Disneyland California Expert Writer NEEDED

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Cultural Studies

November 13, 2018

Disneyland As Spectacle

Do you ever feel like both giant and kind of small at Disneyland? Thanks to the Walt Disney Imagineering team, this visual achievement is made possible through their meticulous use of a method called “Forced Perspective”. Using forced perspective, buildings and objects can seem bigger or smaller than reality. Imagineers can alter the perceived distance between objects as well. This paper will take on another definition of forced perspective and how Disney exploits forces perspective in a highly-successful marketing strategy as part of the park culture.

Evidently, most of the market economy is flooded by mass media. This includes all capitalist driven phenomena like television, internet, advertising, and film. Debord describes this method as a spectacle as it is a capitalist instrument used to distract and pacify masses. Human interactions and relationships can be in alteration by spectacles (Debord, 2016). For instance, photography and film provide an illusion of connectivity by collapsing time and geographic distance. On the other hand, Debord acknowledges that for a commodity to stand out, it must stand out in the fight. In addition, many spectacle-driven spectators are captivated with fictitious speakers and marketers who sell and promote their commodities.

Companies and spectacles like Disneyland use the element forced perspective to market their commodities from day-admission tickets and annual passes to a variety of Disney souvenirs. While some guests are more than aware of the capitalist approach, many of them do not seem to mind and surrender themselves as consumers to this multi-billion-dollar money-hungry-monster. A lot of us are aware of Disney’s corporate and dark-side but still wish to dismiss that and think of the sweet and innocent Disney that uses film and images to influence spectator's belief, desires, and aspirations. Thus, Disney is a spectacle and uses its own methods of forced perspective to captivate consumers to a world of commodities as it grows substantially by popular demand year after year.

Many of the Disneyland fans fancy the park as a spectacle which accounts for the commodity of the entrance ticket. But the park utilizes forced perspective in its original technical term to attract guests to its attractions. Most Disneyland fans know that Main Street, U.S.A. was built using forced perspective. For instance, two and three-story buildings are made to look bigger than they are. In fact, the exteriors of shops on Main Street are built to three-quarters scale on the first story, five-eighths scale on the second, and on a half scale on the third. This gives the illusion of a full three-story building without it being three-stories high. Another instance is the Sleeping Beauty castle, which is made to look much bigger than it is. As visitors approach the castle, Disney’s use of forced perspective for the structure creates an illusion of magnificence & stature, as it rises guests’ anticipation. Many guests tend to not notice it unless they are very keen to. As they look upwards, the bricks gradually change in size from large to small; even though the castle may seem to rise into the clouds, it is only less than 90 feet tall.

Imagineers must work very hard in order to achieve forced perspective in different parts of the park with subtlety, precision, and cohesion. Concurrently, the park as a spectacle is designed to be irresistible to the fans and consumers who cannot get enough of their commodities. There is a level of manipulation to which Disney forces guest perspectives in methods like creating their own color of “Go Away Green”, which is a very bland green shade that is used throughout the park but people do not really think much about it, as it was designed to keep the spectator's eyes on other attractions and preferably to shops and restaurants. The outdoor looking speakers underneath the windows of bakeries, dessert, and ice-cream parlors are vents patented as Smellitzer to tempt our sense of smell; some are enhanced with vanilla because of its seamless calming effect of a powerful urge to look into a store and see what they are offering. Other popular scents are the turkey legs, popcorn, and churro scents

As you research, ask, and dig deeper you realize the psychological manipulation design behind Disney’s parks and how it innocently presents itself as a fun and beautiful theme park, yet you come to notice more and more how it is merely a money-generating deception machine. This spectacle-machine does not stop, rain or shine, every day of the year as it lures in day-ticket guests and annual pass members. Guests are bound to spend an average minimum of $30 per person a day on park commodities. Single-time visitors usually spend as much as a day-tickets worth per person on gifts and collectibles alone, yet that is not to say that annual members don’t spend as much; in fact, annual members regardless of their membership level, spend a monthly average of $30 per person on limited or seasonal shopping souvenirs. Add to that, an average of two meals a day and a consumer is easily shelling out $90 or more per visit. This is without considering hotel guests at Disney, which averages to $360 per night for all three hotels. The company’s greatest success is attributed to the experiential marketing and meticulous placemaking techniques which make the park memorable.

The Disneyland Resort is basically a spectacle that depicts the unrealism of real society. The park contemplates the reality by giving a positive cohesiveness to the consumers. By closely examining the park's main street building, it will be evident that the accessories, signs, windows, at the upper levels, are much smaller than the ground level. Additionally, the building angles towards the castle are slightly inwards making the castle seem to be further away. However, upon reverse the opposite is true. As a spectacle, Disney visibly negates life-affirming appearance of reality as it camouflages itself with fantasy and unrealism. The park tends to make one see the world through specialized mediations. Thus, it is very hard to comprehend with mere gaze or hearing.

Nevertheless, Disney uses perceptual technology to gain economically. Through false-consciousness, the park pacifies the masses that are in most cases lonely crowds. The consumers view the park as more positive and indisputable. The warring and deceptive-contradictory nature like the incline, decline, or sinking of streets and the castle make the park more attractive to the consumers. Disney attracts its consumers through its relentless imagery and proffering. In addition, Disney harnesses the weak and compulsive shoppers and uses them to attract even more consumers, shopping addicts, and naïve masses as it disguises consumerism with spectacle through “consumer’s choice”. The park tries hard to exploit the spectators lingering desire to spend. In addition, Disney markets a lifestyle of leisure, happiness, and fun which in turn compensates the fragmented real life. Disney as a spectacle reduces reality by offering enjoyable fragments which encourage the masses to focus on appearances, allowing many consumers the opportunity to spend their hard-work earned income in order to enjoy the imaginary and fantasy life in Disneyland California.

References

Debord, Guy. Society of the Spectacle. Black & Red, 2016.

Tiernan Morgan and Lauren Purje. (2016). An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord’s ‘The Society of the Spectacle accessed from

https://hyperallergic.com/313435/an-illustrated-guide-to-guy-debords-the-society-of-the-spectacle/

Guy, Debord. “Society of the Spectacle.” translated by Greg Adargo, 1977, accessed

from

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/debord/society.htm