Disneyland research paper- Help!

[Bob Weaver]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

On this page
List of never built Disney attractions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

That would be cool if NYC got a Disney Park on the grounds of the fair. Where'd you hear that one?

[Bob Weaver]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Perhaps if Walt had lived into his 70s and 80s he would have had the time (and he would certainly have had more money) to expand his influence into the public sphere. Nobody can know for sure what he would have done, but he certainly could have used his wealth to promote whatever causes he believed in. Or he could have just enjoyed what he had done already: a library of classic films and the founding of one of the most famous and popular tourist destinations in the world.
The Disney company has not always succeeded in manipulating public policy in their favor. One of Walt's final public appearances was a press conference at the ranger station at Mineral King, a remote area of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Disney had hoped to build a ski resort there, and the governor of California at that time, Edmund G. Brown, appeared alongside Walt at the press conference. It was to be called Disney Snow Crown resort or something like that. A protracted legal battle between the Sierra Club and the Walt Disney Company over the development dragged on through most of the 1970s, until Congress finally annexed Mineral King as part of Sequoia National Park in 1978. In the 1990s, Disney CEO Michael Eisner pushed hard for development of a new Disney-owned theme park in Haymarket, Virginia, to be called Disney's America, with an American history theme, but the proposal had numerous enemies. Some of them claimed that nearby historic Civil War battlefields would be impacted and some claimed that the Disney company would be distorting and toning down specifics of American history. The Disney company gave up.
The Disney company at various times wanted to build a theme park at the site of the 1964 New York World's Fair, another one in St. Louis, Missouri, and a version of the Tokyo DisneySea, to be built in Long Beach, California. These are a few of the proposed Disney projects that never got built due to one reason or another.

[Rob F]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

I'd recommend [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Disneys-Theme-Parks-Architecture/dp/2080136399/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255133270&sr=8-2"]Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance[/ame]

It goes into how the philosophy of "reassurance" is used in the theme park. The park is designed to make you feel safe and comfortable with the goal of giving you the feeling that "everthing is going to be ok"

[Mr Wiggins]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Do any of you think it would be better to tweak my research question to something about Disneyland's impact on a national-level?

Lots of ways you could skew your RQ into fascinating fields for researching and writing, as well as of interest to your international reviewers: Disneyland's role as America's "ambassador without portfolio" to the world... Disneyland, view from the Kremlin: the PR monster Krushchev wished he had... Walt Disney, American Ambassador: WWII and Cold War (South America in WWII, Anaheim in the Cold War)...

It's no coincidence that the UN asked "Walt Disney" to do their UNICEF pavilion at the '64 World's Fair. (I put the name in quotes because by then it was debatable if he was seen as a man as much as a symbol, especially internationally; see his quotes about what "Walt Disney" meant in the August, 1963 National Geographic.)

I'd suggest spending some time on Google tracking down items from contemporary domestic and international news sources c. 1956-1966, with tight focus on 58-63 (post-Cuban Missile Crisis, anyway).

[Mr Wiggins]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Oh and about the mention of Walt Disney's politics- I spoke with my teacher today and he clarified that I should investigate the popular opinion that existed in 1955, not exactly Walt's personal ideology. Sorry if anyone took offense to the "conservatism" remark!

No offense at all here; I just didn't know if you were being sent on the old "wild anthro chase" of looking for modern memes in cultures past.

Also, I once heard an anecdote about how Nikita Kruschev (sp?) was once denied admittance to the park. Can anyone confirm/refute this?

It was huge news in 1959 -- Google on Krushchev and Disneyland and you'll get 876,000 hits.

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Secret Service made that decision. Walt didn't. He loved kings and queens and foreign dignitaries and movie stars coming to Disneyland.

[Row2k]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Oh and about the mention of Walt Disney's politics- I spoke with my teacher today and he clarified that I should investigate the popular opinion that existed in 1955, not exactly Walt's personal ideology. Sorry if anyone took offense to the "conservatism" remark!

Also, I once heard an anecdote about how Nikita Kruschev (sp?) was once denied admittance to the park. Can anyone confirm/refute this?

[Row2k]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Thanks for the help everyone! I have found all of these posts to be really insightful and helpful Most of my classmates were upset that they hadn't thought of the topic of Disneyland themselves!

Do any of you think it would be better to tweak my research question to something about Disneyland's impact on a national-level? This paper will be going toward my IB diploma (the internal assessment is sort of like the high-school equivalent of a dissertation for the IB program), so it will be graded by someone outside of the U.S. Although the topic of the paper can be about something regional, I'm thinking that it would be more to my benefit to write about something in a national scope.

Once again, any help is appreciated!

[Mr Wiggins]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

The submarines used to be grey military subs. Now they're yellow and convey a sense of exploration instead of a Cold War ethos.

The original Disneyland submarine fleet was grey, but in fact did not convey a Cold War ethos at the time. Named after the first-generation U.S. Navy nuclear fleet (Nautilus, Skipjack, Patrick Henry, etc.), they associated with the same sense of adventure and romantic exploration of the unknown as the space program. Nuclear submarines trailed rocket ships in popularity as toys in the 1950's, but symbolized the same cultural "gosh-wow" attitude of excitement over technology.

Like the space program, the development of nuclear submarines was driven by the Cold War. But as icons of popular culture, and especially at Disneyland, they had no ideological association. In those pre-Cousteau days they were the spaceships of the deep. Disneyland's submarine attraction reflected the popular association of nuclear subs with mythic exploration, adventure and discovery. Even the name of the ride mirrored the popular take on what the Nautilus was about: "Voyage thru Liquid Space."

Certainly, everyone was aware of the arms race and the threat of nuclear war. But mention "U.S.S. Nautilus" to a typical American family in the late 50's (Disney's customer base), and the first association would be with National Geographic, not Russkies and nukes.

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

The submarines used to be grey military subs. Now they're yellow and convey a sense of exploration instead of a Cold War ethos.

[Steve DeGaetano]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

http://urbanstudies.stanford.edu/pro...ovanThesis.pdf

Disneyland did alter the geopolitical landscape a bit. You can read about a near-international crsis that was set off when Nakita Kruschev was denied entry on security grounds. The number of foreign and dometic dignitaries that used to come to the Park was astounding.

[Bob Weaver]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Disneyland was originally built during the Cold War era but there is virtually nothing there that has any reference to that. It was also the "Atomic Age" and the "Space Age." Tomorrowland reflected the excitement about manned space flight, but as soon as mankind landed on the moon in 1969, public interest in space flight ebbed and "Flight to the Moon" was redone as "Mission to Mars." The original Tomorrowland as opened in 1955 had a kind of World's Fair look and feel, and when it was remodeled in 1967 it had a more sophisticated World's Fair look and feel, almost an intertwining, thriving "city of the future" with the PeopleMover and all that. That was still the era when futurists were imagining the U.S. and world in the 1980s and beyond as a sleek, stylish, almost Jetsons-like place, which of course never came to pass in the "real world." Here it is 2009 and we still aren't driving around in our little air cars. But that was what the future was expected to look like, at that time at least. It was a very optimistic outlook and Disney was clearly a believer in that vision.
As far as social impact about the most Disneyland ever did with social messages was "it's a small world" which was actually designed for the 1964 World's Fair in New York, then brought over and rebuilt in Disneyland. The social message of "it's a small world" is a pretty simple and obvious one, but still seems somewhat relevant today. Other than that Disneyland has always focused heavily on entertainment and the various lands reflect different concepts of what entertainment can be defined as - anything from a ghoul jumping up at you in the dark, to a princess in costume signing your autograph book, to a movie shown on 9 screens that completely surround you, to a live ragtime piano player and 4 men riding a bicycle built for 4, to a shotgun blast in a jungle, to a bunch of bubbles outside a submarine window, to an old-fashioned carousel, to a space launching port, to a fireworks show - it's every possible manifestation of what could be considered entertainment (but no alcohol, gambling, nudity, sex, politics, religion, controversy - although plenty of violence, shooting and fear: almost every attraction involves peril and fear at some point in the show).

[leopardchucks]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Alright. You were not incorrect.

[Broadway Guru]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

That is a pretty bold statement. You are generalizing and generalizing doesn't hold water. A person's profession does not dictate their political affiliation (with the exception of politicians...duh).

Well, that's why it's called editorializing, isn't it?

[leopardchucks]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

As far as Walt's politics go, permit me a little editorializing. Your professor, if he's like most professors, probably leans pretty far to the left.

That is a pretty bold statement. You are generalizing and generalizing doesn't hold water. A person's profession does not dictate their political affiliation (with the exception of politicians...duh).

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

^^ I did read that a while ago, and while I enjoyed it very much, I am looking for something a little more Disneyland specific. Thanks for the help, though!

This paper is due at 8 am tomorrow, isn't it?

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Your editorializing sounds spot on - coming from a moderate to liberal voter, it bugs me too.

[Broadway Guru]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

One thing I'm surprised nobody's picked up on yet is the themes of the individual lands. Tropical lands, the old west, turn of the century small towns, and the future were all themes which resonated strongly w/ mid-century America. You could write a whole essay on that alone, but try looking at some of the themed hotels popping up in OC around then. A guy named Stovall had a whole chain of them, all w/ space themes.

Here's a couple sites to get you started:

Space Age City

Postcards From the Forgotten

As far as Walt's politics go, permit me a little editorializing. As several people have already stated, politics didn't play much of a part in DL. Your professor, if he's like most professors, probably leans pretty far to the left. He's looking for you to find some hidden "right-wing agenda" in the Park. Other academics have written books trying to do just this and, while interesting, most of them are so nakedly agenda-driven as to be off-putting. :thumbdown

[Mr Wiggins]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

My teacher also recommended that I include something about Walt Disney's conservative politics and how his personal ideology is reflected in the park. (That is not meant to be a loaded statement, I'm just trying to gather as much information that's relative to my question as possible!)

Sans citations, my sense is that Walt himself was a synthesis of American post-WWI and especially post-WWII cultural values, and Disneyland was a Xanadu of our own cultural mythology. As a child of those times (first visit to Disneyland in 1955, age 7), my sense is that Walt Disney's personal ideology was less embodied in the Park than was his cultural affinity to mid-century middle America. He took what many people felt in that period and expressed it through a storytelling tradition developed during 30 years as a showman and filmmaker. In Disneyland, Walt synthesized the myths of middle America, either directly (he personally did the layout for Tom Sawyer Island) or more often, indirectly, through the work of his artists, who were steeped in the same cultural values.

I would suggest that understanding post-WWII middle American culture is key to reading the cultural iconography of the original Disneyland and its influence on Orange County. There is a large literature on the post-WWI lure of "sunny Southern California" -- filmmakers like Walt, agriculturists like the pre-WWII population of Orange County and entrepreneurs like those who followed the Disneyland boom all felt its call.

I see Walt as both follower and folklorist of cultural forces already long in play in America and California in the first half of the 20th century; bottled up during WWII, they exploded in the late 1940's and early 1950's (see the opening chapters of Diana West's Death of the Grownup). I think America and the world responded so powerfully to the values embodied in Disneyland because they were the premiere ideals of America in that period.

The Studio strike and HUAC activities notwithstanding, I think Walt's politics weren't even a blip on the radar of Southern California or Orange County geopolitics. For the power of Walt's influence, I would suggest looking less to his politics and more to the post-WWII myth of the American man as the eternal boy.