Introduction Disney has always been a part to many of our lives, from when we were kids to when we are

adults. In fact many people would consider themselves a part of the fandom. In a way, through, the fandom is considered a Discourse community. According to Gee, a Discourse community is a group of people who come together and have a certain interest that is different from another group of people. In this case the fandom of Disney is considered a Discourse community because of the fact that it is a group of people who love the Disney films. But what makes one group of Disney lovers different from another group of Disney lovers? In this timeline, I am examining this idea that the community of Disney fans have changed from time to time when it comes to their animated classics (these do not include any of the mixed (live action and animated) films as well as Pixar films). This is done through the idea of looking at each film as a group known as an era and seeing what made that era popular compared to the other era. I will also be showing a way where Discourse happens rather than explaining how the community is a Discourse by showing the important idea that comes from each different age. When looking at the timeline there are 6 categories, (Golden era, Silver era , Depression, Disney Renaissance, Recession, New era) which separates the timeline into different sections. Each of these categories contains a set of movies as well as an introduction on why this category is important compared to the other categories. When you click on a film you will be given an image of the original poster, an average review of the film and a tab leading you to that films respected page. When you click on the sub timeline (longer strand with matching color to those movies) it will give you an idea of why this category is important to the fandom that is Disney as well as inform you on its comparison to other categories. Methods: My research started by looking at the classic films and putting them in order and then separated into their respected eras. Next I looked up each and every review on rotten Rotten Ttomatoes, a social reviewing website which helped me see what critics as well as viewers of the film liked and dDisliked. This was the main purpose to see which films were important to each era. Next was looking for my primary and secondary research, which would help me back up my findings. After that, it was all about putting it all together in this timeline. Golden era The era that started it all, the Golden age is an important part of the Disney community. Although not really popular with many people today, two major important things came out from this era that in a way make this era important to the fan community. The first is of course Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. So why is it popular? Well, the reason here is simple; it is the one that started the rise of the Disney Company. In a way through it was also revolutionary to see animation become film and tell such a story that it became popular with audiences and in a

Comment [t1]: Love the addition of this question

Comment [t2]: This confuses me

Comment [t3]: Good explanation of how to use the timeline.

Comment [t4]: Another good explanation Comment [t5]: Could explain what you mean here further

Comment [t6]: good

way opened new doors for the Company. This of then ledt to the other famous Disney classics such as Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi. The Second important idea that comes from this era is the shorts. Now before the start of Snow White, The Company of Disney has created many popular shorts that people, in a way loved. However the one that we will be talking about is in fact a Fantasia. Now what makes Fantasia unique is that it really is not a story based animated film but rather shorts of animated animation combined with classical music and audiences loved it, even some audiences love it today. What also makes Fantasia unique is that Disney starts the Short era. This era happens during WW2 and consists of many shorts that in a way relate to a theme, whether it is other cultures or even music. Many people in the community tend to forget that most of the classics were actually shorts in this era. This also answers the question why many people may not have heard of them since many of them are not the classic Disney style of films with a full story. In a way it finally explains why these films are unpopularity unpopular to Disney lovers today and why many skip these films as Disney classics. Silver Age Many people seem to think that this is the start of Disneys popularity and itn a way it is true. We do start to see less short films and longer animated films, which we know Disney for today. In fact, many of the most famous films that we know of today came out during this period. These include Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland. These all have really similar style yet bring some amazing characters and iconic scenes that we still know of today. This includes the famous transformation scene from Cinderella to the kiss from Sleeping Beauty. In a way though, many people do consider this the golden age of the Disney corporation but really that is not true due to the fact that many of the films are not as popular as the ones from the golden age. In a way through many people do not like the company because of this era. This is because of the fantasy mentality of happier ideas and concepts, which are, forced in almost every Disney film starts pretty much here. These ideas include following your heart, being happy etc. In a way through that what makes a Disney films so well made through is these ideas especially during that time. Also many people do not like this era because of the racial/sexual idea that comes from this era. This mainly includes the Nnative Americans in Peter Pan as well as the Princesses from both Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and to be honest I agree with the argument with Peter Ppan., Tthey are racist;, however, they at least follow the stereotype that we , many of us as kids, thought they were when we were playing cowboys and Indians. So honestly in, a way, they kind of make sense for that film. As for the princess, we will get to them when we get to the new era. That being said there are two important things that make this era unique one good and one bad. The good is the opening of Disneyland. To be honest many of the films that we know and love have been popularized by Disney theme parks. So in a way these parks are important to the animated films because it brought them to

Comment [t7]: ahh hippos in little ballerina shoes! I love Fantasia

Comment [t8]: where are you getting this information from? Should you cite your sources as back up?

Comment [t9]: I understand their popularity. What I take away from this is that it affects the fandom because it was the beginning of animation and yielded the future pieces. It also spurred story-based and non-story based animation, which the fans loved then, but which modern fans have only taken part of that (story based) forward?

Comment [t10]: Ok, so based on popularity no but it ushered in a new image for Disney or new reputation (or just a stronger one).

life before our eyes and in a way that was Walts vision for it. The bad is Disneys death, took a toll on the company and ended the age of famous animated films for a while. (This would be talked more of during the Depression era). Depression Era The saddest era for both animators and audiences alike, the Depression era began at the end of production for The Jungle Book, about a year after Walt Disneys death. Disneys Death was a huge problem for animated films because many people did not know how they were going to continue the company. What is worst is that Walt Disneys brother, Roy O. Disney, passed away a couple of years after his brother. These two deaths caused the Depression era to begin. Many of the films, although many of them loved today, were really not as popular as those from the other two eras. In fact a lot of the movies left Disneys story mentality when it comes to the animated films that were being produced during this time. Because of this many people thought the animation company was going to be done for during the mid-80s. This is because of The Black Cauldron. The Black Cauldron is considering the worst of all the Disney films ever created to this point. This is due to the dark, creepy undertones and environments in which many believed were way to dark for children during this time as well as bad story telling. Because of this incline of good films, the animation company, as well as its fans started to lose hope for the Disney Company. Today many people really do enjoy many of the films from this era. Two of these are Robin Hood, which was not popular with critic but fans still loved it as well as Winnie the Pooh, which is still popular today. Even The Black Cauldron is being coming a cult classic by many fans for that dark side that the movie brought to viewers.

Comment [t11]: Because youve been referring to this as a company, make it more apparent that you mean Walt Disney, not the company, the man. Comment [t12]: These are good explanation. I think you need a few sentences that more explicitly connects it to the discourse community of a fandom. I wouldnt know that you saw this as impacting the discourse community because you are not explicitly stating it as such. Im going to let you proofread the rest. From glancing over the rest, my feedback above applies to all of these sections. Make more explicit connections to discourse communities/fandom throughout. Popularity does not necessarily equal discourse community, so you need to explain the connections you are seeing.

Disney Renaissance The Disney Renaissance is a very important part to the corporation for both audiences and fans. It was a 10-year explosion of famous Disney films that in a way shot the Disney Corporation back into the hearts of many people. The reason for this is because the animation company started to go back into Disneys mentality of creating animated films by going back into fairy tales. The first, The Little Mermaid, is what started the Renaissance, as was a huge risk for the animation company for it was their last chance. But luckily the film was a success. From this film, many of the most popular films that we know and love begin to come into our lives. These include, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Mulan and even the Lion king. So what made these films so popular: The Music. Many of the songs we know have today been created by some of the most influential people. The first major song team was Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, who would right any of the most famous songs until Howard Ashmans death during the production of Aladdin. The

second famous writer was Stephen Schwartz, who wrote very dark, yet beautiful music for Hunchback of Notre Dome and Pocahontas. The final famous due to come alone was Elton John and Tim Rice, who really only one movie together but it was one of the most popular Disney film today: The Lion King. The Lion king is consider one of the most popular films because of its incorporation of music with a very complex story that made children, in a way feel like adults. In fact, a lot of the films made children feel like adults with what they would show. So in a way I guess this why we love a lot of movies from this era. This era brought many of the famous films that we know of today but sadly, like many of the Renaissance, there is an end and with the end of Tarzan we start to get into a recession.

Recession This period is very interesting when it comes to the fans. Although called a recession, we start to see some of the worst films to come out from this era. The reason is because we start to have the corporation move back toward the ways of the Depression. However what makes it worst is that we start to see a change between classical 2D films to more CGI work. To many this is a problem because it is not Disney style for perfection, as many want it to be. In fact we start to see not as good animation come out of the company that many people like. That being said the animation is not the only thing that causes problems to the lack of fans during this era. In a way, a lot of the stories become less interesting and rather boring between these films and start to become unpopular and unoriginal. In a way through it seems really reasonable for this to happen because of the fact that many fans compared these films from the ones from the Disney Renaissance but still that is not an excuse when it comes to the lack of originality that comes from this era. This all changes through when Disney buys Pixar. Pixar and Disney have been working together as production and publisher s for many years. This partnership causes several famous films that gave Pixar its fame. This merger will cause a transformation that will bring us into what is considered the new era.

New Era The new era is considered where we are now when it comes to Disney animated films. With the help of Pixar, the corporation starts creating new and interesting films that bring the company into a second Renaissance. In it we start seeing major changes to the animation style with most of the films being done with 3D animation. This shift differs from the last one due to the fact that Disney starts

getting use to the technology with the help of Pixar, who has been using this animation style for almost 10 years. The major shift that also comes from this era is the change in how the Disney princesses are to be shown. In other words we start to see a change in the ideas of the Princesses. What this means is very simple yet in a way complex at the same time. Over the years, many feminist groups as well as other viewers of Disney films have argued that the Disney Princesses are bad role models for children. This is because of the fact that many of them do absolutely nothing and get what they want in the end. This is true for some of the Princess, such as Sleeping Beauty, who literally does nothing in her movie and gets what she wants in the end, and Jasmine who decides to leave the palace yet returns to it in the end with a man . However, in my opinion, many of these other princesses in a way teach some sort of quality to woman even if that quality is considered out dated. For example, snow white teaches woman about being a good mother because of her taking care of the dwarfs. Many of these princesses have some sort of feminist quality and by the new era we start to see a shift in how they are shown. For examples many of them are seen as warriors where family or belief comes first rather than a man. Princess and the Frog is where we start seeing this shift in princesses. Tiana is just an ordinary girl who works hard to hopefully follow her dreams in opening a restaurant and in the end she does while falling in love with the prince. Her intentions were not to find a man but to follow her dreams. From princess and the frog on we start to see a shift in the films as they become more modern in their ideals. Frozen of course being a good example of this because of the idea that you cant just marry a man you just met, an idea that almost every princess before her had followed in a way. So where are we going? In all honesty who knows but with what we see now this era might become something of a landmark in the minds of Disney fans everywhere.