In this follow-up to his bestselling The Gospel According to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the World's Most Animated Family, religion journalist Mark Pinsky explores the role that the animated features of Walt Disney played on the moral and spiritual development of generations of children. Pinsky explores thirty-one of the most popular Disney films, as well as recent developments such as the 1990s boycott of Disney by the Southern Baptist Convention and the role that Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg played in the resurgance of the company since the mid-1980s.
In this follow-up to his bestselling The Gospel According to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the World's Most Animated Family, religion journalist Mark Pinsky explores the role that the animated features of Walt Disney played on the moral and spiritual development of generations of children. Pinsky explores thirty-one of the most popular Disney films, as well as recent developments such as the 1990s boycott of Disney by the Southern Baptist Convention and the role that Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg played in the resurgance of the company since the mid-1980s.
Examines the treatment of religion and spirituality in the animated television series, including its depiction of God, Jesus, heaven, hell, and prayer in chapters devoted to Homer, Lisa, Ned, Reverend Lovejoy, Krusty, and Apu.
McDowell explores the many spiritual themes that weave throughout the six films and shows the moral and spiritual complexity of the movies. The author contends that George Lucas, creator of the series, did not intend for his films to be mere entertainment.
Beginning with Toy Story in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios has taken American cinema by storm, setting a new standard of excellence in animated filmmaking and earning a fortune in the process. Their movies are both highly entertaining and surprisingly wise, displaying an all-too-rare gift for telling stories which speak about the reality of life and the complexities of the human heart - and making us laugh while doing so. The Gospel According to Pixar looks at how each Pixar film portrays the basic concerns of everyday life and seeks to connect them with a Christian understanding of the world. It touches on themes such as love, identity, fear, freedom, guilt, purpose, and belonging - to name just a few. The Gospel According to Pixar explores these common concerns in hopes of communicating the Gospel in a fresh, persuasive and, above all, fun way. For use with families, churches, and individuals as a teaching series, study guide, or simply as a commentary on these remarkable movies.
While many books have been written about the Disney media machine, this book is the first to chronicle and document the Disney Company's trends and tendencies--even policies and agenda--in the light of the Bible.
The story of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, like the gospel stories of Jesus' life, contains tools of transformation. In the pages of The Gospel According to Beauty and the Beast, Mary Scifres illuminates the teachings of Jesus in light of the lessons that Belle, Beast, and their many fairytale friends discover as they embark on journeys of both personal and communal transformation. With Mary's insights, you will explore the transformative power of perception, perspective, self-giving love, and even community. Through the words of a skillful story teller, you will discover the wisdom of both scripture and fairy tales, and will learn the tools to help guide your own transformative journeys. Guided by the beautiful lessons of Jesus' teachings and the inspiring and transformative tale of Beauty and the Beast, discover your own "happily ever after" as you move toward a fuller, freer life of purpose, joy, love, and meaning.
Author Jeff Dixon once again combines thrilling fiction, faith, and Disney facts in Kingdom Chaos, a stand-alone novel with crossover to his beloved novel series, Dixon on Disney. As the story unfolds, the controversial President Tyler Pride and his family board a monorail at the Transportation and Ticket Center for a trip to the Epcot Resort. When the monorail arrives at Epcot, the president and his family are gone. A national crisis instantly explodes across the Disney resort. The president has been kidnapped. And if the president is missing at Walt Disney World, who better to find him than the man who knows Walt Disney World better than anyone who has ever lived, Grayson Hawkes? This is a political and ideological thriller, an action-adventure mystery, and, also, a story of how faith and politics sometimes clash. Like Dixon's past novels, Kingdom Chaos can best be described as "faction," a weaving of fact and fiction set in the Walt Disney World Resort in Central Florida. The places and locations are real, and the novel builds on events from the life of Walt Disney and the history of the Walt Disney World Resort. The sights, the sounds, and the secrets of the themed resort all become a part of solving the mystery and trying to save the president of the United States. Kingdom Chaos is set in the same fictionalized Disney World as the original novel series Dixon on Disney. Grayson Hawkes and other characters return, joined by new characters and a threat with national implications unlike any they've faced before. Along the way, we will unpack enough of their backstory to create numerous fun Hidden Mickeys for readers of the original series to find and connect to the first four books.
If you are serious about being a disciple of Jesus Christ—really, truly serious—a discipleship group can help you achieve that goal. Jesus established this model for us by forming and leading the first discipleship group—and it worked. The men who emerged from that group took the gospel to the world and ultimately laid down their lives for Christ. Discipleship groups can create an atmosphere for fellowship, encouragement, and accountability—building an environment where God can work. In Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples, Robby Gallaty presents a practical, easy-to-implement system for growing in one's faith. This guide offers a manual for making disciples, addressing the what, why, where, and how of discipleship. D-Groups, as Gallaty calls them, can teach you and others how to grow your relationship with God, how to defend your faith, and how to guide others in their relationships with God. Growing Up provides you with an interactive manual and resource for creating and working with discipleship groups, allowing you to gain positive information both for yourself and for others as you learn how to help others become better disciples for Christ.
In Music in Disney’s Animated Features James Bohn investigates how music functions in Disney animated films and identifies several vanguard techniques used in them. In addition, he also presents a history of music in Disney animated films, as well as biographical information on several of the Walt Disney Studios’ seminal composers. The popularity and critical acclaim of Disney animated features truly is built as much on music as it is on animation. Beginning with Steamboat Willie and continuing through all of the animated features created under Disney’s personal supervision, music was the organizing element of Disney’s animation. Songs establish character, aid in narrative, and fashion the backbone of the Studios’ movies from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs through The Jungle Book and beyond. Bohn underscores these points while presenting a detailed history of music in Disney’s animated films. The book includes research done at the Walt Disney Archives as well as materials gathered from numerous other facilities. In his research of the Studios’ notable composers, Bohn includes perspectives from family members, thus lending a personal dimension to his presentation of the magical Studios’ musical history. The volume’s numerous musical examples demonstrate techniques used throughout the Studios’ animated classics.
