A History of Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Theme Parks
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THE "FAIREST" OF THE FAIRS: A HISTORY OF FAIRS, AMUSEMENT PARKS, AND THEME PARKS Jackie Botterill BA Simon Fraser University 1993 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the School of Communication O Jackie Botterill Simon Fraser University July 1997 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author Natio~lLibrary Bibliotheque nationale I+Iof du Canada Acqutsitbns and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services servrces bibliographiques 395 Welkngton Street 395. we WeLngton OttawaON KlAPN4 Omwa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada t Your hk Votre ieterenu, 3ur Ole Norre reference The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une lice~cenon exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a ,la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale hq Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, preter, hstribuer ou copies of thls thesis m microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de rnicrofiche/film, de reproduction sur ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownershp of the L'auteur conserve la propnete du copyright in thls thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantid extracts from it Ni la these ni des extrai~substantiels may be pmted or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent itre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autonsation. APPROVAL , . Jacqueline Bonerill DEGREE: TITLE: THE "FAIREST" OF THE FAIRS: A HISTORY OF FAIRS, AMUSEMENT PARKS, AND THEME PARKS. I CHAIR: Prof. Par Howard of. Catherine Murray renior Supervisor School of Communication. SFU Prof. Rlchard Gruneau Supervisor School of Communicat~on.SFU Prof Beverley Pitman GeogrBphy. SIT Date: ABSTRACT Disney theme parks provide a window from which to view contemporary culture. They draw millions of visitors; accumulate large sums of capital; employ thousands; are replicated in several locations; and are connected to other media and recreational pursuits. Yet for all their cultural significance, the parks prove difficult to evaluate. For some they are holy lands; for others fire and brimstone. Cultural theorist Raymond Williams argues that cultural forms, such as Disney theme parks, are best understood within social historic context. The family tree of the theme park stretches back to pre-modern fairs and carnivals. These community-produced celebrations combined feasting, processions, competitions, plays and acts of symbolic reversal in a ritual, that literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin argues, articulated the rejuvenating powers of nature. The carnival came under attack and began to be commodified in the early modem period as the powers of the church and monarchy were eroded by the rising merchant class. During these changing social relations, some fairground cultural practises died, while others hived off to operate on their own. New practises were spawned; and old practises were retextualized. At the turn of the century, the fair was reintegrated within the modem amusement park. Orchestrated by entertainment entrepreneurs and architects, these sites "manufactured carnival" by employing mechanical rides, simulating spaces, and mocking genteel culture through risque symbolic and practise. Unable to historically adapt, amusement parks were soon displaced by theme parks in the post-war period. Produced by an animator and influenced by film and Hollywood, Disney theme parks cleaned up old fair conventions for middle class tastes, surrendered the entire environment to motif, increased merchandizing and forged synergies with other media~leisure/touristservices. While Disney World and its other manifestations are presently considered "the fairest" of the fairs, the past illustrates that theme parks actually reduce the number of cultural practises which once animated the fairground. This thesis argues that Disney theme parks claim ownership of historic fairground innovations; privatize public symbols and practises; destroy original spaces to produce fantastical reproductions for profit; restrict interaction and discourse to facilitate audience flow and conformity; disguise multiplicity as diversity; and squeeze out competition. The conservative visions of the past and future represented by Disney theme parks are neither static nor inevitable. The Disney corporation is a behemoth, subject to internal conflict and external competition. Disney must continually negotiate its position with the public. Local groups have successfully challenged Disney7sright to colonize their space. Alternatives may be found in communities who keep the spirit of carnival alive through "producing" their own public celebratory rituals. Dedication For Lorraine and Public Dreams TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval Abstract Dedication Table of Contents INTRODUCTION Contribution to the Literature Beyond 'Distory' Two Foci Meanings produced for Meanings produced by Synthesis of Two Foci Raymond Williams Additional Perspectives Overview of Chapters PRE-MODERN AMUSEMENTSCAPE: FAIRS/CARNIVAL Fairs Carnival Carnival Elements Sustenance Pigs Procreation Struggle Procession, Competition and Play Theatre St. Bartholomew's Fair: Form and Content Perspectives of the Fair From the castle From the street From the Street Revised: Carnival Critiques From the market EARLY MODERN FAIRGROUND TRANSITION Decline of the Noble - Rise of the Bourgeoisie Reformation, Reading, And The Thinning Of Carnival Literacy vii Bourgeoisie Protestant Ethic(s) Fairground Fragmentation and Spawning 5 1 Flight to Curative Landscapes Gardens Sea-side resort Finding Indoor Respectability Theatre Authorship Audience Theatre content Mobilizing: Clowns and Nationalistic Dramas Pre-Circus: Hippodrama Circus The Wild West Carnival Redefined Civil holidays and Country Fairs Conclusion 70 MASS LEISURE: WORLD'S FAIRS AND AMUSEMENT PARKS 73 World's Fairs The Chicago World's Fair Amusement Parks 78 Coney Island Extending the Eye: Simulated Landscapes and Side-shows Extending Sensations: Mechanical Rides FROM AMUSEMENT PARK TO THEME PARK Post-War Social Landscape (1945-1973) 96 Theme parks Pre-Disneyland Disneyland Early Walt Disney World: Profit, Exclusivity, Prototype Community? Late-Modernity: Shifting Surfaces (1973-1990s) Late-Walt Disney World: Expansion and Synergy The Disney Corporation: Theme park Colonization and Theme park Resistance 133 Colonization 133 Resistance 139 SYNTHESIS 145 Gathering Historical Processes Cultural Creation Commodification viii Regulation 151 Disney's Contribution to the Amusementscape Beyond the Walls Bibliography Introduction The Disney theme parks present a very positive view of the past ... a past which never really existed. Alan Bryman Exchange, interdependence, the struggle for power ...have been hidden or banished. Alexander Wilson This work seeks to evaluate Disney's model of the contemporary theme park by tracing its genealogy. My goal is to better understand what theme parks are, what they have been, what they might have been, what they displaced, and why they exist. Across time and space, people have created a place within which they gathered in large numbers to participate in ritual, entertainment, amusements, and spectacles, while consuming and exchanging foods, goods and services. The theme park is the contemporary manifestation of fairs, carnivals, and amusement parks - a class of cultural phenomena which I will refer to as the amusementscape. The amusementscape, like landscape, is a physical space and has appeared at the seaside, the field, the suburb, the city, as well as other material places. It is also an icon, or image which is rendered within the written word, on the artists' canvas, as well as a multitude of surfaces. Mikhail Bakhtin's (1984) anaylsis of the carnival draws upon this iconic layer, for he formulated his thesis upon the way carnival was rendered within the novels of Rabelais'. The suffix "scape" as Peters has identified, "posits the presence of a unifying principle which enables us to consider part of the countryside or sea as a unity (but) not the world we see". In this view, the amusementscape is a "social construction, a composition of the world", as well as a perspective on the world (1948: 2). Appaduria (1 99 1) has noted five dimentions of globalization: ethnoscapes, technoscapes, financescapes, mediascapes, and ideoscapes. This work posits a sixth: the amusementscape, cutting across them all as a constellation of cultural practices over time. The amusementscape changes over time in relation to broader social relations. Amusementscape is a social tableau and a unique play space unto itself which can influence other social practises. This duality makes for a interesting object of study, for the amusementscape is both immanent and transcendent - both material and imaginary. What unites the fair, carnival, or theme 2 park as "places" is the emphasis on the articulation of the "other worldly". The intent of this work is to recover some of the exchange, interdependence, and struggle for power which Disney theme parks have banished from the history of amusementscapes. The purpose is not to spoil contemporary fun, rather to seek ways to enliven it. Employing an historical perspective, I will map the evolution of the amusementscape from the fair in the Pre-Modern period (roughly 1500-1800), to the amusement park in the Early ModernIModern period (1844-1960), to the theme park in the Late Modem period (1970-Present)'.