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A review by wint
How to Read Donald Duck by Ariel Dorfman
I don't rate theory
"So whether they be actively wicked or passively virtuous, the role of the dominated is fixed, and history, it seems, is made somewhere else"
It is nigh impossible to find interesting academic criticism of Disney before the 80's, and even then while most of them are pretty harsh, they're also very simplistic (rat bad). While this one isn't an exception, the addition of the Latin America framework does give it a lot more weight.
Moreover, being a child of parents raised under a US-financed dictatorship, and that were very much fans of the Donald comics, this does add a lot of personal weight to the text.
I did find some parts of it pretty grating, though. The weird focus on this freudian notion of fathers and mothers, even when presented under the assumption of the validity of gender roles, was uncomfortable and sometimes pretty much a stretch (Mickey as a surrogate for actual motherhood? C'mon man).
But I did like the overall sardonic tone. As the (3) introductions like to point out, this is much more of an beginner text that facilitates the understading of some fairly complex marxist concepts. Their exploration of fetishism is downright brilliant. And while I didn't like the familial aspects of the analysis, it did flow pretty gracefully to the more grandiose and relevant theme of how the worldbuilding of the Disney comics, and I don't think it's a stretch to say it also applies to most of the media the company produced at the time, reflects this uncanny, parody-like characteristic of the economy and politics of Latin America now and then.
It is, in the end, fairly ok critique of the invisible influence of mainstream american media in third-world countries, with some truly powerful moments and easy to get through writing.
"So whether they be actively wicked or passively virtuous, the role of the dominated is fixed, and history, it seems, is made somewhere else"
It is nigh impossible to find interesting academic criticism of Disney before the 80's, and even then while most of them are pretty harsh, they're also very simplistic (rat bad). While this one isn't an exception, the addition of the Latin America framework does give it a lot more weight.
Moreover, being a child of parents raised under a US-financed dictatorship, and that were very much fans of the Donald comics, this does add a lot of personal weight to the text.
I did find some parts of it pretty grating, though. The weird focus on this freudian notion of fathers and mothers, even when presented under the assumption of the validity of gender roles, was uncomfortable and sometimes pretty much a stretch (Mickey as a surrogate for actual motherhood? C'mon man).
But I did like the overall sardonic tone. As the (3) introductions like to point out, this is much more of an beginner text that facilitates the understading of some fairly complex marxist concepts. Their exploration of fetishism is downright brilliant. And while I didn't like the familial aspects of the analysis, it did flow pretty gracefully to the more grandiose and relevant theme of how the worldbuilding of the Disney comics, and I don't think it's a stretch to say it also applies to most of the media the company produced at the time, reflects this uncanny, parody-like characteristic of the economy and politics of Latin America now and then.
It is, in the end, fairly ok critique of the invisible influence of mainstream american media in third-world countries, with some truly powerful moments and easy to get through writing.