Some would call it a horror. Some would call it a Mecca. Some would call it a hell of a good time. But lurking under that vision of Mickey Mouse child-dom is an amusement park. And every amusement park has a bit of the carney lurking in the corners. The guy with no teeth running the rides or the trucks blasting diesel smoke from a generator in the back. And Disney is no exception except everyone does have teeth and there are no diesel generators. What there is is thousands of people and millions upon million in infrastructure to keep the illusion in place
And it is all about buying ultimately. You buy to get in there and once inside you continue buying everything. It is the Mecca of American consumerism...the manna of all the pitches you heard as a kid now attached to every product under the sun. And the middle class is buried somewhere under all this branding as they trudge from one ride to another eating pretty bad overpriced food and buying Mickey Mouse ears for themselves, their kids, grandmothers. And yet this is what everyone came for.
And Disney world is for kids and there is magic. Maybe not in the over run cafeteria style foodaramas where things get a little disgusting or in the hip hop music where kids are doing the Harlem Slide or singing lyrics that are really all about sex. But Disney has had to morph to popular culture because Disney's blood is popular culture and so the thump thump thump of gangsta rap rewritten into something more palatable for families chases you as you run from one mile long line to another and wait for hours for ten minutes of pleasure.
And as the fireworks break over Magic Kingdom you think maybe it was always this way. Maybe Disney World has not changed at all.
Maybe we have.
www.williamhazelgrove.com
Rocket Man...the American dream upside down
And it is all about buying ultimately. You buy to get in there and once inside you continue buying everything. It is the Mecca of American consumerism...the manna of all the pitches you heard as a kid now attached to every product under the sun. And the middle class is buried somewhere under all this branding as they trudge from one ride to another eating pretty bad overpriced food and buying Mickey Mouse ears for themselves, their kids, grandmothers. And yet this is what everyone came for.
And Disney world is for kids and there is magic. Maybe not in the over run cafeteria style foodaramas where things get a little disgusting or in the hip hop music where kids are doing the Harlem Slide or singing lyrics that are really all about sex. But Disney has had to morph to popular culture because Disney's blood is popular culture and so the thump thump thump of gangsta rap rewritten into something more palatable for families chases you as you run from one mile long line to another and wait for hours for ten minutes of pleasure.
And as the fireworks break over Magic Kingdom you think maybe it was always this way. Maybe Disney World has not changed at all.
Maybe we have.
www.williamhazelgrove.com
Rocket Man...the American dream upside down
