The Glocalization of Shanghai Disneyland

Ni-Chen Sung

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367675509
• eBook ISBN: 9781000398755
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Globalisation
• Index: Social Sciences

Focusing on Disney's production of Shanghai Disneyland, this book examines how the Chinese state and the local market influence Disney's ownership and production of the identities and the representations of Shanghai Disneyland. Qualitative methods are here applied to combine both primary and secondary data, including document analysis, participant observation, and in-depth interviews.

Shanghai Disneyland is purposely created to be different from the other Disneylands, under the "authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese" mandate. In order to survive and thrive in China, Disney carefully constructs Shanghai Disneyland as Disneyland with Chinese characteristics. Previous studies tend to link Disney with cultural imperialism; however, this book argues that it is not imperialism but glocalization that promotes a global company's interests in China. In particular, the findings suggest state-capital-led glocalization: glocalization led by economic capital of the state (direct investment) and economic capital with the state (market potential). Furthermore, the four categories of glocalization with different conditions, considerations, and consequences illustrate various global–local dynamics in the process of a global formation of locality.

The Glocalization of Shanghai Disneyland will appeal to students and scholars of sociology, communication studies, business studies, and Asian studies more broadly.

1Introduction

Background

My initial interest in this project is out of imagination, which I believe is not less important than knowledge. Once in a while, I imagined China as Disneyland, with the death penalty, for a few reasons. First, almost every child in China is raised like a princess or a prince under the one-child policy, in effect from 1979 to 2015. Second, the Chinese party–state’s emphasis on “harmonious society,” proposed by former President Hu Jintao, resonates with the so-called Disneyfication (Schickel, 1997) to clean up the unpleasant past. Third, the launch of Hong Kong Disneyland before the spotlighted Shanghai Disneyland echoes the Chinese government’s preference for a pilot before the official launch of a policy.

Furthermore, Disney did not seem to be an evil empire to China in my experience. When I worked on Jia Pian You Yue, which introduced Disney’s animated features on China Central Television’s Movie Channel (CCTV6), my co-workers from both sides of Disney and CCTV6 warned me to pay great attention to the differences between capitalist Disney and socialist China. “Watch out for the landmines along the way,” Mr. Li, a benign department head from CCTV6 constantly reminded me. However, I observed more similarities than differences between the practices in place at Disney and CCTV6. For example, Chinese television forbids the portrayal of high school students wearing earrings, revealing clothing, or with dyed hair, which was entirely consistent with Disney’s production guidelines I had been following for years.

Sometimes, Disney’s production guidelines appeared stricter than local Chinese practices. According to Disney’s standards and practices for media production, a character must wear a seatbelt when driving a car, passengers need to wear life jackets when taking a boat ride and must keep their hands inside the boat, and no junk food can be featured in the program or advertisement in keeping with Disney’s healthy food guidelines (Gao, 2016). Contrary to the general assumption that the relationship between Disney and CCTV6 is ambivalent, Disney harmonizes surprisingly well with contemporary socialism with Chinese characteristics. Such “harmony” makes it appealing to study Disneyland, “the happiest place on Earth,” in the context of China.

To enjoy Disneyland to the fullest, visitors are supposed to be familiar with Disney characters and stories (Lee & Fung, 2013). In the international markets, Disney has often promoted its merchandise and content, including Disneyland, through Disney Channel ever since the channel’s international debut in 1995, in Taiwan. However, Disney Channel is unlikely to be approved for broadcast in highly controlled China. Consequently, Shanghai Disneyland has become the company’s engine to drive Disney’s brand awareness and brand affinity for its other lines of business. In Disney’s earnings report for the fiscal year 2016 (from October 2015 to September 2016), the “Parks and Resorts” section reported a decrease in the operating income at the operations outside of the United States due to lower attendance at both Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland. Such a decrease was partially offset by the benefit of the first full quarter of operations for Shanghai Disneyland. In just a few months, Shanghai Disneyland had proved its ability to generate revenue as an important strategic asset.

All in all, the fact that two Disney parks are operating in China is noteworthy. There are six Disneyland in the world: two in the United States, one in Japan, one in Paris, and two in China, including Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland (Table 1.1). Such a weight on China makes the conditions, changes, and consequences of Shanghai Disneyland intriguing for study. Furthermore, contrary to the other Disneyland outside of the United States concluded as “not differ dramatically from the American ones as the company is not keen on investing in creating new concepts” because of the belief that “the attraction of Disneyland is its faithfulness to the original Disneyland in California” (Lee & Fung, 2013: 45), Shanghai Disneyland is purposely created to be different from the other Disneyland under the creative direction of being “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese.” This unusual mandate further triggered my interest in studying for what reasons, in which ways, and with what implications Shanghai Disneyland is different from the other Disneyland.

Table 1.1Disneyland and the opening dates

Park	Opening date
Disneyland Anaheim, California, USA	July 17, 1955
Walt Disney World, Florida, USA	October 1, 1971
Tokyo Disneyland, Japan	April 15, 1983
Disneyland Paris, France	April 12, 1992
Hong Kong Disneyland, China	September 12, 2005
Shanghai Disneyland, China	June 16, 2016

Among Walt Disney’s contributions to American popular culture, his theme parks attracted special attention (Wilson, 1993). In Walt’s view, “Disneyland is the star. Everything else (in the company) is in the supporting role” (Smith, 2001: 62). Nowadays, the Walt Disney Company has four main business segments: Media Networks; Disney Parks, Experiences and Products; Studio Entertainment; and Direct-to-Consumer and International. Because my over-one-decade working experience with Disney is limited in the Media Networks division: in Singapore as writer/producer, in Taiwan as head ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Author biography
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Histories of Disney
• Chapter 3: Ownership structure of Shanghai Disneyland
• Chapter 4: Construction of local identities for Shanghai Disneyland
• Chapter 5: “Distinctly Chinese” representations of Shanghai Disneyland
• Chapter 6: Implications of the differences of Shanghai Disneyland
• Index