Page 32 - The Disneyization of Society

THEMING

the end of the nineteenth century. 22 Marling has suggested that the Chicago
Railroad Fair of 1948 was a particular inspiration for Disneyland. The Fair was
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designed to celebrate the centenary of the first train to enter the city. It showcased
many futuristic trains and an even greater number of trains of the past. It there-
fore combined the celebration of the past with visions of the future, which
would be a feature of Disneyland. Furthermore, the rolling stock was surrounded
by carefully re-created models and settings. According to Marling these included:
a model dude ranch; a mechanical representation of Yellowstone Park’s Old
Faithful geyser; a French Quarter; an Indian Quarter; and an area modelled on the
beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast. There were also numerous shows including
re-enactments of historical events. Marling writes that at each venue ‘the illusion
of being there was sustained by workers in appropriate garb and by restaurants
with matching cuisine’. 23
Marling argues that what was significant was not the originality of these ideas,
many of which could be seen in the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago in
1933; instead, the significance lay in the ‘coherence and concentration of the
experience’. 24 It was this aspect of the Fair, in particular, that she regards as a
major inspiration for the form that Disneyland assumed. Disneyland’s originality
lies in the combination of the transformation of themed attractions into one of
themed environments with the transformation of the world’s fair/exposition con-
cept into a permanent site.
Other precursors of theming can be pointed to, many of them involving quite
low levels of theming. The early Las Vegas institutions often employed Wild
West theming, 25 while bars and restaurants have frequently loosely themed
themselves on such motifs as sport or the movies. Between 1890 and 1910
considerable amounts of money were expended on New York restaurants so that
they were renovated and transformed into exotic simulated locations. One
restaurant – Roman Gardens – was designed to represent the trimmings of the
ancient world with Roman gardens and imitations of Egyptian and Pompeii
rooms. 26 Doss has written that before Disneyland ‘…California’s built environ-
ment featured plenty of restaurants pretending to be Moorish castles, apartment
buildings disguised as Spanish colonial missions, movie theaters designed as
Chinese palaces, and a factory (the Samson Tire and Rubber Company) posed as
an Assyrian temple.’ 27
The spread of theming is not something that we can attribute to Walt and his
theme parks, since it is clear that there are many examples of high- and low-profile
contexts in which theming was imaginatively employed. Undoubtedly, as the fore-
going speculations suggest, some of these are likely to have influenced the form and
content of Disneyland and its attractions. Building the park represented a massive
investment for Walt, who effectively went into massive debt in order to finance it.
What began as a simple idea for a small playground close to his studio exploded
into something much more substantial and expensive. It is hardly surprising that