Reading books and articles on the development of Toy Story and the design and production choices that Pixar made was quite fascinating. Through our initial readings, we began to identify potential avenues for articles.
We developed a list of nearly 20 articles and on a piece of paper began to group them together based on overarching themes. Through this process of rearranging the articles and brainstorming tours, we developed 2 content-based tours on the history of Toy Story and North American Imperialism where we would draw from social and cultural theories. After presenting our ideas to our coursemates, we created another tour using their feedback. The 3 tours are as follows:
Tour 1: The Toy Story Legacy
We look here at the history of the franchise
The animation process and how the characters were developed
The history of Disney's Pixar
The design and evolution of Sheriff Woody Pride
Marketing and promotion of the film and the actual toys
Tour 2: North American Imperialism
Woody and the Hero’s Journey
Anthropomorphism
Consumerism and Obsoletion in the film and larger societal relevance
Cowboys! drawing parallels between the relevance of cowboys in American culture
Political Ideals in Toy Story and 20th century America
Tour 3: Feminist Lens
Introducing Woody and his Friends
Cowboy VS Spaceman: Gender Stereotypes and Body Ideals
Love Interest in Toy Story: Bo Peep
Masculinity Crisis in American Culture
Depiction of Male Protagonists in Animation