Introduction- Why Decoding Disney?

Welcome to my Disney blog! I am very excited to be in this Writing 101 class-probably more so than other students-but not for the reasons you would expect. I was in the second pool for registration, so you're probably wondering how I even got into this class. When I was looking through the Writing 101 topic selections page, I had almost every single class starred. There were so many interesting topics and it hadn't occurred to me that all of them could possibly be taken by the time I was able to enroll in classes. Sure enough, when I logged into (what was then called) ACES, there were only three options left!

I knew I never had a shot of getting into Decoding Disney so it came as no surprise to me when that disappeared, but to only have three topics left was appalling. However, I wasn't too worried because one of the topics happened to be one of the many I had starred. I still had hope so I chose Literature in the Age of Mass Reproduction as quickly as possible and headed to the enroll page. That is where I ran into trouble- I couldn't find the enroll button! I frantically searched for the next 15 minutes until I finally figured out how to navigate the convoluted website, and by that time the course was full.

The only two topics that remained were Women's Memoirs and Memory and Trauma in Latin American Cinema. I believe these are the only two Writing 101 courses that are still not filled. I reluctantly chose Women's Memoirs (no offense intended, this course simply did not catch my interest) and emailed my academic advisor hoping to find a way to change my fate. He instructed me to keep checking ACES to see if a spot opened up in another class. I looked every day and to no avail. The registration window closed and I knew I was stuck until registration opened back up in late August.

Finally the window reopened and I checked every day hoping a class would open up. I would quickly skim through the different themes looking for an "open" written underneath the class. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw Decoding Disney had one spot left. Confusion overcame me. Who would drop Decoding Disney? I suddenly felt extremely anxious as I frantically dropped my writing and economy classes to make room for Decoding Disney. I felt a wave of relief when the little green check popped up enrolling me in the Writing 101 class almost every freshman desired. Although the timing of the class was a bit early for my erratic sleeping schedule, I was, and still am, determined to compromise my Monday and Wednesday mornings for the most interesting Writing 101 class Duke has to offer.

While I haven't either seen or remember seeing all of the Disney classic movies, and I cannot recall my trip to Disney world, I certainly know I watched Disney Channel 24/7 until an embarrassing age. I love pixar movies like Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, WALL-E, and Inside out, as well as Disney Channel movies. My favorite is High School Musical and I know the entire soundtrack to all three movies. My favorite Pixar movie is the Incredibles because it is my mom's favorite movie of all time and I always loved comparing the super family to my own family of five, deciding which character best suited each of us. I constantly complain to my parents that I have such a big age difference between me and my siblings because I don't remember all of the fun family adventure we went on when I was a baby, such as Disney world. Even so, I am still forever appreciative of Walt Disney for creating the company that shaped my childhood.

Beyond having an utmost reverence for Walt Disney, I took this course because of my passion for analysis. I was first intrigued by name of the course and to in fact "decode" the intentions of Disney movie creators. Seeing how the movies actually impact the world is definitely a topic I am ready to dive into and explore. I hope to make connections between why Disney portrays certain villains the way it does- based on gender or other societal factors. The question of if Disney is a villain itself catches my interest. I had only thought about how Disney creates heroes and role models. I had never considered the fact that they also created the evil that frightened us as children and gave us nightmares.