Skip to content
1981
Volume 9, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2055-5695
  • E-ISSN: 2055-5709

Abstract

Since the US Supreme Court recognized the fundamental right to same-sex marriage, the wedding industry has expanded to a new slate of consumers. The Walt Disney Company has been no different, marketing towards same-sex Disney fans hoping to have their own ‘fairy tale wedding’. However, due to Disney’s ‘family-friendly’ brand identity and their complex relationship to the queer community, this process has been highly fraught. This is evidenced in (), an infotainment series following the planning and execution of elaborate, Disney-themed marriages, engagements and anniversaries that both promotes Disney’s catalogue of economic holdings such as parks, cruises and expeditions, as well as reinforces a unique Disney brand of romance. Through a content and political economic analysis of , I argue the show exemplifies the reabsorption of counter-hegemonic ideologies into a dominant framework, wherein ‘non-traditional’ marriages help consolidate pre-existing systems of power and reinforce oppressive economic regimes.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/qsmpc_00127_1
2024-07-05
2024-10-10
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Arnal, William (2001), ‘The segregation of social desire: “Religion” and Disney world’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 69:1, pp. 120.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Baudrillard, Jean (1994), Simulacra and Simulation, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Clum, John M. (2001), Something for the Boys: Musical Theater and Gay Culture, New York: Palgrave.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. ‘Do You Believe in Magic?’ (2018), C. Wilson (dir.), Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings, Season 1 Episode 6 (16 July, USA: Legacy Productions).
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Engstrom, Erika (2012), The Bride Factory: Mass Media Portrayals of Women and Weddings, New York: Peter Lang.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Giroux, Henry A. (2004), ‘Cultural studies, public pedagogy, and the responsibility of intellectuals’, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 1:1, pp. 5979, https://doi.org/10.1080/1479142042000180926.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Giroux, Henry A. and Pollock, Grace (2010), The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Griffin, Sean (2000), Tinker Belles and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out, New York: New York University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Hall, Stuart (1986), ‘The problem of ideology: Marxism without guarantees’, Journal of Communication Inquiry, 10:2, pp. 2844, https://doi.org/10.1177/019685998601000203.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Ingraham, Chrys (2008), White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture, New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Johnston, Jessica Elizabeth (2015), ‘Doctor Who–themed weddings and the performance of fandom’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 18, https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2015.0637.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Jones, Jeffrey M. (2021a), ‘LGBT Identification Rises to 5.6% in Latest U.S. Estimate’, Gallup, 24 February, https://news.gallup.com/poll/329708/lgbt-identification-rises-latest-estimate.aspx. Accessed 23 September 2023.
  13. Jones, Jeffrey M. (2021b), ‘One in 10 LGBT Americans married to same-sex spouse’, Gallup, 24 February, https://news.gallup.com/poll/329975/one-lgbt-americans-married-sex-spouse.aspx. Accessed 23 September 2023.
  14. Levine, Elana (2005), ‘Fractured fairy tales and fragmented markets: Disney’s weddings of a lifetime and the cultural politics of media conglomeration’, Television & New Media, 6:1, pp. 7188, https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476403255820.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Llompart, Auba and Brugué, Lydia (2020), ‘The snow queer? Female characterization in Walt Disney’s Frozen’, Adaptation, 13:1, pp. 98112, https://doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apz019.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Maier, Kodi (2019), ‘Princess brides and dream weddings: Investigating the gendered narrative of Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings’, in A. M. Davis (ed.), Discussing Disney, New Barnet: John Libbey Publishing, pp. 17392.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. McCarthy, Justin (2021), ‘Record-high 70% in U.S. support same-sex marriage’, Gallup, 8 June, https://news.gallup.com/poll/350486/record-high-support-same-sex-marriage.aspx. Accessed 23 September 2023.
  18. Mead, Rebecca (2007), One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding, New York: Penguin Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Smith, Kate McNicholas (2020), ‘“Time for all of us to walk into the sunshine together”: Glee, the same-sex wedding spectacle and the imagining of queer futures’, in J. B. Kay, M. Kennedy and H. Wood (eds), The Wedding Spectacle across Contemporary Media and Culture: Something Old, Something New, New York: Routledge, pp. 95108.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Wasko, Janet (2020), Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy, 2nd ed., Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Engstrom, Erika (2008), ‘Unraveling the knot: Political economy and cultural hegemony in wedding media’, Journal of Communication Inquiry, 32:1, pp. 6082, https://doi.org/10.1177/0196859907306833.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Mercer, Kobena (2008), ‘Black art and the burden of representation’, Third Text, 4:10, pp. 6178, https://doi.org/10.1080/09528829008576253.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Sweeney, Meghan (2011), ‘“Where happily ever after happens every day”: Disney’s official princess website and the commodification of play’, Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, 3:2, pp. 6687, https://doi.org/10.1353/jeu.2011.0017.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/qsmpc_00127_1
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error