Page 33 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

he would draw on a wide variety of resources in order to work with ideas that were
reasonably well tried and tested. By sending out teams to visit a wide variety of
24 amusement parks and bringing in designers to advise him, the form of Disneyland
will undoubtedly have been influenced by these forerunners of theming. Three points
should be registered. First, that he may have borrowed from others’ ideas does not
in any way detract from the immense originality of Disneyland. The manner in
which theming in the Disney theme parks plunges the visitor into a narrativized
environment is far greater than in the predecessors that have been discussed.
Second, Disneyland’s approach to theming has undoubtedly influenced other appli-
cations, many of which will be discussed in the remainder of this chapter. Third, it
is also the case that we can see vestiges of theming processes prior to the opening
of Disneyland. These final reflections suggest that both structural and transferred
Disneyization are involved in the spread of theming.

The Diffusion of Theming

Amusement parks

It is easy to forget that one manifestation of the spread of theming is the theme park,
which is essentially an amusement park to which narratives are applied. One increas-
ingly rarely hears about amusement parks these days. Most of them are theme parks,
even if they cannot call upon the rich narratives that Disney can enjoy. Even Knott’s
Berry Farm, which is close to but predates Disneyland, has taken on the trappings of
a theme park with the familiar layout of themed ‘lands’. Knott’s Berry Farm is nowa-
days suffused with an overall Wild West theme that is then broken down into the
familiar ‘lands’ (Roaring 20s, Fiesta Village, Wild Water Wilderness, etc.). Busch
Gardens in Tampa, Florida, has an overall theme of Africa, which then becomes the
context for themed lands (Timbuktu, Serengeti Plain, Stanleyville, Nairobi, etc.).
Dolly Parton’s Dollywood is, like some other theme parks, themed at two or more lev-
els. It is themed in terms of Dolly herself (her own life as a poor Appalachian girl who
made good), country and western music, and Appalachian culture. Within the park,
there are different lands: Country Fair, Rivertown Junction, Craftsmen’s Valley, etc.
In Europe, amusement parks often tend to become theme parks too. Universal
Mediterranea theme park, Port Aventura, close to Barcelona in Spain has four
themed lands: Mexico, Far West, Polynesia, and China. Rides are given names that
link to the land in question, for example, the stomach churning steel roller coaster
with eight loops in China is called Dragon Khan. Like Universal Mediterranea,
Chessington World of Adventures has little in the way of an overall theme but has
several themed lands with appropriately named rides and restaurants, including:
Mystic East, Forbidden Kingdom, Mexicana, Transylvania, and Beanoland (Beano
is a long-standing British comic that is still published). Alton Towers, the largest