Disney's Specific and Ambiguous Princess: A Discursive Analysis of Elena of Avalor. Issue 2 (1st June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Leon-Boys, Diana
• Is Part Of: Girlhood studies. Volume 14:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 29
• Page End: 45
• Publication Date: 2021-06-01
• Subjects: animation -- Latinidad -- media studies -- postfeminism -- representation -- strategic ambiguity; Girls -- Periodicals; Girls -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Girls -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Girls -- Education -- Periodicals; Girls -- Sexual behavior -- Periodicals; Girls -- Health and hygiene -- Periodicals; Women's studies -- Periodicals; 305.23082
• DOI: 10.3167/ghs.2021.140204
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1938-8209

Abstract

Abstract: Bringing together discourses of Latina girlhood and ambiguity, in this article I interrogate Disney Junior's specific and ambiguous Latinidad in three key episodes from the first season of Elena of Avalor . This type of intersectional analysis is seldom found in Disney scholarship, despite the relative abundance of existing work on Disney-generated cultural production. By analyzing the ambiguity (Joseph 2018 ) and unambivalent structure of ambivalence (Valdivia 2020 ) present in Disney's deployment of animated Latina can-do girlhood (Harris 2004 ), in this article, I provide an intersectional approach to the study of Disney Junior animated content and Latina girlhood in contemporary popular culture. I argue that Elena of Avalor is the result of Disney's avowed and disavowed dedication to the construction of Latinidad and can-do girlhood. The result of this is a fluctuation and flexible navigation between specificity and ambiguity within one narrative franchise.