Page 21 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

than Disneyfication. It therefore appeared more like a tabula rasa onto which my
particular spin, that is, to depict the term as concerned with the spread of the
12 principles with which the Disney theme parks are associated, could be etched.
Moreover, although Warren 31 is a rare exception, expositions of Disneyfication
rarely explore the principles underlying the features that they expose and are not
usually concerned with wider issues to do with Disney’s influence in the wider
culture (as opposed to its impact on particular texts like fairy tales). In this book,
I seek to show that Disneyization is to do with the four underlying principles that
were briefly outlined above. Disneyization is therefore to do with the myriad ways
in which features associated with the Disney theme parks seep into the economy
and into the consumer culture of our times.
What some of these allusions also suggest is that Disney and its theme parks are
often treated as reference points. When Wolf observes that everyone wants their
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brand to be like Disney’s, or when commentators express admiration for its prod-
uct synergies, what we are seeing is a clear notion that Disney, and its theme parks
in particular, provide a highly sought after template for the service sector. Thus,
while some of the time in this book I will draw attention to the way in which Walt
capitalized upon pre-existing trends or features in planning Disneyland, it is also
undoubtedly the case that the Disney theme parks are themselves much copied.
A distinction may usefully be drawn between structural and transferred
Disneyization. The former is to do with a collection of underlying changes that are
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merely exemplified by the Disney theme parks. Transferred Disneyization occurs
when the principles associated with the Disney theme parks are reassigned to
another sphere, such as a shopping mall. Thus, two separate sets of processes may
be at work in the spread of Disneyization: the first set concerns the fact that there
are several changes in society of which the Disney theme parks are exemplars; the
second set recognizes the success of the Disney theme parks and the likelihood that
many of their ingredients can be (and often are) copied and relocated. A similar
distinction could be relevant to McDonaldization too in terms of its underlying
principles, but that is beyond the scope of this book. In practice, it is likely to be
difficult to distinguish between concrete cases of Disneyization in terms of which
process – structural or transferred – has taken place, but the distinction is instruc-
tive in that it reminds us that the Disney theme parks are much copied.

Conclusion

In this introductory chapter, I have set out what I mean by Disneyization in very
general terms. Disneyization is meant to be distinguishable from Disneyfication,
which has come to be seen as a distinctive approach to literature and history that
entails a crude simplification that also cleanses the object being Disneyfied of
unpleasantness. While ‘Disneyization’ suffers from the fact that it has also been