DISNEY AND HIS WORLDS Disney and his Worlds is a thorough overview of what is by now quite a large literature on the Disney organization, in particular the theme parks and their significance for contemporary culture. The author looks at Walt Disney’s life and how his biography has been constructed; the Walt Disney Company in the years after his death; and the writings of various commentators on the Disney theme parks. He raises important issues about the parks: whether they are harbingers of postmodernism; the significance of consumption at the parks; the nature of the parks as tourism; and the representation of past and future. The discussion of theme parks is central but links with the presentation of Walt Disney’s biography and his organization by showing how central economic and business considerations have been in their development, and how the significance of these considerations is typically marginalized in order to place an emphasis on fantasy and magic. In the process, the book questions the assumption that the parks are sites of postmodern sensibility. Disney films, merchandizing and theme parks are one of the defining features of our times and one of the more effective elements in American cultural imperialism. It is impossible to imagine an encyclopedic sociology of contemporary culture that did not devote at least a chapter to Disney and his Worlds. In particular the parks are often employed as examples in areas like cultural studies, the sociology of postmodernism, tourism and leisure studies, while Walt Disney and his organization are important to the area of organization studies. All will welcome Bryman’s clear and judicious overview of literature on the man, the organization, the theme parks and their significance to contemporary culture. Alan Bryman is Professor of Social Research, Loughborough University. DISNEY AND HIS WORLDS Alan Bryman London and New York First published 1995 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. "To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousands of eBooks please go to WWW.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk." Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1995 Alan Bryman All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-20487-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-26664-1 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-10375-4 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-10376-2 (pbk) For Sue and Sarah, my partners-in-Disney We just try to make a good picture. And then the professors come along and tell us what we do.’ (Walt Disney) CONTENTS Preface viii Part I Disney and his Organization 1 THE LIFE OF WALT DISNEY 3 2 DISNEY AFTER WALT 27 Part II The Disney Theme Parks 3 BACKGROUND TO THE DISNEY THEME PARKS 50 4 A FAMILY PILGRIMAGE 64 5 CONTROL AND PREDICTABILITY 78 6 BACK TO THE FUTURE: REPRESENTATIONS OF PAST AND FUTURE 100 7 CONSUMING THE CORPORATION 113 8 INTIMATING POSTMODERNITY AND THE PROBLEM OF REALITY 127 9 THE BUSINESS OF FANTASY 145 Notes 154 bibliography 156 Author Index 170 Subject Index 178 PREFACE This book’s origins derive from a realization some time ago, following a trip to Disney World, that various people had written about the Disney theme parks. They had apparently found them significant. It struck me that it would be a good idea to examine these writings to see what the various authors made of the parks, and to produce a short article on my findings. I saw it very much as a sideline interest, which would not divert me too much from the kinds of book that I normally write (in areas such as leadership theory, research methodology and quantitative data analysis for social scientists). But I soon became aware that there was a sizeable literature on Walt Disney, on his organization, and on the theme parks as well, and that it would be useful to consider the three in tandem. Moreover, the parks in particular seemed to be everyone’s favourite example when it came to specifying the characteristics of postmodernity or contemporary tourism. I was also struck by the huge variety of people who had written on Disney issues, encapsulating such notables as Jean Baudrillard, E. L.Doctorow, Umberto Eco, and Stephen J.Gould. When I raised the possibility of writing a book on Disney and his worlds, after my colleague Mike Gane had put the idea into my head, my then editor at Routledge, Chris Rojek, announced that he had just had an article on Disney culture accepted in a journal. Moreover, the interest in Disney matters seems to be growing, as indicated by Susan Willis’s comment in her introduction to a special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly (volume 92, number 1, 1993) on ‘The World According to Disney’: ‘From what I hear on the cultural studies grapevine, the floodgate of Disney criticism is about to open.’ Part I of this book is concerned with Walt Disney and his organization after his death. In the chapter on Walt Disney, I am concerned to show how his biography was constructed, while in the chapter on the Walt Disney Company (formerly Walt Disney Productions) the various phases of the post-Walt years are examined. Part II, which represents the bulk of the book, discusses the numerous writings on the theme parks. The two parts are related because a major theme of the book is the way in which the creation of an appearance of fantasy and magic, in which harsh economic considerations are sidelined, permeates the construction of Walt’s biography, the organization after his death, and the theme parks. It might seem that such a structure neglects the Disney films, but in fact they pervade virtually every page, since they are at the heart of the Disney enterprise. In discussing what the many writers on the Disney theme parks have made of the parks, I will be extracting the main ingredients of their explorations. Inevitably, my own observations intrude on many occasions. My aim has been to provide a text that will be useful to lecturers, students and others with an interest in areas like cultural studies, leisure and tourism studies, organization studies, and the sociology of postmodernism. Too often people use the Disney parks as illustrations of pet ideas, but do not proceed much further. I hope that this book will provide them with the resources for more informed analyses. I have tried to write it in such a way that it is not too drenched in the terminology of the debates which are touched on. However, I am likely to be a poor judge of whether I have succeeded in this regard and some people will possibly suggest that I should stick to statistics texts. I have had no assistance from the Walt Disney Company and this work is entirely independent of the company. My request to visit the Disney Archives in California to examine their repository of writings on the theme parks was firmly rebuffed by someone in ‘paralegal’. This is not in the least an uncommon experience among writers on Disney issues. As a result, I have had to maintain a constantly watchful eye for references to ensure that I did not miss anything, though some items will undoubtedly have slipped through the net. Nor are there any photographs in this book due to the tight hold kept not just on the cartoon characters but also the buildings in the theme parks. However, I have not allowed their general attitude to diminish my enthusiasm for the parks, which I still enjoy greatly. In this respect, I also differ from many of the commentators whose writings I examine in this book. Many of them exhibit a disdain of Disney products which is common among intellectuals but which I have never been able to understand. On the other hand, I have tried not to allow my enthusiasm to deflect the critical analysis that follows. I have received assistance from many people. I want to thank Robin Allan for his tremendous help with material on Walt Disney and the organization. The staff in Inter-Library Loans in the Pilkington Library have been a constant source of help and good humour with respect to my search for often quite obscure items. The following have read all or parts of the manuscript and have offered valuable support and comments: Robin Allan, Mike Gane, Chris Rojek, Graham Murdock, and Mike Pickering. Many others have been helpful in providing me with snippets of information, press cuttings, and their thoughts. None of these people, however, can be blamed for the book’s deficiencies. Sue and Sarah have put up with my usual absorption when writing a book, and even I have to admit that I have been worse than usual while writing this one. I know that they share my love of Disney cartoons and the parks and I hope that I have allowed this to show through sufficiently in this book. ALAN BRYMAN Part I DISNEY AND HIS ORGANIZATION 1 THE LIFE OF WALT DISNEY What follows is a brief biography of the life of Walt Disney.