BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE IMAGINATION.

This article examines Disney Infinity, a toys-to-life game launched in 2013. Billed as "a celebration of infinite creativity" ahead of its release, Infinity is the only toys-to-life platform that incorporates open-ended world building into play. It is designed to emulate kids' physical play by allow...

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Publicado en:Velvet Light Trap: A Critical Journal of Film & Television no. 78; pp. 53 - 65
Autor principal: BAK, MEREDITH A.
Formato: Essay
Publicado: University of Texas Press Fall2016
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        au: BAK, MEREDITH A.
        affil: Assistant professor of childhood studies at Rutgers University-Camden
      su:
        Mass media & children
        Creative ability
        Disney characters
        Educational toys
        User-generated content
        Computer programming
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        subj:
          Mass media & children
          Creative ability
          Disney characters
          Educational toys
          User-generated content
          Computer programming
      ab: This article examines Disney Infinity, a toys-to-life game launched in 2013. Billed as "a celebration of infinite creativity" ahead of its release, Infinity is the only toys-to-life platform that incorporates open-ended world building into play. It is designed to emulate kids' physical play by allowing them to mix and match characters and elements from disparate story worlds in a virtual environment. The essay considers Disney's use of children's creativity as an economic strategy, arguing that the company's deployment of creativity is exemplary of the term's rhetorical appropriation by industry stakeholders across contemporary children's media culture. Exploring the game's promotional materials, in-game features, attributes of gameplay, and aesthetics, the article situates Infinity within the broader toys-to-life market, demonstrating Disney's interest in creativity, particularly in the wake of heightened interest in STEM and STEAM initiatives, it suggests that Disney's creativity is complex and, at times, contradictory and that it relies upon a romanticized notion of children as "unruly" players. Making Disney characters and iconography available for user-generated appropriation, Infinity attempts to reframe creativity within the parameters of its own intellectual property.
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    language: English
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