an icepick through the keyhole

For those of you who've not — but for some masochistic reason wish to — read my Master's thesis, Messing with the Mouse: Copyright, Parody and the Countercultural Wars in Walt Disney v. The Air Pirates, it's now publicly available, typos and all, on the UGA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Database.

The abstract:

In 1971, Disney sued a group of underground comic artists calling themselves the Air Pirates, who published two comics portraying Walt Disney characters in sex and drug-related situations. The resulting case lasted 8 years and ended in a settlement where both sides claimed victory. This thesis uses the case to examine the development of the law of copyright and parody as a defense and demonstrate that the court tends to rule against the parodist if the work is offensive or obscene, although these are irrelevant concerns. It also examines the case itself and the cultural and personal forces motivating the parody.

Here's the link to the 2.3 MB PDF file.