Page 19 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

of the redesign of Seattle’s civic centre. She demonstrates how the Disneyfication
of Seattle was resisted by locals in this particular instance.
10 This is an interesting analysis that is somewhat different from the other treatments
of Disneyfication, most notably in its less negative tone and in its application of
the idea to the built environment in a more systematic way than was seen in the
brief allusions above to the Disneyfication of Times Square. However, I have opted
not to use the term Disneyfication in this book because I wanted one that was not
accompanied by negative baggage and also one that had not been employed in
other contexts and would allow me to generate a discussion of the spread of the
principles associated with the Disney theme parks.

Reflections on Disneyization

Disneyization seems to fit the requirements outlined in the previous paragraph, in
spite of its inelegance. I cannot claim that it has never been used before. For example,
in a news article on Las Vegas, Warren Bates, a journalist, has written: ‘Distributors of
adult materials on the Las Vegas strip have accused local legislators who have sought
to stem their activities of attempting to further the “Disneyization of Las Vegas”’. 27
This reference draws attention to the practice on the famous Las Vegas ‘strip’ (the
main thoroughfare in Las Vegas where most of the city’s more famous casino-hotels
are located) of distributing leaflets that advertise outlets for sex shows and similar
‘attractions’. However, as will be discussed in later chapters, since the late 1980s Las
Vegas hotels have sought to reposition themselves as playgrounds, not just for adults
but also for children by including theme park attractions. This is what Bates is refer-
ring to as the ‘Disneyization of Las Vegas’. Thrusting leaflets advertising pornography
and sex shows into bypassers’ hands is inconsistent with this reorientation. Las Vegas
has often been referred to as an adult Disneyland, but for the author of this news item,
Disneyization means making it appropriate to children as well as adults.
Another use of the term is in an article on ‘Disneyitis’ in The New Yorker by
Brendan Gill in which he argues that architecture in the US is increasingly becom-
ing ‘Disneyized’. He draws attention to several examples such as Helmut Jahn’s
State of Illinois Center in Chicago. For Gill, the Center is part of the trend
whereby ‘public buildings as well as private ones bear the stamp of toyland’. 28
Indeed, he argues that the use of a term like ‘Center’ rather than ‘state office
building’ is meant to be redolent of pleasure in contrast to the grim realities of
bureaucratic routine and humdrumness that are likely to take place in a state
office building. In a sense, Gill misses a further Disney-related point here: the use
of a term that is meant to say what something is, while simultaneously saying
something else about it, is typical of Disney-speak, that special language of ‘cast
members’ (workers) and ‘guests’ (paying visitors) that will be a topic for later dis-
cussion (Box 1.2). Using terms in this way may be yet a further way in which
Disney influences our perceptions.