The mouse that Walt built: Contemporary contextual readings of Disney World

This dissertation addresses the Disney phenomenon as both a cultural producer and stimulant. The introduction offers a review of the pertinent Disney literature, a brief examination of postmodernism and simulacra as related to Disney, and a consideration of the highly successful Disney formula for creating and marketing its products. In the subsequent chapters, through a series of four related investigations, Disney World emerges as a prominent force in contemporary---most especially American---society. Through comparison to the medieval pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela, as well as pilgrimage centers in general, it becomes clear that Disney is a contemporary pilgrimage place that extends at least a quasi-religious experience, and potentially, as I argue, a fully religious one. The metaphor of the Garden of Eden is also specifically manifested at Disney World. Other paradisal constructs---literary, landscape painting, ideal cities, gardens, and outsider environments---provide us with clues about the theme park's Edenic qualities. Furthermore, our age witnesses the confluence of Disney World and Las Vegas as entertainment cities designed to induce hypercommercialism through constructed fantasy spaces. The boundaries between both have been blurred, forcing the question: Is Vegas more like Disney, is Disney more like Vegas, or are they a conglomeration representing what the whole of America is becoming? Finally, I examine the direct connections between Disney World (focusing on Epcot Center) and World's Fairs. Here technological promise and future aspirations are played out side by side with the troubling realities attendant to colonial imperialism, and our present fragmentation of the world via the global village's imagery. In conclusion, I consider---and to an extent counter---charges against Disney as an imperialist and monopolized transnational corporation that exports mediocre taste. Although I can only conjecture about the livelihood of Disney World, its indicators point to a sustaining bright future.