These photographs make up a series released in various parts over the past few years done by a very famous photographer named Annie Leibovitz. The series is called the Disney Dream Portrait series, and it recreates Disney's classic fairy tales using famous celebrities. The people in these photographs range from people like Scarlett Johansson (Cinderella), David Beckham (Prince Phillip), Gisele Bündchen (Wendy), and Tina Fey (Tinkerbell) to Julie Andrews (the Blue Fairy), Michael Phelps (a Merman?) and Whoopi Goldberg (the Genie). These photos display intricate detail and a lot of neat special effects. I found them a few years ago online and have been really interested ever since, whenever a new installment came out. These ads appear in magazines for women, such as Vogue, which indicates that they are geared toward an adult audience. This is interesting because it seems as though the aim of these photographs is to re-create in adults their love for Disney and fairy tales in general. It is an attempt by Disney to draw the wives and mothers into the idea of taking their children to Disneyworld, to reinforce their advertising geared towards children. In using beautiful or very famous celebrities as the characters and including such phrases as “Where every Cinderella story comes true” and “Where you’re the fairest of them all”, Disney is attempting to make Disneyworld appear inviting to adults and especially to women. The Disney princesses or heroines are portrayed by very beautiful women – Scarlett Johansson, Rachel Weisz, Jessica Biel, Gisele Bündchen, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyonce – which mirrors the way Disney portrays women in their cartoon films as well. It is really interesting to see or think of the cartoon versions of these images that are geared towards children and then compare that to the real-life version directed towards adults, and to note the changes that have been made. Also, the choice to use real people and real locations also sends the message that in Disneyworld, these fairy tales are real, and that the adventures and the fairy tale endings that happen to Disney's princesses could truly happen to you. While these photographs are very beautiful to look at, it is also extremely interesting to study Disney’s intentions behind them.
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