Synergistic agnogenesis: unresolved oversimplification and the production of ignorance in select Disney animated films

Pace, Michael (2026) Synergistic agnogenesis: unresolved oversimplification and the production of ignorance in select Disney animated films. Ed.D thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the pedagogical function of The Walt Disney Company, positioning the corporation as a pervasive public epistemic agent in an era of "truth decay" and ecological crisis. The study examines how Disney's entertainment narratives function as a counter-pedagogy to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), arguing that a recurring narrative pattern serves as a form of Synergistic Agnogenesis--a mutually reinforcing cycle of ignorance production driven by market forces rather than conspiratorial intent.
Using a qualitative, critical-interpretivist approach, this study conducts a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) of a purposive sample of four key films: WALL-E (2008), Moana (2016), Frozen II (2019), and the limit case of Strange World (2022). Utilizing the narrative architecture of the Hero's Journey as an analytical scaffold, I identify a dominant three-stage pattern of Unresolved Oversimplification. Across the primary case studies, analysis demonstrates how complex, systemic crises (e.g., planetary pollution, ecosystem collapse, colonial injustice) are systematically reframed as personal quests; how critical consciousness is reduced to passive knowledge acquisition; and how solutions are presented as magical, consequence-free acts. This narrative architecture models a worldview that prioritizes affective closure over epistemic complexity. The analysis of Strange World, which deviates from this pattern by depicting material consequence and systemic transition, confirms that the dominant model is a specific commercial ideology, not a genre necessity.
The discussion theorizes this pattern as a mechanism of operational self-concealment, where the production of ignorance is masked by the benevolence of the narrative resolution. Drawing upon social epistemology, I argue that the saturation of these simplified frameworks constitutes a failure of epistemic responsibility, contributing to a state of hermeneutical saturation and wilful hermeneutical ignorance (Medina, 2013) that crowds out the tools required for systems thinking. I propose a new variant of agnotology to account for this dynamic, where the commercial supply of reductionist narratives meets the market's implied demand for affective relief. The study concludes that cultivating structural media literacy is an urgent educational task to counteract the depoliticization of the ecological crisis.

• Item Type: Thesis (Ed.D)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Due to third party copyright issues the electronic version of this thesis is not available for viewing.
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General); N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Supervisor's Name: Wilson, Professor Anna and Daniels, Dr. Stephen
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-86330
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2026 16:19
• Last Modified: 10 Nov 2026 16:19
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.86330
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/86330