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Sacred Scripts: History and Narrative in Religion and Popular Culture

Submitted to Program Units
1: Religion and Popular Culture Unit

Eden Consenstein, Princeton University, Presiding

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

The papers on this panel each contend with popular sites that order historical memory, value and affect. Authors address the melodies that accompany Walt Disney's dubious empire, the figures of haunted children in horror films, and the policing of Salem, Massachusetts. Together, these authors start a conversation about the religious valences of rembering, mis-rembering and scripting narratives.

Papers

  • Joshua Parks, University of Virginia

    Making Walt Worthy: "Feed the Birds," Disney Fan Culture, and the Construction of a Musical Myth

    Abstract

    In the 2023 Disney short film Once Upon a Studio, Mickey Mouse stops beneath a photo of Walt Disney, thanks his creator, and invites viewers to join in this act of devotion. Meanwhile, a quiet piano phrase from the 1964 Disney song “Feed the Birds” plays in the background. According to Disney legend, this was Walt’s favorite song, and he would ask the song’s composers to play it for him when he was feeling anxious or melancholy. In this paper, I argue that this song and story are central to the creation and maintenance of Walt Disney as a religious figure worthy of devotion. As the “Feed the Birds” story is retold and reenacted in films, fan events, biographies, and other media, it constructs Walt as someone who both needed and received spiritual help. In other words, it sanctifies him—not as a perfect man, but as a worthy one.

  • Micah Rensunberg,

    WITHDRAWN: Sacred Hauntings: Childhood Agency in the Horror Genre

    Abstract

    Children as a rhetorical device are central to the horror movie genre. Their presence often takes the shape of the one who is haunted (or is an agent of haunting) in a way that relates to questions of meaning making or divination. Using Jacques Derrida’s notion that the combination of psychoanalysis and cinema is, in essence, the science of ghosts, I will examine how the oppression of young people is a cyclical pattern that has become a part of the creative, cultural imagination. The minimizing effect of individuals and institutions that casts a child as the person of tomorrow comes into conflict against a subversive reality in the horror genre which might indicate another way forward.

  • M. Stang, Yale University

    Policing Witch City

    Abstract

    "Policing Witch City" reevaluates contemporary consumer interests in Salem, Massachusetts as the site of The Witch Trials. Through an analysis of both the appearance of and collector market for Salem's police regalia, this study investigates the intersection of popular culture, tourism, and law enforcement practices in the downtown historic district. This paper, therefore, seeks to document the complex relationship between perceived notions of religious tolerance, Halloween, and policing elsewhere in the U.S. Drawing from performance studies and cultural history methodologies, this paper moves beyond traditional historical records. Instead, it examines Salem's police regalia alongside participant-observation studies, interviews, and digital research to illuminate why Salem's history has continued to thrive in America's popular imagination. 

Audiovisual Requirements

Resources

LCD Projector and Screen
Play Audio from Laptop Computer
Podium microphone
Accessibility Requirements

Resources

Wheelchair accessible

Full Papers Available

No
Program Unit Options

Session Length

90 Minutes
Schedule Info

Tuesday, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Tags

#Disney
#music
#audience studies
#popular culture #horror #witches #policing #cinema #movies #childhood
#popular culture
#horror
#child advocacy
#Jacques Derrida
#haunting
#policing #holidays #halloween #salem #secularism

Session Identifier

A26-107