At Disney World you can
purchase Buzz Lightyear
Made in China
When visiting Disney World last week I overheard a child being asked what is the best thing they liked about Disney World. The child responded: “I like all the stuff you can get.” Probably the child’s answer would have been different thirty minuets later but this answer struck me as being honest and something adults will not so readily and admit. Disney World was full of stuff to purchase, to eat, experience. Trying to keep a Silence of the Heart was a major challenge in a place full of stuff, people, noise, stimuli.
Disney World is a celebration of American fantasy culture for white people from around the world. There were very few African American in the crowds of hundreds of thousands in the four theme parks. Disney World appeals to the belief that American culture is special or exceptional in the world. Many of the other cultures represented in Disney World are presented as being like American culture.
There was so much to see, hear and experience that it was tempting for me to just numb one self, smile and move on. However, I tried to experience what was happening around me, to see, hear, smell, touch and taste. But there was too much to take it all in. This is the new dream of Americana culture.
The statement of the child, liking Disney World for all the stuff you can get, reminded me of statements about the New American Dream, “to get all you can get.” The American dream of house, car and providing for the family seems to be no longer enough. The new American dream is to get “all the stuff you can get.”
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