By: Tyla Matthews | Staff Writer
Dr. Michael Robinson, Chair of the Communication Studies Department. Photo retrieved from the University of Lynchburg Facebook page.
The University of Lynchburg honors course is asking students to stop watching Disney and start analyzing it
The Westover Honors Program offers “House of Mouse,” a course that examines The Walt Disney Company through the lens of race, identity, gender, and corporate power. Dr. Michael Robinson, Chair of the Communication Studies Department, said Disney’s cultural footprint is exactly what makes it worth studying academically.
“Disney has an outsized place in our lives, and it’s important to understand where it comes from and what it’s about,” Robinson said.
According to Sprintzeal, Disney’s growth into a global entertainment giant was built on strategic storytelling, deliberate audience expansion, and decades of calculated leadership decisions.
Dr. David Richards, Chair of the International Relations and Political Science Department, said the company’s size is what makes its cultural choices so significant.
“Disney is a big company in culture, and culture is so political these days,” Richards said. “How do they pick which things to go for and do?”
Robinson’s course pushes students to wrestle with those same questions. Students screen films like Aladdin and Encanto to examine race and ethnicity, and study Disney parks through philosopher Jean Baudrillard‘s concept of hyperreality. The course also takes on real controversies, including the public debate over casting a Black actress in the live-action Little Mermaid.
“I don’t think Disney is all good or all bad,” Robinson said. “It’s important to think about what it means for this company, just years away from being 100 years old.”
The course also explores Disney’s lasting cultural influence. Walt Disney died in 1966, yet his presence has remained a constant in American media.
“When I was a kid watching TV, I thought he was still alive, because he was on TV all the time,” Robinson said. “In a weird sort of way, his ideas are still alive.”
The University of Lynchburg will host a Virginia Disney Studies Conference on March 21st, where students can learn more about Disney as a corporation and its impact on society.
The conference is hosted by Richards, who said, “This would just be a small conference, kind of like the Virginia Social Science Conference, where it’s just an opportunity, especially for undergraduates, to attend an academic conference, maybe even present, and get some experience that way.”
Students interested in attending the Virginia Disney Studies Conference can join on Saturday, March 21st, at 9 am on Google Meet https://meet.google.com/nhm-tuyd-jvr
