessons are decidedly, comfortably mainstream and any political subtext more often than not is inadvertent. Booker also offers some advice to parents for helping children read films in a more sophisticated way.