PIXAR’S AMERICA The Re-Animation of American Myths and Symbols DIETMAR MEINEL Pixar’s America Dietmar Meinel Pixar’s America The Re-Animation of American Myths and Symbols Dietmar Meinel Department of Anglophone Studies University of Duisburg-Essen Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany ISBN 978-3-319-31633-8 ISBN 978-3-319-31634-5 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31634-5 (eBook) Library of Congress Control Number: 2016950070 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland For my Friends ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In many ways, the following words of gratitude cannot justice to the immense support, encouragement, and inspiration I have received from so many people in the writing of this book While writing is a rather solitary endeavor, the intellectual work behind it never is The assistance, care, and sustenance of an amazing community brought the following pages, indeed the writer of these lines, into being I am grateful and indebted to all of you First and foremost, I thank Winfried Fluck His thinking shaped the very idea of the book and his intellectual rigor enabled me to develop a voice of my own In particular his insistent encouragement to explore the aesthetic and narrative complexity of the cinematic material became an essential tenet of this book and my work in general Similarly, with her keen observations and her sharp theoretical thinking, Laura Bieger profoundly influenced the content of this book, from its structure to its close readings As a scholar and an instructor Laura fostered my intellectual vocation—from my very first seminar as an undergraduate to the completion of this book I am also grateful to Donald Pease whose sense of profession taught me an unprecedented passion for intellectual exchange His generosity in wholeheartedly engaging with my work from the beginning of the project onward provided me with confidence during moments of doubt; his dedication to my journey also offered me opportunities and experiences which I hold dear Ahu Tanrisever and Sonja Longolius read and commented on individual chapters at our wonderful reading group meetings; my cohort at the Graduate School of North American Studies—Ben Robbins, Dorian vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Kantor, Florian Plum, Kate Schweißhelm, Lina Tegtmeyer, Natalia Klimina, Nathan Vanderpool, Rebecca Brückmann, and Ruth Steinhoff— lifted me up when spirit, health, or faith were low The Graduate School of North American Studies and the John F. Kennedy Institute gave me the opportunity to write my thesis in an intellectually stimulating environment in Berlin, Germany, and abroad With her heart-warming presence and her patience, Gabi Bodmeier often saved me from my bureaucratic incompetence At the Department of Anglophone Studies of the University of Duisburg-Essen, I am indebted to Barbara Buchenau for her faith in and support of my work Of my friends and colleagues at the University of Duisburg-Essen, to all of whom I am grateful for creating a stimulating and supportive environment, I particularly acknowledge Elena Furlanetto, Zohra Hassan, and Courtney Moffett-Bateau Their astuteness, knowledge, and openness have taught me to thrive as an intellectual and as a person At Palgrave Macmillan I have been lucky to find highly professional support for the book, and thank in particular Lina Aboujieb and Hariharan Venugopal I am especially grateful for the thoughtful and perceptive comments provided by the anonymous reviewers Earlier versions of Chaps 6, 7, and were previously published in Animation Studies, Volume (2013), NECSUS European Journal for Media Studies (Spring 2014), and European Journal of American Culture, Volume 33, Issue (2014), respectively A section of the introduction appeared in the volume Rereading the Machine in the Garden (2014) edited by Eric Erbacher, Nicole Maruo-Schröder, and Florian Sedlmeier I am grateful for the permission to reproduce material here The friendship of many wonderful people has inspired and uplifted me during the research and writing I deeply appreciate their belief in me My parents and my sister supported me even when my path appeared hazardous and disheartening I thank Hajo and Kay, for without you, none of this would exist CONTENTS 1 Exceptional Animation: An Introduction From Failure to Fame: The Pixar Studio and Digital Animation Animating Revolt or Monstrous Beings? All Ages Admitted “Every Line Drawn, Object Moved, and Shape Changed” Animating the Myths and Symbols of American Culture Remediating the Myths and Symbols of American Culture 19 20 22 28 “You Better Play Nice”: Digital Enchantment and the Performance of Toyness in Toy Story (1995) Fearful Sheriff Dolls and Oblivious Space-Ranger Action Figures Stupid, Little, Insignificant Toys The Space-Traveling American Adam The Enchanting Performance of Toyness 45 47 50 52 55 An Animated Toast to the Ephemeral: The Multicultural Logic of Late Capitalism in Toy Story (1999) The Multicultural Myth of Woody, Buzz, and Bill A Postmodern Toy Story The Digital Logic of Late Capitalism A Toast to the Ephemeral 61 63 66 70 71 ix 226 BIBLIOGRAPHY Miller, Perry 1956 Errand into the wilderness Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press Print Miller, Angela 1993 The empire of the eye Landscape representation and American cultural politics, 1825–1875 Ithaca: Cornell University Press Print Mills, Charles Wright 1951 White collar The American middle classes Oxford: Oxford University Press Print Montgomery, Colleen 2011 Woody’s roundup and Wall‐E’s Wunderkammer Technophilia and Nostalgia in Pixar animation Animation Studies 6, 7‐13 Web 30 Sept 2015 Morgan, Iwan W 1994 Beyond the liberal consensus A political history of the United States since 1965 London: Hurst & Company Print Murphy, Gretchen 2005 Hemispheric imaginings The Monroe Doctrine and narratives of U.S empire Durham: Duke University Press Print Nachenoff, Carol 1994 The fictional republic Horatio Alger and American political discourse Oxford: Oxford University Press Print Natali, Maurizia 2006 The course of the empire Sublime landscape in the American cinema In Landscape and film, ed Martin Lefebvre, 91–124 New York: Routledge Print Neale, Steve 1983 Masculinity as spectacle Reflections on men and mainstream cinema Screen 24(6): 2–17 Print Novak, Barbara 2007 Nature and culture: American landscape and painting 1825–1875, 3rd ed New York: Oxford University Press Print Obama, Barack H 2009 Inaugural address United States Capitol, Washington D.C., January 20 Address Paik, Karen 2007 To infinity and beyond The story of Pixar animation studios San Francisco: Chronicle Books Print Patton, Phil 1986 Open road A celebration of the American highway New York: Simon and Schuster Print Paul, Heike, Axeandra Ganser, and Katharina Gerund 2012 Pirates, drifters, fugitives: Figures of mobility in the US and beyond Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter Print Pease, Donald 1990 New Americanists: Revisionist interventions into the Canon Boundary 17(1): 1–37 Print Pease, Donald 1992 National identities, postmodern artifacts, and postnational narratives Boundary 19(1): 1–13 Print Pease, Donald 2003 The global homeland state: Bush’s biopolitical settlement Boundary 30(3): 1–18 Print Pease, Donald 2007 Exceptionalism In Keywords for American cultural studies, ed Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler, 108–112 New York: New York University Press Print Pease, Donald 2009 The new American exceptionalism Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Print BIBLIOGRAPHY 227 Pease, Donald 2010 American studies after American exceptionalism? Toward a comparative analysis of imperial state exceptionalisms In Globalizing American studies, ed Brian T. Edwards and Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar Chicago: University of Chicago Press Print Pease, Donald 2011 Introduction: Re-mapping the transnational turn In Re-framing the transnational turn in American studies, ed Winfried Fluck, Donald E. Pease, and John Carlos Rowe, 1–48 Hanover: Dartmouth College Press Print Phillips-Fein, Kim 2009 Invisible hands The Businessmen’s crusade against the new deal New York: W.W. Norton Print PIXAR 25 Years of Animation 2012 Bonn: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland GmbH. Print Potter, David 1954 People of plenty Economic abundance and the American character Chicago: The University of Chicago Press Print Pramaggiore, Maria, and Tom Wallis 2011 Film and ideology In Film A critical introduction, 3rd ed, 308–342 London: Laurence King Publishing Print Price, David A 2008 The Pixar touch The making of a company New York: Alfred A. Knopf Print Purcell, Mark 2008 Recapturing democracy Neoliberalization and the struggle for alternative urban futures New York: Routledge Print Rancière, Jacques 2011 The Emancipated Spectator Trans Gregory Elliott New York: Verso Print Ratatouille Podcast www.youtube.com, n.d Web 30 Sept 2015 Rawls, John 1972 A theory of justice Oxford: Clarendon Press Print Reinhardt, Mark 1997 The art of being free Taking liberties with Tocqueville, Marx, and Arendt Ithaca: Cornell University Press Print Ridge, Martin 1993 Introduction In Turner, Frederick Jackson History, frontier, and section: Three essays by Frederick Jackson Turner Introduced by Martin Ridge, 1–38 Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press Print Rodgers, Daniel T 1998 Exceptionalism In Imagined histories American historians interpret the past, ed Anthony Molho and Gordon S. Wood, 21–40 Princeton: Princeton University Press Print Ryan, Terre 2011 This ecstatic nation The American landscape and the aesthetics of patriotism Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press Print Sandel, Michael J 2009 Justice What’s the right thing to do? New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Print Schickel, Richard 1986 The Disney version: The life, times, art, and commerce of Walt Disney London: Pavilion Print Schlesinger Jr., Arthur M 1962 The politics of hope Cambridge: The Riverside Press Print Schlesinger Jr., Arthur M 1998 The disuniting of America Reflections on a multicultural society, Revised and Enlarged edition New York: W. W Norton & Company Print 228 BIBLIOGRAPHY Schwarz, John E 1997 Illusions of opportunity The American dream in question New York: W. W Norton & Company Print Schweitzer, Ivy 2006 Perfecting friendship Politics and affiliation in early American literature Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press Print Scott, David C., and Brendan Murphy 2010 The scouting party Pioneering and preservation, progressivism and preparedness in the making of the Boy Scouts of America Dallas: Red Honor Press Print Seiler, Cotten 2008 Republic of drivers A cultural history of automobility in America Chicago: University of Chicago Press Print Shafer, Byron E 1991 Is America different? A new look at American exceptionalism Oxford: Clarendon Press Print Shaw, Ian Graham Ronald 2010 WALL‐E’s world: Animating Badiou’s philosophy Cultural Geographies 17: 391–405 Print Simpson, Mark 2005 Trafficking subjects The politics of mobility in nineteenthcentury America Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Print Smith, Henry Nash 1950 Virgin land: The American west as symbol and myth Cambridge: Harvard University Press Print Smith, Gaddis 1994 The last years of the Monroe Doctrine 1945–1993 New York: Hill and Wang Print Smith, Roberta 2005 It’s a Pixar World We’re just living in it Nytimes.com New York Times, December 16 Web 30 Sept 2015 Sobchack, Vivian 2009 Animation and automation, or, the incredible effortfulness of being Screen 50(4): 375–391 Print Sombart, Werner 1976 Why is there no socialism in the United States? White Plains: International Arts and Sciences Press Print Spanos, William V 2008 American exceptionalism in the age of globalization The specter of Vietnam New York: State University of New York Press Print Spanos, William V 2011 The exceptionalist state and the state of exception Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, sailor Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press Print Sprengler, Christine 2009 Screening nostalgia Populuxe props and Technicolor aesthetics in contemporary American film New York: Berghahn Books Print Springer, Claudia 1996 Electronic Eros Bodies and desire in the postindustrial age Austin: University of Texas Press Print Stacey, Jackie 1994 Feminine fascinations A question of identification? In Star gazing Hollywood cinema and female spectatorship, 126–175 New York: Routledge Print Steinhoff, Heike 2012 Gender, sexuality, nationality, and the pirate as mobile signifier in captain blood, Anne of the Indies, Cutthroat Island, and Pirates of the Caribbean In Pirates, drifters, fugitives: Figures of mobility in the US and beyond, ed Heike Paul, Alexandra Ganser, and Katharina Gerund, 103–138 Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter Print BIBLIOGRAPHY 229 Sternheimer, Karen 2011 Celebrity culture and the American dream Stardom and social mobility New York: Routledge Print Stoler, Ann Laura 2006 On degrees of imperial sovereignty Public Culture 18(1): 125–146 Print Tasker, Yvonne 1993 Spectacular bodies Gender, genre and the action cinema London: Routledge Print Tasker, Yvonne 2004 The family in action In Action and adventure cinema, ed Yvonne Tasker, 252–266 London: Routledge Print Taves, Brian 1993 The romance of adventure The genre of historical adventure movies Jackson: University of Mississippi Press Print Taylor, Charles 1992 Multiculturalism and ‘the politics of recognition’ Princeton: Princeton University Press Print Thieme, John 2001 Postcolonial con-texts Writing back to the Canon New York: Continuum Print Thompson, Elizabeth R 2010 Scarlett O’Hara in Damascus Hollywood, colonial politics, and Arab spectatorship during World War II. In Globalizing American studies, ed Brian T. Edwards and Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar, 184– 207 Chicago: University of Chicago Press Print Traister, Bryce 2010 The object of study; or, are we being transnational yet? Transnational American Studies 2(1): 1–28 Print Turner, Frederick Jackson 1993 History, frontier, and section: Three essays by Frederick Jackson Turner Introduced by Martin Ridge Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press Print Villa, Dana 2006 Tocqueville and civil society In The Cambridge companion to Tocqueville, ed Cheryl B. Welch, 216–244 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Print Voelz, Johannes 2010 Transcendental resistance: The New Americanists and Emerson’s challenge Hanover: University Press of New England Print Voelz, Johannes 2011 Utopias of transnationalism and the neoliberal state In Re-framing the transnational turn in American studies, ed Winfried Fluck, Donald E. Pease, and John Carlos Rowe, 356–373 Hanover: Dartmouth College Press Print Wallach, Jennifer Jensen 2013 How America eats A social history of U.S food and culture Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Print Welch, Cheryl B 2006 The Cambridge companion to Tocqueville Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Print Wells, Paul 2002 Animation and America New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press Print White, Richard 1994 Frederick Jackson Turner and Buffalo Bill In The frontier in American culture An exhibition at the Newberry library, August 26, 1994— January 7, 1995, ed James R. Grossman, 7–66 Berkeley: University of California Press Print 230 BIBLIOGRAPHY Wiegman, Robyn 1999 Whiteness studies and the paradox of particularity Boundary 26(3): 115–150 Print Wills, Gary 2004 Did Tocqueville ‘Get’ America? The New York Review of Books 51: Web 30 Sept 2015 Wisse, Ruth R 1971 The schlemiel as modern hero Chicago: University of Chicago Press Print Wrobel, David M 1993 The end of American exceptionalism: Frontier anxiety from the old west to the new deal Lawrence: University Press of Kansas Print Yancy, George 2004 Fragments of a social ontology of whiteness In What White looks like African American philosophers on the whiteness question, ed George Yancy, 1–24 New York: Routledge Print FILMOGRAPHY Cars Dir John Lasseter Perf Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, and Paul Newman 2006 Disney/Pixar, 2007 DVD Monsters, Inc Dir Pete Docter Perf Billy Crystal, John Goodman, and Mary Gibbs 2001 Disney/Pixar, 2007 DVD Ratatouille Dir Brad Bird Perf Brad Garret, Lou Romano, Peter O’Toole, and Patton Oswalt 2007 Disney/Pixar, 2008 DVD The Incredibles Dir Brad Bird Perf Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Holly Hunter 2004 Disney/Pixar, 2007 DVD Toy Story Dir John Lasseter Perf Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Don Rickles 1995 Disney/Pixar, 2007 DVD Toy Story Dir John Lasseter Perf Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack 1999 Disney/Pixar, 2007 DVD Toy Story Dir Lee Unkrich Perf Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack 2010 Disney/Pixar, 2010 DVD Up Dir Pete Docter Perf Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, and Bob Peterson 2009 Disney/Pixar, 2009 DVD WALL-E Dir Andrew Stanton Perf Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, and Jeff Garlin 2008 Disney/Pixar, 2009 DVD INDEX A Ackerman, Alan, 63–4 Adams, James Truslow, 98 Adorno, Theodor, 12–13 aesthetics, 20–2 animated, 10–12, 20–1, 28 digital, 10–11, 21, 28–9, 29–31, 47, 55, 57–8 of enchantment, 66, 72, 204 live-action camera, 33–4, 124, 133 1950s, 75–6, 187 realistic, 164, 178–9 voice-acting, 33, 99, 111–12, 113 age of audiences, 19–20 Aladdin (1992), Alger, Horatio, 32, 99, 111, 115n4, 116n7 Also Sprach Zarathrustra (Strauss), 20 Althusser, Louis, 13 American Adam, The: Innocence and Tragedy in the Nineteenth Century (Lewis), 52–4 American Adam trope, 30–1, 46, 52–5, 57 American dream, 2, 165 © The Author(s) 2016 D Meinel, Pixar’s America, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31634-5 American dream in Ratatouille, 32–3, 97–114 class and, 99, 105–7, 109–12 ordinary whiteness, 111–14 Paris as symbol, 101–2 virtue and, 102–4, 109 whiteness and, 107–14 white privilege, 99, 113–14 American exceptionalism, 37, 47, 210, 213–14, 216 animation genre, 22–3 Cold War and, 24–5 driving, 200 food abundance, 115n5 frontier myth and, 134n1 historical scholarship, 23–5 Ratatouille and, 99 resource abundance and scarcity, 77–9 Tocqueville and, 164, 181n4 Toy Story and, 51 Toy Story and, 36–7, 210, 213–14, 216 WALL-E and, 134 231 232 INDEX American Expatriate Writing and the Paris Moment (Pizer), 114n3 American Jeremiad, The (Bercovitch), 188–9, 209 American Masculinity Under Clinton (Malin), 48 American South, 36, 198–200 American Tail, An (1986), 7, 114n1 Anarchy of Empire in the Making of U.S. Culture, The (Kaplan), 154 Andre and Wall B (1984), animation genre, 22–30 American exceptionalism, 22–3 critical divide, 9–18 cultural myths and symbols, 29–30 potential for subversion, 20–1 revival of, 6–9 Animation in America (Wells), 21 Antz (1998), B Baum, Frank, 156n3 Beauty and the Beast (1991), Beekman, Scott, 199–200 Bellah, Robert, 191 Benjamin, Walter, 11–12, 16, 19–1 Bercovitch, Sacvan, 188–9, 195, 209 Bernard, Carol A., 134 Bird, Brad, 111–12, 179 Biskind, Peter, 106 Bob (Incredibles) masculinity, 165, 172, 175 Boltansky, Luc, 63, 71 Bolter, Jay David, 29, 43n28 Booker, Keith M., 10, 19, 38n7, 67 Braungart, Michael, 92n3 Brave Little Toaster, The, Brief History of Neoliberalism, A (Harvey), 94n10 British Empire, 151–2 Bug’s Life, A (1998), 10 Building Character in the American Boy: The Boy Scouts, YMCA, and Their Forerunners, 1870-1920 (Macleod), 161n21 Bush, George W., 212 Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story films), 2, 45–58 American cultural symbology, 55–7 masculinity, 46, 48–9, 56 maturation of, 30–1, 50–2 postmodern identity, 67–8 C capitalism, 70–1, 79–4 Carol, Hamilton, 172 Cars (2006), 35–6, 195–204 American jeremiad, 36, 188–90, 195, 209 American South, 36, 198–200 gender, 36, 201–2 individualism, 36, 190–5 Interstate highway system, 187–8 landscape art, 36, 196–7 race, 36, 201–3, 204 soundtrack, 35–6, 188, 192–4, 203–4 Catmull, Ed, 1, 3–6 celebrity studies, 117n14 Chiapello, Eve, 63, 71 Chicago Sun (newspaper), children’s culture, 19–20 Christopher, John, 159n17 Clarke, James, 7, 40n19 Clark, Reuben, 143 Clinton, Bill, 46, 51, 56 Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs films (2009, 2013), Cold War, 24–5, 46, 81, 164, 175–6 communism, 79, 144 Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), INDEX computer graphics software development, 4–5 Condition of Postmodernity, The (Harvey), 69–70 conformism, 35, 163–4, 166 highway travel, 193 Conrad, Joseph, 157n6 consumerism, 122–4, 128–9 Coolidge, Calvin, 156n2 Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (Braungart and McDonough), 92n3 critical divide in scholarship of animation genre, 9–18 interpellation and, 11–16, 18 meaning production and, 16–18 transnational cultural studies, 16–18 cultural appropriation, 16–18 Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, The (Jameson), 62 cultural myths and symbols, 29–30 Culture of Narcissism, The (Lasch), 191–2 Cultures of United States Imperialism (Kaplan & Pease), 14–15, 27–8 D day care center (Toy Story 3), 37, 209–14 Deakins, Roger, 33, 123 Decker, Jeffrey Louis, 105 Democracy in America (Tocqueville), 35, 164, 166–9, 171, 179–80, 182n8 Despicable Me films (2010, 2013, 2015), Dialectic of Enlightenment (Horkheimer & Adorno), 12–13 digital animation beginnings of, 2–9 live-action style, 28–30 233 Diner, Hasia R., 115n5 Disney, 7–9, 23 CAPS system and, dormant period and renaissance of, Lasseter at, Pixar competition by, purchase of Pixar by, 2, 9–10 tradition of, 7–9 Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children’s Films (Booker), 10 Disney Version, The: The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney (Schickel), 38n8 Dorfman, Ariel, 13–14 Dreaming Identities (Traube), 98, 104 DreamWorks Studios, 8–9 driving, 188–90, 193, 200, 204 Dyer, Richard, 108 E Ebert, Robert, Edwards, Brian, 17 Ehrenreich, Barbara, 106 Eisenstaedt, Alfred, 88 Eisenstein, Sergei, 11, 16, 19–21, 93n8 Eisner, Michael, Emerson, Guy, 137n13 Empire (Laxer), 152 enchantment, 31, 57–8 aesthetics of, 66, 72, 204 Entertainment Weekly (magazine), Epic of America, The (Adams), 98 Errand into the Wilderness (Miller), 209 Exceptionalist State and the State of Exception, The (Spanos), 209, 212 234 INDEX F family life/marriage, 35, 165–6, 170–1, 173–5 fascism, 11–13, 79, 143 Felski, Rita, 31, 57–8, 179 femininity in Up, 150–1 in WALL-E, 125–7, 134 film industry, blockbuster formula of, 6–9 Films of Pixar Animation Studio, The (Clarke), 7, 40n19 financial history of Pixar, 4–5 Fisher Fishkin, Shelly, 18 Fluck, Winfried, 14, 22 Fox Movietone News (1928-1963), 140 Fraser, Nancy, 176–7 Freedman, Ariela, 155 frontier myth, 2, 77 WALL-E and, 33–4, 120–2, 127–8, 129–30, 130–4 Frozen (2013), G Garofalo, Janeane, 117n15 gender, in Cars, 36, 201–2 in Incredibles, 35, 170–1, 171–3, 173–5 mobility and, 150–3, 201–2 in Monsters, Inc., 95n12 in Ratatouille, 105–7 in Toy Story, 3, 37, 210, 215 in Up, 150–1 in WALL-E, 124–7, 134 Gingrich, Newt, 46, 51, 56 Globalizing American Studies (Edwards), 16–17 Gone with the Wind (1939), 16–17 Graf Hindenburg ship, 140, 151 Grusin, Richard, 29, 43n28 H Habits of the Heart (Bellah), 191 hair/fur animation, 32, 76, 85, 91 Halberstam, Jack, 19–20, 84–5, 149–50, 164 Hard Bodies (Jeffords), 172–3 hard worker figure, 99, 104–5 Hartz, Louis, 79–80 Harvey, David, 69–70, 94n10 Heart of Darkness (Conrad), 157n6 Helen (Incredibles) gender and, 173–5 Hemispheric Imaginings: The Monroe Doctrine and Narratives of U.S. Empire (Murphy), 142–4 Homeland Security Act, 178 Horkheimer, Max, 12–13 How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic (Dorman & Mattelart), 13 Hudson Motors, 205n3 Hungering for America (Diner), 115n5 hyper-whiteness, 107–9 I Ice Age tetralogy (2002-2012), IceMan software, identity formation, 66–8 Jewish male stereotypes, 76 postmodernism and, 67–8, 69–70 in WALL-E, 119–21 ideology of Pixar films, critical divide on, 9–11 immigrants/immigration, 100–2, 115n5, 116n10 imperialism, 13–15, 55–6 imperialism in Up, 34–5, 134–55 effect on imperial agents, 146–9, 153 INDEX justification, 141–7 mobility and, 150–3 zeppelin symbology, 155 Incredibles, The (2004), 35, 156–80 American dream, 165 Cold War/suburban home symbology, 164 conformism, 35, 163–4, 166 Democracy in America, 35, 164, 166–9, 171, 179–80 family life/marriage in, 35, 165–6, 170–1, 173–5 gender, 35, 170–1, 171–3, 173–5 masculinity, 171–3 neoliberalism, 177–80 race, 171–3 realist aesthetics, 164, 178–9 suburban home destruction, 35, 175–80 tyranny of the majority, 35, 164, 167–70, 176–7 voluntary associations, 35, 164, 166–71 War on Terror, 164, 175, 177–8 Indiana Jones trilogy (1981-1989), individualism, 36, 176–7, 196–8 Interstate highway system, 187–8, 192–5 interventionist government, 82–3 It’s So French (Schwartz), 115n3 J James, David E., 12 Jameson, Frederic, 62, 70–1 Jaws (1975), Jeffords, Susan, 49, 172–3 jeremiad literary form, 35–7, 188–90, 195, 209, 212, 215–16 Jewish male identity stereotypes, 76, 88–91 Jobs, Steve, 1, 3–6 235 Johnson, Lyndon B., 144 Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? (Sandel), 86–7 K Kaplan, Amy, 14, 27–8, 140, 154 Katzenberg, Jeffrey, Kazin, Michael, 94n10 Kelleter, Frank, 156n3 Kennedy, John F., 131–2 Kiorastami, Abbas, 17 Klein, Naomi, 178 Kloppenburg, James T., 181n4 Kubrick, Stanley, 20 L Land Before Time, The (1988), landfill (Toy Story 3), 37, 209, 212–14, 214–15 landscape art, 36, 196–7 Larkin, Brian, 16–17, 151–2 Lasch, Christopher, 191–2 Lasseter, John, 3, 5–6, 8, 10 late capitalism, 70–1 Laxer, James, 152 Lazarus, Emma, 101 Lewis, Brad, 111 Lewis, R. W B., 46 liberal consensus, 32, 75–88 capitalism and, 79–4 contingent quality of, 85–8, 90–1 individual ingenuity, 76–7, 79, 85 interventionist government, 82–3 Jewish masculinity, 89–91 neoliberalism and, 83–5 primacy of, 79–83 resource abundance and scarcity, 77–9, 79 liberal multiculturalism, 31, 46, 51, 56, 62–6, 71–2 236 INDEX Liberal Tradition in America, The (Hartz), 79–80 Lightning McQueen (Cars) individualism, 36, 190–5, 196–8 Limerick, Patricia, 131–2, 136n10 Lion King, The (1994), Little Mermaid The (1989), Lucasfilm, 4–6 Lucas, George, 3–4, Luxo Jr (1984), Luxo Jr (desk lamp), M Machine in the Garden, The (Marx), 25–8 Macleod, Peter, 161n21 Madagascar trilogy (2005-2012), Made in America (Decker), 105 Malin, Brenton, 48 Mansfield, Harvey C., 181n4 Marx, Leo, 25–8 masculinity hard bodies, 172–3 in Incredibles, 165, 171–3 in Toy Story, 46, 48–9, 56 in Up, 150–1 in WALL-E, 125–7, 127–8, 134 of Woody and Buzz, 46–9 Maslin, Janet, Mattelart, Armand, 13–14 McDonough, William, 92n3 McHale, Brian, 67 meaning production, 16–18, 21–2 meat, 115n5 mediation in Cars, 36, 189 in Incredibles, 171 in Monsters, Inc., 32, 77, 91 in Ratatouille, 33, 99 remediation, 29–30–1 in Toy Story, 2–3, 37, 62, 213 in WALL-E, 120 Medovoi, Leerom, 175–6 Merchandizing, 19 Metz, Walter, 141 Michaels, Walter Benn, 83–4 Mickey Mouse shorts (1928-1937), 11–12 middle class, 99 Miller, Perry, 209 Mills, C. Wright, 180n1 mobility, 36, 200–4 driving, 188–90, 193 gender and, 150–53, 201–2 monocultural ideology, 64–5, 71–2 Monroe Doctrine (1823), 34, 141–4, 153 Monroe, James, 142 Monsters, Inc (2001), 31–2, 73–91 capitalism and, 79–83 hair/fur animation, 32, 76, 85, 91 resource abundance and scarcity, 77–9 schlemiel stereotype, 32, 88–91 Most Typical Avant-Garde, The (James), 12 Mulvey, Laura, 14 Murphy, Brendan, 161n21 Murphy, Gretchen, 142–4 Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), 2, 9, 19 myth-and-symbol school, 27–8 N NASCAR Nation: A History of Stock Car Racing in the United States (Beekman), 199–200 neoliberalism, 2, 76, 83–5, 177–80 New American Exceptionalism, The (Pease), 46, 182n8 New Americanists, 14–15 INDEX New Colossus, The (Lazarus), 101 New Deal legislation, 80 New Spirit of Capitalism, The (Boltansky & Chiapello), 71 New York Times, The, Nixon, Richard M., 144 O Obama, Barack, 213–14, 216 ordinary whiteness, 111–14 Oswalt, Patton, 111–12, 113 P Paris, France, 101–2 Pease, Donald, 14, 46, 56, 66 Cultures of United States Imperialism, 27–8 on exceptionalism, 181n4, 182n8, 210 on neoliberalism, 185n17 People of Plenty (Potter), 77, 79 Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibition (MOMA), 9, 19 Pizer, Donald, 114n3 Pocahontas (1995), political climate of 1990s antagonism in, 51, 56, 64–6 liberal multiculturalism, 31, 64–6 Toy Story 2, 64–6, 71–3 Politics of Hope, The (Schlesinger), 80 Postmodernist Fiction (McHale), 67 postmodern poetics, 31, 63–6, 67–73 Potter, David, 77, 79 Q Queer Art of Failure, The (Halberstam), 149–50 237 R race (see also whiteness) Cars, 36, 201–4 imperialism and, 156n2 Incredibles, 171–3 Monroe Doctrine and , 142–3 Rancière, Jacques, 22 rat as symbol, 99, 113 Ratatouille (2007), 32–3, 91–114 class, 99, 105–7, 109–12 gender, 106–7 hard worker/trickster figures, 104–5 immigrants/immigration, 100–2 Paris setting, 101–2 promotion of, 112 rat as symbol, 99, 113 ratatouille (dish), 103–4 virtue/morality, 102–4, 109 voice acting, 99, 111–12 voice-over narration, 100 whiteness, 107–14 white privilege, 99, 105, 113–14 (see also American dream in Ratatouille) Rawls, John, 76, 87 Reagan, Ronald, 71, 132, 144, 172–3 re-animation Cars, 36 Monsters, Inc., 32 Toy Story, 3, 37 Up, 142, 151 WALL-E, 33–4, 133–4 Rebels: Youth and the Cold War Origins of Identity (Medovoi), 175–6 Remediation: Understanding New Media (Bolton & Grusin), 29 RenderMan software, Republic of Drivers (Seiler), 192 resource abundance/scarcity, 77–9, 79 Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 80, 144 Roosevelt, Theodore, 143 238 INDEX S Sandel, Michael J., 86–7 Schickel, Richard, 38n8 Schlemiel as Modern Hero, The (Wisse), 90 schlemiel stereotypes, 32, 88–91 Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., 80–1 Schwartz, Vannesa R., 115n3 Scott, David C., 161n21 Scouting Party, The: Pioneering and Preservation, Progressivism and Preparedness in the Making of the Boy Scouts of America (Scott & Murphy), 161n21 Seiler, Cotton, 192, 200–1 selfishness/egoism, 36, 169–70, 190–2, 194–5, 196–8 September 11, 2001, 179–80, 212 sexuality in Toy Story, 48 Shape of the Signifier, The (Michaels), 83–4 Shock Doctrine, The (Klein), 178 short Pixar films, Shrek tetralogy (2001-2010), 8, 17 Sklar, Robert, 27 Sklare, Marshall, xxx small towns, 36, 192, 194, 198–9 Smith, Alvy Ray, Smith, Roberta, 1–2, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), 12 Sobchack, Vivian, 119, 125 social class in Ratatouille, 99, 105–7, 109–12 Tocqueville and, 166–9 societal recognition, 164, 167–8 Sombart, Werner, 77 Sony Picture Animation, South America, 142–3 Soviet Union, 56, 77, 81, 144 Spanos, William V., 209, 212 Star Trek (television series), 132 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983), 1, 3, stock car racing, 199–200 studio authorship, 38n7 suburban home symbolism, 35, 175–80 success myth, 98–9 See also American dream in Ratatouille T Tangled (2010), Tasker, Yvonne, 173 television advertising, Theory of Justice, A (Rawls), 87 Thomas, Lowell, 140 Thompson, Elizabeth, 16–17 3-D graphics, Tin Toy (1988), Tocqueville, Alexis de, 35, 164, 166–71, 179–80, 182n8 on family/marriage, 171 tyranny of the majority, 35, 164, 167–70, 176–7 voluntary associations, 2, 35, 164, 166–71 totalitarianism, 37, 209, 211–13 Toy Story (1995), 8, 30–1, 37–58, 72 age of audience, 19 American Adam trope, 30–1, 51–5 critical acclaim, imperialist ideology, 15, 55–6 masculinity, 46, 48–9, 56 opening scene, 28 performance of toyness, 55–8 (see also Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story films)) (see also Woody (Toy Story films)) Toy Story (1999), 31, 58–73 liberal multiculturalism, 31, 62–6, 71–2 INDEX postmodernism, 62–3, 66, 71–3 postmodern poetics, 31 space/time construction/ deconstruction, 68–70 Toy Story (2010), 36–7, 204–16 American exceptionalism, 36–7, 210, 213–14, 216 American jeremiad, 212, 215–16 daycare center, 209–14 errand into the wilderness, 209–10, 210–14, 215–6 opening scene, 207–8 Toy Story, compared, 207, 209 Transcendental Resistance (Voelz), 39n10 transnational American studies, 16–18 Traube, Elizabeth G., 98, 104–5 trickster figure, 104–5 Trouble with Diversity, The (Michaels), 83–4 Turner, Frederick Jackson, 33, 77, 120–1, 127, 129, 131, 133 20th Century Fox, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 20 tyranny of the majority, 35, 164, 167–70, 176–7 U United States See imperialism; Tocqueville, Alexis de Universal Pictures, Up (2009), 34–5, 134–55, 179 age, 141, 154 Carl/Charles comparisons, 140–1, 147–9 gender, 150–1 imperialist ideology, 15 mobility, 150–3 Monroe Doctrine and, 34, 141–2–4 non-normative kinship, 141, 149–50, 153–5 239 zeppelin symbology, 155 (see also imperialism in Up) upward mobility, 98–9 See also American dream in Ratatouille V Violet (Incredibles) gender and, 174–5 virtue/morality, 102–4, 109 small towns, 188, 192, 194, 198–9 Voelz, Johannes, 39n10 voice acting in Ratatouille, 99, 111–12 voice-over narrative in Ratatouille, 100 voluntary associations, 2, 35, 164, 166–71 W Walker, John, 178 WALL-E (2008), 26–8, 33–4, 119–34 age of audience, 19–20 cinematography, 123–4, 133 consumerism, 122–4, 128–9 frontier myth and, 33–4, 120–2, 127–8, 129–30, 130–4 gender, 124–7, 127–8, 134 movement and work, 120, 128 WALL-E (WALL-E), wealth vs hard work as success markers, 102–4 Wells, Paul, 21–3 White (Dyer), 108 White Collar (Mills), 180n1 whiteness, 107–14 hyper-whiteness, 107–9 Incredibles and, 171–3 ordinary whiteness, 111–14 white privilege, 2, 36, 63, 65–6, 113–14 240 INDEX mobility, 201, 204 in Ratatouille, 99, 105 White, Richard, 122, 137n16 Why Is There No Socialism in the United States? (Sombart), 77 Winthrop, Delba, 181n4 Wise, Gene, 25 Wisse, Ruth R., 90 Wonderul Wizard of Oz, The (Baum), 156n3 Woody (Toy Story films), 2, 45–58 American symbol, 55–7 anxiety of, 45–6, 58 camera POV of, 45, 47, 56–7 as collectible, 58–62 masculinity, 46–8, 49, 56 maturation of, 30, 50–1 Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Wrobel, David, 132–3 Y Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Z Zeppelin Story, The (Christopher), 159n17 zeppelin symbology, 155 ... (2006) Narratives of Individual and National Decline Imagined Pasts: The Jeremiad and the Golden Age of the 1950s Imagined Spaces: The American South The Sound of American Myths and Symbols xi 163... from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are... an all -American champion, these cinematic texts particularly draw on popular myths and symbols of American culture As the following chapters examine, whether commenting on the American Dream in