One of my not so fun “fun facts” is that as a 5 year old I was at Disney World on 9/11. While I don’t remember much of what happened that day, my parents often recount how quickly the Disney staff ushered us all out of the park, barely breaking character and all with that signature Disney smile.
Am terrified to leave a comment because I think the audience here may lean … far from this perspective, but as a life long east coast, academia-adjacent person, somehow visiting Disneyworld (not land as I’ve heard the overall experience of being there is quite different) for the first time with my children was just, magical. It was just was. I bypassed my instinct to critique and analyze, I’d ended up on the trip because my in-laws arranged it and not going wasn’t an option. So I thought I could either interpret it all or….just land in it. And when I stepped foot inside the beauty and the beast mansion and saw the mirror and candle sticks come alive and belles huge yellow dress up close, I don’t know, it was amazing! It was immersive to me in a way that made me feel I really was in this movie I loved so much as a kid. Or my children’s faces as they got to talk to the “real” Minnie Mouse and get a hug from her. One of my kids has struggled with debilitating anxiety this year in school and the total absorption into unfiltered joy that I witnessed her experience at Disneyworld, on the Ratatouille ride where you get to go inside the restaurant, on “Soarin” where you feel you’re really flying, while hugging Winnie the Pooh, I’ll never forget it. And when I saw my two children entering the live sets of their favorite movies and meeting the characters, I couldn’t help but give myself to the experience. I’ve been so afraid to taint that memory by analyzing it, maybe because I know of course so much of what you write is true. And was the reason my own family never took me as a kid or went themselves. Probably I’m only proving your point with this comment! I am.
I did, I did! And for sure, it does. I think I just jumped at the chance to share my spiritually transformative experience from enchanted tales with belle. I appreciate this essay so much!
I went to Disneyland as a 28 year old adult, no children with me, and was also completely engrossed with the magic of it all! I was not expecting it but I came away a concert. Obviously there are plenty of Disney adults who are experiencing arrested development, but for me, it was such a magical and fun escape from reality! I unabashedly can’t wait to return
“ Around the Indiana Jones ride, while walking through an artificial fog, my brother took a surreptitious hit of a vape. A few minutes later, while winding through the rails to get in line, a stiff, grinning parks employee held her hand out and looked directly at my brother. He handed her the vape and we walked on. Not a single word was exchanged.”
I read this five times. This is crazy!!! I’m finding it impossible to believe you lol. I’ve never been to Disney but my brother and SIL became obsessed in their early 30s and speak of it with the passion only a convert can have.
Was waiting for the iconic PKD speech How to Build a Universe that Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later to be mentioned!
'Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities and then sell them to other humans, turning them, eventually, into forgeries of themselves. So we wind up with fake humans inventing fake realities and then peddling them to other fake humans. It is just a very large version of Disneyland. You can have the Pirate Ride or the Lincoln Simulacrum or Mr. Toad's Wild Ride — you can have all of them, but none is true.
In my writing I got so interested in fakes that I finally came up with the concept of fake fakes. For example, in Disneyland there are fake birds worked by electric motors which emit caws and shrieks as you pass by them. Suppose some night all of us sneaked into the park with real birds and substituted them for the artificial ones. Imagine the horror the Disneyland officials would feel when they discovered the cruel hoax. Real birds! And perhaps someday even real hippos and lions. Consternation. The park being cunningly transmuted from the unreal to the real, by sinister forces. For instance, suppose the Matterhorn turned into a genuine snow-covered mountain? What if the entire place, by a miracle of God's power and wisdom, was changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, into something incorruptible? They would have to close down.'
This quote, "Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities," put words to a feeling I had while watching the Super Bowl this year. I don't usually watch - and now it's such a production and it felt so fake, or hyper-real. More to think about, but thanks for sharing the quote.
omg before I realized this was a past experience I kept wondering WHERE IS SUNNY? haha fast forward to the paragraph where you state it was 2022. the photo of yall on space mountain got me good
agree! I didn't leave a long comment because it just has me thinking and thinking and thinking in circles (in a good way) about pop culture, America, fun, evil, capitalism, war, Thomas Hobbes** (I also read the crazy ass Lion King/Pinocchio piece from last week), anthropology, my childhood, etc etc. Just chiming in to say I appreciate topics like this!
"Perhaps we sense our openness to this duplicity in other areas of our lives and resent it." i think about this when i see the specific vehemence toward disney adults! it feels like a subject that gets dogpiled on precisely for its ease as a target. I get the feeling that people are awarded social brownie points for getting angry at disney adults (a term that has began to lose meaning over the years...what constitutes one? where is the "line"???)
I think cultural critics of a certain leftist ilk are very focused on extended adolescence because it's become such a problem for millennials, I assume that adult disney obsessions is just the bluntest example of it!
Every piece of art is meant to inspire an emotion in its audience. Disney is an immersive piece that intends to inspire joy (and in turn uses that joy to capture greater profits). It really is kind of incredible, the way the sights and the sounds and the smells all work together. My uncle was an artist who moved his family to Florida because he had a job building the parks - he specialized in creating fake rocks. I’ve never been to Disney with him, but whenever I walk past a fake rock wall at one of the parks, I think about all the artists and artisans who came together to create this very unique experience.
Something about Disney in particular makes people forgive the childishness of it all, particularly older Disney adults (millennials and younger cohorts seem to have given up on caring about being childish which is an essay for a different day...). A striking memory from a few christmases ago was my aunt gleefully ribbing my brother in law for enjoying legos as if she hadn't CRIED 20 minutes ago when his daughter opened the child sized stuffed minnie mouse she had given her! Disney really has mastered their specific brand of propaganda. Even now with a Disney vacation costing thousands and thousands of dollars people are slavishly devoted to the mouse!
So hungry for this discourse. I personally haven’t been able to get past the fakeness of it all as an adult. I grew up going as a child but from what I remember, quickly grew out of it. The place gives me so so much ick. Your explanation of the draw for Disney adults FINALLY helps it make some sense, wow. Super excited to read some of the referenced essays as I honestly hadn’t understood Disney stories to embody so much capitalist ideology.
Was anyone else required to watch the film Escape from Tomorrow (2013) in a media crit class? Impossible to summarize completely but it’s about a dad that loses his sanity at a Disney park after getting fired from his job. I recommend but haven’t thought of the parks the same since !!!
ah people are desperate for community aren't they. gotta text my local maybe baby group we need each other
also: does Encanto fit into the Disney/Pixar movies-as-American/capitalist-apologism framework? i thought about a few in my head while reading this and that was the only one i couldn't quite fit. i guess in a way they are all defined by their jobs (or lack thereof?) def don't disagree with your point though, if it is an exception it's the kind that proves the rule.
In grad school, one of my professors used Encanto to map family therapy theory, and her analysis was incredible! I would have to rewatch it, but I think it (and Coco) would fit into American capitalism in the global/ imperialist sense: cultural stereotypes, commodification, and oversimplification.
One of my not so fun “fun facts” is that as a 5 year old I was at Disney World on 9/11. While I don’t remember much of what happened that day, my parents often recount how quickly the Disney staff ushered us all out of the park, barely breaking character and all with that signature Disney smile.
Omg
Am terrified to leave a comment because I think the audience here may lean … far from this perspective, but as a life long east coast, academia-adjacent person, somehow visiting Disneyworld (not land as I’ve heard the overall experience of being there is quite different) for the first time with my children was just, magical. It was just was. I bypassed my instinct to critique and analyze, I’d ended up on the trip because my in-laws arranged it and not going wasn’t an option. So I thought I could either interpret it all or….just land in it. And when I stepped foot inside the beauty and the beast mansion and saw the mirror and candle sticks come alive and belles huge yellow dress up close, I don’t know, it was amazing! It was immersive to me in a way that made me feel I really was in this movie I loved so much as a kid. Or my children’s faces as they got to talk to the “real” Minnie Mouse and get a hug from her. One of my kids has struggled with debilitating anxiety this year in school and the total absorption into unfiltered joy that I witnessed her experience at Disneyworld, on the Ratatouille ride where you get to go inside the restaurant, on “Soarin” where you feel you’re really flying, while hugging Winnie the Pooh, I’ll never forget it. And when I saw my two children entering the live sets of their favorite movies and meeting the characters, I couldn’t help but give myself to the experience. I’ve been so afraid to taint that memory by analyzing it, maybe because I know of course so much of what you write is true. And was the reason my own family never took me as a kid or went themselves. Probably I’m only proving your point with this comment! I am.
Not sure if you finished the whole essay but I very much try to capture and validate this kind of experience! Disney is very good at what it does!!
I did, I did! And for sure, it does. I think I just jumped at the chance to share my spiritually transformative experience from enchanted tales with belle. I appreciate this essay so much!
I’m glad you did!!! I bet I’ll have a similar experience when I take Sunny one day, and I’ll definitely table the cynic within lol
I went to Disneyland as a 28 year old adult, no children with me, and was also completely engrossed with the magic of it all! I was not expecting it but I came away a concert. Obviously there are plenty of Disney adults who are experiencing arrested development, but for me, it was such a magical and fun escape from reality! I unabashedly can’t wait to return
The picture of you guys on space mountain is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen
Had this experience on shrooms in Disney too but also Vegas lol. Uncanny vibes. This essay was 10/10 though. The propaganda is sooooo fuckin real
“ Around the Indiana Jones ride, while walking through an artificial fog, my brother took a surreptitious hit of a vape. A few minutes later, while winding through the rails to get in line, a stiff, grinning parks employee held her hand out and looked directly at my brother. He handed her the vape and we walked on. Not a single word was exchanged.”
I read this five times. This is crazy!!! I’m finding it impossible to believe you lol. I’ve never been to Disney but my brother and SIL became obsessed in their early 30s and speak of it with the passion only a convert can have.
Hahaha I swear this happened!!
Oh no I believe you, it’s just so wild😂
Can confirm this actually happened
Was waiting for the iconic PKD speech How to Build a Universe that Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later to be mentioned!
'Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities and then sell them to other humans, turning them, eventually, into forgeries of themselves. So we wind up with fake humans inventing fake realities and then peddling them to other fake humans. It is just a very large version of Disneyland. You can have the Pirate Ride or the Lincoln Simulacrum or Mr. Toad's Wild Ride — you can have all of them, but none is true.
In my writing I got so interested in fakes that I finally came up with the concept of fake fakes. For example, in Disneyland there are fake birds worked by electric motors which emit caws and shrieks as you pass by them. Suppose some night all of us sneaked into the park with real birds and substituted them for the artificial ones. Imagine the horror the Disneyland officials would feel when they discovered the cruel hoax. Real birds! And perhaps someday even real hippos and lions. Consternation. The park being cunningly transmuted from the unreal to the real, by sinister forces. For instance, suppose the Matterhorn turned into a genuine snow-covered mountain? What if the entire place, by a miracle of God's power and wisdom, was changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, into something incorruptible? They would have to close down.'
https://howtobuildauniverse.com
Loved this newsletter Haley, so much.
Wow gotta read this!!
This quote, "Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities," put words to a feeling I had while watching the Super Bowl this year. I don't usually watch - and now it's such a production and it felt so fake, or hyper-real. More to think about, but thanks for sharing the quote.
omg before I realized this was a past experience I kept wondering WHERE IS SUNNY? haha fast forward to the paragraph where you state it was 2022. the photo of yall on space mountain got me good
Same! Also thought it was an extremely subtle trying for baby #2 reveal at first talking about getting your period back lol but then I figured it out
This is an all timer, Haley
agree! I didn't leave a long comment because it just has me thinking and thinking and thinking in circles (in a good way) about pop culture, America, fun, evil, capitalism, war, Thomas Hobbes** (I also read the crazy ass Lion King/Pinocchio piece from last week), anthropology, my childhood, etc etc. Just chiming in to say I appreciate topics like this!
**girl, not me saying Locke when I meant Hobbes
Thank you mk!!!
THE VAPE THING
the photo on space mountain is so funny omfg
said as a person who genuinely enjoys a disneyland trip and riding space mountain specifically
"Perhaps we sense our openness to this duplicity in other areas of our lives and resent it." i think about this when i see the specific vehemence toward disney adults! it feels like a subject that gets dogpiled on precisely for its ease as a target. I get the feeling that people are awarded social brownie points for getting angry at disney adults (a term that has began to lose meaning over the years...what constitutes one? where is the "line"???)
I think cultural critics of a certain leftist ilk are very focused on extended adolescence because it's become such a problem for millennials, I assume that adult disney obsessions is just the bluntest example of it!
A masterful piece of buzzkillism (while recognizing the inherent fun)…I loved it!
Every piece of art is meant to inspire an emotion in its audience. Disney is an immersive piece that intends to inspire joy (and in turn uses that joy to capture greater profits). It really is kind of incredible, the way the sights and the sounds and the smells all work together. My uncle was an artist who moved his family to Florida because he had a job building the parks - he specialized in creating fake rocks. I’ve never been to Disney with him, but whenever I walk past a fake rock wall at one of the parks, I think about all the artists and artisans who came together to create this very unique experience.
Artistry is involved no doubt!!
Something about Disney in particular makes people forgive the childishness of it all, particularly older Disney adults (millennials and younger cohorts seem to have given up on caring about being childish which is an essay for a different day...). A striking memory from a few christmases ago was my aunt gleefully ribbing my brother in law for enjoying legos as if she hadn't CRIED 20 minutes ago when his daughter opened the child sized stuffed minnie mouse she had given her! Disney really has mastered their specific brand of propaganda. Even now with a Disney vacation costing thousands and thousands of dollars people are slavishly devoted to the mouse!
Also goes without saying and is unsurprising that most Disney adults are millennials 😭
So hungry for this discourse. I personally haven’t been able to get past the fakeness of it all as an adult. I grew up going as a child but from what I remember, quickly grew out of it. The place gives me so so much ick. Your explanation of the draw for Disney adults FINALLY helps it make some sense, wow. Super excited to read some of the referenced essays as I honestly hadn’t understood Disney stories to embody so much capitalist ideology.
Was anyone else required to watch the film Escape from Tomorrow (2013) in a media crit class? Impossible to summarize completely but it’s about a dad that loses his sanity at a Disney park after getting fired from his job. I recommend but haven’t thought of the parks the same since !!!
Have not seen but totally remember that movie. Gotta watch
have not seen the movie but I love the old Jenny Nicholson video about it (she does not like the movie lol)
ah people are desperate for community aren't they. gotta text my local maybe baby group we need each other
also: does Encanto fit into the Disney/Pixar movies-as-American/capitalist-apologism framework? i thought about a few in my head while reading this and that was the only one i couldn't quite fit. i guess in a way they are all defined by their jobs (or lack thereof?) def don't disagree with your point though, if it is an exception it's the kind that proves the rule.
I actually haven't seen Encanto and would be curious to know!
In grad school, one of my professors used Encanto to map family therapy theory, and her analysis was incredible! I would have to rewatch it, but I think it (and Coco) would fit into American capitalism in the global/ imperialist sense: cultural stereotypes, commodification, and oversimplification.
👏