Page 142 - The Disneyization of Society

CONTROL AND SURVEILLANCE

appropriate characteristics – ones that are unlikely to be a source of problems – gain
entry. Several writers have noted that white, middle-class families are the typical
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visitors to the American parks. In part, this is a refection of the underlying Disney
philosophy of celebrating technological progress, commercial success, and the
traditional family: a philosophy that is most likely to be attractive to this group. It
is also likely to be the case that it is mainly people from this social group who can
afford to visit and revisit the parks. As a result, the cost of admission acts as a device
that ensures that visitors will be largely drawn from a group that the company
understands and feels is least likely to cause problems in terms of behaviour.
From the moment visitors drive onto Disney property, they are being
controlled. There are signs everywhere that direct visitors where to go both before
and after leaving their cars. Once parked, they are told where to wait for a bus and
what to do and what not to do once on the bus. Once in the park, there are
instructions about directions and what is and what is not appropriate behaviour
(for example, whether camcorders or flash photography are permissible). If all else
fails, there is surveillance in the form of security guards to admonish any depar-
tures from Disney decorum. These reprimands are likely to be prompted by trans-
gressions of norms of behaviour, such as unruly behaviour or eating and drinking
while in lines, or of norms of appearance. As an example of the latter, a vignette
from a criminologist, Clifford Shearing, is fairly instructive. During the course of
a visit to Disney World, his daughter developed a blister on her heel and conse-
quently removed her shoes to alleviate the discomfort and began to walk barefoot.
He writes:

They had not progressed ten yards before they were approached by a very personable security guard
dressed as a Bahamian police officer, with white pith helmet and white gloves that perfectly suited
the theme of the area … (so that he, at first, appeared more like a scenic prop than a security
person), who informed them that walking barefoot was, ‘for the safety of visitors’, not permitted. 4
Quite aside from the possibility that the guard also committed a transgression
(referring to ‘visitors’ and not ‘guests’), the incident is interesting for the speed
with which the admonition was administered and because it therefore serves as an
indicator of the Disney insistence on control. When Shearing explained the situa-
tion regarding his daughter’s sore foot to the guard they were threatened with
expulsion. As one critic of Disney World, the novelist Carl Hiaasen, has put it:

Every now and then reality intrudes – a shoplifter, a flasher, a fistfight between tourists, an accidental
fall, a fatal heart attack on the Space Mountain roller coaster. Such incidents are handled with
astounding swiftness and discretion, the scene usually cleared and back to normal within minutes. 5
Disney-style surveillance can therefore restore order very swiftly indeed.
In fact, most of the time, very little untoward happens because the high level
of attraction throughput of visitors means that visitors become accustomed to
conforming to Disney requirements. In the words of a Disney cast member: ‘After
a couple of rides, guests almost seem as if they are in a cattle round up or something.’ 6