University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Children’s Film as Design Fiction: Ethics, Data, and Technology in Big Hero 6 and Zootopia

Tulloch, Bonnie; Meyers, Eric M.

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/100221

Description

Title
Children’s Film as Design Fiction: Ethics, Data, and Technology in Big Hero 6 and Zootopia
Author(s)
  • Tulloch, Bonnie
  • Meyers, Eric M.
Issue Date
2018
Keyword(s)
  • children’s media
  • ethics
  • information and communication technologies
Abstract
This poster explores how technologies and information are represented in recent children’s cinema, seeing these works as diegetic prototypes. We assert that contemporary “kidult” film can serve as a kind of design fiction to explore the ethical and technical tensions of information systems. This approach is supported through close readings of two Disney films, Big Hero 6 and Zootopia, both of which offer uncritical assessments of data aggregation and use in the effort to resolve a crime-adventure story. We sound a note of caution regarding how these films reinforce contemporary cultural concerns about data, privacy, and role of information in society.
Publisher
iSchools
Series/Report Name or Number
iConference 2018 Proceedings
Type of Resource
text
Language
eng
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/100221
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2018 is held by Bonnie Tulloch, Eric M. Meyers. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

Owning Collections

iConference 2018 Poster Descriptions PRIMARY