Page 180 - The Disneyization of Society

IMPLICATIONS OF DISNEYIZATION

owners of these factories frequently take advantage of the fact that the workers
do not have proper immigration status and are therefore less likely to complain.
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He argues that because Disney charge so much for licensing agreements, con-
tractors are compelled to find the least expensive manufacturers possible and it
is this pressure that results in the frequent use of sweated labour. Klein’s assault
on the use of sweated labour for the manufacture of branded goods has similarly
implicated Disney merchandise in her purview. 39 While it is difficult to establish
the prevalence of sweatshops to produce merchandise of the kind discussed in
Chapter 4, the case of Disney film-related goods suggests that they are also likely
to be involved in the manufacture of these other kinds of merchandise.

Destruction of land and natural habitats

Disneyization frequently requires large-scale building projects that are
extremely destructive as land and the natural habitats of animals are brought
to heel by bulldozers. This is especially likely to be the case with theme parks
and large themed malls. Certainly the Disney theme parks themselves serve as
a reminder of this undesirable aspect of Disneyization which is likely to be at
least partly generalizable to other large-scale projects underpinned by its prin-
ciples. Disney World serves as a reminder of the environmental hazards
involved. When the Assistant Editor of National Geographic visited the region
he was told by a conservationist that the development of Orlando was likely
to result in the ‘probably death, by thirst, of southern Florida’. 40 While that
viewpoint was viewed as unduly pessimistic by other commentators cited in
Judge’s article, it is important to bear in mind that it was voiced within just a
year or so of the opening of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando and therefore well
before the opening of the other Disney theme parks, the non-Disney theme
parks and various other Disneyized attractions in the region. In other words,
since those words were uttered, over 30 years of development have occurred
in the region and have therefore wrought their impacts on the region’s ecol-
ogy. The tinge of guilt about the impact of Disneyland on the local environ-
ment is palpable in the following passage written by the founder of the
University of Disneyland:
Those of us working on the Disneyland project felt that we were bringing ‘progress’ to a farming
community. In the name of progress we replaced the fragrance of orange groves with the smell of
smog, two-lane roads with freeways and comfortable homes with motels, shopping centres and fast-
food restaurants. 41

Relatedly, the expansion of massive developments of the kind that Disneyization
frequently entails can create a situation in which the state becomes preoccupied
with assisting theme parks and entertainment-cum-retail projects to the exclusion
and ultimately neglect of natural or indigenous attractions. Cartier has shown