Week 6 Day 2

Today’s class discussion brought to mind memories of Disneyworld in my past. I remember asking my Mom if she had taken me to Disneyworld as a child, just 15 minutes away from our first house in Orlando Florida. She told me when I was a baby and its one of those things you have to do, certainly not enjoyable for parents. Being someone who has lived near Disneyworld the majority of my life, I can see the nightly firework display on my dock, the shock and awe of it all isn’t really there as it is for an outsider who doesn’t view Orlando quite the way a native does.

One Disney movie that I loved was Mary Poppins. The absolute best scene that I would replay again and again was when she would open up her umbrella and lightly leaf down from the sky ever so softly. To my dismay, I did not leaf down from the staircase and the landing was anything but soft, the images that Disney portrays leave an impression on young children who sometimes reenact them, “Disneyland tells us that technology can give us more reality than nature can”(Eco, 203).

It also goes back to how you’re raised, Disneyworld was never glorified in my house. The only Disney I had in my life outside of the 2 or 3 amusement park trips were the random movies laying around the house which were quickly removed when I reached an age that my Mother felt I was out growing the need to watch fantasy. The way Disney treats that surrounded inhabitants is very different than the way it treats others outside of Orlando. The billboards begin and are facing the cars that are driving away from the airport and even the airport is full of characters and a large Disney store. Disney to me is a strong driving force that has provided a lot of people jobs but has also created a lot of pollution in Orlando. The tourists who crowd the streets and the cumulated waste left on the side of the roads makes me sick. The rapid growth of it all is intense as well; even just 10 years ago there was a lot more grass and orange trees and not so much congestion in the streets. Growing up, swimming outside was a much more enjoyable past time than getting into the hot car in the Florida heat to than wait in traffic to find yourself spending more time waiting than enjoying. Two girls from my High school are now Disney Characters, Cinderella and Jasmine, and they certainly do not exemplify role models in any sense of the word.

I don’t mean to sound negative, Disney brings a lot of joy and has built an immense cultural impact on everyone in the world (negatively and positively) but to think of the power that the wealthy corporate few have on such a massive force is not something that should be accepted so easily.