Kirsten Butler and Steven Rothwell English 1102 Mrs.

Lynn Raymond Multi Modal Project Proposal American Culture dominates the world. The events of the 20th century set this precedent. American cultural customs, American history, American politics and American pop culture can be found on every continent. Our movies have been sent all around the world, enjoyed by citizens the world over. Towering over this media colonization is a mouse, and his name is mickey. We have decided to research the mouse, and give a presentation on his technology, his history, and his reflection of and on the American people and its history. This research project on Disney will have the main goal of shedding a complete picture of Disneys history, by showing its history in light of changing technologies, changing culture, its changing success, and historical events. It is a perfect project for this. Disney started in the early days of cinema, and did not show immediate success, or even a glimmer of its future glory. But with the patriotism of World War 2, to the red scare and labor difficulties in the pre-war and postwar period, and the modern changing demographics of America, Disney has been present in American lives. Our group is an excellent split between similarities and differences. Kirsten is an AfricanAmerican woman, while Steven is a Caucasian male. These alone are differences that are the subject of countless other projects. Our similarities make for an interesting bridge. We are both similar of age. Neither of us came from the upper class. We were raised in the southern United States, and make it our home. We grew up on American culture, and see it in context of our lives. This will enable us to cover more ground in our research on a subconscious level, while keeping the main focus at the center of both our research.

We will research Disney as an entirety by ourselves. However, Steven will focus on the technology and success economically of Disney, and Kirsten will look more into the attitudes of Walt Disney and his successors. This will give us a larger scope to see the cultural reflections of America in Disney work. Research and notes will be shared via email, with links to what we both consider noteworthy items regarding Disney. The group will put together slides on its own time, encompassing the entire project. On a date in early April we will meet together, and we shall figure out which slides work, in what order. An overarching visual theme will be established, with space for different time periods in Disney work. Google documents will be indispensable in this endeavor. Its document creator easily makes sharing PowerPoint files painless and cheap. The meeting will be held in the UNCC library, in one of the meeting rooms. This will allow us the privacy to talk, and afford us the use of a shared computer with a large screen. March will be the researching and planning phase of the multimodal project. Early April will be our first attempts at bringing the skeleton and meat of the project together. Late April will be for final polishing and to practice presentation of it. Steven is extremely computer literate, while Kirsten has an eye for visual themes that do not repel the eye. We have decided to split the project into three sections: Disney beginnings and world war 2; Postwar Disney and the late 20th Century; and Modern Disney and a Changing America. Our choice of Disney as a project started as a light hearted subject. This proposal has shown our group that it will be an excellent research project. This project will shed light onto our childhood memories, how they were shaped by a giant of an (American) mouse.