It is tempting to view Walt Disney Studios’ output as the antithesis of the horror genre, with many scholars and commentators focussing on its tendency to adopt bright aesthetics, conclude with unambiguous ‘happy endings’ and find their narrative momentum in young protagonists’ search for love. This idea, that Disney’s success is in sanitising the world and that its early animation represents a kind of bastardisation of ‘gorey’ folk tales, has even led to the widespread use of the word Disneyfication; the act of removing horror from the world and its stories.

However, this class aims to problematise this assumption by arguing that the aesthetics and narratives of the horror genre are not only integral elements in some of Disney’s most popular franchises but were central to the construction of the Disney brand. By first looking at some of Walt Disney’s work before Mickey was even a doodle, particularly 1924’s Alice’s Spooky Adventure, this class will build a textual history that suggests the macabre, kinetic skeletons of The Skeleton Dance (1929) were an obvious, rather than atypical, introduction to The Silly Symphonies. An examination of later spooky shorts like The Haunted House (1929), The Gorilla Mystery (1930) and The Mad Doctor (1933) will demonstrate that far from being immune to horror’s charms, early Disney animation embraced it again-and-again.

This lecture will use these early examples as a foundation to unravel unexpected connections between a number of cinematic horror subgenres and popular Disney animations from different Disney ‘eras’. Films like Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1940), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Princess And The Frog (2009) will be considered through the lens of horror theory and scholarship as well as placed within the lineage of American horror cinema. In doing so, this lecture will untangle debates surrounding child horror fandom, horror’s ‘appropriateness’ for children and the academy’s reticence to position the Disney Studio within horror histories.

Ultimately this class will demonstrate how Disney visual media often serves as an introduction to the aesthetics and themes of the horror genre, becoming formative in young viewer’s understanding of cinematic horror as well as positioning horror as a key strategy to appeal to its fans of all ages.

Learning Outcomes:

• Have a greater understanding of The Walt Disney Studios’ history, particularly through the lineage of horror history.
• Be able to have nuanced discussions about the debates that surround children’s horror and how Disney negotiates them.
• Understand the important role of horror narratives and imagery in the ‘Disney formulae’.
• Develop a better understanding of Disney scholarship and how horror studies can interact with it.

Films / Shorts Discussed:

La Maison Ensorcelée (Chomón, 1906)
The Haunted House (Keaton and Cline, 1921)
Alice’s Spooky Adventure (Disney, 1924)
The Mechanical Cow (Disney, 1927)
The Skeleton Dance (Disney, 1929)
The Haunted House (Disney, 1929)
The Gorilla Mystery (Gillett, 1930)
The Mad Doctor (Hand, 1933)
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (Hand & Pearce, 1937)
Fantasia (Algar & Jackson, 1940)
Sleeping Beauty (Reitherman & Geronimi, 1959)
The Princess And The Frog (Musler & Clements, 2009)

Abbreviated Bibliography:

Animation And America (Wells, 2002)
Walt Disney’s Silly symphonies. A Companion To The Classic Cartoon Series (Merritt & Russell, 2008)
Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (Morton, 2008)
Children Beware!: Childhood, Horror and the PG-13 Rating (Antunes, 2018)
Horror Films For Children: Fear And Pleasure In American Cinema (Lester, 2021)