Page 161 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

A good example of being difficult while simultaneously not transgressing Disney
rules or ways of doing things is the following remark from a cast member:
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We have to smile at a guest no matter what he does. It’s really a way of controlling what you’re really
feeling. That smile has to be there. But it’s also the one way we can fight back. For instance, if some-
one’s really snotty with a credit card you can take all the time in the world because their signature
doesn’t match. ‘Oh, gee, I’m going to have to see some kind of ID.’ You know. 75
More outright forms of resistance occur when cast members take direct action
against visitors for their misbehaviour. Van Maanen lists several forms of retribu-
tion meted out by ride operators:

• the seatbelt squeeze – tightening a seatbelt excessively;
• the seatbelt slap – the seatbelt is used to give the rider a sharp slap;
• the break-up-the-party gambit – members of a party are separated at the last moment
so that they ride on different cars;
• the hatch-cover ploy – used by submarine pilots (this attraction no longer exists) to
ensure difficult visitors are drenched when they travel under a waterfall;
• the-sorry-I-didn’t-see-your-hand (foot, finger, arm, leg, etc.) tactic – ‘bringing a piece of
Disney property to bear on the appendage’. 76

At Disneyland Paris, worker resistance seems in large part to have been a resis-
tance to conforming to Disney ideals:

Some employees delighted in refusing, in subtle – or not so subtle – ways, to become ‘Disneyfied’.
One French cast member bragged about exacting revenge on ‘demanding’ guests by cutting off
their heads in group photographs he was asked to take. Others, stationed outside attractions as
‘greeters’, capitalized on the confused expectations of visitors by charging an entrance fee of
20 francs … before admitting them. 77
In fact, a further aspect of worker resistance at Disneyland Paris is in the sense that
it is often remarked that many of its cast members distance themselves from the
Disney style of service delivery. Lainsbury quotes an American journalist at the park’s
opening weekend: ‘They are acting like real people instead of “Disney” people’. 78
Similarly, an American journalist commented positively in connection with a visit to
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the park in 2001 that staff at his hotel were ‘cheerful’ rather than ‘cloying’. It is very
clear then that resistance to control at the Disney theme parks is possible, though its
prevalence and significance are difficult to gauge from the anecdotes that various
authorities provide. The key point, however, would seem to be that, as with resis-
tance among visitors, control at the Disney theme parks is not total.
Resistance to Disneyization

As with resistance at the Disney theme parks, it is useful to distinguish between
visitor (or in this case consumer) and worker resistance.