Table Of ContentDISNEY
AND PHILOSOPHY
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series
Series editor: William Irwin
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and a healthy helping of popular culture clears the cobwebs from
Kant. Philosophy has had a public relations problem for a few centuries now. This series aims to change that, showing
that philosophy is relevant to your life – and not just for answering the big questions like “To be or not to be?” but for
answering the little questions: “To watch or not to watch South Park?” Thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music
doesn’t make you a “complete idiot.” In fact it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined
life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching.
Already published in the series:
24 and Philosophy: The World According to Jack House and Philosophy: Everybody Lies
Edited by Jennifer Hart Weed, Richard Brian Davis, and Edited by Henry Jacoby
Ronald Weed House of Cards and Philosophy: Underwood’s Republic
30 Rock and Philosophy: We Want to Go to There Edited by J. Edward Hackett
Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski The Hunger Games and Philosophy: A Critique of Pure
Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Treason
Curiouser Edited by George Dunn and Nicolas Michaud
Edited by Richard Brian Davis Inception and Philosophy: Because It’s Never Just a Dream
Alien and Philosophy: I Infest, Therefore I Am Edited by David Kyle Johnson
Edited by Jeffery A. Ewing and Kevin S. Decker Iron Man and Philosophy: Facing the Stark Reality
Arrested Development and Philosophy: They’ve Made a Edited by Mark D. White
Huge Mistake LEGO and Philosophy: Constructing Reality Brick By Brick
Edited by Kristopher G. Phillips and J. Jeremy Edited by Roy T. Cook and Sondra Bacharach
Wisnewski
The Ultimate Lost and Philosophy: Think Together,
Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See Die Alone
Edited by George A. Dunn Edited by Sharon Kaye
The Avengers and Philosophy: Earth’s Mightiest Thinkers Mad Men and Philosophy: Nothing Is as It Seems
Edited by Mark D. White Edited by James South and Rod Carveth
Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery
Edited by Mark D. White and Robert Arp Edited by William Irwin
Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Knowledge Here The Office and Philosophy: Scenes from the Unfinished Life
Begins Out There Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski
Edited by Jason T. Eberl
Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy: Brains Before Bullets
The Big Bang Theory and Philosophy: Rock, Paper, Edited by George A. Dunn and Jason T. Eberl
Scissors, Aristotle, Locke
Edited by Dean Kowalski The Ultimate South Park and Philosophy: Respect My
Philosophah!
The Big Lebowski and Philosophy: Keeping Your Mind Edited by Robert Arp and Kevin S. Decker
Limber with Abiding Wisdom
Edited by Peter S. Fosl Spider‐Man and Philosophy: The Web of Inquiry
Edited by Jonathan J. Sanford
BioShock and Philosophy: Irrational Game, Rational Book
Edited by Luke Cuddy The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy: The Search for
Socrates
Black Sabbath and Philosophy: Mastering Reality Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker
Edited by William Irwin
The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy: You Must
The Ultimate Daily Show and Philosophy: More Unlearn What You Have Learned
Moments of Zen, More Indecision Theory Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker
Edited by Jason Holt
Superman and Philosophy: What Would the Man of Steel Do?
Disney and Philosophy: Truth, Trust, and a Little Bit of Edited by Mark D. White
Pixie Dust
Edited by Richard B. Davis Supernatural and Philosophy: Metaphysics and
Monsters…for Idjits
Doctor Strange and Philosophy: The Other Book of Edited by Galen A. Foresman
Forbidden Knowledge
Edited by Mark D. White Terminator and Philosophy: I’ll Be Back, Therefore I Am
Edited by Richard Brown and Kevin S. Decker
Downton Abbey and Philosophy: The Truth Is Neither
Here Nor There True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad
Edited by Mark D. White Things with You
Edited by George Dunn and Rebecca Housel
Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy: Read and Gain
Advantage on All Wisdom Checks True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad
Edited by Christopher Robichaud Things with You, Expanded Edition
Edited by George Dunn and Rebecca Housel
Ender’s Game and Philosophy: The Logic Gate is Down
Edited by Kevin S. Decker True Detective and Philosophy: A Deeper Kind of Darkness
Edited by Jacob Graham and Tom Sparrow
Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure For The Petarded
Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the
Pursuit of Immortality
Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough
Edited by Jason P. Blahuta and Michel S. Beaulieu Edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski
Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper Veronica Mars and Philosophy: Investigating the
Than Swords Mysteries of Life (Which is a Bitch Until You Die)
Edited by Henry Jacoby Edited by George A. Dunn
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Philosophy: The Walking Dead and Philosophy: Shotgun. Machete.
Everything Is Fire Reason.
Edited by Eric Bronson Edited by Christopher Robichaud
Green Lantern and Philosophy: No Evil Shall Escape Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test
this Book Edited by Mark D. White
Edited by Jane Dryden and Mark D. White Westworld and Philosophy: If You Go Looking for the
The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts Truth, Get the Whole Thing
for Muggles Edited by James B. South and Kimberly S. Engels
Edited by Gregory Bassham Wonder Woman and Philosophy: The Amazonian
Heroes and Philosophy: Buy the Book, Save the World Mystique
Edited by David Kyle Johnson Edited by Jacob M. Held
The Hobbit and Philosophy: For When You’ve Lost Your X‐Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and
Dwarves, Your Wizard, and Your Way Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X‐Verse
Edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson Edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski
DISNEY
AND PHILOSOPHY
TRUTH, TRUST, AND A
LITTLE BIT OF PIXIE DUST
Edited by
Richard B. Davis
This edition first published 2020
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Davis, Richard Brian, 1963– editor. | Irwin, William, 1970– editor.
Title: Disney and philosophy : truth, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust
/ edited by Richard B Davis, William Irwin.
Description: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley-Blackwell, 2020. | Series: The Blackwell
philosophy and pop culture series | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019030287 (print) | LCCN 2019030288 (ebook) | ISBN
9781119538318 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119538288 (adobe pdf) | ISBN
9781119538356 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Walt Disney Company. | Animated films–United
States–History and criticism. | Disney characters–Philosophy.
Classification: LCC PN1999.W27 D54 2020 (print) | LCC PN1999.W27 (ebook)
| DDC 384/.80979494–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019030287
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019030288
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Images: © kostins/Shutterstock; © passion artist/Shutterstock
Set in 10.5/13pt Sabon by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India
Printed and bound in Singapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Contributors: “It’s a Whole Family of Supers” ix
Acknowledgments: It takes People to
Make a Dream Reality xvii
Introduction: Philosophy Begins in Wonder xix
Part I “The Seaweed is Always Greener
in Somebody Else’s Lake” 1
1 Unruly Ariel: Not Born but Made a Woman 3
Megan S. Lloyd
2 “True to Your Heart”: Honor and Authenticity in Mulan 11
George A. Dunn
3 Zen and the Art of Imagineering: Disney’s Escapism
Versus Buddhism’s Liberation 25
Steve Bein
4 Hidden Mickeys and the Hiddenness of God 35
Robert K. Garcia and Timothy Pickavance
Part II “I’ll be Shooting for My Own Hand” 45
5 “Everyone’s Special Dash”: Tolerance and Conformity
in a World of Incredible Differences 47
Richard B. Davis
v
vi Contents
6 Accommodating Dory, but Disempowering Dopey?
Dilemmas of Disability from Snow White to Finding Dory 59
Kevin Mintz
7 From Snow White to Moana: Understanding Disney’s
Feminist Transformation 71
Edwardo Pérez
8 “Always a Team, Always United”: Disney’s Philosophy
of the Family 81
Kody Cooper
Part III “Your Identity is your Most Valuable Possession” 93
9 How to Convince Sleeping Beauty She’s Not Dreaming 95
C. A. McIntosh
10 Knowing Who you Are: Existence Precedes Essence
in Moana 107
William J. Devlin
11 Saving Mr. Banks: Reclaiming Our Childhood,
Remembering Who We Are 119
Mark D. Linville and Shawn White
12 WALL·E and EVE: Disney’s Intelligent Machines 129
Timothy Brown
13 Inside Disney’s Inside Out 137
Ellen Miller
Part IV “You Can Be Anyone You Want To Be” 145
14 To Be or Not to Be … the Lion King: Existentialism
in Disney and Shakespeare 147
Megan S. Lloyd
15 True Freedom in Toy Story, or You Are a Child’s Plaything! 157
Armond Boudreaux
Contents vii
16 “Our Fate Lives Within Us”: Character and Choice
in Brave 167
Louis Colombo and Steve Jones
17 Breaking the Spell: Beauty and the Beast and Plato’s
Prisoner 177
Nathan Mueller and Leilani Mueller
18 True Love in Frozen 185
Jamey Heit
Part V “Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide” 193
19 Mencius Spins The Emperor’s New Groove 195
Dean A. Kowalski
20 “Handed Down from Goof to Goof”: What Goofy Can
Teach Us About Becoming Good 207
Robert M. Mentyka
21 “Let Slip the (Donald) Ducks of War!”: Ethical
Considerations About Disney’s War Propaganda 217
Tuomas W. Manninen
22 WALL·E, the Environment, and Our Duties to Future
Generations 227
J. Edward Hackett
23 Is There Any Utopia in Zootopia? 235
Frauke Albersmeier and Alexander Christian
Part VI The Wonderful Worldview of Disney 245
24 How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Disney:
Marx and Marcuse at Disney World 247
Elizabeth Butterfield
25 Colonizing the Geography of the Imagination: Media,
Mind, and the Magic Kingdom 259
Read Mercer Schuchardt
viii Contents
26 “We’re All Gonna Die”: Death and the Cycle of Life
in Disney 271
Jessica Miller
27 Liberty Square in the Shadow of Cinderella’s Castle:
Political Philosophy in Disney’s Theme Parks 283
Timothy Dale and Joseph Foy
Index 293
