This page was constructed by Kyla McCosh, Maya Gilboa, Dani Howard & Emily Blakey. Any questions you have on Disney for the 2009 GCSE Media Studies examination can be directed towards the 4 girls, either through this wiki or on www.ning.com.




Representation
Australians shown to be intelligent; kangaroo & koala are both witty when it comes to finding the keys, they seem to outsmart the lizard. The Australian mouse seems to think on his feet i.e. the ‘open sesame’ remark.
Lizard is a really silly, thick character, doesn’t have any particular connotation.
Villain Man is a tall figure which shows a superior status from the young boy, the bigger lizard which is associated with the villain, is also larger than the original lizard.

Audience
This movie is obviously aimed at a young audience and that would be reason for the introduction of the hyperactive lizard, who also isn’t very bright; in order to attract their attention.
The palette however isn’t very bright, which would be something traditional to this genre and in order to attract the attention of young children, maybe these clip is dark in order to symbolise that this is a darker part of the movie.

Narrative
It’s an escape from being locked up, very traditional. The young boy has been kidnapped and trapped by the big scary villain and the heroes (the three rescuers) are trying to save him. Of course they encounter obstacles in the shape of the villain and his pet lizard. The villain tries to play upon the boy’s good-heartedness with the comment about the eggs; ‘survival of the fittest’, needless to say he doesn’t actually let him go.

Sound
The music in the extract supports what is going on visually very much, when the atmosphere is tense and rapid the music upbeat and jittery. Yet when there is a need for fear or the audience should sense a threat the music slows down and becomes of a much heavier note.

Is there a tradition, which relates to the studio/producer in question. In other words, just like we look at the conventions of genres, do studios/institutions also have conventions or trademarks associated with their brand identity?

The Walt Disney Company is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt and Roy Disney as an animation studio, it has become one of the biggest Hollywood studios, and owner and licensor of eleven theme parks and several television networks. Disney films always follow very similar plots, story lines, morals and endings. Because all Disney films were created by the legend of Walt Disney they contain signatures and meanings, making them easy to distinguish from other stories and films. Disney is a very well known badge and has been around for a long time making it enjoyable to parents as well as children. For some, it is a memory of their childhood and gives them a way to retreat to become a kid again. This tells us that every Disney film is similar in a sense that anyone who experiences the films are left with unforgettable memories. For a start, every original Disney film has a ‘once upon a time’ beginning and a happy ending. This is a signature signoff from the foundation of Walt Disney. A very common storyline starts with a female protagonist who is very beautiful and lives a very non-fulfilling life surrounded by other characters who only want to make her life worse. The main female protagonist is always very conventional – shown to do housework, sing, be talented, look beautiful and be friends with all the animals. The representation of genders in all Disney films are very similar in the sense that they are all very stereotypical, but unrealistic at the same time. The moment of disequilibrium happens when she falls in love with a prince who belongs to a royal family causing disruptions with the people who do not like the main female protagonist. In the end, the bad character in the story (often the step mother or evil witch) is punished and the prince and princess live happily ever after.

What is the relevance of film animation to our society and why is there an industry and various institutions devoted to the production of these products?

Film animation is often aimed at young children as they like to watch such texts. The relevance of film animation in our society is to educate younger years about the rights and wrongs of life. If a child sees a clip with a small section on violence and the characters in the clip show that violence is wrong, the child will learn from the clip. The purpose of a film animation industry working to produce the clips is to share the life morals that they wish for children to learn. In almost every DISNEY film, there is a good and bad character and every clip ends with a moral and a happily ever after. Without animation in our society today, children would not learn the wrongs and rights of the world.

Who benefits from the alliance and is this a form of media synergy?

Seeing as this is an old film, I don’t believe there were many organizations that fed off this product at the time. However this movie has the potential to benefit companies such as Hasbro which could produce toys associated with the film and it’s characters. This alliance is well-known and has worked in the past. I believe it could be beneficial to have a ‘comeback’ for this movie nowadays. Magazines and Print Ad. companies would feed off this media synergy to start off with, as they would attract adults attention (those who pay for all the merchandise) but in order to attract specifically the younger target audience disney could turn to their subsidiary channel on TV; playhouse disney channel.