Title: Space and Identity: Disneyland
1- Topic 7
- Space and Identity Disneyland
2- Mickey Mouse Monopoly
- Disney, Childhood and Corporate Power
- Disneys Media Dominance
- How to be a Girl? How to be a Boy? (Gender
Representation) - Commercializing Childrens Culture
3Mickey Mouse Monopoly
- The Disney Company's massive success in the 20th
century is based on creating an image of
innocence, magic and fun. - new video insightfully analyzes Disney's cultural
pedagogy, examines its corporate power, and
explores its vast influence on our global
culture. - Mouse Monopoly will provoke audiences to
virtually synonymous with childhood pleasure.
4History of Orlando Walt Disney World
- All started from false premises. In persuading
the Florida government of their plan. - Walt Disney described on screen the EPCOT
(Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow)
plan, a model city, a residential community of
20,000 real people, working and playing there. - Disney demanded from the Florida government
solid legal foundation flexibility
municipal bonding authority, and the creation of
two municipalities together with an autonomous
political district controlled by the company and
empowered to issue tax-exempt bonds.
5 Reedy Creek Improvement District
In 1968, Florida Supreme Court ruled that the
Reedy Creek Improvement District was legally
entitled to issue tax-free municipal bonds the
bonding power permitted public funds to be used
for private purposes that are entirely in the
disposal of Disney.
6Autonomous Political District
- Autonomous political district means buildings,
constructions, land-use, transportation and law
and enforcement are controlled by the private
corporation. - Disneys autonomous political district in
Orlando a special administrative region. - Will Disney HK be a Special Administrative Region
within an SAR?
7Autonomous Political District
- As an autonomous political district, the
Florida Disney APD (the Disney government), has
free land use and free use of county, city and
state infrastructure built by tax-payer money.
Disney is a landowner-controlled government. - On the one hand, taxpayers need to bear Disney
Worlds entire infrastructure cost, and the
entire administrative burden of regulating and
inspecting the theme parks construction. - On the other hand, Disney, as a private company,
does not need to bear any responsibilities for
addressing off-site impacts (e.g. traffic jams,
road and public utilities safety etc.) as other
developers, like Universal Studio.
8Autonomous Political District
- The Reedy Creek Improvement district has its own
Laws and Law Enforcement force - Disney uses private security guards to perform
the police function within the Disney theme park
and community, but Disney, as private company,
has no obligations to provide public records
about crimes in its properties to the government.
9Conflicts with off-site impacts of the Disney
APD
- The EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of
Tomorrow) where were the citizens-residents? - Disney did not build the EPCOT residential
community but only hotels. - Orlando Disney (in Orange County, Florida) opened
since 1966, but for very long, the EPCOT was no
where to be found. Even in 1982, the EPCOT has no
residents. It only showcases world restaurants,
with themes like China, and these restaurants
have mechanical games and rides inside them, just
like a mini version of the Disney theme park.
10Potential Problems of Hong Kong Disney
- Political Governance Issues
- Disney will trap benefits, becoming an SAR within
the HKSAR - Degree of tax-payer subsidy
- Hong Kong government owns 57 but has no decision
making rights. If the HKDL loses, the HK also
loses. - The government officials in HKDL are not
accountable to Hong Kong people. - Governance, public facilities infrastructure,
surrounding land use, property rights etc.
11Economic Issues What we can learn from the
Orlando case World Tourism Organization projects
- 2010, HK will be the 5 largest tourist
city/economy
- The Myth of Tourism Tourist economies (relying
heavily on tourism industry) limited job
benefits to the city e.g. - Tourism economy cant shift from low wage
industries to high-tech industries. - Most jobs require only low level skills - does
not promote value-adding skills. No accumulation
of local tacit knowledge.
12Economic Issues
- Disney has the first right to consider buying the
land of Phase II reclaimed land (???) at a
premium price (28?5000?). - Government loans to Disney 56? to be paid back in
25 years - Assistance from governments in building theme
parks - Sustainable Development
- Impact on economic and corporate strategies
outsourcing, e.g. coloring to Beijing
13Economic Issues
- Disney will resist paying
- Who will be responsible for maintaining the areas
around Disneyland HK? - LEGCO archive on Disney 1999 September to
December 2005 Mar 16 meeting CB(1)1062/04-05(03)
CB(1)1063/04-05 etc. - Demolitions ????????
- Housing issues 2010 projected 810??. At first,
the land now belonging to Disney (?????) was to
be the site of these public housing.
14Disney sea and air rights
15Potential Problems of Hong Kong Disney
- Economic (Environmental) Issues
- Physical/Cultural Landscape impacts
environmental hazards (non-disclosure clause) - Land Reclamation the Lantau and Cheung Chau
research - Demolitions ????????, no environmental
compensations - Air pollution due to daily fireworks.
- Myth Disney investments has nothing to do with
high-tech development
16Economic Issues
- The Disney brand will define Hong Kong in the
tourism industry. Can Hong Kong then develop
industries other than tourism? - Disney and other tourist attractions will
stimulate low-wage service economy with
increasing age discrimination, encouraging a
citys young work force to give up education and
training for more and more low wage jobs.
17Cultural Disney
- Synergy a combined action or operation between
individual units - produce an immediately
recognizable brand? - Walt Disney Company
Walt Disney Studios Walt Disney Attractions Walt Disney Consumer Products
Walt Disney Animation Touchstone Pictures Hollywood Pictures Disney Channel (85) bought ABCgt200 more channels to come, 20 radio stations Disney Vacation Club Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Euro Disney, Tokyo Disneyland Stores, records, licensing 16,000 items of merchandise worldwide, computer software, Disney Education (English learning program with Harvard)
18What we can learn from the Orlando case Cultural
Issues
- Cultural Domination any local newspapers or
magazines criticizing Disney died due to Disney
pressure and market manipulation. - Intellectual Property violence
- Culture of Extreme Control
- Controlled sense of total environment
- Disney realism programs out negative, unwanted
elements, like poverty, war, social issues - Control nature through technological progress and
corporatism - Controls employees through instruction manuals,
handbooks, scripting, audio-animatronic figures
phasing out cast members.
19What we can learn from the Orlando case Cultural
Issues
- Culture of Extreme Control
- Control visitors behavior. LA park spokesperson
Bob Roth, We de reserve the right to ask people
to leave if we feel their appearance would be
offensive to others at the park. (Koeing, 209). - Private property can enforce discriminatory
rules of its own, e.g. No gay couples dancing and
touching, No sloppy clothes - Suppress Cultural Diversity
- eliminate and transforms local cultures,
heritage, communities to Disney-fied versions.
Eliminate historical conflicts, wars, genocides
and other unpleasant facts
20Cultural Issues Disney Values
- Disney Movies specific formula, always moral
tales with overt values represented reinvention
of folk tales (de-politicized, sanitized) - Heroes and heroines are handsome/beautiful
(eventually), with upper class or aristocratic
background. Villains are extremely fat or
extremely thin, with exaggerated facial features,
and usually have accents, body languages of
poorer classes and non-white cultures. - Individualism, optimism, good triumphs over evil
(but de-contextualized from social reality) - Corporatism (corporations improves our lives),
technological progress, consumerism (consumption
replaces control at the workplace)
21Cultural Issues (1) The Disney Corporate Model
- Alan Bryman, The Disneyization of Society argues
that the contemporary world is increasingly
converging towards the characteristics of the
Disney theme parks. This process of convergence
is revealed in the growing influence of themed
environments in settings like restaurants, shops,
hotels, tourism and zoos the growing trend
towards social environments that are driven by
combinations of forms of consumption shopping,
eating out, gambling, visiting the cinema,
watching sports...
22Cultural Issues the GDAP Global Disney
Audience Program
- When asked to use one term to describe Disney,
the most frequent answer is fun, followed by
happiness, fantasy, imagination, and
family. - Need alternative visions and rhetoric to deal
with this. - The audience term Disney animation as cute,
cozy, warm, clean, safe, friendly, heart-warming,
carefree, enchanting, wonderful, perky, innocent,
mystical, moral. - Disney-Harvard English program deal target
global middle-class aspirations (from age 0
onwards). - Invading memories Kodak-Disney Deal all
childhood memories encrypted in Disney
experience.
23Cultural Issues the Global Disney Audience
Program
- Reasons why respondents enjoy Disney
- (1) pleasant memories with family and friends
- (2) contrast to everyday life practices and
association to holidays, celebrations, gifts - (3) association with rituals and tradition
- (4) escape from problems such as pain of aging
and social problems - Disneys ubiquity incorporates family, romantic
and friendship rituals some respondents place
Disney in a special, almost sacred, category.
(WaskoMeehan, 2001 332) - Movies are also promotional items introducing new
characters for new Disney products commodifying
emotions
24Potential criticisms against Disney Labor Issues
- Beware of Mickey
- Disney Sweatshops In South China
25Potential cultural criticisms against Disney
Labor Issues
- Emotional Labor
- even the janitor is a CAST MEMBER performing a
staged cleaning. - Control design of products, then licenses the
actual manufacture to independent subcontractors,
mostly in Third World countries in poverty-level
wages and inhuman conditions. - Toys of Misery A Report on the Toy Industry in
China, The National Labor Committee reports,
2001, 2002, 2004 http//www.nlcnet.org - Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee reports
www.cic.org.hk - Mexican Chinese workers cases
www.maquilasolidarity.org/campaigns/disney/finding
s.htm - China Labor Watch report
26More Visual Materials
- The Celebration Project http//www.celebrationfl.
com - Take the best ideas from the most successful
towns of yesterday and the technology of the new
millennium, and synthesize them into a close-knit
community that meets the needs of today's
families. The founders of CELEBRATION started
down a path of research, study, discovery, and
enlightenment that resulted in one of the most
innovative communities of the 21th century.
27The Celebration Project http//www.celebrationfl.
com
- Community in the spirit of neighborliness,
CELEBRATION residents gather at front porches,
park benches, recreational areas, and downtown
events celebrating a place they call home. - CELEBRATION is a community built on a foundation
of cornerstones Community, Education, Health,
Technology, and a Sense of Place.