Page 133 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

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drama school’. Moreover, aesthetic labour is an important feature of the Disney
theme parks, where a strict appearance and grooming policy has long existed.
124 Disneyland’s ride operators have been described as follows:

Single, white males and females in their early twenties, without facial blemish, of above average
height and below average weight, with straight teeth, conservative grooming standards, and a chin-up,
shoulder-back posture radiating the sort of good health suggestive of a recent history of sports… 94

At Disneyland Paris, a similar aesthetic labour policy could be found. The vice
president of personnel, who had been involved with staff at Tokyo Disneyland,
specified in an interview the following criteria, which include a brief allusion to
criteria that relate to emotional labour:

We have appearance standards that are a condition of being hired. For men, it means no facial hair,
a conservative haircut with no hair over the ears or the collar, no earrings, no exposed tattoos, and
no jeans. For women, no extremes in dying hair or in makeup, and no long fingernails. We want a
conservative, professional look; we want our employees to be warm, outgoing, and sincere. We
don’t want guests to be distracted by oddities or mannerisms of the cast members. 95

Venues like Sea World, which has features of both a theme park and a zoo, also
specify requirements for both the display of emotional labour and for a certain
appearance. At Sea World in San Diego, California, there are

dress and grooming codes. Interviewers in the personnel department are asked by management to
be ‘prejudiced’ toward a ‘clean-cut look.’ As at Disneyland, posted regulations define standards for
haircuts, makeup, jewelry, and fingernail length and care, and service employees, like all employees
are encouraged to think of themselves as performers. 96
Similarly, staff at Niketown in Chicago have been described as follows: ‘Those I saw
in the retail area were almost all young adults, beautiful and healthy in appear-
ance. Their casual wear and friendly demeanor put customers at ease’. At Smoky
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Joe’s, a Southern American style barbecue themed restaurant in the south-east of
England, staff were required to possess a mix of aesthetic qualities and emotional
labour skills. Thus, kitchen staff were not allowed to walk through the restaurant
because they did not possess the right visual qualities. At Girl Heaven, a UK chain
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of retail stores for girls aged three to 13 and themed on the concept of ‘girl power’,
a sales assistant told an interviewer that they needed ‘to look right because we are
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there for the girls … to copy’. Once again, we see in these examples a merging of
emotional with aesthetic labour in the interests of commercial activity.

The Spread of Performativity

As noted in the opening paragraph of this chapter, emotional labour has been the
primary focus in the discussion because it is emblematic of the growth of the
performative in many service encounters. Much the same point has been made in