Full Description
Writing in a time of heightened political anxiety-and when accusations of nationalism, authoritarianism, and proto-fascism have increasingly divided Americans into factions- the authors use their influential performance studies-based 'tourist as actor' framework to unpack the ways that Disney parks and their guests co-create performance of implicit Americanness in the 21st century. This book argues that the roles that guests choose to perform-- accepting, declining, negotiating, or overwriting scripts offered to them by the Disney theme park experience-- ultimately reveals much about the nature of the contemporary United States. Focusing primarily on Walt Disney World in Florida, and using case studies on music, geography and ecology, sports, families, and politics, these chapters illuminate the always complicated and often contradictory presentations and performances of America within Disney parks in the deeply contested twenty-first century.
Contents
Introduction: Two Fourths of July at the Magic Kingdom
Chapter One: Voices of Liberty: Disney Parks' HarmonioUS and CacophonoUS Sonic Performances of American Musical Culture
Chapter Two: Labyrinths and Hyperspace: Escapist Geography and Absented Ecology in American Disney Parks
Chapter Three: "If You Can't Run Fast, Run Fabulous": The Evolution of Sporting at Disney and of American Conceptions of "Athlete"
Chapter Four: "Ohana Means Family?" Who Is Included in a Disney Family and Who Is Forgotten
Chapter Five: From Yippies to MAGA Provocateurs: Politicized Tourists Crash the Kingdom
Conclusion: Fist Fights and Friendship Bracelets: Disney Parks as Conflicted Commons
