WHOEVER SAID CHANGE WAS GOOD: THE TRANSFORMING BODY OF THE DISNEY VILLAINESS MICHELLE JOHNSON A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN DANCE STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2019 © MICHELLE JOHNSON 2019 ii Abstract This dissertation examines female figures in Disney animation through the lens of Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), a system for observing and articulating movement qualities. Drawing from six major films released between 1937 and 2010, I focus my inquiry on how the bodies and movement of Disney’s villainesses reflect and/or perpetuate cultural imaginaries of women. I identify the influence of several cultural tropes of femininity, including fairy-tale archetypes, ballet conventions, and the Hollywood femme fatale, and explore how they constellate social understandings of age, beauty, and desirability. Coalescing around the theme of physical transformation, the study investigates how consistent movement patterns both support character animation and reflect gender ideologies encoded in the bodies of these wicked women. Through a methodology grounded in LMA and drawing from dance studies, feminist theory, and Disney scholarship, I interrogate popular conceptions of women and evil, articulate how movement contributes to cultural meaning, and demonstrate LMA’s value to cultural analysis and animation. iii Dedicated to 2013-2019 iv Acknowledgments I am profoundly grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt, and committee members, Dr. Bridget Cauthery and Dr. Mary Fogarty Woehrel, for their countless hours of support and guidance over the past six years. Deepest thanks also to Dr. Darcey Callison, Dr. Alison Halsall, and Dr. Angela Kane. I would like to express gratitude for the mentorship of Dr. Alla Gadassik, Dr. Megan Andrews, Susan Cash, Janet Kaylo, Gregg Lizenbery, Dr. Jhalak Kara Miller, Nadine Saxton, and Amy Voris, and the support of Susan Lee, Louise Malisani, and Flannery Muise. I am also grateful for the support of York University’s Department of Dance, Faculty of Graduate Studies, York International, and CUPE 3903. Many thanks must go to Mary Johnson; Robert, Susan, and Allison Darmody; and Nic and Cynthia Hansen for all of the trips to various Disney exhibits and museums over the past several years. Thanks to the endless support of Jonathan Osborn, Sebastian Oreamuno, Nadine Ryan, Allison Darmody, Jessica Bay, and all of my friends and colleagues at both York University and the 2018-2019 LSSI CMA-SP training program. I also wish to express my thanks to my grandmother, Lucille Frasca, for her quiet, steady support; my mother, Mary Johnson, for always holding my hand when I needed it; and my siblings, Nic Hansen and Nora Johnson. Finally, I would like to truly thank all of my friends and family whom I have not named individually, and, as always, Mr. Rayburn. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vi Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Literature Review .................................................................................................. 31 Disney .............................................................................................................................. 31 Laban Movement Analysis .............................................................................................. 53 LMA and Animation ........................................................................................................ 71 Chapter Two: Theorizing Gender and Transformation in Disney Villainesses ........................... 83 Chapter Three: Taxonomy A: Time Period ............................................................................... 109 1930s-1950s ................................................................................................................... 118 1960s-1980s ................................................................................................................... 127 2000s-2010s ................................................................................................................... 139 Chapter Four: Taxonomy B: Villain Type ................................................................................. 151 Serious ............................................................................................................................ 153 Comical .......................................................................................................................... 159 Combination ................................................................................................................... 169 Chapter Five: Taxonomy C: Transformation Type ................................................................... 178 Human-Animal .............................................................................................................. 180 Hybrid-Human ............................................................................................................... 189 Human-Human ............................................................................................................... 194 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 208 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................... 226 Appendices ................................................................................................................................. 250 Appendix A: LMA Glossary .......................................................................................... 250 Appendix B: Film Summaries ....................................................................................... 255 Appendix C: Field Notes ............................................................................................... 269 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ..................................................................... 269 Sleeping Beauty .................................................................................................. 281 The Sword in the Stone ...................................................................................... 287 The Little Mermaid ............................................................................................ 302 The Emperor’s New Groove .............................................................................. 322 Tangled .............................................................................................................. 335 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Case Studies ................................................................................................................. 113 1 Introduction “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” -Jessica Rabbit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis 1988) Growing up watching Disney films, my imagination was always captured by the romantic stories and exciting adventures of the brave, upstanding heroes and heroines. I got dressed in the morning in my Lion King t-shirt adorned with Simba and Nala, and went to bed at night in my Little Mermaid sheets festooned with images of Ariel. As I grew older, however, my attention turned toward the villains and villainesses of these stories—their cynical outlooks and flawed logic made them infinitely more interesting than the naive, staunchly moral protagonists. Mystery shrouded their backstories and inner lives. And it seemed that the most iconic villains were often women, and always middle-aged or older—why? Returning to these evil female characters as an adult scholar, I revisited Disney’s animated films through an academic lens, and found that my interest was further piqued by a particular recurring theme: transformation. Prior to the development and prevalence of digital effects, CGI, and other technological enhancements, Disney’s animated films brought transformations to life in a way not yet possible in live-action film, creating magic through animation. Bodies shifted instantly into completely new forms yet, somehow, still conveyed to the audience that they were the same character. While several scholars have addressed the topic of transformation and metamorphosis in film, animation, or fairy tales (Da Silva 2002; Eisenstein 1941; Klein 1993; Propp 1928; Sobchack 2000), I grew curious about the role of movement in these transformations and what it contributed to establishing or contradicting a character’s personality. Returning to my interest in female villains and observing that they changed forms 2 significantly more than other character types, transformation became the basis of