The happiest films on earth: A textual and contextual analysis of how and why Walt Disney altered the fairy tales and legends of 'Snow White', 'Cinderella', 'The Little Mermaid', and 'Pocahontas'

This dissertation argues that when textual analyses of the Walt Disney Company's animated feature-length films are performed in conjunction with analyses of the film's social, economic, production, and reception contexts (a materialistic historiography), added insights into the films as social and cultural forces emerge. This study uses combined textual and contextual analysis to examine how and why Disney altered the fairy tales and legends upon which the animated films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Pocahontas are based. A case study approach is used to reveal that the company has relied on the same basic formula for the creation of its animated films since 1938. This formula works to alter the messages of the classic fairy tales in order to foreground the ideals of conservatism, patriarchy and Puritanism. While the representations in the films have changed slightly over the years to reflect the viewpoints of contemporary audiences, the basic formula is still intact. This study concludes that the stories in Disney's animated feature-length fairy tales have, through conscious corporate decisions, been altered from the "classic" versions so that the films better reflect the social context within which these films are produced and received.