From shelf to screen: toys as a site of intertextuality

Book chapter


Summers, S. 2018. From shelf to screen: toys as a site of intertextuality. in: Smith, S., Brown, N. and Summers, S. (ed.) Toy Story: How Pixar Reinvented the Animated Feature New York, NY Bloomsbury. pp. 127-140
Chapter titleFrom shelf to screen: toys as a site of intertextuality
AuthorsSummers, S.
Abstract

Intertextuality, as defined by Julia Kristeva, is ‘the passage from one sign system to another’, or rather, the inherent interconnectedness of all signs and, by extension, all texts.‘Any text’, she claims,‘is constructed as a mosaic of quotations; any text is the absorption and transformation of another’. It is true that no text is created or received in a vacuum, and all authors and readers bring with them their past experiences, whether textual or otherwise. A text such as Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995), though, explicitly activates and draws upon these links more than most.

Here, I focus on the connections established by the toys themselves, and in particular the meanings they can create for a child audience. With its combination of world-famous products licensed from companies such as Hasbro and Mattel, and original characters who can not help but bring to mind other real-world toy box fixtures, Toy Story goes out of its way to make sure that it includes recognizable toys that any kid watching can own or play with. In this chapter, I look at the various effects and uses of this particular form of intertextuality in the film, which range from world-building and establishing tone to informing thematic concerns.

Sustainable Development Goals4 Quality education
Middlesex University ThemeCreativity, Culture & Enterprise
Page range127-140
Book titleToy Story: How Pixar Reinvented the Animated Feature
EditorsSmith, S., Brown, N. and Summers, S.
PublisherBloomsbury
Place of publicationNew York, NY
SeriesAnimation: Key Films/Filmmakers
ISBN
Hardcover9781501324918
Paperback9781501354915
Electronic9781501324932
Electronic9781501324925
Electronic9781501324949
Publication dates
Print25 Jan 2018
Online23 Feb 2018
Publication process dates
Accepted2018
Deposited29 Apr 2024
Output statusPublished
Additional information

The book "Toy Story: How Pixar Reinvented the Animated Feature" is available open access at https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-978150132494...

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501324949.ch-008
Related Output
Is part ofToy Story: how Pixar reinvented the animated feature
Is part ofhttps://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/toy-story-9781501324918/
LanguageEnglish
Permalink -

https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/qz7yy

  • 29
    total views
  • 1
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Prince with a thousand faces: shifting art-styles and the depiction of violence in Watership Down
Summers, S. 2023. Prince with a thousand faces: shifting art-styles and the depiction of violence in Watership Down. in: Lester, C. (ed.) Watership Down: Perspectives On and Beyond Animated Violence New York, NY Bloomsbury. pp. 176-190
Fun for all the family: adapting the Fast & Furious as animated children's television
Summers, S. 2023. Fun for all the family: adapting the Fast & Furious as animated children's television. in: Gulam, J., Elliott, F. and Feinstein, S. (ed.) Full-Throttle Franchise: The Culture, Business and Politics of Fast & Furious New York, NY Bloomsbury. pp. 213-232
Intertextuality and “adult” humour in children’s film
Summers, S. 2022. Intertextuality and “adult” humour in children’s film. in: Brown, N. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Children's Film Oxford University Press (OUP). pp. 124-144
Book Review: David McGowan, Animated Personalities: Cartoon Characters and Stardom in American Theatrical Shorts (University of Texas Press, 2019)
Summers, S. 2021. Book Review: David McGowan, Animated Personalities: Cartoon Characters and Stardom in American Theatrical Shorts (University of Texas Press, 2019). Open Screens. 4 (1), p. 13. https://doi.org/10.16995/os.65
A real American hero: the superhero-fication of Disney’s Hercules
Summers, S. 2020. A real American hero: the superhero-fication of Disney’s Hercules. in: Blanshard, A. and Stafford, E. (ed.) The Modern Hercules: Images of the Hero from the Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century Brill. pp. 488–505
DreamWorks Animation: intertextuality and aesthetics in Shrek and beyond
Summers, S. 2020. DreamWorks Animation: intertextuality and aesthetics in Shrek and beyond. Cham Palgrave Macmillan.
Adapting a retro comic aesthetic with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Summers, S. 2019. Adapting a retro comic aesthetic with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Adaptation. 12 (2), pp. 190-194. https://doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apz014
High fantasy meets low culture in How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
Summers, S. 2018. High fantasy meets low culture in How To Train Your Dragon (2010). in: Holliday, C. and Sergeant, A. (ed.) Fantasy/Animation: Connections Between Media, Mediums and Genres New York, NY Taylor & Francis (Routledge). pp. 227-242
Introduction
Brown, N., Smith, S. and Summers, S. 2018. Introduction. in: Smith, S., Brown, N. and Summers, S. (ed.) Toy Story: How Pixar Reinvented the Animated Feature New York, NY Bloomsbury. pp. 1-6
La alternativa de Bugs Bunny. Matador y Estrella en "Bully for Bugs" (Chuck Jones,1953)
Smith, S. and Summers, S. 2017. La alternativa de Bugs Bunny. Matador y Estrella en "Bully for Bugs" (Chuck Jones,1953). Revista de Estudios Taurinos. 41, pp. 251-278.