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Handsome Heroes & Vile Villains: Men in Disney's Feature Animation
From dwarves to princes, heroes to heartbreakers, the Disney treatment of male characters in the studio’s animated features. One of PopSugar’s Best Books for Women (2013) From the iconic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Tangled, the 2010 retelling of Rapunzel, Handsome Heroes and Vile Villains looks at the portrayal of male characters in Disney films from the perspective of masculinity studies and feminist film theory. This companion volume to Good Girls and Wicked Witches places these depictions within the context of Hollywood and American popular culture at the time of each film’s release. “Within her idealism and love for the House of the Mouse, it seems Davis is on to something. Whether idealistic or delusional, the Disney she talks about seems to be a thing that’s waiting just around the corner.” —PopMatters
414 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 12, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 16, 2015
As with Good Girls and Wicked Witches, Amy Davis provides a comprehensive analysis of Disney films (specifically, in case, male heroes and villains) that is balanced between both her love of Disney and film, and a responsible analysis of gender issues in Disney films. Highly recommend.
October 3, 2019
I am not sure why I picked this up but I think it was after a discussion with a friend who is a mom to a baby girl. She is not planning to show the older Disney films to her daughter because of the Disney Princess issue. While I do not agree about her narrow view of the Princesses, it did get me to thinking about the representations of gender in Disney. The Princess and Disney women get a lot of attention (which is probably because Disney is unusual in how much space and time it gives its leading ladies) but we don’t talk much about the Disney men. That thought led me down the rabbit hole and this book.
This book is a scholarly survey of masculinity in Disney’s animated feature films. I’ve read this author’s first book, Good Girls and Wicked Witches: Changing Representations of Women in Disney's Feature Animation, 1937-2001, which was a publication of Ms. Davis’ dissertation. This book is better written than her first, IMHO. It reads more cohesively and less repetitively, though as a scholarly work it does follow a rhythm which I am not used to. It meanders too much for my taste and this was slow reading. I do not fault the book for that since this is not a novel or a narrative nonfiction but I am mentioning it for the more casual reader. It is still readable but keep some time for it to focus on it.
Given that this is a survey book summarising a number of Disney films, for fans there may not be much which is new here. With the rise of discussion videos on YouTube and other social media platforms, some of the topics have been discussed and as a result, this was not new for me and I didn’t take away much from it in the end which was a shame.
I will say, I do have this problem with these “survey” type books. If I am familiar with the subject, I may not get much out of them (and as a Disney fan all my life, I know the movies very well) but, if I am not a fan, I am not sure I will ever pick up the book in the first place. Which leads to a conundrum of how to rate these books. I had a similar issue when I was going through I'll Be There for You: The One about Friends (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).
This book is about “how masculinity is portrayed is human male characters”. The choice of human doesn’t seem to make sense or a difference. The exclusion of Robin Hood or Lion King doesn’t make sense given the anthropomorphised representation of the animals - especially Robin Hood. Further, the inclusion of Bernard from The Rescuers made this selection criteria a little suspicious for me. I wonder how much the book’s conclusion would have changed, especially the fact based conclusions. For example, the author posits that the animated films have a more ‘recent’ focus on male leading characters (like Treasure Planet vs Cinderella). I am not sure this is correct given the animal male characters are ignored.
Overall, the book was fun but nothing new for me. Based on my (looser) rating criteria for nonfiction I am rating this three stars. I would recommend this for people interested in exploration of gender in pop culture and especially Disney. I will give Ms. Davis the last word here as the conclusion will show why I stuck with the book in the end:
Disney’s depictions of masculinity are not perfect. But as with their depiction of feminism and race, they are improving ... the sheer variety and diversity of types of male characters in Disney’s animated feature films is continuing to improve, setting up good role models of masculinity for both the boys and girls who are watching.”
This book is a scholarly survey of masculinity in Disney’s animated feature films. I’ve read this author’s first book, Good Girls and Wicked Witches: Changing Representations of Women in Disney's Feature Animation, 1937-2001, which was a publication of Ms. Davis’ dissertation. This book is better written than her first, IMHO. It reads more cohesively and less repetitively, though as a scholarly work it does follow a rhythm which I am not used to. It meanders too much for my taste and this was slow reading. I do not fault the book for that since this is not a novel or a narrative nonfiction but I am mentioning it for the more casual reader. It is still readable but keep some time for it to focus on it.
Given that this is a survey book summarising a number of Disney films, for fans there may not be much which is new here. With the rise of discussion videos on YouTube and other social media platforms, some of the topics have been discussed and as a result, this was not new for me and I didn’t take away much from it in the end which was a shame.
I will say, I do have this problem with these “survey” type books. If I am familiar with the subject, I may not get much out of them (and as a Disney fan all my life, I know the movies very well) but, if I am not a fan, I am not sure I will ever pick up the book in the first place. Which leads to a conundrum of how to rate these books. I had a similar issue when I was going through I'll Be There for You: The One about Friends (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).
This book is about “how masculinity is portrayed is human male characters”. The choice of human doesn’t seem to make sense or a difference. The exclusion of Robin Hood or Lion King doesn’t make sense given the anthropomorphised representation of the animals - especially Robin Hood. Further, the inclusion of Bernard from The Rescuers made this selection criteria a little suspicious for me. I wonder how much the book’s conclusion would have changed, especially the fact based conclusions. For example, the author posits that the animated films have a more ‘recent’ focus on male leading characters (like Treasure Planet vs Cinderella). I am not sure this is correct given the animal male characters are ignored.
Overall, the book was fun but nothing new for me. Based on my (looser) rating criteria for nonfiction I am rating this three stars. I would recommend this for people interested in exploration of gender in pop culture and especially Disney. I will give Ms. Davis the last word here as the conclusion will show why I stuck with the book in the end:
Disney’s depictions of masculinity are not perfect. But as with their depiction of feminism and race, they are improving ... the sheer variety and diversity of types of male characters in Disney’s animated feature films is continuing to improve, setting up good role models of masculinity for both the boys and girls who are watching.”
March 29, 2014
Very nice book indeed, enjoy reading about Disney characters and lots of facts and stories behind them..
Nice book for those who interest in knowing many details about the characters
Nice book for those who interest in knowing many details about the characters
March 12, 2020
Quando ho scritto la mia tesi sulla Disney, questi due volumi sono stati un frequente e validissimo riferimento in fase di ricerca.
Due letture che mi hanno aperto gli occhi su nuovi orizzonti e nuove interpretazioni di film che hanno fatto la mia infanzia, attraverso lo studio del periodo storico, i paralleli con il cinema live-action dell'epoca, l'analisi dei dettagli e dei punti in comune tra personaggi simili, Disney e non.
Il primo volume, dedicato ai personaggi femminili (che si ferma purtroppo agli anni 2000), comprende anche una parte dedicata alla storia del cinema d'animazione e in particolare dell'evoluzione del ruolo della donna nel cinema, mentre il secondo (più recente, si ferma al 2012), dedicato ai personaggi maschili, sostituisce alla presentazione cronologica una presentazione per punti in comune tra i vari eroi e cattivi.
Purtroppo i personaggi animali o antropomorfi non sono stati analizzati, ma ne vale veramente la pena: non guarderete più ai film Disney con gli stessi occhi!
Due letture che mi hanno aperto gli occhi su nuovi orizzonti e nuove interpretazioni di film che hanno fatto la mia infanzia, attraverso lo studio del periodo storico, i paralleli con il cinema live-action dell'epoca, l'analisi dei dettagli e dei punti in comune tra personaggi simili, Disney e non.
Il primo volume, dedicato ai personaggi femminili (che si ferma purtroppo agli anni 2000), comprende anche una parte dedicata alla storia del cinema d'animazione e in particolare dell'evoluzione del ruolo della donna nel cinema, mentre il secondo (più recente, si ferma al 2012), dedicato ai personaggi maschili, sostituisce alla presentazione cronologica una presentazione per punti in comune tra i vari eroi e cattivi.
Purtroppo i personaggi animali o antropomorfi non sono stati analizzati, ma ne vale veramente la pena: non guarderete più ai film Disney con gli stessi occhi!
June 1, 2019
Drivel
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