Disneyland Not The Happiest Place On Earth Summary

Disneyland: Not the Happiest Place On Earth George Lipsitz argues that Americans after the 1950’s wanted to delude themselves that their worries were over, that poverty did not exist, that slavery did not happen, and that work was never done. The creation of Disneyland reinforced this delusion because in actuality “Disneyland was a fantasyland,” an imaginary world where Americans went to escape the realities of the world. Walt Disney wanted to create a park that “would physically block out any view of the outside world, so that visitors could concentrate on the pleasant fantasies within its walls.” He helped in the delusion of the American people during the 1950’s. Disneyland was created to feel as if a person was transported to another world not their own. Disney reshaped the landscape of Disneyland so that visitors would lose sight of the surrounding area in order for them to forget the
world they live in while they were in the park.
Disneyland was created to be a place where people can “get away” from the real world and Disney encouraged that by constructing all his ideas along that theme of isolating the park from the realities of the world. An example of Disney’s methods of isolating the park from the real world was to create a “rigid policy of dress and grooming codes,” where security guards would deny admission to individuals who seem inappropriate. This was due to an incident where “300 ‘yippies’ marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima by staging a demonstration in Disneyland.” The “yipppies” accused Disneyland of being “a plastic world of fantasy” that contradicts the truth of the world outside of its walls; which, ironically, is what Disney had intended when
he considered the construction of Disneyland. I agree with the author in that people after the 1950’s were trying to deceive themselves from the outside realities of the world, especially with the construction of Disneyland. The management of Disneyland “has always tried to present the park as a world apart” from the seriousness of the real world. Issues like racism and slavery were incorporated insensitively in Disneyland from restaurants to depictions of attractions. Disney’s attempt to cut itself off from the real world was also due to personal reason. Disney had personal prejudices, for “he never employed African Americans as studio technicians and did not allow them to work in Disneyland in any capacity until pressured to do so in 1963 by civil rights protests.” He thought that his patriotism was beneficial to his customers. Although he succeeded in creating a world in which people could escape from the outside realities, it did not distract from his anti-Semitism. Walt Disney and those who attended the park are deluding themselves when they try to get away from the real world and the tragedies that have bombarded the outside world. In this aspect I agree with the Lipsitz because the creator of Disneyland and those who go to Disneyland want to “believe that their worries [are] over.” Those who could afford to go to Disneyland paid for an isolating experience that the park provided and where they could do what they do best which is consume. This reading reflects on other readings that were during the 1920’s where America was very much a consumer nation. Disneyland was its very own world where people would be able to pay admission to get away from the realities that were outside of its walls. It was its own world in that those who went there consumed like they had before. One would think that the people of the United States would be more cognizant of the world and their money when the Great Depression just barely ended. They should be a bit more miserly when it comes to money than just consuming at Disneyland. It did not matter that “the living standards were at an all-time high,” where Americans were buying consumer goods in extraordinary amounts because those consumers were profoundly in debt. They were able to lie to themselves that everything was right in the world and that they had nothing to worry about. The construction of Disneyland facilitated in this delusion of believing that the troubles of the world were basically nonexistent. This essay reinforces the understanding of mass consumerism and debt that caused one of the greatest calamities that has ever been experienced in the United States.