Disney's French Fairy Tales: discover how Walt Disney got inspired by French literature and art

Wednesday, September 20, 2023 From 6:30 PM To 8:00 PM Add to Calendar 2023-09-20 18:30:00 2023-09-20 20:00:00 Disney's French Fairy Tales: discover how Walt Disney got inspired by French literature and art Join us to learn how Disney storytellers researched and restyled high art from the French Middle Ages, Renaissance, and eighteenth century. From courtly love poetry to Rococo porcelain, from illuminated manuscripts to palatial architecture, French literature and art is pervasive in Disney filmmaking. The French Library, 53 Marlborough St, Boston, Massachusetts, United States America/New_York

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This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company, which has been translating fairy tales into film from the very beginning. But how exactly did animators adapt those original stories and the cultures that produced them?

Join us to learn how Disney storytellers researched and restyled high art from the French Middle Ages, Renaissance, and eighteenth century. From courtly love poetry to Rococo porcelain, from illuminated manuscripts to palatial architecture, French literature and art is pervasive in Disney filmmaking.

Professor Shannon McHugh will discuss Disney’s early animated shorts, the feature-length films inspired by Charles Perrault’s fairy tales, and the castles of Disney theme parks, as well as the details of Walt Disney’s trips to France and the books that he purchased there.

Stay after the talk to discuss French fairy tales, heroines, and châteaux over a glass of wine!

In person event in English

Picture from art from Disney's Cinderella by Mary Blair

Member

$15

Non-member

$20

About Shannon McHugh

Shannon McHugh is Associate Professor of French and Italian at UMass Boston. She is the author of Petrarch and the Making of Gender in Renaissance Italy (2023). Her research on Renaissance literature—which focuses on topics including gender and the history of fan culture—has taken her to places ranging from the Vatican Secret Archives to the Walt Disney Imagineering Library.

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