Whistle While You Work: Branding, Critical Reception and Pixar’s Production Culture

McCulloch, Richard (2015) Whistle While You Work: Branding, Critical Reception and Pixar’s Production Culture. In: Storytelling in the Media Convergence Age: Exploring Screen Narratives. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp. 174-189. ISBN 978-1-349-48192-7

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Abstract

Through a case study of Pixar Animation Studios, McCulloch offers an exploration of the relationship between screen narratives, branded production cultures, and cultural value.

The chapter analyses the representation and mediation of the company’s Emeryville campus across a range of paratextual materials (primarily journalistic exposés and DVD bonus features), before comparing this to the critical reception of its films. McCulloch discusses the legitimating implications of ‘behind the scenes’ narratives more generally, and demonstrates the potential for commodified production cultures to frame their output (and those who consume it) in very particular, culturally valuable ways. In Pixar’s case, Emeryville acts as a physical space for the reification of intangible brand values – a nexus point for the conceptions of creativity, fun and artistry that purportedly distinguish its films from those of its rivals.

Item Type:	Book Chapter
Additional Information:	Reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan
Uncontrolled Keywords:	pixar; animation; branding; reception; behind the scenes; DVD
Subjects:	N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general
Schools:	School of Music, Humanities and Media
Related URLs:	Author
Depositing User:	Richard Mcculloch
Date Deposited:	24 Jun 2016 10:49
Last Modified:	23 Dec 2016 00:32
URI:	http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/28691

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