Mothers of the Magical Kingdom: Disney and Maternal Figures

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Call for Papers Special Issue for The International Journal of Disney Studies, which examines the Walt Disney Company, an international media conglomerate that impacts our global culture. This international, peer-reviewed journal draws from a variety of academic and industrial lenses, perspectives, methods and fields, while providing a space for scholars to present new research, review current research and comment on wider Disney commodities.

Disney, as a cultural juggernaut, has long played a role in shaping societal understandings of family, gender roles, and the maternal. From absent mothers to evil stepmothers to magical godmothers, Disney’s portrayals of motherhood are both enduring and evolving. This special issue seeks to explore how Disney constructs, complicates, and circulates ideas of motherhood across its vast narrative universe. While motherhood in Disney media has often been sidelined or stereotyped, recent texts such as Encanto, Turning Red , and Brave reflect a growing attention to the complexities of maternal identity. As contemporary conversations around gender, reproductive rights, and caregiving become more urgent, it is essential to examine how a global media empire like Disney frames and reimagines motherhood, and what these representations reveal about cultural anxieties and aspirations.

This special issue invites scholarly work that examines motherhood in Disney texts, animated or live-action, canonical or lesser-known, made by the Disney studios or any of their various acquisitions (e.g., Marvel, Lucasfilm, etc.). We encourage contributors to critically engage with how Disney mediates maternal power, agency, vulnerability, and identity. Contributions may examine biological mothers, pregnant women, adoptive or surrogate (appointed/substitute) mothers, stepmothers, mother-like figures, and older maternal characters, as well as any other aspect that defines motherhood under this broad conceptualization. This inclusive approach allows for explorations of diverse experiences, roles, and representations that reflect the multiple ways in which motherhood can be understood and enacted. We are especially interested in intersectional analyses that consider how race, class, queerness, age, or ability informs Disney’s portrayals of maternal experience.

Topics that explore Disney’s construction of motherhood may include, but are not limited to:

  • Redemption arcs; flawed but redeemable mothers

  • Maternal figures within fantasy logic vs. maternal norms

  • Juxtaposition between evil/bad mothers and good mothers

  • Queering motherhood – non-biological or chosen maternal figures

  • Maternal labor and sacrifice (emotional, physical, symbolic)

  • The presence or absence of mothers as narrative catalysts in Disney stories

  • Parasocial grief and maternal anxieties in audience reception

  • Mothers in transmedia storytelling

  • The relationship between fantasy as a genre and motherhood

  • Serialized storytelling and evolving representations of motherhood

  • Disney vs. Pixar vs. Disney-Pixar – comparative representations of maternal figures

  • Changing tropes and roles of mothers in contemporary Disney texts

  • Intersectional and sociocultural factors in the construction of maternal imagery

  • Stereotypes – evil stepmothers, submissive or weak mothers, idealized nurturers

  • Industry shifts and the impact of feminist and social movements on Disney’s maternal narratives

  • Frames of motherhood

  • Disney fandom pages and negotiation of mothering

  • Audience perceptions of mothering

Submission Guidelines:

Full paper submissions will be expected by 1st May 2026 and should be submitted to the IJDS’ website’s Pubkit system (https://www.intellectbooks.com/ijds). When you submit, you will

have the opportunity to specify that your piece is for the special issue (though you do not have to).

Please note we are open to accepting articles, commentaries and reviews. Articles should be 6,000-8,000 words, Fresh Perspectives 1,000-3,000 words, and Reviews 1,000 words. The journal uses Harvard referencing, and other submission information can be found on the journal’s website.

For queries or to discuss potential topics, please contact:

  • Dr. Marissa Lammon – marissa.lammon@colorado.edu

  • Dr. Ali Saha – ali.saha@unimelb.edu.au

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