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Tinker Belles and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out
From its Magic Kingdom theme parks to its udderless cows, the Walt Disney Company has successfully maintained itself as the brand name of conservative American family values. But the Walt Disney Company has also had a long and complex relationship to the gay and lesbian community that is only now becoming visible.
In Tinker Belles and Evil Queens, Sean Griffin traces the evolution of this interaction between the company and gay communities, from the 1930s use of Mickey Mouse as a code phrase for gay to the 1990s "Gay Nights" at the Magic Kingdom. Armed with first-person accounts from Disney audiences, Griffin demonstrates how Disney animation, live-action films, television series, theme parks, and merchandise provide varied motifs and characteristics that readily lend themselves to use by gay culture. But Griffin delves further to explore the role of gays and lesbians within the company, through an examination of the background of early studio personnel, an account of sexual activism within the firm, and the story of the company's own concrete efforts to give recognition to gay voices and desires.
The first book to address the history of the gay community and Disney, Tinker Belles and Evil Queens broadly examines the ambiguous legacy of how modern consumerism and advertising have affected the ways lesbians and gay men have expressed their sexuality. Disney itself is shown as sensitive to gay and lesbian audiences, while exploiting those same audiences as a niche market with strong buying power. Finally, Griffin demonstrates how queer audiences have co-opted Disney products for themselves-and in turn how Disney's corporate strategies have influenced our very definitions of sexuality.
In Tinker Belles and Evil Queens, Sean Griffin traces the evolution of this interaction between the company and gay communities, from the 1930s use of Mickey Mouse as a code phrase for gay to the 1990s "Gay Nights" at the Magic Kingdom. Armed with first-person accounts from Disney audiences, Griffin demonstrates how Disney animation, live-action films, television series, theme parks, and merchandise provide varied motifs and characteristics that readily lend themselves to use by gay culture. But Griffin delves further to explore the role of gays and lesbians within the company, through an examination of the background of early studio personnel, an account of sexual activism within the firm, and the story of the company's own concrete efforts to give recognition to gay voices and desires.
The first book to address the history of the gay community and Disney, Tinker Belles and Evil Queens broadly examines the ambiguous legacy of how modern consumerism and advertising have affected the ways lesbians and gay men have expressed their sexuality. Disney itself is shown as sensitive to gay and lesbian audiences, while exploiting those same audiences as a niche market with strong buying power. Finally, Griffin demonstrates how queer audiences have co-opted Disney products for themselves-and in turn how Disney's corporate strategies have influenced our very definitions of sexuality.
321 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
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December 5, 2023if you want to have a triumphant giggle go ahead and take a look at what this book's stats did after december 3rd, 2023
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December 4, 2023Seen on the following youtube video:
Older text but seems interesting...
Older text but seems interesting...
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December 26, 2023sucks how i found this book...
November 10, 2024
Like many others, I added this book to my tbr after watching HBomberGuy's video
where, among other things, he uncovers the way James Somerton blatantly copied whole chunks out of this book and Vito Russo's
The Celluloid Closet
for his videos about homosexuality in american movies.
As it says in the summary, Tinker Belles and Evil Queens deals with the close relationship the queer community has had with the megacorporation almost ever since its inception, showing that the monolith that upholds Good American Christian Values (and that year after year keeps churning out the first ever gay Disney Character, a concept this book exhaustively disproves) stands on some very wobbly ground. However, something that I find less surprising, it also displays that this link with the LGBTQ+ community has existed for years mainly because of good old capitalism.
The book provides a history of the company since its inception, with a great focus on the Walt Disney years, and subsequently a history of the Lesbian/Gay alliances and unions that were born to provide worker's rights in the company.
Another chapter gives many examples as to the kind of close reading queer audiences did while watching Disney media, and finally the last part examines in detail the economic "exploitation" of the LGBTQ+ community, successfully using gay white men as a target demographic to drive up sales.
Griffin's research is solid and thorough, my rating doesn't reflect that, it's simply that I realised halfway through I wasn't all that into the subject matter and lost interest, and forced myself to finish reading at times. 4 stars for effort, 3 for personal enjoyment, it's a 3.5 overall. I would definitely recommend it a thousand times over any Somerton video, even just because the last 30% of the book is just notes and references.
As it says in the summary, Tinker Belles and Evil Queens deals with the close relationship the queer community has had with the megacorporation almost ever since its inception, showing that the monolith that upholds Good American Christian Values (and that year after year keeps churning out the first ever gay Disney Character, a concept this book exhaustively disproves) stands on some very wobbly ground. However, something that I find less surprising, it also displays that this link with the LGBTQ+ community has existed for years mainly because of good old capitalism.
The book provides a history of the company since its inception, with a great focus on the Walt Disney years, and subsequently a history of the Lesbian/Gay alliances and unions that were born to provide worker's rights in the company.
Another chapter gives many examples as to the kind of close reading queer audiences did while watching Disney media, and finally the last part examines in detail the economic "exploitation" of the LGBTQ+ community, successfully using gay white men as a target demographic to drive up sales.
Griffin's research is solid and thorough, my rating doesn't reflect that, it's simply that I realised halfway through I wasn't all that into the subject matter and lost interest, and forced myself to finish reading at times. 4 stars for effort, 3 for personal enjoyment, it's a 3.5 overall. I would definitely recommend it a thousand times over any Somerton video, even just because the last 30% of the book is just notes and references.
January 6, 2024
Read for my MA thesis.
Read
July 8, 2020Hmmm. This is good but not great. For my money, it doesn't do quite enough of what it says it is going to do, getting occasionally bogged down in queer readings of, say, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King instead of spending time analyzing "the inside out" it says it will tackle. I like a queer reading of a Disney cartoon as much as the next homosexual, but I also didn't need Griffin to tell me that Scar or Captain Hook or the stepmother from Cinderella can be read as queer. Every queer person I know has been reading these animated villains as queer since they were kids.
To be fair, the book only occasionally gets bogged down with this sort of thing, and Tinker Belles and Evil Queens is at its best when it is talking about LGBT labor forces at Disney parks or gays and lesbians who worked at the studios and exerted an influence on films and characters within films. The book's final chapter, which discusses a corporate courting of the queer consumer and the conversion of Disney gays into folks who are willing to lend support to Disney by spending more is super interesting.
To be fair, the book only occasionally gets bogged down with this sort of thing, and Tinker Belles and Evil Queens is at its best when it is talking about LGBT labor forces at Disney parks or gays and lesbians who worked at the studios and exerted an influence on films and characters within films. The book's final chapter, which discusses a corporate courting of the queer consumer and the conversion of Disney gays into folks who are willing to lend support to Disney by spending more is super interesting.
January 15, 2024
This is a really interesting non-fiction novel that discusses Disney's history with the LGBTQIA+ community and reads their films through 2000 under Queer Theory. The chapter about the late Howard Ashman and the films he was heavily involved with is worth reading.
Unfortunately, this book is difficult to recommend if you aren't used to reading academic texts because this book is all media studies theories and is written like a fascinating academic paper. I would recommend this book to big Disney fans if the academic nature of this book doesn't dissuade you.
Unfortunately, this book is difficult to recommend if you aren't used to reading academic texts because this book is all media studies theories and is written like a fascinating academic paper. I would recommend this book to big Disney fans if the academic nature of this book doesn't dissuade you.
August 22, 2013
This was a pretty interesting read. While some queer-friendly readings of the Disney company are obvious (long-standing associations with Elton John and Ellen, anyone?), Griffin highlights any number of moments over the past 30 years of Disney history that prove that the mouse house is, in fact, a little gay. While I found some of his arguments a bit of a stretch, this is definitely a worthwhile addition to the canon of critical thinking on Disney.
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January 4, 2024lmao fuck james somerton
December 19, 2023
Yes, I'm here because James Somerton plagiarized the book ... and botched its message in the process.
It's a great analysis of the queering of Disney texts through the years, with some excellent commentary on what it means to analyze a work through a queer lens, how that analysis changes when the company starts doing it On Purpose, and how it changes yet again when the straights get involved. I loved this book partially as a viewing list. I'd never heard of Spin and Marty or Annette, for example, before reading this (and hoo boy, was it gayer than Griffin led me to believe). I only wish there were a modern update to cover Disney in the 21st Century, especially with the advent of First Gay Characters (in 2015...wait, 2016...wait, 2017...wait--)
It's a great analysis of the queering of Disney texts through the years, with some excellent commentary on what it means to analyze a work through a queer lens, how that analysis changes when the company starts doing it On Purpose, and how it changes yet again when the straights get involved. I loved this book partially as a viewing list. I'd never heard of Spin and Marty or Annette, for example, before reading this (and hoo boy, was it gayer than Griffin led me to believe). I only wish there were a modern update to cover Disney in the 21st Century, especially with the advent of First Gay Characters (in 2015...wait, 2016...wait, 2017...wait--)
July 24, 2024
Wasn't the most thrilling read, but it was very insightful, and I learned quite a bit! Some parts I may have not gotten or glazed over because I'm not totally a part of queer culture, and I don't fully understand it all. Give this a go if your a little curious.
February 7, 2025
really awesome book but it only mentions asexuality once 😔
December 1, 2008
It was ok. It was interesting but i never got to finish it.
November 22, 2015
It was neat, I liked it it kinda reminded me of that movie celluloid closet, I liked reading about his experiences both professionally and personally in his time working in Disney.
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