apologies for any cross postings... SIMILE Volume 1 Issue 3 August 2001 is now available at www.utpjournals.com/simile Announcing the third issue(see table of contents and abstracts below) of Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education (SIMILE), a new e-journal published by the University of Toronto Press. The journal, which is currently available for free, is intended to be an electronic meeting place for anyone and everyone interested in the broad subject of media literacy. The journal will be published four times per year, in February, May, August, and November. Each issue will contain three or four full-length refereed articles from scholars approaching media literacy from a wide variety of perspectives. There will also be comments about these articles (more about this feature below). Special care will be taken to include viewpoints from outside North America. SIMILE hopes to bring together scholars and educators at all levels from the research university to the grade school to the community college and everything in between. The submission of theoretically-based work that has been tested and applied in the field-the kind of work that demands collaboration between university-based researchers and, for example, high school teachers-is strongly encouraged. SIMILE Volume 1 Issue 3 August 2001 Vincent E. Faherty Is the mouse sensitive? A study of race, gender, and social vulnerability in Disney animated films ABSTRACT This study is a quantitative content analysis of characters appearing in the 19 most successful and most recent Disney animated movies. The focus is on the variables of diversity (including gender, race/ethnicity, and age), assigned roles within the films, and social vulnerability, defined as any life situation or condition that makes one susceptible to being hurt or disadvantaged in some manner, either physically, emotionally, or economically. Results are mixed. There are several positive outcomes for which the Disney Corporation should be applauded, but there are also a number of serious lapses. Lori Widzinski The evolution of media librarianship: A tangled history of change and constancy ABSTRACT In the past 75 years, media librarians have witnessed and dealt with a steady and often bewildering progression of new media forms and formats, as well as a rapidly expanding content universe. Media collections and services in libraries have therefore evolved at a rapid pace. Media librarianship has undergone a significant transformation, buffeted by changing perceptions of the field, changing expectations, new roles, and new demands. As a framework for looking toward the future of the profession, this article provides an overview of the birth and evolution of media librarianship in the United States, including a snapshot of the current state of the profession, the organization and staffing of media operations, and professional training for media librarianship. Anjali Pandey “Scatterbrained apes” and “mangy fools”: Lexicalizations of ideology in children’s animated movies ABSTRACT Linguistic evidence from popular children’s animated movies demonstrates that there is a consistent attempt in these movies to present non-standard varieties of English as isomorphous with lower cultural and socio-economic status. Constraints on lexical choice in children’s movies reflect and sustain prejudice towards various dialects of English. Data is analyzed within the socio-cognitive discourse framework proposed by van Dijk (1984, 1988) and is grounded in the linguistic frameworks of power and ideology proposed by theorists in the area of critical linguistics such as Fairclough (1989), Kress (1982, 1985), Sykes (1985), and Thompson (1984). ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite