*POP*
there goes that bubble...you know, the one where disneyland is simply an innocent merchandising ploy to drain the masses of their (mostly) hard-earned money. who knew that it was specifically designed to champion a social order which marginalized minorities into one-dimensional, side-show stereotypes? .thanks mr. avila...now it's a small world means so much more to me. and this while simultaneously dangling the dream of American middle-classness right in front of said minorities' noses? an evil i never thought possible of ANYTHiNG disney!
if you'll forgive me my own stereotype .and i know you will...because it's just for the sake of blargument. i might have expected this of those snobby, boujis .a great word a la will smith, the fresh prince of bel-air (my apologies if that's not the episode where he says it...it's still a great one though) xD. east coast suburbs. aloft put a very subtle emphasis on "whiteness" that was almost imperceptible...the same kind of subtlety displayed by avila's disneyland...this idea of the "carefully managed image" that disney wanted to create, and that jerry and his neighbors struggled to maintain. both pieces repeatedly talk about having a certain level of "predictability" in the suburbs...one, which i find scarily real in the sense of a complacent, consumer lifestyle (such as the one glamorized by disneyland)...but which i find lacking in "the Real" (as jerry called it).
the biggest difference i noticed between avila's historic disneyland/o.c. suburbia and lee's literary NYC suburbia is a sense of time. the literature of aloft captures the suburbs in timeless instances of experience and emotion...things we can all relate to, suburbians or not. but being a historical article, avila's anaheim suburb and especially disneyland seems static and unchanging in comparison, not so much capturing the ideals that pushed suburbia into cookie-cutter contentment, but how disneyland helped to pour into the porch of socal's ear that lecherous distillment of suburban ideals...
it's mind-boggling and a little heartbreaking to me that disney could be considered sort of subversive in this light, especially in our current social climate of political correctness/equality. this is not the paragon of warm-and-fuzzyness that i love...that i clamor to visit every few months...
then again...ask me if i care xP i'm still going to disneyland...if not to be brainwashed by fuehrer disney's unique brand of entertainment, then definitely for the churros xD
there goes that bubble...you know, the one where disneyland is simply an innocent merchandising ploy to drain the masses of their (mostly) hard-earned money. who knew that it was specifically designed to champion a social order which marginalized minorities into one-dimensional, side-show stereotypes? .thanks mr. avila...now it's a small world means so much more to me. and this while simultaneously dangling the dream of American middle-classness right in front of said minorities' noses? an evil i never thought possible of ANYTHiNG disney!
if you'll forgive me my own stereotype .and i know you will...because it's just for the sake of blargument. i might have expected this of those snobby, boujis .a great word a la will smith, the fresh prince of bel-air (my apologies if that's not the episode where he says it...it's still a great one though) xD. east coast suburbs. aloft put a very subtle emphasis on "whiteness" that was almost imperceptible...the same kind of subtlety displayed by avila's disneyland...this idea of the "carefully managed image" that disney wanted to create, and that jerry and his neighbors struggled to maintain. both pieces repeatedly talk about having a certain level of "predictability" in the suburbs...one, which i find scarily real in the sense of a complacent, consumer lifestyle (such as the one glamorized by disneyland)...but which i find lacking in "the Real" (as jerry called it).
the biggest difference i noticed between avila's historic disneyland/o.c. suburbia and lee's literary NYC suburbia is a sense of time. the literature of aloft captures the suburbs in timeless instances of experience and emotion...things we can all relate to, suburbians or not. but being a historical article, avila's anaheim suburb and especially disneyland seems static and unchanging in comparison, not so much capturing the ideals that pushed suburbia into cookie-cutter contentment, but how disneyland helped to pour into the porch of socal's ear that lecherous distillment of suburban ideals...
it's mind-boggling and a little heartbreaking to me that disney could be considered sort of subversive in this light, especially in our current social climate of political correctness/equality. this is not the paragon of warm-and-fuzzyness that i love...that i clamor to visit every few months...
then again...ask me if i care xP i'm still going to disneyland...if not to be brainwashed by fuehrer disney's unique brand of entertainment, then definitely for the churros xD
2 comments:
obvi you and I need to go to disneyland, since all the other kids in the class feel hatred for the beloved facet of our childhood. :P
I'm really intrigued by your take on "time" in the Avila article, and the Lee. It is truly sad when our special things and places are exposed for their ideological heinousness, but hey, I'm still gonna go to Target (tarzhay) even if its run by insane conservatives. And I'm sure, like you, I'll end up going to Disneyland again too.
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