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Smithsonian teams up with Stan Lee to offer free online course

Our nation’s largest and most important cultural museum is teaming up with one of the world’s greatest pop-culture creators for a free online course. Comic book icon Stan Lee and the Smithsonian are teaming together as part of the new EdX nonprofit online learning initiative.… Read More »Smithsonian teams up with Stan Lee to offer free online course

Free Online Course on Meaning of Disney’s Fairytales

Plate from Charles Perrault, one of the first to write down the Cinderella fairy tale.

Plate from Charles Perrault, one of the first to write down the Cinderella fairy tale.

Disney author Kevin Yee is about to make you an offer you can’t refuse. He’s offering a free online course that will look at fairy tales, their history and Disney’s adaptions.

Among the topics to be covered in the class are:

  • Why does Cinderella’s prince not just look at her face to identify her?
  • Why Snow White was originally a family drama in the worst way – and definitely NOT a story for today’s children!
  • What do those hedges full of thorns in Sleeping Beauty really mean?
  • Why is Ursula so masculine in Little Mermaid, and what does this have to do with the very last shot of the movie?
  • What does Belle’s Beast *really* stand for? Why is he animalistic?
  • What is the symbolism of a frog supposed to imply, in Princess and the Frog?
  • How does Tangled completely change Gothel’s character?
  • Why does Disney change the siblings around from the Snow Queen for Frozen?

The class is what is called a Massive Open Online Courses – or MOOC for short – that allows for free college-level content provided to the masses. All you have to do is register and then be available Feb. 10-Mar. 10 to do some light course work and absorb Yee’s expertly provided material.

The full course description is below the jump:

Read More »Free Online Course on Meaning of Disney’s Fairytales