Kantian Cosmopolitanism and the Dreamworkification of the Next Generation

Abstract

With a caliber of marketing savvy that can only be developed after years of experience in the culture industry, owners Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, and David Geffen used the word “subversive” to describe their new enterprise DreamWorks Animation. Movie critics followed suit, calling Shrek an anti — fairy tale and attributing the appeal of the franchise to its subversive tone in contrast with the decency characteristic of Disney Animation. One typical reviewer writes, “Sporting an exuberant irreverence toward fairy tales, wickedly subversive humor that up-ends the conventions of the Disney animated musical (…) ‘Shrek’ is probably the most fun you’ll have in a theater this summer” (Leong, 2001), while another writes, “Subversive humor, [has] long [been] the calling card of the Shrek films” (O’Connell, 2007). Reviewers may be connoisseurs of the industry, but such proclamations reveal a gap in their historical knowledge of Hollywood. Since its genesis almost a century ago, Hollywood’s methods of satire and superficial criticism have seldom been used as catalysts for social change, only diversions intended to serve and reinforce the status quo. DreamWorks Animation is not the exception to the historical trajectory of Hollywood; it is the rule.KeywordsFairy TaleCulture IndustryConspicuous ConsumptionFrankfurt SchoolJewish ImmigrantThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.