The Oxford Handbook of the Disney Musical brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to interrogate an enduringly popular and influential cultural phenomenon. Broadening the purview of extant scholarship while also reflecting its methodological multiplicity, this collection takes an expansive approach to the Disney musical.
From animated musical shorts to Disney video games, the Handbook acknowledges that the Walt Disney Company uses the musical across a range of media and explores what that means culturally, commercially, and technologically. The chapters cover case studies from the classical (Alice in Wonderland, Bambi) and more contemporary (Aladdin, Frozen II) eras, acknowledge the importance of theme parks, television, and video games to Disney's success, and explore cultural figures and themes. Contributors also unpack Disney's complicated relationship with race, gender, and sexuality, and the company's recent centennial provides an apt opportunity to reflect on the importance of the musical to the conglomerate's evolution in diverse segments of the media industries. Taken together, the Handbook combines innovative original research, analyses of previously unexamined archival documents, case studies, topical discussions, and critiques of current knowledge and existing scholarship to give voice to new perspectives on this important topic. By including the perspectives of scholars from film, theater, television, musicology, children's literature, and cultural studies, serving as a multidisciplinary resource.
