Search

This chapter analyses Disney’s two Dumbo films, the 1941 animated film directed by Ben Sharpsteen and the 2019 live-action remake directed by Tim Burton. The discussion focuses on the intersectional identity of the protagonist as child, animal and disabled person, taking into account contextualising aspects from the cultural and social history of popular entertainment. It also considers the ways in which both Dumbo films address controversial aspects of labour in the entertainment sector. Sharpsteen’s film paints an ambiguous picture of contemporary circus culture, referring to key moments in the prior history of entertainment culture that were pivotal in its development. Burton’s film is set even earlier, in the period shortly after World War I, an era that can be regarded as a period of radical transformation for traditional popular entertainment. Not only does the film represent that historical reality, it also responds to aspects of the political agenda in the early twenty-first century.

Fictional cookbooks promise immersive, transmedial gateways to fictive worlds through culinary means. Cookbooks in general are also powerful educational devices that both reflect and shape cultures. Disney, too, has sought very early to physically integrate its ‘magic kingdom’ into the world and minds of its consumers, as is most evident in its various parks and resorts but also in its cookbooks. The cookbooks not only reproduce Disney’s iconography, but also its ideology, which is both physically realised and incorporated in the recipes. The cookbooks give insight into Disney’s overt self-referentiality and self-image as artistic innovator and as global, inclusive producer of wholesome, inter-generational media texts. They exemplify the ‘Disneyfication’ of daily familial commensality and of rites of passage in people’s personal lives. Additionally, recipes shed light on the dynamic relationship between franchises, fans and texts. Here one can observe how the ‘Disney curriculum’ (Sandlin/Garlen Sandlin, Jennifer A./Julie C. Garlen (2016): Introduction. Feeling Disney, Buying Disney, Being Disney. In: Disney, Culture, and Curriculum, eds. id. New York [et al.], 1–26) can also be appropriated and re-shaped.

Disney’s Dumbo Films or: Work in the Entertainment Industry: The chapter analyses Disney’s animated film Dumbo (directed by Ben Sharpsteen, 1941) and Disney’s remake of Dumbo (directed by Tim Burton, 2019). Both films address controversial aspects of work in the entertainment sector. Taking aspects from the cultural and social history of popular entertainment into account, it becomes apparent that Sharpsteen’s film paints an ambivalent picture adapted to contemporary circus, thereby referring to circumstances in the past that were pivotal moments in the development of entertainment culture. Burton, on the other hand, situates Dumbo in the period shortly after World War I, which can be regarded and is shown as a period of radical transformation for work in the section of popular entertainment. At the same time, the film also responds to aspects of the political agenda in the early 21st century.

When Disney dared to bring a pirate movie to theaters in 2003, Captain Jack Sparrow rather unexpectedly sailed brilliantly into the hearts of the audience. Although a pair of young lovers were the main characters, Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, stole the show from everyone. Sparrow stands out from all the other characters: He is contrasted with the young and still idealistic couple, with cursed pirates and also with the representatives of social order. The character draws much of his fascination from the fact that he oscillates between different binary pairs, which marks him not least as an adventurer. This article argues that Jack Sparrow is the epitome of the adventurer—representing an almost ideal (though perhaps sometimes exaggerated) embodiment of the concept of the adventurer as described by German philosopher Georg Simmel in 1911.

1/2017 : Flucht und Migration ISBN 978-3-00-058338-4 2/2018 : 1968. ISBN 978-3-00-060536-9 3/2019 : Fakt, Fake und Fiktion. ISBN 978-3-9821241-0-0 4/2020 : Träume. ISBN 978-3-9821241-1-7 5/ 2021 : Klänge 6/2022 : Natur schreiben

Die Maschinen, die sich der Mensch einst erträumte, scheinen heute selbst zu träumen. Dank immer ausgefeilteren Algorithmen rechnen Rechner heute nicht mehr nur, sondern schreiben Drehbücher, malen Bilder oder komponieren Musik. Die Frage, ob Computer kreativ sein können, ist hinfällig geworden. Interessanter ist die Frage, wie sie es sind. Was den Bereich der logischen Operationen anbelangt, bezweifelt niemand mehr, dass Computer den Menschen längst übertroffen haben. Grösser sind die Vorbehalte bei der Kunst: Ein Computer, so der Vorwurf, könne niemals wirklich kreativ sein, zumindest nie so kreativ wie der Mensch. Was bei der normativ gefärbten Debatte um die Möglichkeiten simulierter Kreativität zu kurz kommt, ist die unvoreingenommene Beschäftigung mit dem konkreten Kunstwerk. Um dem entgegenzuwirken, beleuchtet der Autor ausgewählte Beispiele künstlicher Kreativität – von Film über Malerei bis hin zu Musik – hinsichtlich ihrer Ästhetik, Originalität und Konzeption von Autorschaft. Die Befunde bringt er in Zusammenhang mit dem dominanten Deutungsrahmen einer Kulturkritik, die sich auf der Grundlage einer überkommenen Genieästhetik zwischen Technologiefeindlichkeit einerseits und euphorischer Affirmation einer vermeintlich autonomen Artificial Creativity andererseits aufhält, während der Autor selbst einen innovativeren Weg beschreitet.