Download or read book Disney Theme Parks and America s National Narratives written by Bethanee Bemis and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-27 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disney Theme Parks and America’s National Narratives takes a public history approach to situating the physical spaces of the Disney brand within memory and identity studies. For over 65 years, Disney’s theme parks have been important locations for the formation and negotiation of the collective memory of the American narrative. Disney’s success as one of America’s most prolific storytellers, its rise as a symbol of America itself, and its creation of theme parks that immerse visitors in three-dimensional versions of certain "American" values and historic myths have both echoed and shaped the way the American people see themselves. Like all versions of the American narrative, Disney’s vision serves to reassure us, affirm our shared values, and unite a diverse group of people under a distinctly American identity—or at least, it did. The book shows how the status Disney obtained led the public to use them both as touchstones of identity and as spaces to influence the American identity writ large. This volume also examines the following: • how Disney’s original cartoons and live-action entertainment offerings drew from American folk history and ideals • how their work during World War II cemented them as an American symbol at home and abroad • how the materialization of the American themes already espoused by the brand at their theme parks created a place where collective memory lives • how legitimization by presidents and other national figures gave the theme parks standing no other entertainment space has • how Disney has changed alongside the American people and continues to do so today. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of history, media, cultural studies, American studies and tourism.

Download or read book Tamara written by John Krizanc and published by House of Anansi. This book was released on 2021-08-03 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Available for the first time in over thirty years, John Krizanc’s internationally acclaimed play redefined the limits of theatre with its haunting tale of art, sex, violence, and political intrigue in Fascist Italy. In the late twenties the poet, war hero, and lothario Gabriele d’Annunzio waits in his opulent villa — a gift from Benito Mussolini in return for his political silence — for the arrival of the artist Tamara de Lempicka, who is to paint his portrait. What follows is a tale of art, sex, violence and the meaning of complicity in an authoritarian state. The action is directed by the reader/audience member, who decides which characters to follow and which narratives to experience. John Krizanc’s masterpiece redefined theatre and won six L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards, six Dora Mavor Moore Awards, six Drama-Logue Awards, and six Mexican Association of Theatre Critics, and Journalists Awards for its original productions. Now available in a handsome new A List edition, Tamara is an astonishing piece of experimental art and a penetrating look into ethical choices in times of encroaching autocracy.

Download or read book The Disney Story written by Aaron H. Goldberg and published by Quaker Scribe. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attention, all Disney Fans! Do you enjoy reading about the Disney theme parks? Perhaps you're enamored with the man who was Walt Disney? Maybe you're just plain crazy for Mickey Mouse and the Disney big-screen features? No need to order your serving of Disney history and knowledge a la carte anymore.Welcome to The Disney Story, a decade-by-decade look back on the man, the mouse, and the theme parks. From Mickey Mouse's debut at the Colony Theatre in November 1928 to the opening of Shanghai Disneyland in 2016--and everything in between--finally, the world's greatest storyteller has their story told!In addition to reliving Disney's most memorable moments, there are numerous interesting and lesser-known stories that will expand your Disney knowledge and give you a fresh perspective on your favorite Disney topic. The Disney Story is more than just a timeline of Disney events and a collection of interesting stories. It's a vehicle and guidebook that can be used to travel back in time and read about your favorite Disney subjects via an interactive bibliography on the book's companion website.Disney's ninety-year journey is all here in one volume, complete with informative stories and tidbits about the theme parks, movies, and Walt himself. Revel in the remarkable innovations and legendary Disney magic that make the company the premiere name in entertainment today.

Download or read book Walt s Apprentice written by Dick Nunis and published by Disney Electronic Content. This book was released on 2022-10-11 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Walt's Apprentice: Keeping the Disney Dream Alive is the memoir of Disney Legend Dick Nunis. It is a warm personal reminiscence of learning directly from Walt Disney for 12 years, followed by more than 30 years devoted to championing his vision and standards as the Disney empire grew. The story covers Disney's highlights, including the 1960 Winter Olympics, 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, and the development and opening of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Epcot, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. Unlike other Disney books, this story is told from the perspective of operations rather than Imagineering. It touches on decisions that defined the guest experience and Disney's reputation for quality in areas ranging from capacity and people-moving, training, delivering a consistent "good show," food service, and more.This first-person narrative is presented as a series of wide-ranging vignettes. Some vignettes focus on personal, character-shaping events, such as the injury that ended his collegiate football career. Other stories touch on national events, such as Nikita Khrushchev's derailed visit to Disneyland, the decision to close the park following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan's assistance in expediting the visa process for cast members staffing the Epcot World Showcase. Few people have enjoyed a life so immersed in Disney magic. These stories share that magic through the memories of one of the original doers and dreamers. Searching for that perfect gift for the #1 Disney fan in your life? Explore more behind-the-scenes stories from Disney Editions: One Little Spark! Mickey's Ten Commandments and The Road to Imagineering (By Disney Legend Marty Sklar) Magic Journey: My Fantastical Walt Disney Imagineering Career (By Kevin Rafferty) Travels with Walt Disney: A Photographic Voyage Around the World (By Jeff Kurtti) Eat Like Walt: The Wonderful World of Disney Food (By Marcy Carriker Smothers) Walt Disney: An American Original (By Bob Thomas)

Download or read book Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory written by Mike Wallace and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about why history matters. It shows how popularized historical images and narratives deeply influence Americans' understanding of their collective past. A leading public historian, Mike Wallace observes that we are a people who think of ourselves as having shed the past but also avid tourists who are on a "heritage binge," flocking by the thousands to Ellis Island, Colonial Williamsburg, or the Vietnam Memorial.Wallace probes into the trivialization of history that pervades American culture as well as the struggles over public memory that provoke stormy controversy. The recent imbroglio surrounding the National Air and Space Museum's proposed Enola Gay exhibit was reported as centering on why the U.S. government decided to use the A-Bomb against Japan. Wallace scrutinizes the actual plans for the exhibit and investigates the ways in which the controversy drew in historians, veterans, the media, and the general public.Whether his subject is multimillion dollar theme parks owned by powerful corporations, urban museums, or television docudramas, Mike Wallace shows how their depictions of history are shaped by assumptions about which pasts are worth saving, whose stories are worth telling, what gets left out, and who is authorized to make the decisions. Author note: Mike Wallace is Professor of History at John Jay College, City University of New York. He is the co-author, with Edwin G. Burrows, of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for History.

Download or read book Walt s Utopia written by Priscilla Hobbs and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “Happiest Place on Earth” opened in 1955 during a trying time in American life—the Cold War. Disneyland was envisioned as a utopian resort where families could play together and escape the tension of the “real world.” Since its construction, the park has continually been updated to reflect changing American culture. The park’s themed features are based on familiar Disney stories and American history and folklore. They reflect the hopes of a society trying to understand itself in the wake of World War II. This book takes a fresh look at the park, analyzing its cultural narrative by looking beyond consumerism and corporate marketing to how Disney helped America cope during the Cold War and beyond.

Download or read book The Disney theme parks home to the mouse hyperreality and consumerism written by Florian Mayer and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2002-12-10 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Sociology - Media, Art, Music, grade: 1 (A), University of Leeds (Culural Studies department), course: Media Theory, language: English, abstract: In many parts of our world today people dream a dream of magic and illusion, prosperity and happiness, which is essentially an American dream, exported by the wizards of branding, by companies like McDonald′s, Nike, Coca-Cola and especially The Walt Disney Company (WDC). Known for being `the inventor of modern branding′ and `modern synergy′, the Disney company `has managed to insinuate its characters, stories, and image as good, clean, fun enterprise into the consciousness of millions around the earth′. The WDC today boasts revenue of more than $25 billion from its operations in media networks, consumer products, studio entertainment, Internet, and parks and resorts, and employs 120,000 people worldwide. Furthermore, it can be seen as `the single most powerful and influential force in the globalization of Western culture'. Having themed parks in California (Disneyland, Anaheim), Florida (Walt Disney World, Orlando), France (Disneyland and Disney Studios Paris), Japan (Tokyo Disney Resort), China (Hong Kong Disneyland), and as rumours suggest having plans for parks in Shanghai and Delhi, Disney spreads its `value-laden environments′ across the world. Thereby, it is `extending and expanding Classic Disney - `the Disney universe′ or `Disney vision′ - into a material and physical existence, as well as ′providing a strong dose of All-American ideology′. Since the theme parks `contribute significantly to Disney′s overall corporate goals, providing ongoing revenues and promotion for other parts of the corporate empire′ it is worthwhile to closer examine the parks which are viewed by many observers as `showcases for postmodernism′ and `panegyrics to capitalism′.

Download or read book Disneyland and Culture written by Kathy Merlock Jackson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-08-31 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The success of Disneyland as the world's first permanent, commercially viable theme park sparked the creation of a number of other parks throughout the world, from Florida to Japan, France, and Hong Kong. But the impact of Disneyland is not confined to the theme park arena. These essays explore a far-reaching ideology. Among the topics are Disney's role in the creation of children's architecture; Frontierland as an allegorical map of the American West; the "cultural invasion of France" in Disneyland Paris; the politics of nostalgia; and "hyperurbanity" in the town of Celebration, Florida. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Download or read book Performance and the Disney Theme Park Experience written by Jennifer A. Kokai and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-27 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses Disney parks using performance theory. Few to no scholars have done this to date—an enormous oversight given the Disney parks’ similarities to immersive theatre, interpolation of guests, and dramaturgical construction of attractions. Most scholars and critics deny agency to the tourist in their engagement with the Disney theme park experience. The vast body of research and journalism on the Disney “Imagineers”—the designers and storytellers who construct the park experience—leads to the misconception that these exceptional artists puppeteer every aspect of the guest’s experience. Contrary to this assumption, Disney park guests find a range of possible reading strategies when they enter the space. Certainly Disney presents a primary reading, but generations of critical theory have established the variety of reading strategies that interpreters can employ to read against the text. This volume of twelve essays re-centers the park experience around its protagonist: the tourist.

Download or read book Vinyl Leaves written by Stephen M Fjellman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-20 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Walt Disney World is a pilgrimage site filled with utopian elements, craft, and whimsy. It’s a pedestrian’s world, where the streets are clean, the employees are friendly, and the trains run on time. All of its elements are themed, presented in a consistent architectural, decorative, horticultural, musical, even olfactory tone, with rides, shows, r

Download or read book Family theme parks happiness and children s consumption From roller coasters to Pippi Longstocking written by David Cardell and published by Linköping University Electronic Press. This book was released on 2016-09-24 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an ethnographic contribution to research on children’s consumption, family life and happiness. Various and shifting notions of happiness are explored, as well as conditions for and challenges to happiness, through an analysis of video-recorded interviews and mobile ethnography conducted in two of the most popular theme parks in Sweden. Initially, the study outlines how previous research has conceptualized happiness in association with time and place in a rather static way. Based on a treatise of notions of happiness in philosophy and the social sciences, there is a turn in this thesis towards practice. It generates fundamental knowledge about the complexity of happiness. By employing this approach, it is possible to highlight how happiness is enacted as part of and in relation to ideals of family life, time, childhood, money, consumption, experiences and material things. As we explore the practices of children and their families, we discover that shifting meanings of happiness are located in contemporary culture, where emotions and consumption are of central importance. The approach is interdisciplinary, and draws on theoretical and methodological contributions in sociology, anthropology and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Notions of meshwork and enactment become important for the exploration of happiness as a complex and changing matter, which productively involves social relations and material things. Throughout the thesis there is a dialogue with previous research on happiness, consumption and childhood which highlights the importance of exploring messy practices, in movement. It is argued that explorations of practice contribute to a critical understanding of how happiness and contemporary ideals of childhood can be approached – through consumption and as part of citizenship in a consumer society where happiness is of central importance. Abstract [sv] Denna avhandling utgör ett etnografiskt bidrag till forskning om barns konsumtion, familjeliv och lycka. Genom en analys av videoinspelade intervjuer samt familjebesök till två av Sveriges mest välbesökta temaparker utforskas skiftande betydelser av lycka, liksom dess förutsättningar och utmaningar. Tidigare temaparks-forskning har generellt tagit lyckans existens för given. Utifrån en inledande diskussion om bland annat olika filosofiska och samhällsvetenskapliga lyckoteorier argumenterar avhandlingen för att studier av praktik tillför ny och grundläggande kunskap om lyckans komplexa sammansättningar. Avhandlingen visar därigenom att lycka iscensätts som en del av – och i förhållande till – ideal om familjeliv, tid, barndom, pengar, konsumtion, upplevelser och materiella ting. Genom att fokusera på barn och deras familjers praktiker lokaliseras lyckans skiftande betydelser i en samtidskultur där emotioner och konsumtion är centrala. Avhandlingens ansats är tvärvetenskaplig och hämtar teoretisk och metodologisk inspiration från sociologi, antropologi samt teknik- och vetenskapsstudier (STS). Genom denna ansats synliggörs sammanflätningar av sociala relationer och materiella ting som produktiva i iscensättandet av lycka. Genom en dialog mellan empiriska beskrivningar och forskning om lycka, konsumtion och barndom belyser avhandlingen nödvändigheten av att synliggöra och utforska röriga och rörliga praktiker. Det bidrar till en kritisk förståelse av praktik som kan förändra hur vi närmar oss lycka och samtida barndomsideal – som konsumenter och medborgare i ett lyckosträvande konsumtionssamhälle.

Download or read book From Hollywood to Disneyland written by Robert Neuman and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2022-10-31 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its beginnings, Disneyland was destined to be something entirely different from the standard mid-century amusement park. To sell his dream park to investors and the public, Walt Disney recruited Hollywood art directors and sketch artists to design the grounds around the mythic settings and high-minded ideals commonly expressed on the silver screen. This book focuses on the initial planning of Disneyland and its first year of operation, a time when Walt personally oversaw every detail of the park's development. Divided into chapters by park zone, it reveals how the five sectors were constructed using illusionistic tricks of stage design. Reaching beyond structure and design, chapters also explore how the sectors--Main Street, U.S.A., Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland and Fantasyland--represented themes found in Disney stories, familiar movie genres and American culture at large.

Download or read book Buying Disney s World written by Aaron H. Goldberg and published by Quaker Scribe. This book was released on 2021-02-22 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In November of 1965, after numerous months of speculation surrounding a mystery industry that had been purchasing large amounts of land in central Florida, Walt Disney finally put an end to the rumors. He announced to the public his grandiose plans for the thousands of acres he had secretly purchased. For the eighteen months prior to the announcement, Walt entrusted a small group of men to covertly make these purchases. Next, they were tasked with drafting a legislative act to submit to the state of Florida that would allow Disney to wield nearly absolute legal control over the property under a quasi-government municipality. Staying true to its storytelling roots, Disney wove a tale of mystery centered around a high-ranking CIA operative, who was rumored to have been, just a few short years before, the paymaster behind the Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba. This savvy and well-connected CIA agent became the de facto leader for the group of Disney executives and attorneys who orchestrated and executed a nearly perfect plan to keep Disney’s identity a secret from the public by utilizing aliases, shell corporations, and meandering travel itineraries, all in an effort to protect the company’s identity during the land acquisition process. As told through the personal notes and files from the key figures involved in the project, Buying Disney’s World details the story of how Walt Disney World came to be, like you’ve never heard before. From conception to construction and everything in between—including how a parcel of land within Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort was acquired during a high-stakes poker game—explore how the company most famous for creating Mickey Mouse acquired central Florida’s swamps, orange groves, and cow pastures to build a Disney fiefdom and a Magic Kingdom.

Download or read book Disney Stories written by Krystina Madej and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of Disney Stories: Getting to Digital will be of interest to lovers of Disney history and also to lovers of Hollywood history in general. The first edition was planned as a short history of the companies evolution from analog storytelling to a digital online presence that closed the chapter on early Disney films with the release of the groundbreaking Snow White. The purpose of the new edition is to bring to readers a more complete view of the analog-digital story by including three new chapters on film that cover key developments from the live-animation hybrids of the 1940s to CAPS and CGI in the 1990s and VR in the 2010s. It also includes in the discussion of cross-media storytelling the acquisition of the exceptional story property, Star Wars, and discusses how Disney has brought the epic into the Disney Master Narrative by creating Galaxy’s Edge in its US theme parks. Krystina Madej’s engaging portrayal of the long history of Disney’s love affair with storytelling and technology brings to life the larger focus of innovation in creating characters and stories that captivate an audience, and together with Newton Lee’s detailed experience of Disney during the crucial 1995-2005 era when digital innovation in online and games was at its height in the company, makes for a fast-paced captivating read. Disney Stories first edition explored the history of Disney, both analog and digital. It described in detail how Walt Disney used inventive and often ground-breaking approaches in the use of sound, color, depth, and the psychology of characters to move the animation genre from short visual gags to feature-length films with meaningful stories that engaged audience's hearts as well as tickled their funny bones. It showed Walt’s comprehensive approach to engaging the public across all media as he built the Disney Master Narrative by using products, books, comics, public engagements, fan groups such as the Mickey Mouse club, TV, and, of course, Disneyland, his theme park. Finally it showed how, after his passing, the company continued to embrace Walt’s enthusiasm for using new technology to engage audiences through their commitment to innovation in digital worlds. It describes in detail the innovative storybook CD-ROMs, their extensive online presence, the software they used and created for MMORGs such as Toontown, and the use of production methods such as agile methodology. This new edition provides insight on major developments in Disney films that moved them into the digital world.

Download or read book Freedomland U S A written by Michael R. Virgintino and published by Theme Park Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Story of America's Park After being fired by Walt Disney, the flamboyant C.V. Wood brought his hard-won experience as the self-titled "master builder of Disneyland" east, to a marsh in the Bronx, where in 1960 he unveiled his greatest project, a doomed theme park to tell the history of America: Freedomland. Wood's efforts to build his "Disneyland of the East," a themed collection of lands that presented epic moments in American history as thrill rides, shows, and live action, were plagued from the start by politics, cost overruns, and financial chicanery. Despite these obstacles, the park prospered--until its big-money backers (as they had planned from the start) pulled the plug and cleared the land for lucrative urban development. Through a well-researched narrative, personal and newspaper accounts, interviews, and exclusive photos, journalist and author Michael R. Virgintino presents the definitive history of Freedomland, from the people behind its creation, and the executives, entertainers, and sponsors who kept it running, to in-depth looks at each of its historically themed lands, and an analysis of the park's inevitable bankruptcy in 1964. Unlike Disneyland, the story of Freedomland does not have a happily ever after, but theme park fans will not want to miss this captivating but cautionary tale of America's park.

Download or read book Universal versus Disney The Unofficial Guide to American Theme Parks Greatest Rivalry written by Sam Gennawey and published by The Unofficial Guides. This book was released on 2014-10-20 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Universal Studios never really wanted to get into the theme park business. They wanted to be the anti-Disney. But when forced to do so, they did it in a big way. Despite the fits and starts of multiple owners, the parks have finally gained the momentum to mount a serious challenge to the Walt Disney Company. How did this happen? Who made it happen? What does this mean for the theme park industry? In Universal Versus Disney, his newest work to investigate the histories of America's favorite theme parks, seasoned Disney-author Sam Gennawey has thoroughly researched how Universal Studios shook up the multi-billion dollar theme park industry, one so long dominated by Walt Disney and his legacy.

Download or read book Project Future written by Chad Denver Emerson and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida is one of the world's most famous vacation destinations. This iconic resort is now located in what once was thousands of acres of swamp and marshland. Through spy-like moves and innovative strategies, Walt Disney and his cadre of creative leaders turned this massive swamp land into today's Disney World. This books shares the amazing behind the scenes story of how Disney's Florida resort, code-named Project Future, rose from the marshes of Central Florida to become one of the world's most popular theme park resorts.