Animated Paternity: The History of Disney Fatherhood. The Composition, Development and Legacy of Paternal Discourse and Depictions of Fatherhood in Walt Disney Animated Feature Films 1940–1970

Animated Paternity: The History of Disney Fatherhood outlines a comprehensive history of father figures and representations of fatherhood in Disney films. The thesis focuses on animated feature films, which were personally approved for production by the company’s founder, Walt Disney (1901–1966). These films have since established the premises and set the foundational standards for current and future Disney animated features, their style and narrative. The representations of femininity in Disney films – especially in the studio’s princess features – have already been analyzed worldwide, and this thesis supplements these previous studies by providing the first large-scale scholarly opening from the perspective of paternity.

The dissertation, examining the various phases of the film company which recently turned one hundred years old, is simultaneously an extensive, in-depth exploration of the various changes and upheavals in audiovisual media culture. It sheds light on how Western popular cinema has developed into its current form and details the impact these interpretations have had on audiences at different times. In this regard, the Disney animated features are in an entirely unique position globally, as these works still play a prominent role in today’s media consumption, even though some of them were released more than 80 years ago. The thesis discusses how we experience, watch, and value Western entertainment: it observes not only the history of Hollywood film productions and the birth of industrial animated film, but also technological and social advances of these creative fields, such as the development of different formats and fan cultures.

Although Disney’s animated features primarily represent American cultural history and its major milestones, such as the war years, the post-war reconstruction, and the sexual revolution, various commercial applications and uses have since obscured this history to form a unified story of eternal and timeless film classics. On the other hand, thanks to the diverse distribution options and extensive ancillary product marketing, also the rest of the world has become a part of this same cultural history. The research on Disney paternity reveals what narrative role paternity possesses in the history of Western cinema and in general cultural history, and in which ways this subject area and its thematics have been renewed at various societal turning points stretching over a century.