Disney & Transmedia Adaptation

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The Walt Disney Company has a long history of adapting literary works for the screen, beginning with Snow White, The Reluctant Dragon, Bambi and Cinderella. Since the 1990s, however, the company has expanded its adaptations beyond "page to screen" to move into transmedia adaptations that extend narratives from literature into animated and live action films, theatrical productions, television, theme park rides and streamed serial narratives. This class will examine the trajectory of Disney's approach to adaptation, beginning with the earliest page to screen productions and extending into more recent reworkings such as literature to film to theatre (Mary Poppins and Frozen); literature to film to theater to live action (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King); literature to film to live action to theme park attraction (Jungle Book, Mulan) and film to novelization to streamed serial (Star Wars and The Mandalorian). We will pay particular attention to the transmedia journey of Dodie Smith's 101 Dalmatians from magazine serial to novel to animated and live action films, to a UK and Canadian television series, and most recently a prequel story in Cruella. Film analysis will be informed by readings in adaptation theory, transmedia studies, and musical theory.