A basketball player from Duke (Okafor??) did an interview and said that his favorite Duke class is Decoding Disney. They watch Disney (non Pixar films) animations and take an in depth analysis of what the Disney characters represent (political views, economic inequality, etc.). To all Duke folks, is this a course for mostly future NBA stars or for the entire student body? I wonder if popcorn comes with the course, LOL.
http://registrar.duke.edu/sites/default/files/bulletins/2015-16/ugb2015-16-web.pdf
The foregoing pdf file is Duke’s 2015 - 2016 Undergraduate Catalog (all 750+ pages). A word search for “Disney” results in no matches. On that basis alone, I suggest such a course may not exist and your story may possibly be apocryphal. Incidentally, there are no – absolutely zero – “intercollegiate athlete only” courses at Duke and, were I you, I wouldn’t be too snarky regarding the academic rigor required of Duke student-athletes. For example, the last time I checked, their graduation success rate slightly exceeded the general undergraduate population’s (although both are extraordinary high, as I recall approximating 95 percent).
It is a Writing 101 course.
“Breaking the Disney Spell: Decoding Disney’s Ideological Construction of Gender, Race, and
Culture”
Fairy-tale scholar Jack Zipes believes “Walt Disney cast a spell on the fairy tale,” claiming that,
for most American children and adults, “their first and perhaps lasting impression of these tales
and others will have emanated from a Disney film, book, or artifact.” While originally printed in
1995, Zipes’s claim about the power of Disney still rings true: today, the Walt Disney Company
is a multi-billion dollar empire, one which has evolved far beyond the fledgling cartoon studio
Walt and Roy Disney founded in 1923. But just what exactly is the Disney empire? …
Apparently your research skill is lacking since it does exist. I don’t post often so I can see why you are defensive and find my post snarky. Ironic since Duke basketball fans are known to be great at dishing it out. Duke is well known and highly respected. Just having one of those moments where I wanted to poke fun at something…
@kp2241: Thank you. It’s interesting to note that it’s a Writing 101 course, not a true “stand alone” course.
My son will be an engineering freshman and this is his number one pick for his Writing Course. Apparently it fills within seconds of the registration window opening. (He is not a student athlete.)
Since the writing 101 courses are capped at 12 (or they used to be…when it was Writing 20), the extremely popular ones get filled before the general student population even has a chance to register, or at least within the very first registration window. Athletes and a few others with special accommodations get to register for courses ahead of time to meet the demands of their schedules, so I wouldn’t hold my breath that it’ll be available.
As an aside, they constantly change and evolve the Writing 101 offerings, trying to keep things fresh and interesting. I got one that merged sci-fi novels (e.g. Orson Scott Card) with cultural anthropology (e.g. Margaret Mead). I think I had the second registration window that semester. Turned out to be very interesting – I enjoyed it immensely, but I like writing!
I think this sounds like a fascinating course. And it follows a common trend in 100-level courses, where the goal is to make them interesting, especially for non-majors. We toured one school where you could take a Chem 101 course focused on forensics including how real life differed from the TV shows. It was seen as a way to get non-majors to at least realize the sciences can be interesting. I see this the same way - it’s not like it’s a 300 level course. It’s an exploratory course. Could this excite a passion for research and writing in a way that a Shakespeare course might not, at least among certain students? If it at least gets people through 101 without developing a hatred for English it could be a good thing.