HumCore 2026 Tarzan

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<h1>Instructions</h1> The following choose-your-own-adventure story walks you through an example of the beginning stages of working on the Research Project for Humanities Core. * Read the story and make decisions along the way of what to do next. The story will change according to the decisions you make. * There are no right or wrong answers. Each choice you make will take you to a different part of the story, but all paths will eventually lead to a conclusion. * The entire story should take about 10-15 minutes. * Parts of the story will lead you through using some hyperlinked research tools. Feel free to open and try these tools out along the way. * At the end of the story, you will be prompted to complete a short reflection on the exercise. Your seminar instructor will provide instructions about if and how to submit this reflection for participation credit. [[Let's Begin!->Scenario]]

You vaguely remember watching the Disney version of Tarzan when you were really young, but you don’t really remember it. Was it really racist? At the very least, a story of a man raised by gorillas had some human-and-nature themes, right? <img src="images/tarzan-poster.png" width="233" height="334" alt="promotional poster of Walt Disney’s Tarzan"/> You figure that you might want to just dive right in and re-watch it. On the other hand, you might benefit from doing a quick bit of background research on this movie first. What do you want to do next? * [[Re-watch the film and take notes->Rewatch]] * [[Do some background research first->Background]]

<h2>You decide to re-watch the film.</h2> You get comfy on your couch and watch the movie, taking a bunch of notes along the way. Mostly, you were watching for narrative and thematic elements this first time around. You’re looking for things that might relate to the Humanities Core theme. When you’re done watching the movie, you have a page or so of notes, but you aren’t really sure what to do next. Maybe you could organize your notes into a concept map or something. Or maybe this is a good time to see if there are good reviews that can give you hints on how to interpret this film. What do you want to do? * [[Make a concept map->Map]] * [[Look up some reviews->Reviews]]

<h2>You decide that you want to do a little bit of preliminary research on Tarzan before you really invest more time into re-watching the film.</h2> Because it’s really early on in the process, you decide to just do a simple internet search using Google. There isn’t a lot of interesting information at first. You briefly glance through the AI plot summary of the movie, and scroll past the various Disney discussion threads. You open the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzan_(1999_film)" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia article about <i>Tarzan (1999 film)</i></a>, and you are surprised at how long it is. One section discusses the writing, and it says that the film included themes of “man versus nature” and “a central theme of what defines a family.” You’re not sure what to do next, though. A Wikipedia article isn’t really going to help you with your research - maybe you should see if you can find scholarly articles. Or… maybe you should just go and watch the film and take some notes. What do you want to do next? * [[Look for scholarly articles->Background-Scholarly]] * [[Rewatch the film and take notes->Rewatch]]

You were listening to a podcast about American pop culture, and one of the guests mentioned that according to Ibram X. Kendi, one of the most racist and influential stories in American history was probably Tarzan. The story of Tarzan was re-told in books, plays, comics, films, cartoons, musicals, and more, and helped perpetuate ideas of white supremacy. This sparked your curiosity, because you are familiar with Tarzan, and it occurred to you that Tarzan also overlaps with ecological themes. Could this be a good primary source for your Humanities Core project? (Note: Ibram X. Kendi is a noted activist and author of <i>Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America</i>) [[Continue->Scenario2]]

<h2>You choose to make a concept map.</h2> You take a look at your notes and put them all on a separate sheet of paper, into a loose concept map to explore if certain themes or elements might be connected. The process is interesting. While you create the map, you start to fill it in with various ideas and questions from the film. You start to make some connections. After a few rounds of playing with the map, you arrive at something like this: <img src="images/TarzanMap2026.png" alt="Concept map that demonstrates a brainstorming strategy by noting important characters and themes. At the center is a box with 'Tarzan (Disney, 1999).' Surrounding the box are bubbles with words like Family, Inclusion/exclusion, Identity, Civilization, Jungle/Nature, Gender Roles, Species Hierarchy, and others. Many of the bubbles are connected by lines, to visually represent connections between ideas"/> This was interesting. You don’t really have any solid arguments yet, but you start to see a few clusters of ideas that you can trace down. One is about the idea of family and identity (and who is included or excluded). Another is related to the cluster around “jungle/nature vs civilization”. What do you want to explore next? * [[The idea of family and identity->Family]] * [[The idea of jungle/nature vs civilization->Nature]]

<h2>You decide to look up some film reviews.</h2> You do a Google search for reviews of Disney’s <i>Tarzan</i>. Many of the results are from community sites like Reddit or aggregated reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, or Common Sense Media. Many of the reviews you see comment on the quality of animation, and you learn that Disney used a new kind of technique called Deep Canvas, where animators painted over 3D modeling. Apart from that, though, the reviews are pretty surface-level, although some posts on Reddit suggest looking for symbolism in the lighting and color choices, or in how hands are used. These give you some ideas, but it’s not like you can cite a Reddit post in your paper. You’re not sure what to do next. Should you go back through your notes from the film, and then maybe make a concept map or something? Or maybe look up something about Deep Canvas? Or maybe you’re missing something. Maybe you want to make an appointment with a librarian? What do you want to do next? * [[Look at your notes from the film and make a concept map->Map]] * [[Look up information about Deep Canvas->Deep Canvas]] * [[Talk to a librarian->Librarian-Map]]

<h2>You decide to look for a scholarly article.</h2> You go to Google Scholar and type in “Disney Tarzan.” You find an article called “US: Me Disney, you Tarzan” by John Newsinger. This seems to be a commentary and not really a scholarly article, but it does make some interesting points. <img src="images/US-Me_Disney.png" alt=""> Newsinger reviews a book called <i>Deconstructing Disney</i> and wonders what the authors of the book might say about the film Tarzan, which was not included. The article then argues that Disney is not Tarzan; it is a mega-corporation that is about despoiling nature through its theme parks. It also argues that the Disney version avoids mentioning Africa (where the story was originally set) and excluding Black characters - therefore whitewashes the story. Unfortunately, because this is not really a scholarly article, these ideas are just mentioned as commentary without further evidence. You are curious about this film now, but also interested in the book <i>Deconstructing Disney</i>. What do you want to do next? * [[Go back and rewatch the film now and take notes->Rewatch]] * [[Look up the book Deconstructing Disney->Background-Scholarly2]]

<h2>You decide to look up the book <i>Deconstructing Disney.</i></h2> You are curious about the book <i>Deconstructing Disney</i> that was mentioned in Newsinger’s article. You look on the <a href="https://guides.lib.uci.edu/humcore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Humanities Core Library Research Guide</a>, and based on the descriptions of various databases, you figure you should look in <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UC Library Search</a>, because it says it will search all of the UC libraries and will find books as well as journal articles. You type in “Deconstructing Disney” in the search box. It looks like the library has the book, but it is checked out. <img src="images/Deconstructing_Disney.png" alt=""> It looks like you can sign in and request this book through Interlibrary Loan from another UC campus library. On the other hand, you’re not even sure you need this book yet - you were just exploring things. Maybe now it’s time to go and watch the film. What do you want to do next? * [[Request through Interlibrary Loan->ILL]] * [[Go rewatch the film->Rewatch]]

<h2>You decide to request the book through Interlibrary Loan.</h2> You click “Sign in” to see different request options. <img src="images/ILL_login.png" alt=""> Once you click the button and complete the sign in process with your NetID and password, you see a link that says “Request through Interlibrary Loan.” When you click that link, a new web form pops up with pre-filled information about the book. You enter in the information of where you want to pick up the book, and then click “Send Request.” OK. Now what? At this point it really feels like you are spinning your wheels researching. It doesn’t feel like you’re making progress, and you’re starting to get anxious. Maybe you need to actually watch the film and take some notes before scholarly articles make sense. Or maybe you should make an appointment with a librarian? * [[Go rewatch the film->Rewatch]] * [[Make and appointment with a librarian->Librarian2]]

<h2>You make an appointment for a research consultation with a Humanities Core librarian.</h2> After talking through the assignment and your research path so far, the librarian asks you about what kind of analysis you’ve done with your primary source (the movie), and what research question you are asking. You work together to map out some of the things you noticed in the film, and then you work on it some more when you get home. You end up with something like this: <img src="images/TarzanMap2026.png" alt="Concept map that demonstrates a brainstorming strategy by noting important characters and themes. At the center is a box with 'Tarzan (Disney, 1999).' Surrounding the box are bubbles with words like Family, Inclusion/exclusion, Identity, Civilization, Jungle/Nature, Gender Roles, Species Hierarchy, and others. Many of the bubbles are connected by lines, to visually represent connections between ideas"/> [[Continue->Librarian-Map2]]

<h2>You decide to explore the role of family and identity in the film.</h2> It occurs to you that <i>Tarzan</i> is not the only Disney film that deals with the ideas of family and identity. Just thinking off the top of your head, you remember lines like “Ohana means family” from <i>Lilo and Stitch</i> or the portrayal of the Madrigal family in <i>Encanto.</i> You wonder if you should do some contextual research. Have people studied the idea of family in Disney films? You go to the <a href="https://guides.lib.uci.edu/humcore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Humanities Core Library Research Guide</a> to consider what databases to try out. You narrow it down to one of these two to start with: * UC Library Search ("Use this tool to search for print and e-books, journal articles, digital collections, and more, all with one search. Search across all UC Libraries") * JSTOR ("Provides access to scholarly journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. In addition to journal articles, users can access book chapters, ebooks, and primary source documents.") You could also just search Google Scholar, too. What do you want to do? * [[Search UC Library Search->Family-UCLS]] * [[Search JSTOR->Family-JSTOR]] * [[Search Google Scholar->Family-Gscholar]]

<h2>You make an appointment for a research consultation with a Humanities Core librarian.</h2> After talking through the assignment and your research path so far, the librarian asks you about what kind of analysis you’ve done with your primary source (the movie), and what research question you are asking. You don’t have a very good answer. In fact, you admit that you haven’t even really watched the movie. You start to realize that you haven’t even really evaluated your primary source yet - and you’re jumping into all this other research. No wonder you felt so ungrounded! The librarian reminds you about the need to first observe the primary source carefully and ask questions of it before trying to do secondary (contextual) research. They suggest that because a film is a complex primary source, you should make note of time stamps and try mapping out relationships between things you wrote down in your notes. After concluding the research consultation, you decide that you definitely need to watch the movie next. [[Go rewatch the movie->Rewatch]]

<h2>You decide to look up information about Deep Canvas.</h2> You do a Google search for information about Deep Canvas. You find some videos that demonstrate animators digitally painting over a 3D model of the jungle landscape, and then you see them add the figure of Tarzan "surfing" over the vines. It looks pretty cool. You find a short article that basically says it was groundbreaking... in 1999. This isn't helping. You don't really know what to do next. You haven't really been able to narrow down anything about Tarzan that you can actually research, and you're starting to worry. Maybe you need to stop researching contextual information and go back to review your notes and analysis of the film? Or maybe you should talk to a librarian or your professor? What do you want to do next? * [[Look at your notes from the film and make a concept map->Map]] * [[Talk to a librarian->Librarian-Map]]

<h2>You decide to search in UC Library Search for books or articles about family in Disney films</h2> You do a simple search for “family in disney films” because you are just exploring right now. <img src="images/Family-UCLS.png" alt=''/> The first few results aren’t that great, but eventually you see an article called <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CDL_IRV_INST/u4evf/cdi_unpaywall_primary_10_3390_socsci7030047" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">”The Portrayal of Families across Generations in Disney Animated Films.”</a> You click on it, and UC Library Search opens up another window that shows the article, its abstract, and other information. You see a list of related articles to the right of the screen, but you also see a section at the bottom of the page that shows arrows that seems to link to sources citing this article, or sources cited in this article. <img src="images/UCLS-cited.png" alt=""/> What do you want to do next? * [[Read the article and see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film->Family-UCLS-Research-Read]] * [[See what other articles have cited this one, to continue to explore the scholarly context around family and Disney films->Family-UCLS-Research-2]]

<h2>You decide to search the database JSTOR, since it seems very interdisciplinary.</h2> You do a simple search for “family in disney films” because you are just exploring right now. The first few results aren’t that great, but eventually you see an article called <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45157187" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">”Disney's (Post?)-Racial Gaze: Film, Pedagogy, and the Construction of Racial Identities.”</a> It’s not exactly about family, but it does seem like it could offer an interesting perspective on how to study a Disney film. When you click on it, you see the full text of the article, but also notice several other things on the page. First, you see several related journal articles that seem to be about race or identity in Disney films. You also notice that the article you are looking at is “Chapter Five” in a special issue of the journal Counterpoints. The special issue is called “Teaching with Disney,” and there is a link to view the whole journal issue. <img src="images/Family-JSTOR-detail.png" alt=""/> What do you want to do next? * [[Read the article and see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film->Family-JSTOR-Research-Read]] * [[Explore some of the other related journal articles in the special issue of Counterpoints->Family-JSTOR-Research-2]]

<h2>You decide to search in Google Scholar for articles about family in Disney films.</h2> You do a simple search for “family in disney films” because you are just exploring right now. You are pleased that there seem to be some results. You see article titles like “Images of Couples and Families in Disney feature-length animated films” or “The construction of family in selected Disney animated films.” <img src="images/Family-Gscholar.png" alt=""/> You are interested in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01926180390223987" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">”Images of Couples and Families in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films”</a> which was published in the //Journal of Family Therapy// and has been cited 283 times. What do you want to do next? * [[Read the article and see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film->Family-Gscholar-Research-Read]] * [[See what other articles have cited this one, to continue to explore the scholarly context around family and Disney films->Family-Gscholar-Research-2]]

<h2>You decide to read the article <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01926180390223987" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">”Images of Couples and Families in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films”</a> </h2> You skim the article, which discusses how Disney portrays many “alternative families.” It does include Tarzan in the discussion, but most of the article is about how families and couples are depicted as having traditional gender roles and heterosexual relationships. The article is written from a counseling perspective, and offers suggestions for how to discuss Disney films in relation to family counseling. You scan the bibliography, which includes some additional sources that seem interesting and go further into this idea of gender roles and family in Disney films. None of them are about <i>Tarzan,</i> but they might serve as a model for you to do your own analysis of <i>Tarzan.</i> * Byrne, Eleanor, and Martin McQuillan. <i>Deconstructing Disney</i>. Pluto Press, 1999 * Wiersma, Beth A. <i>The Gendered World of Disney : A Content Analysis of Gender Themes in Full-Length Animated Disney Feature Films</i>. 2000. South Dakota State University, PhD dissertation. * Dundes, Lauren. “Disney’s Modern Heroine Pocahontas: Revealing Age-Old Gender Stereotypes and Role Discontinuity under a Façade of Liberation.” <i>The Social Science Journal</i>, vol. 38, no. 3, 2001, pp. 353–65. On the other hand, maybe you want to go back and try searching for family in disney films in another database. What do you want to do next? * [[Look at one of the titles cited in the bibliography->Family-Gscholar-Research-Read-Bib]] * [[Explore UC Library Search->Family-UCLS]] * [[Explore JSTOR->Family-JSTOR]]

<h2>You decide to see what other articles have cited “Images of Couples and Families in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films”</h2> You click on the “Cited by 283” link below the article. You see a new list of articles. Scanning them, it seems that most other publications citing the article “Images of Couples and Families in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films” were focused more on aspects of gender roles, or media and gender roles. None of them mention <i>Tarzan</i>. This doesn’t feel like it’s helping. You click the “Back” button and think for a moment. You could open the article and take a look at what it says. On the other hand, maybe you want to go back and try searching for family in disney films in another database. What do you want to do next? * [[Read the article and see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film->Family-Gscholar-Research-Read]] * [[Search for family in Disney films in UC Library Search->Family-UCLS]] * [[Search for family in Disney films in JSTOR->Family-JSTOR]]

<h2>You decide to look at one of the titles cited in the bibliography.</h2> Out of the three sources you found, you choose to look for the book <i>Deconstructing Disney,</i> because it seemed like it might have the most potential to shed light on how to interpret Disney films. You remember that you need to look for books in the library catalog, so you turn to <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UC Library Search</a> and type in “deconstructing disney.” You find the book pretty easily as the first search result, but also notice that the second result is a book called <i>On Disney: deconstructing images, tropes, and narratives</i> that was more recently published. This wasn’t the book you originally searched, but it seems like a lucky find. Plus, it’s available online. <img src="images/Deconstructing_Disney_Results.png" alt=""/> [[Continue->Family-Gscholar-Bib2]]

<h2>You stop to take stock of what you’ve done so far with your research.</h2> At this point, you are well on your way in terms of getting your research started. You feel pretty certain that <i>Tarzan</i> is very likely to be a viable primary source, and you’ve done a preliminary scan of some secondary sources, so you have a bit of an idea of what’s “out there.” These won’t be your final sources, but you have a sense that there are sources you can start to engage with. Now what? To further your inquiry, you could dig deeper into the film itself. Remember - you’ve learned something about film analysis, but you haven’t done that yet. Maybe spending time with the film will further your research? Or, maybe you need to keep track of all of the contextual research you’ve already done, and come up with a system to keep all of that in order. What do you want to do next? * [[Spend more time making observations about the film->Yay-Family-Observations]] * [[Spend more time with context sources you’ve found->Yay-Family-Contextualization]]

<h2>You decide to read the article <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CDL_IRV_INST/u4evf/cdi_unpaywall_primary_10_3390_socsci7030047" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">”The Portrayal of Families across Generations in Disney Animated Films.”</a></h2> You skim the article quickly, which analyzes how families are represented in 85 Disney films. There is a short section on Tarzan in this article, where it discusses how the family has a “mixed climate” where the gorilla mother Kala is nurturing and supportive but the gorilla father Kerchak is detached and unsupportive. The article helps situate the idea of family in Tarzan in the context of other Disney family portrayals. Scanning the bibliography, you see a number of sources that you think could help you understand how to analyze Disney films through the lens of family, gender, or media studies: * Cheu, Johnson, editor. <i>Diversity in Disney Films : Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability</i>. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013. * Coyne, Sarah M, and Emily Whitehead. “Indirect Aggression in Animated Disney Films.” <i>Journal of Communication</i>, vol. 58, no. 2, 2008, pp. 382–95. * Davis, Amy M. <i>Handsome Heroes & Vile Villains : Men in Disney’s Feature Animation</i>. John Libbey Publishing, 2013. On the other hand, maybe you want to go back and try searching for family in disney films in another database. What do you want to do next? * [[Look at one of the titles cited in the bibliography->Family-UCLS-Research-Read-Bib]] * [[Explore Google Scholar->Family-Gscholar]] * [[Explore JSTOR->Family-JSTOR]]

<h2>You decide to see what other articles have cited <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CDL_IRV_INST/u4evf/cdi_unpaywall_primary_10_3390_socsci7030047" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">”The Portrayal of Families across Generations in Disney Animated Films.”</a></h2> You click on the “Citing this” link in order to see where the scholarly conversation went after this article was published. You do see a few interesting leads: * Zurcher, Jessica D, et al. “Parental Roles in ‘The Circle of Life’ Representations of Parents and Parenting in Disney Animated Films from 1937 to 2017.” <i>Mass Communication & Society</i>, vol. 23, no. 1, 2020, pp. 128–50. * Moss, Chelsea E, et al. “‘Make Your Family Proud’: Analyzing the Communication of Roles and Identity in Disney’s Encanto.” <i>Journal of Family Communication</i>, vol. 24, nos. 1–2, 2024, pp. 82–98. It does seem like there is a solid body of scholarship that analyzes Disney films and the idea of family or parenting or gender. You could track down one of these newly found articles, or you could read the original one you found (“The Portrayal of Families across Generations in Disney Animated Films”). Or, maybe you want to make sure you aren’t missing an even better article - maybe in another database? What do you want to do next? * [[Read“The Portrayal of Families across Generations in Disney Animated Films”->Family-UCLS-Research-Read]] * [[Search for family in Disney films in JSTOR->Family-JSTOR]]

<h2>You decide to read the article <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CDL_IRV_INST/u4evf/cdi_unpaywall_primary_10_3390_socsci7030047" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">”The Portrayal of Families across Generations in Disney Animated Films.”</a></h2> You skim the article quickly, which analyzes how families are represented in 85 Disney films. There is a short section on <i>Tarzan</i> in this article, where it discusses how the family has a “mixed climate” where the gorilla mother Kala is nurturing and supportive but the gorilla father Kerchak is detached and unsupportive. The article helps situate the idea of family in Tarzan in the context of other Disney family portrayals. Scanning the bibliography, you see a couple of sources that you think could help you understand how to analyze Disney films through the lens of family, gender, or media studies: * Cheu, Johnson, editor. <i>Diversity in Disney Films : Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability.</i> McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013. * Coyne, Sarah M, and Emily Whitehead. “Indirect Aggression in Animated Disney Films.” <i>Journal of Communication</i>, vol. 58, no. 2, 2008, pp. 382–95. You feel like you’ve made pretty good progress so far. What do you want to do next? * [[Try another database like JSTOR to find more scholarly sources->Family-JSTOR]] * [[Explore another theme from Tarzan, like jungle/nature vs civilization->Nature]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now so you can read some of the things you’ve already found more closely->Yay-Family]]

<h2>You decide to read the article <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45157187" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">”Disney's (Post?)-Racial Gaze: Film, Pedagogy, and the Construction of Racial Identities.”</a> to see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film.</h2> You skim through the article quickly, and find sections like “Historical Context: Disney Films as Racial Pedagogy” and “Decoding Disney’s Racial Gaze.” The article seems to be a fairly in-depth, theoretical exploration of how Disney films construct race and racism through looking at <i>The Song of the South</i> and <i>The Princess and the Frog</i>. It doesn’t address <i>Tarzan</i> in detail other than to mention how the film is an example of how Disney erases African people entirely from the story and instead uses animals to represent “Africa,” while the only humans are white. This is an interesting point, and maybe the close readings that the article does of other films can serve as a model for you to do your own analysis of <i>Tarzan.</i> The article doesn’t have to do with the theme of family, but it does have to do with the theme of race, which is one of the reasons you looked at <i>Tarzan</i> in the first place. Scanning the bibliography, you see several sources that could help you think through analyzing a film like Tarzan through the lens of race and media studies. For example: * Benhamou, Eve. “From the Advent of Multiculturalism to the Elision of Race: The Representation of Race Relations in Disney Animated Features (1995-2009).” <i>Exchanges</i>, vol. 2, no. 1, 2014, pp. 153–67. * Cheu, Johnson, editor. <i>Diversity in Disney Films : Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability.</i> McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013. On the other hand, maybe you want to go back and try searching for family in Disney films in another database. What do you want to do next? * [[Look at one of the titles cited in the bibliography->Family-JSTOR-Research-Read-Bib]] * [[Explore Google Scholar->Family-Gscholar]] * [[Explore UC Library Search->Family-UCLS]]

<h2>You decide to explore some of the other related journal articles in the special issue of <i>Counterpoints.</i></h2> You click on the link “Explore this issue” to see the table of contents of the issue titled “Teaching with Disney.” You find that there are actually 15 articles in this journal issue. One seems to be an overview of how to conduct popular culture analysis of Disney films. There is a section of three articles that have to do with gender and Disney films, another section of three articles that have to do with race and Disney films, another section of four articles on consumerism and Disney films, and a final section of four articles that seem to be about identity and Disney films. This issue seems like it could help you. Maybe you should look into one of the articles more closely to see what scholarly analysis of Disney films looks like. Or, maybe you want to make sure you aren’t missing an even better article - maybe in another database? What do you want to do next? * [[Read Chapter 5 of this issue: ”Disney's (Post?)-Racial Gaze: Film, Pedagogy, and the Construction of Racial Identities.”->Family-JSTOR-Research-Read]] * [[Search for family in Disney films in UC Library Search->Family-UCLS]]

<h2>You decide to look at one of the titles cited in the bibliography.</h2> Out of the three sources you found, you choose to look for the article “From the advent of multiculturalism to the elision of race: The representation of race relations in Disney animated features” because it seemed to be the most likely to discuss Tarzan. You remember that you can look for books and articles in the library catalog, so you turn to <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UC Library Search</a> and type in “From the advent of multiculturalism to the elision of race.” You find the article pretty easily as the first search result, and find that it is available online. <img src="images/Advent-Multiculturalism.png" alt=""/> The article seems to critique the “multiculturalism” movement in Disney and discusses how historical contexts of race are erased in several films. Again, there isn’t anything specifically about Tarzan, but you sense there is a growing body of criticism about Disney’s erasure of race that you can use in your own analysis of Tarzan. You feel like you’ve made pretty good progress so far. What do you want to do next? * [[Try another database like Google Scholar to find more scholarly sources->Family-Gscholar]] * [[Explore another theme from Tarzan, like the jungle/nature vs civilization one->Nature]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now so you can read some of the things you’ve already found more closely->Yay-Family]]

<h2>You want to explore the role of the jungle or nature vs. civilization in <i>Tarzan</i>.</h2> You feel like this might be a good move, since you’ve been reading about environment and nature and ecology all year. You are especially interested in the jungle because you noticed that the jungle seemed to be depicted as "alive" in the film - maybe like its own character. You wonder if there is scholarship about this already that is related to Disney’s <i>Tarzan</i>. You go to the <a href="https://guides.lib.uci.edu/humcore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Humanities Core Library Research Guide</a> to consider what databases to try out. You narrow it down to one of these two to start with: * UC Library Search ("Use this tool to search for print and e-books, journal articles, digital collections, and more, all with one search. Search across all UC Libraries") * JSTOR ("Provides access to scholarly journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. In addition to journal articles, users can access book chapters, ebooks, and primary source documents.") You could also just search Google Scholar, too. What do you want to do? * [[Search UC Library Search->Nature-UCLS]] * [[Search JSTOR->Nature-JSTOR]] * [[Search Google Scholar->Nature-Gscholar]]

<h2>You decide to search in UC Library Search for books or articles about the jungle or nature in Tarzan.</h2> You open up <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UC Library Search</a> and start with a simple search: “jungle in tarzan” You see a lot of results initially, but none of them have anything to do with Disney’s <i>Tarzan</i>. You add “Disney” to your search, so it’s now “jungle in Disney Tarzan.” You see one search result that is interesting: a book chapter called <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CDL_IRV_INST/u4evf/cdi_scopus_primary_2_s2_0_105017584393" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"The Human/Animal Divide: Feral Children, Liminalities and the Gothic in Disney's The Jungle Book and Tarzan."</a> That looks like it might be really interesting. <img src="images/Human-Animal-Divide.png" alt=""/> But beyond that one result, everything is disappointing. In fact, you see a whole bunch of irrelevant stuff about the <i>Jungle Book</i>, including reviews of Disney on Ice shows. Maybe you need to clean up your search terms. Instead of “jungle,” maybe you need to search for “nature” and related words like “environment” or “ecology.” What do you want to do next? * [[Check out the Human/Animal Divide book chapter->Nature-UCLS-chapter]] * [[Try new keywords->Nature-UCLS-keywords]]

<h2>You decide to search in the database <a href="https://www.jstor.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">JSTOR</a> because it seems very interdisciplinary.</h2> You do a simple search for “jungle in Disney Tarzan” to see if anything comes up. Overall, the results aren’t that great; you think you might have to search with better keywords later. However, there is one article that seems relevant, titled “Tarzan! The Untamed Image of the Perfect Savage.” When you click on the article, you see the full text of the article, but also notice several other things on the page. First, you see several related journal articles that seem to be Tarzan or film and the idea of “primitive/savage” vs. “civilization.” These might be good leads. On the other hand, it might be good to skim the article first. Maybe it will give you better ideas of what to do next. <img src="images/Nature-JSTOR-detail.png" alt=""/> What do you want to do next? * [[Read the article and see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the the idea of the “perfect savage” in Tarzan->Nature-JSTOR-Research-Read]] * [[Explore some of the other related journal articles linked in JSTOR->Nature-JSTOR-Research-2]]

<h2>You decide to search in <a href="http://www.scholar.google.com" target="_blank">Google Scholar</a> for articles about the Jungle in Disney’s <i>Tarzan</i>.</h2> You do a simple search for “jungle in Disney Tarzan” because you are just exploring right now. <img src="images/Nature-Gscholar.png" alt=""/> You see a few results that seem interesting: * Thomson, Helen. “The Return of the Empire: Representations of Race, Ethnicity and Culture in Disney’s Tarzan and The Jungle Book, and in the Burroughs and Kipling Pre-Texts.” <i>Papers : Explorations into Children’s Literature</i>, vol. 11, no. 3, 2001, pp. 5–14. * Fafowora, Oyinkansola. "Imagining the'Dark Continent': Disney's Tarzan and Defining the African Post-Colonial Subject." <i>Reinvention: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research</i>, vol. 10, no. 31, 2017. The titles alone suggest to you that you should probably do a different keyword search later using words like “colonial” or “empire” or “imperialism.” In the meantime, you decide you’re interested in the article “The return of the Empire: representations of race, ethnicity and culture in Disney's Tarzan and The Jungle Book, and in the Burroughs and Kipling pre-texts.” You notice that Google Scholar shows what articles have cited this one, and gives a link to related articles. What do you want to do next? * [[Read the article and see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film->Nature-Gscholar-Research-Read]] * [[Explore the links to related articles->Nature-Gscholar-Research-2]]

<h2>You click on <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CDL_IRV_INST/u4evf/cdi_scopus_primary_2_s2_0_105017584393" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">”The Human/Animal Divide: Feral Children, Liminalities and the Gothic in Disney's The Jungle Book and Tarzan”</a>.</h2> You see a new screen that tells you this is a book chapter, and that the book is called <i>Disney Gothic: Dark Shadows in the House of Mouse.</i> However, you don’t see any way to get at the book. There is no link or anything. <img src="images/Human-Animal-Inter.png" alt=""/> You see a yellow box in the middle of the screen that says “Please sign in to check if there are any request options.” You click the link to sign in. You follow all of the prompts to log in with your NetID and password, and do the DUO thing. There is now a new box that says “Request through Interlibrary Loan.” You click on it. A new form pops up that seems to be requesting this book from another library. You go ahead and confirm your request and submit. Okay. It seems like you have requested this book from somewhere. But… now what? * [[Try searching with new keywords->Nature-UCLS-keywords]] * [[Try searching in JSTOR instead->Nature-JSTOR]] * [[Try searching in Google Scholar instead->Nature-Gscholar]]

<h2>You decide to try searching with different keywords.</h2> In UC Library Search you click on “Advanced Search.” You enter your keywords in two groups: In the first box: nature OR environment OR ecology In the second box: Disney Tarzan <img src="images/Nature-UCLS-keyword.png" alt=""> This seems to be a better search strategy. In the first page of results, you see several titles that might help you: * Imanjaya, E, and A Amelia. “Environment Sustainability, Animated Movies, and Anti-Anthropocentric Approaches: Case Study of Tarzan.” <i>AIP Conference Proceedings,</i> edited by Elioenai Sitepu et al., vol. 2594, no. 1, American Institute of Physics, 2023. * Whitley, David. <i>The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation</i>. Ashgate, 2008. What do you want to look at next? * [[The conference paper->Nature-UCLS-Conference]] * [[The book->Nature-UCLS-Book]]

<h2>You decide to look at the conference paper “Environment Sustainability, Animated Movies, and Anti-Anthropocentric Approaches: Case Study of Tarzan.”</h2> You click on the record in <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UC Library Search</a>. <img src="images/Nature-UCLS-conference.png" alt=""/> The paper is a little odd in that it is published in a Physics conference, but it still seems to discuss Disney’s <i>Tarzan</i> and questions of anthropocentrism. It also gives you a keyword that you hadn’t thought of: “non-human agent.” You’re not sure if it’s the best source, but it does have a bibliography that has some leads: * MacDonald, Scott. “Toward an Eco-Cinema.” <i>Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment</i>, vol. 11, no. 2, 2004, pp. 107–32. * Mills, Brett. “Jaws, Anthropocentrism and Cinema as a Monster-Making Machine.” <i>Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance</i>, vol. 16, nos. 1–2, 2023, pp. 21–36. Maybe you should track down one of these sources. Or maybe you should try another database? Or there was also that book you found earlier… What do you want to do next? * [[Look at one of the items cited in the bibliography->Nature-UCLS-Conference-Bib]] * [[Search another database like JSTOR to find more scholarly sources->Nature-JSTOR]] * [[Take a look at the book you found earlier->Nature-UCLS-Book]]

<h2>You decide to look at the book <i>The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation : From Snow White to WALL-E.</i></h2> You click on the record in UC Library Search. <img src="images/Nature-UCLS-book.png" alt=""/> You see that the book is available at Langson Library with the call number NC1766.U52.D594 2012. You scroll through the record and read the abstract, which shows that the book has an entire chapter called “Tropical discourse: Unstable ecologies in <i>Tarzan, The Lion King</i> and <i>Finding Nemo</i>” and an introductory chapter about nature in Disney films in general. This definitely seems like it will help you, but it means you will need to go find this book in Langson Library. Maybe you can do that right now. The book will probably have a bibliography that could help you find additional sources. Or maybe you should keep exploring a little more online. What to do next? * [[Look at the conference paper you found previously->Nature-UCLS-Conference]] * [[Try another database like JSTOR to find more scholarly sources->Nature-JSTOR]] * [[Explore another theme from Tarzan, like the one on family and identity->Family]] * [[Stop looking online for now, and go find the book on the shelf so you can read it more closely->Yay-Nature]]

<h2>You stop to take stock of what you’ve done so far with your research.</h2> At this point, you are well on your way in terms of getting your research started. You feel pretty certain that <i>Tarzan</i> is very likely to be a viable primary source, and you’ve done a preliminary scan of some secondary sources, so you have a bit of an idea of what’s “out there.” These won’t be your final sources, but you have a sense that there are sources you can start to engage with. Now what? To further your inquiry, you could dig deeper into the film itself. Remember - you’ve learned something about film analysis, but you haven’t done that yet. Maybe spending time with the film will further your research? Or, maybe you need to keep track of all of the contextual research you’ve already done, and come up with a system to keep all of that in order. What do you want to do next? * [[Spend more time making observations about the film->Yay-Nature-Observations]] * [[Spend more time with context sources you’ve found->Yay-Nature-Contextualization]]

<h2>You decide to look at one of the items cited in the bibliography.</h2> Out of the three sources you found, you choose to look for the article “Toward an Eco-Cinema.” You go back to the search box in <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UC Library Search</a> and type in “Toward an Eco-Cinema.” The article opens in another database, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">JSTOR</a>. You actually see some additional related articles and cited articles linked to the article, some of which look like they could help. You sense there is a substantial body of scholarship related to how the environment or nature is portrayed in film, including in animated films. <img src="images/Nature-JSTOR-eco.png" alt=""/> You feel like you’ve made pretty good progress so far. What do you want to do next? * [[Try another database like Google Scholar to find more scholarly sources->Nature-Gscholar]] * [[Try another database like JSTOR to find more scholarly sources->Nature-JSTOR]] * [[Explore another theme from Tarzan, like the one on family and identity->Family]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now, and read something you already found a bit more closely->Yay-Nature]]

<h2>You decide to read the article <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25758188" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"Tarzan! The Untamed Image of the Perfect Savage”</a> to see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film.</h2> You skim through the article quickly and find that while it does talk about Disney’s <i>Tarzan,</i> it is discussing Tarzan more broadly as a fictional character. You make a note to include words like “noble savage” or “wild man” in future searches. The article brings up points about Tarzan’s physical appearance that you hadn’t fully considered - that he is always a white character, that he is always lightly clothed and muscular, and that he is portrayed as an object of desire. It also argues that the Disney version portrays Tarzan as a sort of “eco-ambassador” of sorts, and completely sanitizes any previous discussions of race from existing Tarzan narratives. Scanning the bibliography, you see several sources that could help you think through analyzing a film like <i>Tarzan.</i> For example: * Vivanco, Luis Antonio, and Robert J Gordon. <i>Tarzan Was an Eco-Tourist-- : And Other Tales in the Anthropology of Adventure</i>. Berghahn Books, 2006. * Ellingson, Terry Jay. <i>The Myth of the Noble Savage</i>. University of California Press, 2001. On the other hand, maybe you want to go back and try searching in another database. What do you want to do next? * [[Look at one of the titles cited in the bibliography->Nature-JSTOR-Research-Read-Bib]] * [[Explore Google Scholar->Nature-Gscholar]] * [[Explore UC Library Search->Nature-UCLS]]

<h2>You decide to explore some of the other related journal articles linked in JSTOR.</h2> While most of the articles you see aren’t specifically about <i>Tarzan,</i> you see a few that deal with ideas of primitivism (another word you hadn’t considered before), and a couple that seem to deal with Tarzan through the lens of colonialism or imperialism. You’ve learned through this search so far that JSTOR is a database with some helpful features that can help link you to related resources. You wonder if you should maybe do similar searches in other databases, to see what the differences are between the different tools. At the same time, you feel like you probably should at least skim the article you already found, because that might further your research, too. What do you want to do next? * [[Read the article you already found: ”Tarzan! The Untamed Image of the Perfect Savage”->Nature-JSTOR-Research-Read]] * [[Search for jungle in Disney’s Tarzan in UC Library Search->Nature-UCLS]]

<h2>You decide to look at one of the titles cited in the bibliography.</h2> Out of the three sources you found, you choose to look for the book <i>Tarzan Was an Eco-Tourist –: And Other Tales in the Anthropology of Adventure</i> because it seemed to discuss <i>Tarzan</i> directly. You remember that you can look for books and articles in the library catalog, so you turn to <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UC Library Search</a> and type in “Tarzan Was an Eco-Tourist” You find the book pretty easily as the first search result. <img src="images/Nature-JSTOR-tarzan.png" alt=""/> The record says the book is available at Langson Library with the call number G525 .T29 2006. You see that the catalog record lists a table of contents, and you see several chapters discussing <i>Tarzan</i> and ideas of imperialism, of “environmentalism and televisual adventures,” and questions about the construction of the “savage.” While you don’t have the book in hand yet, you feel like this might help you, and that there is a body of criticism around <i>Tarzan</i> that you can tap into as you further your analysis of the film. You feel like you’ve made pretty good progress so far. What do you want to do next? * [[Do some more searching in UC Library Search to find more scholarly sources->Nature-UCLS]] * [[Try another database like Google Scholar to find more scholarly sources->Nature-Gscholar]] * [[Explore another theme from Tarzan, like the one on family and identity->Family]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now, and read something you already found a bit more closely->Yay-Nature]]

<h2>You decide to read the article "The return of the Empire: representations of race, ethnicity and culture in Disney's Tarzan and The Jungle Book, and in the Burroughs and Kipling pre-texts."</h2> You skim the article, which discusses how Disney tries to erase all mentions of Empire or colonialism in its retelling of the <i>Tarzan</i> story, and places the story in a fantasy “somewhere in time.” Later in the article, one line stands out to you: “Another reason why the Disney retelling fails to completely negate Burroughs' imperialist metanarrative, is that the Disneyfication process itself effectively colonizes the pretext.” You realize that this article seems to be doing a fairly substantive analysis of Disney’s <i>Tarzan</i> in comparison to the original text, and that you might need to spend more time reading and digesting this article. You skim ahead to the bibliography to see if you can find additional leads to secondary sources. You don’t see anything related to Disney’s <i>Tarzan</i> in particular, but there are a number of sources that seem like they might provide a good theoretical framework: * Bell, Elizabeth, Linda Haas, and Laura Sells (eds). <i>From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender and Culture</i>. Indiana University Press, 1995. * Said, Edward. <i>Culture and Imperialism.</i> Chatto and Windus, 1993. * Stephens, John, and Robyn McCallum. <i>Retelling Stories, Framing Culture.</i> Garland, 1998. On the other hand, maybe you want to go back and try searching for ideas of the jungle in Disney’s <i>Tarzan</i> in another database. What do you want to do next? * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now so you can read this article you found more closely->Yay-Nature]] * [[Look at one of the titles cited in the bibliography->Nature-Gscholar-Research-Read-Bib]] * [[Explore UC Library Search->Nature-UCLS]] * [[Explore JSTOR->Nature-JSTOR]]

<h2>You decide to see what other articles Google Scholar says are related to “The return of the Empire: representations of race, ethnicity and culture in Disney's <i>Tarzan</i> and <i>The Jungle Book</i>, and in the Burroughs and Kipling pre-texts.”</h2> You click on the “Related articles” link below the article. You see a new list of articles. Many of them have to do with postcolonialism and children’s literature, or other aspects of children’s literature. This doesn’t feel like it’s helping. You click the “Back” button and think for a moment. You could open the article and take a look at what it says. On the other hand, maybe you want to go back and try searching for family in Disney films in another database. What do you want to do next? * [[Read the article and see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film->Nature-Gscholar-Research-Read]] * [[Search for jungle in Disney’s Tarzan in UC Library Search->Nature-UCLS]] * [[Search for jungle in Disney’s Tarzan in JSTOR->Nature-JSTOR]]

<h2>You decide to spend more time making observations about the film.</h2> You figure that there is a lot more analysis you could do on how the film makes statements about family. You have already noted some dialogue, but you wonder if there is anything else related to the visual medium of film that you should take note of. You remember the chapter about film analysis in the <i>Humanities Core Handbook,</i>and you decide that you might need to watch a few key scenes in the film and make notes of things like mis-en-scene, editing, sound, framing, etc. For example: <img src="images/TarzanMap-closeread.png" alt="Concept map that notes technical aspects observed in the film. At the center is a box labeled 'Tarzan.' Surrounding the box are bubbles with words like Framing, Color, Editing, and others, with branching observations such as which key dialogue scenes are represented in shot/reverse shot vs. two-shot, or when the color yellow is used."/> <b>You</b> control the direction of your inquiry at this point. Think about whether you would advance your inquiry best by doing more observations, contextualization, reading, or thinking. You should expect that your path will not be linear, and that you might encounter roadblocks, but that is okay! Sometimes, a roadblock means you need to think things through a bit more, or it might mean you would benefit from choosing a different path of inquiry. Let’s finish up for now: * [[See a summary of support resources available to me->Resources]] * [[Play this game again and choose a different track->Scenario]]

<h2>You decide to spend more time with context sources you’ve found.</h2> After all, you have some pretty good leads. You come up with a way to keep track of what keywords you’ve used and which databases you’ve searched. You also start to build up an annotated bibliography, keeping notes on which articles you’ve already read and which ones you haven’t. (There is no “right way” or “wrong way” to do this - but it’s important that you have a system in place so that you don’t get lost later on.) You recognize that as you’re reading secondary sources, you will need to always tie them back to analysis that you are doing with your primary source. You think that you’ll also probably need to re-watch the film to do some “close reading” of certain scenes, making notes of things like mis-en-scene, editing, sound, framing, etc. You remember you can consult the chapter about film analysis in the <i>Humanities Core Handbook</i> for guidance. You control the direction of your inquiry at this point. Think about whether you would advance your inquiry best by doing more observations, contextualization, reading, or thinking. You should expect that your path will not be linear, and that you might encounter roadblocks, but that is okay! Sometimes, a roadblock means you need to think things through a bit more, or it might mean you would benefit from choosing a different path of inquiry. Let’s finish up for now: * [[See a summary of support resources available to me->Resources]] * [[Play this game again and choose a different track->Scenario]]

<h2>Other resources available to you as you continue to work on this project</h2> <b><a href="https://guides.lib.uci.edu/humcore/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Library's Humanities Core Research Guide</a></b> * Annotated lists of databases and places to find primary and secondary sources * Short videos demonstrating how each database works <b><a href="https://spaces.lib.uci.edu/appointments" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Schedule a free 30-minute research consultation with a Humanities Core librarian</a></b> * We can help fine-tune a search strategy, or help you select databases or resources. <b><a href="https://writingcenter.uci.edu/what-we-do/appointments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Schedule an appointment at the Writing Center</a></b> * You can discuss strategies in how you’re organizing your paper, how you’re integrating sources, or how to convey your ideas clearly, and more! [[Finish this tutorial->End]]

<h2>You decide to look at one of the titles cited in the bibliography.</h2> Out of the three sources you found, you choose to look for the book <i>From Mouse to Mermaid. The Politics of Film, Gender and Culture</i> because it seemed to discuss Disney directly. You remember that you can look for books and articles in the library catalog, so you turn to <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UC Library Search</a> and type in “From Mouse to Mermaid. The Politics of Film, Gender and Culture” You find the book pretty easily as the first search result. <img src="images/Nature-Gscholar-mermaid.png" alt=""/> The record says the book is available at Langson Library with the call number PN1999.W27 F76 1995. You see that the catalog record offers a description of the book, which says that “contributors respond to the Disney film legacy from feminist, marxist, poststructuralist, and cultural studies perspectives.” While you don’t have the book in hand yet, you feel like this might help you, and that there is a body of criticism around Disney films that you can tap into as you further your analysis of <i>Tarzan.</i> You feel like you’ve made pretty good progress so far. What do you want to do next? * [[Do some more searching in UC Library Search to find more scholarly sources->Nature-UCLS]] * [[Try another database like JSTOR to find more scholarly sources->Nature-JSTOR]] * [[Explore another theme from Tarzan, like the one on family and identity->Family]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now, and read something you already found a bit more closely->Yay-Nature]]

<h2>You decide to spend more time making observations about the film.</h2> You figure that there is a lot more analysis you could do on how the film makes statements about the jungle, or nature, or civilization/colonialism. You have already noted some dialogue, but you wonder if there is anything else related to the visual medium of film that you should take note of. You remember the chapter about film analysis in the <i>Humanities Core Handbook,</i>and you decide that you might need to watch a few key scenes in the film and make notes of things like mis-en-scene, editing, sound, framing, etc. For example: <img src="images/TarzanMap-closeread.png" alt="Concept map that notes technical aspects observed in the film. At the center is a box labeled 'Tarzan.' Surrounding the box are bubbles with words like Framing, Color, Editing, and others, with branching observations such as which key dialogue scenes are represented in shot/reverse shot vs. two-shot, or when the color yellow is used."/> <b>You</b> control the direction of your inquiry at this point. Think about whether you would advance your inquiry best by doing more observations, contextualization, reading, or thinking. You should expect that your path will not be linear, and that you might encounter roadblocks, but that is okay! Sometimes, a roadblock means you need to think things through a bit more, or it might mean you would benefit from choosing a different path of inquiry. Let’s finish up for now: * [[See a summary of support resources available to me->Resources]] * [[Play this game again and choose a different track->Scenario]]

If your professor requires a certificate of completion, please click below. You will be asked to write a 1-minute reflection/feedback on this tutorial. Your feedback will be used to continue to improve this tutorial for future Humanities Core students. <a href="https://uci.libwizard.com/f/HC-Tarzan-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to feedback form for Certificate of Completion</a>

This was more fruitful than you thought it would be. You find that you still have a lot of questions based on your map, and a few clusters begin to emerge. You’re not sure how it all connects yet, but maybe you can start to explore one of these clusters. Two that stand out to you as having concrete things to research further are (1) the cluster around family and identity (and who is included or excluded), and (2) the cluster around “jungle/nature vs civilization”. What do you want to explore next? * [[The idea of family and identity->Family]] * [[The idea of jungle/nature vs. civilization->Nature]]

<i>On Disney: deconstructing images, tropes, and narratives</i> includes several promising chapters, including an entire section on “Human-Human and Human-Animal Relationships.” You scan the bibliography of the section to see if it might include some secondary sources that would help you really think through human-animal relationships like the ones depicted in Tarzan, and a couple of titles catch your eye: * Borgards, Roland. “Introduction: Cultural and Literary Animal Studies.” <i>Journal of Literary Theory</i>, vol. 9, no. 2, 2015, pp. 155–60. * Haraway, Donna. “When Species Meet.” <i>The Routledge International Handbook of More-than-Human Studies,</i> edited by Adrian Franklin, Routledge, 2024, pp. 42–78. You feel like you’ve made pretty good progress so far. What do you want to do next? * [[Try another database like JSTOR to find more scholarly sources->Family-JSTOR]] * [[Explore another theme from Tarzan, like jungle/nature vs civilization->Nature]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now so you can read some of the things you’ve already found more closely->Yay-Family]]