Disneyland’s Influence on the 1950s
by Helen M. and Michelle J.
This week we have been talking about grids, housing, subdivisions, housing, developments, leisure, and marketability all based around families in the 1950s that have attained the ‘American Dream’. These developments followed the unspoken rules of conformity each urbanite faced. Yet, the rules were the cause of stress among men as they worried about the growth of crabgrass in their front lawns, as well as the source of female depression. But by 1954 these men and women, suffering from their perfect lives, found escape on ABC’s Disneyland show. The show presented the continuous progress of Anaheim’s seventeen million dollar Disneyland. The show was hosted by Walt Disney, later being referred to as Uncle Walt. He brought many popular television personalities to popularize and promote the opening of the park. Disneyland opened July 17, 1955 to not only admission paying guests, but to the millions of fans watching the nationwide broadcast at home as well. Disneyland opened at the height of suburban living. With improvements in transportation involving vehicles and the creation of highways, the park became easily accessible to the public.
The building of the park is like the uprising of the suburbs, a true fantasy land, built up from the orange groves of California. Every aspect of the immediate environment of Disneyland is controlled-just as each part of the suburban development is. The park was designed for white middle-class families and to keep this target market, Disneyland created high admission prices to keep out lower-class families. Also, Disneyland targeted the whole family, not just the children, as a place of fun and excitement. Disneyland provided entertainment for the family and liberated people from the demands of their everyday lives. It also let people escape the obligation of maintaining mundane behavior. With high walls surrounding the whole park, it became a place for families to go to escape reality. These walls protected the guests from seeing the outside world, giving the park an out of sight, out of mind feel.
The theme park also became a hyperreality for the public, which is the domination of simulation over reality. Carrying the slogan of being the “Happiest Place on Earth”, Disneyland became an ultimate reality-with America just being an imitation of it. After watching the construction of Disneyland in Anaheim’s grid, American families began to look at Disneyland as a Mecca. It was a ‘pilgrimage for visitors’, and the important factor being that they have been to and experienced the world of Disneyland. The housing developments, with a corner market, failed to be what everyone expected. Since suburban living was not the perfect life people expected, they turned, like the rest of the country to Disney’s fantasy land of the past, present, and tomorrow.
Works Cited
1. Berger, Arthur. Deconstructing Travel: Cultural Perspectives on Tourism. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, 2004.
2. Bryman, Alan. Disney and His Worlds. London; New York: Routledge, 1995.
3. Bryman, Alan. Disneyization of Society. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE, 2004.
4. Mannheim, Steve. Walt Disney and the Quest for Community. Aldershot Hants, England; Durlington, VT: Ashgate, c2002.
This week we have been talking about grids, housing, subdivisions, housing, developments, leisure, and marketability all based around families in the 1950s that have attained the ‘American Dream’. These developments followed the unspoken rules of conformity each urbanite faced. Yet, the rules were the cause of stress among men as they worried about the growth of crabgrass in their front lawns, as well as the source of female depression. But by 1954 these men and women, suffering from their perfect lives, found escape on ABC’s Disneyland show. The show presented the continuous progress of Anaheim’s seventeen million dollar Disneyland. The show was hosted by Walt Disney, later being referred to as Uncle Walt. He brought many popular television personalities to popularize and promote the opening of the park. Disneyland opened July 17, 1955 to not only admission paying guests, but to the millions of fans watching the nationwide broadcast at home as well. Disneyland opened at the height of suburban living. With improvements in transportation involving vehicles and the creation of highways, the park became easily accessible to the public.
The building of the park is like the uprising of the suburbs, a true fantasy land, built up from the orange groves of California. Every aspect of the immediate environment of Disneyland is controlled-just as each part of the suburban development is. The park was designed for white middle-class families and to keep this target market, Disneyland created high admission prices to keep out lower-class families. Also, Disneyland targeted the whole family, not just the children, as a place of fun and excitement. Disneyland provided entertainment for the family and liberated people from the demands of their everyday lives. It also let people escape the obligation of maintaining mundane behavior. With high walls surrounding the whole park, it became a place for families to go to escape reality. These walls protected the guests from seeing the outside world, giving the park an out of sight, out of mind feel.
The theme park also became a hyperreality for the public, which is the domination of simulation over reality. Carrying the slogan of being the “Happiest Place on Earth”, Disneyland became an ultimate reality-with America just being an imitation of it. After watching the construction of Disneyland in Anaheim’s grid, American families began to look at Disneyland as a Mecca. It was a ‘pilgrimage for visitors’, and the important factor being that they have been to and experienced the world of Disneyland. The housing developments, with a corner market, failed to be what everyone expected. Since suburban living was not the perfect life people expected, they turned, like the rest of the country to Disney’s fantasy land of the past, present, and tomorrow.
Works Cited
1. Berger, Arthur. Deconstructing Travel: Cultural Perspectives on Tourism. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, 2004.
2. Bryman, Alan. Disney and His Worlds. London; New York: Routledge, 1995.
3. Bryman, Alan. Disneyization of Society. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE, 2004.
4. Mannheim, Steve. Walt Disney and the Quest for Community. Aldershot Hants, England; Durlington, VT: Ashgate, c2002.
posted by Leslie Madsen-Brooks at 10/22/2006 10:29:00 PM
4 Comments:
I thought it was very interesting how the authors of this entry likened Disneyland to the newly developed suburbs of the 50s. I think (more so then, than now) that people tend to focus on the happiness that places such as Disneyland promise their patrons and they forget that such places are, at their core, money making machines. Furthermore, it is intriguing that such a “family oriented” environment would use the 1950s American's urgency to conform as a way to attract more people to the park. Were the developers of Disneyland actually thinking of making people feel more comfortable in their park by designing it in a similar fashion to the boxed conformity that they were offered on a daily basis in their suburban homes and thus make them feel at ease when parting with their hard-earned money?
I can definitely see the correlation between a "white suburban" American and Disneyland. The suburbs were marketed mainly toward working white middle class citizens, as was according to the blog so was the theme park. I wonder if "Uncle Walt" ever thought of restricting patrons based on their cultural backrounds. But than again it is a small world after all, and we are talking about the color of money not of people.
Matt B.
I am studying Disneyland in another AMS class right now and thought it was interesting that we commonly equate the high prices of today's ticket to Disneyland with an effort to only allow the middle and upper-middle class to partake in the theme park. When Disneyland opened, ticket prices were relatively low, only costing $1.25 per person, allowing anyone with access to transportation to enter Disneyland and the "world of the middle class." Disneyland was not reserved for the privileged or the wealthy, despite Walt Disney's attempts to descriminate against those who did not measure up to his "American ideals."
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