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[CCBC-Net] Alice Disneyfied
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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 09:14:34 +0100
Amy Krahn wrote, "Ye gods! After all that fantastic work you let them watch Disney?! It seems almost criminal. Please, tell me they like the real Alice better and that they all vow never to watch another Disney movie again!"
On the other hand,
Dorian Chong wrote: "I would love to hear from Monica what her students have said about the Disney version after her teaching of the original. (I'd also be curious to know if she has ever had any students who hadn't ever seen it before.) Do kids view it as better, worse, or just different? What do they like and dislike?"
Kids watch Disney. They know Disney. They LIKE Disney. And guess what? I like some Disney too. Kids come into my classroom with all kinds of prior knowledge. I do not dismiss it out of hand. If I were to do that I would turn them off right away. Here are two different ways I deal with Disney (one related to Alice and one not.)
1. I do a large Cinderella unit. Most of the kids again know the story from the Disney movie. We do not, in class, view the movie, but it certainly comes up in our conversations. I've got a few print copies of it around. Some years the kids reject it after being immersed in other texts, sometimes not. Other way, I think they are entitled to their own impressions and feelings about the Disney text as much as any other. (I've had the opportunity during my various NEH's fellowships to look at some Disney films very closely and it helps to appreciate them a lot more.)
2. As for the Disney Alice, I like parts of it a lot, actually. I think the Disney animators did a better job with certain elements in the text than many illustrators. Of course, they changed the story, combined the two stories, and so forth, but it isn't that dreadful in my opinion.
I show it AFTER the kids have spent lots of time discussing, analyzing, thinking about Alice and her illustrators. They enjoy it and are very articulate about how Disney changed the text, what he left out, why he might have changed the story, etc.
A very interesting example of something left out is the chapter, Pig and Pepper. It wasn't in Carroll's first version (Underground). The kids and I tend to think Disney thought it was too violent (shaking a baby?) They dislike the way he changes the whole story line by turning the whole adventure into a bad dream that she flees from at the end. Not the case in the actual book.
I've written more about the kids reactions in my book. Sorry, but I can't put it all down here! However, I would argue that it is important to bring Disney in to classrooms and libraries (as he is in the kids' minds already) rather than dismiss him completely.
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Wed 25 Oct 2000 03:14:34 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 09:14:34 +0100
Amy Krahn wrote, "Ye gods! After all that fantastic work you let them watch Disney?! It seems almost criminal. Please, tell me they like the real Alice better and that they all vow never to watch another Disney movie again!"
On the other hand,
Dorian Chong wrote: "I would love to hear from Monica what her students have said about the Disney version after her teaching of the original. (I'd also be curious to know if she has ever had any students who hadn't ever seen it before.) Do kids view it as better, worse, or just different? What do they like and dislike?"
Kids watch Disney. They know Disney. They LIKE Disney. And guess what? I like some Disney too. Kids come into my classroom with all kinds of prior knowledge. I do not dismiss it out of hand. If I were to do that I would turn them off right away. Here are two different ways I deal with Disney (one related to Alice and one not.)
1. I do a large Cinderella unit. Most of the kids again know the story from the Disney movie. We do not, in class, view the movie, but it certainly comes up in our conversations. I've got a few print copies of it around. Some years the kids reject it after being immersed in other texts, sometimes not. Other way, I think they are entitled to their own impressions and feelings about the Disney text as much as any other. (I've had the opportunity during my various NEH's fellowships to look at some Disney films very closely and it helps to appreciate them a lot more.)
2. As for the Disney Alice, I like parts of it a lot, actually. I think the Disney animators did a better job with certain elements in the text than many illustrators. Of course, they changed the story, combined the two stories, and so forth, but it isn't that dreadful in my opinion.
I show it AFTER the kids have spent lots of time discussing, analyzing, thinking about Alice and her illustrators. They enjoy it and are very articulate about how Disney changed the text, what he left out, why he might have changed the story, etc.
A very interesting example of something left out is the chapter, Pig and Pepper. It wasn't in Carroll's first version (Underground). The kids and I tend to think Disney thought it was too violent (shaking a baby?) They dislike the way he changes the whole story line by turning the whole adventure into a bad dream that she flees from at the end. Not the case in the actual book.
I've written more about the kids reactions in my book. Sorry, but I can't put it all down here! However, I would argue that it is important to bring Disney in to classrooms and libraries (as he is in the kids' minds already) rather than dismiss him completely.
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Wed 25 Oct 2000 03:14:34 AM CDT
