Читать книгу Good Girls and Wicked Witches - Amy M. Davis - Страница 6

Any project of this size is impossible to complete without the help of a great many people. There is no way to thank individually each and everyone of them, so I give them my most sincere thanks for their moral support, encouragement, advice, and general cheering on, and trust that they know who they are. Amongst them are David Eldridge, whose willingness to talk shop (even on holiday!), and his friendship and example, always inspire me to work harder; Alicia King, who has always been an email away in times of joy and crisis, and who even went above and beyond in helping me proofread; Cara Gunther Waterhouse, who’s been a true friend for nearly half our lives, always shared my passion for anything Disney (even if she does prefer the live-action films!), and inspired my desire to try out life in the UK. More recently, thanks are due to Máire Messenger-Davies, John Davies, Ciara Chambers, Niamh O’Sullivan, Andrew Boyce, and Helen Thornham, whose friendship and emotional support in the final stages of this project, not to mention the dog-sitting during research trips, have been of enormous help! Also, extra thanks to Helen for her hard work on the index!

Special thanks, however, must be given to those who gave exceptional help to me in some way. My brother, Brian Davis, has always been most able and willing to talk Disney with me, and given me much inspiration and food for thought in the process. My grandmother, Betty Erwin, has used every birthday, Christmas, Easter, and every holiday in between as an excuse to give me the videos and dvds I’ve needed along the way. She also is the one who took me on my first trip to Walt Disney World back in 1977 (when I was just five years old), and has always overflowed with love and generosity to help me along the way. My mother, Kitty Davis, deserves the most thanks – not only has she tirelessly supported me in every way possible, she’s even provided spelling and proof-reading help at various stages. Most importantly, she took me to see my first viewings of many of the films in this study (and made me stay to the end, even when queens turned into hags and Bambi’s mother got shot!), and has given me – and shared with me – her love of movies of every kind. She has been the kind of mother the heroines in this book could only ever have wished for.

Finally, my sincere thanks must be given to Dr. Melvyn Stokes, who supervised my MA dissertation and Ph.D. thesis in the history department at UCL, and helped to launch me in my “Mickey Mouse” career: when casting about for a suitable subject for my MA dissertation, a conversation with my brother still lingering in my mind, I suggested, somewhat flippantly, “Why don’t I do my dissertation on Disney?” His brief reply changed my life: “Why not?”