Special Affects

'Special Affects' retells the history of the emergence of classical Hollywood cinema and Disney animation from the perspective of affect theory. It argues that these media enabled new modes of perception that sparked special affects such as the astonishment of early cinema, the marvel of early animation, the fantastic in classical cinema, and wonder in classical Disney. These special affects become mined by culture industries and translated into modes of consumerism and consumer ideology, as represented here by different versions of the American Dream narrative.