The Disneyization of Society

Alan Bryman

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9780761967651, 9780761967644
• eBook ISBN: 9781446223932
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

`Alan Bryman has expanded on his internationally well-known work on Disney theme parks and Disneyization to create a fascinating and highly readable book. It should prove of interest to beginning students in a number of different courses and fields, as well as to scholars interested in culture and consumption. There is no question that the model created by Disney, and emulated in whole or in part by many organizations and in many settings, will continue to influence social structure and culture well into the future. This is an important book about a significant social process. And, it manages to be a fun read, as well!? - George Ritzer, author of McDonaldization and Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland

`Bryman?s analysis of contemporay consumption is full of detail and provides a host of examples ranging from restaurants and hotels, to theme parks, zoos and sports stadia. Without doubt students will find it an accessible text, one that should allow them to think about consumption, familiar consumer products, settings and activities, sociologically? - Barry Smart, Professor of Sociology, University of Portsmouth

`Bryman?s dissection of Disneyization is a timely and significant contribution to the growing literature on Disney. In fact, his excellent analysis of the extension of Disneyization throughout society explains why we should care about the Disney phenomenon at all. This is not only an important book for Disney scholars, but for any one interested in the future of modern society? - Janet Wasko Professor of Communication Studies, University of Oregon

This is an agenda-setting new work in the sociology of culture and modern society. It 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; the growth in cachet awarded to brands based on licensed merchandise; and the increased prominence of work that is a performance in which the employees have to display certain emotions and generally convey impressions as though working in a theatrical event. This insightful book demonstrates the importance of control and surveillance in consumer culture.

Of interest to a wide variety of students studying in business, sociology, cultural studies, media studies and leisure studies courses this will also be of interest to anybody interested in understanding the intricacies of modern society.

Chapter One

Disneyization

---

Mini Contents

Disneyization not Disneyfication

Trivialization and sanitization

Reflections on Disneyization

Conclusion

In this book, I make the case that more and more sectors of society and the economy are being infiltrated by a process I call Disneyization. By Disneyization I mean simply:

the process by which the principles of the Disney theme parks are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world.

I see the principles that are described in this book as infiltrating many and a growing number of areas of social, cultural, and economic life. Others have drawn attention to the way in which many areas of modern life are coming to take on the manifestations of a theme park, such as when a Times journalist referred to Canary Wharf in London as ‘theme park city’.¹ In this book I go beyond such general allusions to the growing influence of the Disney theme parks on social life by delineating, in more precise terms, the specific theme park principles that I see seeping through our society. In other words, the project with which this book is concerned is a more analytic assessment of the manifestation of Disney theme parks’ principles than is typically undertaken. At the same time, I will emphasize that we cannot attribute the dispersion of these principles solely to the rise of the Disney theme parks, since they clearly predate the parks themselves. The Disney theme park principles may well have leaked into our social institutions and practices without the aid of the parks themselves. However, it is also likely that the high profile of the parks and the frequency with which they are held up as models in a variety of areas – for theming, for their architecture, for their transformation of shopping into play, for their smiling ever-helpful employees, and so on – have contributed greatly to the circulation of the underlying principles described in this book.

Disneyization is portrayed as a globalizing force. In other words, the principles with which it is associated are gradually spreading throughout the globe. The issue of the global diffusion of Disneyizing principles in relation to globalization is discussed in Chapter 7. I recognize that globalization has become simultaneously fashionable and unfashionable: fashionable in the sense that it is a frequently discussed topic in the literature on modern societies; unfashionable in the sense that there has been a sharp reaction to the notion of a world-embracing trend that rides roughshod over local cultures and practices. The issues involved in these considerations are also addressed in Chapter 7.

Chapters 2 to 5 explore the dimensions of Disneyization. These are:

• theming – clothing institutions or objects in a narrative that is largely unrelated to the institution or object to which it is applied, such as a casino or restaurant with a Wild West narrative;
• hybrid consumption – a general trend whereby the forms of consumption associated with different institutional spheres become interlocked with each other and increasingly difficult to distinguish;²
• merchandising – the promotion and sale of goods in the form of or bearing copyright images and/or logos, including such products made under licence;
• performative labour – the growing tendency for frontline service work to be viewed as a performance, especially one in which the deliberate display of a certain mood is seen as part of the labour involved in service work.³

I see these four dimensions as emblematic of the Disney theme parks but also as constituting principles that are pervading many spheres of modern life.

In discussing each dimension, the following issues will be addressed:

• The ways in which that aspect of Disneyization is evident in the Disney theme parks themselves.
• Evidence of the existence of that aspect of Disneyization before the opening of the first Disney theme park – Disneyland in Anaheim, California, in 1955 (see Box 1.1).
• Evidence of the diffusion of that aspect of Disneyization beyond the Disney theme parks.

The second of these three issues is presented to remind us that it is not being suggested that the Disney theme parks were the first context to manifest each of the four aspects of Disneyization. Instead, it is suggested that the Disney theme parks are emblems of the four trends that are discussed. It is almost certainly the case that there has been a process of emulation of the Disney theme park principles due to the immense success, prominence and popularity of the parks. Where appropriate, these processes of imitation will be noted. However, the central point is that the parks exemplify and symbolize the four aspects of Disneyization. In much the same way that Walt Disney did not invent modern animation,⁴ he did not did not invent Disneyization through the Disney theme parks. (Hereafter, Walt Disney will be referred to simply as ‘Walt’ following common practice to distinguish the man from the company he founded and nurtured. ‘Disney’ will refer to the company.)

---

Box 1.1 The Disney theme parks

Since some readers may not be familiar with the parks, this box contains a listing of all the major Disney theme parks. The parks are organized nowadays as ‘resorts’, so that Walt Disney World in Orlando, for example, is not a theme park as such but a resort that contains theme parks, as well as many other Disney venues: three water parks, a nightclub area (Pleasure Island), many hotels, restaurants and shops other than those in the parks, and so on. Consequently, the listing that follows is organized by resort and then by year of opening.

Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, California

Magic Kingdom (opened 1955) The original theme park was organized into lands, the main ones being: Adventureland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland. Main Street USA is the artery that leads the visitor inexorably towards the lands. As with all Disney theme parks, a land provides the background narrative to the attractions within it.

California Adventure (opened 2001) Divided into lands, themed in terms of California, such as: Pacific Wharf, Bountiful Valley Farm, Condor Flats, and Hollywood Pictures Backlot.

Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida

Magic Kingdom (opened 1971) More or less identical to the Magic Kingdom in Disneyland (see above).

Epcot Center (opened 1982) This theme park has changed its name slightly on a number of occasions and is now just called Epcot, which stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. It has two main areas: Future World, containing pavilions dedicated to aspects of science and nature and World Showcase, containing representations of a variety of nations.

Disney-MGM Studios (opened 1989) Divided into lands, themed in terms of the movies and Hollywood, including Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard, Studio Courtyard, and the Backlot.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom (opened 1998) Divided into lands, themed in terms of animals and their locations, both past and present, including: Africa, Asia, Safari Village, Oasis, and Dinoland, USA.

Tokyo Disney Resort, Japan

Tokyo Disneyland (opened in 1983) More or less identical to the Magic Kingdom in Disneyland (see above), but Frontierland is called Westernland and Main Street USA is called World Bazaar.

Disney Sea (opened in 2001) Divided into lands with nautical themes, including: Port Discovery, American Waterfront, Mermaid Lagoon, Mysterious Island, and Mediterranean Harbor.

Disneyland Resort Paris, France

Disneyland Park (opened in 1992) More or less identical to the Magic Kingdom in Disneyland (see above), but Tomorrowland is called Discoveryland.

Walt Disney Studios (opened in 2002) Divided into lands, themed in terms of the movies and Hollywood, including: Frontlot, Backlot, Production Courtyard, and Animation Courtyard.

Hong Kong Disneyland

Phase 1 is due to open in 2005. See://www.info.gov.hk/disneyland/eng.htm

---

Disneyization parallels Ritzer’s⁵ notion of McDonaldization, which was concerned with the diffusion of the principles associated with the fast-food restaurant. Indeed, the definition of Disneyization offered above is meant to be a slightly ironic but nevertheless serious adaptation of Ritzer’s definition of McDonaldization. ‘Disneyization’ is meant to draw attention to the spread of principles exemplified by the Disney theme parks.

In a sense, Disneyization takes up where McDonaldization leaves off. McDonaldization is frequently accused of creating a world of homogeneity and sameness. One of the main foundations for Disneyization is that of increasing the appeal of goods and services and the settings in which they are purveyed in the increasingly homogenized environments that are the products of McDonaldization. In essence, Disneyization is about consumption. Consumption and, in particular, increasing the inclination to consume, is Disneyization’s driving force. Disneyization seeks to create variety and difference, where McDonaldization wreaks likeness and similarity. It exchanges the mundane blandness of homogenized consumption experiences with frequently spectacular experiences. In addition, Disneyization seeks to remove consumers’ need for the prosaic fulfilling of basic needs and to entice them into consumption beyond mere necessity. To take a simple and somewhat stereotyped illustration: eating in a standard McDonald’s or Burger King may have the advantage of filling a basic need (hunger) cheaply and in a predictable environment,⁶ but Disneyized restaurants are likely to provide an experience that gives the impression of being different and even a sense of the dramatic while being in a location that perhaps increases the likelihood that the consumer will engage in other types of consumption, such as pur- chasing merchandise or participating in other activities in a hybrid consumption setting. Hybrid consumption environments themselves frequently take on the characteristics of the spectacular because of the sheer variety of consumption opportunities they offer and especially when accompanied by theming. To...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1  Disneyization
• 2  Theming
• 3  Hybrid consumption
• 4  Merchandising
• 5  Performative labour
• 6  Control and surveillance
• 7  Implications of Disneyization
• Bibliography
• Author Index
• Subject Index