Page 149 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

140 As Foglesong observes, while Disney’s ability to extract tax concessions and help
with road building from the local authorities was remarkable, it is the private
government that it was able to create that is truly astonishing. What is more, the
agreements that formed the basis for the RCID are in perpetuity, giving the
company exceptional freedom over its destiny in the area.
Sources: Foglesong (2001); Zehnder (1975)

Moreover, RCID seems to have engendered a mindset at Disney that leads to a
belief in its right to get around the restrictions that other developers face. An illus-
tration of this relates to Celebration. In order to make way for a new phase of
construction, Disney needed to fell 172 trees, most of which pre-date the birth of
Chief Osceola after whom the county in which the trees were located was named.
Environmental officials objected citing an ordnance that required approval for
such an action and also required the developer to replace the felled trees. Disney
officials claimed they had exemption because of clauses in the planning docu-
ments that the county had previously approved. According to a local planning
officer, RCID is an important factor in Disney’s thinking on such issues because it
has become accustomed to the kind of control over its dominion that RCID
bestows. 13
Disney has not been able to secure the same level of control over its destiny at
its other parks that it was able to obtain in Disney World. However, it has nonethe-
less been able to secure significant concessions. At Disneyland Paris, it has been
able to secure first refusal on 10,000 acres of land surrounding the park. This con-
cession prevents other hotels and developments, such as restaurants, from spring-
ing up in the park’s environs, as they did in Disneyland in Anaheim. 14

Control and Surveillance Beyond the Disney Theme Parks

In much the same way that the Disney theme parks are built upon a foundation
of control and surveillance, Disneyization more generally is frequently accompa-
nied by similar approaches, though rarely with the totalizing impact that Disney
and its parks are able to establish. The impact is rarely as great because few com-
panies have as much control over all aspects of the building and running of
Disneyized sites. In this section, I will examine some of the ways in which con-
trol and surveillance occur in Disneyized settings.
Control is a widespread phenomenon that occurs in ways that may have noth-
ing or little to do with Disneyization, as the brief discussion of McDonaldization