I chose to examine the finding aid of the Walt Disney Productions Publicity Ephemera (1938-198x), which is collected from Walt Disney Productions’ publicity ephemera created for feature-length and short subject films. The contents, enclosed within eight 4.0 linear ft. boxes and three flat oversize boxes, consists of 280 total of the following: press kits, press books, publicity stills, lobby cards, and publicity biographies for over 150 Disney titles mostly produced from 1950 to the 1980s. The collection’s finding aid gives important details such as regarding the repository, location stored, restrictions on use and reproduction, biography, scope and content, and how it is organized and arranged. In this case, the container list is arranged alphabetically by project title, indicating which box and folder it can be found it and the specific year it was created.
Although the content list titles simply give the name of the film and what type of contribution it gave to the animation (i.e. whether it’s a press release, still, actor biography, clipping, etc.), I am able to tell a narrative by gathering an idea of each individual production process and its relation to specific historical periods. Reaching way back into the 1930s, Disney films existed in a large portion of the 20th century during significant political and social events. As stated in the biography, films created during WWII had the purpose of educating the American public about the war effort, such as the propaganda films for the U.S. government in the 40s. Many Disney titles are household names, considering that the Disney company has made a successful name in family entertainment with its cable television network, motion picture productions, and theme parks. The alphabetical order is useful in giving users easy access to particular family favorites, or to study the origin of older classic films that have been made into new updated releases in recent years. Comparing the process of creating an old-fashioned film (by looking at production handbooks/stills) with the technologically advanced process of new films today (with countless new datasets helping producers appeal to the new age audience) would reveal the timelessness of the storylines and importance of the themes despite the difference in decades.
If I based the narrative entirely on records in this collection, it might be missing credit for all individuals involved behind-the-scenes of the films. While the finding aid does provide the means of exploring a wide range of information on the company’s works, it seems to cover only actor biographies and public relations details. Given that there was the death of Walt Disney and tension in management, it is difficult to tell how these events may have influenced the company. A possible remedy, however, is to further research not only the background of a specific film but also the current events of the time period to gain a better understanding of the viewpoints of both the people involved in the making and the audience.
It was really interesting reading your post. I didn’t think of how the finding aid showed how a person could compare an updated version of a movie with an older/original version. That would definitely be interesting to see. It was also interesting seeing how you stated that the finding aid wasn’t able to tell the story of all the behind the scenes cast of the various movies. I had also examined this finding aid but that fact never crossed my mind.
Your blog post was simple and easy to follow, with enough details to inform the readers of the finding aid. I really enjoy how you put in some details that seem to come from your background information of Disney, to give a more in depth analysis of the collection. One improvement point I would recommend is splitting longer paragraphs into two, and perhaps putting some annotation above it so it is even easier to follow your argument.
I really liked how you were able to build a narrative from just the year of the movie to the events during those periods. Despite the aid being not very well organized and lacking further details, you were able to guide your readers and present the topic in an interesting manner. I enjoyed reading your post!
Great blog post. I like your point about the idea of doing more research on the viewpoints of those involved in the making of a film and also the audience’s viewpoint. It helps put a film in different light when these other factors are known and made clear. For instance, Charlie Chaplin reflected the poor conditions of the Great Depression in his satire comedy films.