rk. To achieve this, he used tight security, hired young, energetic white faces, banned hippies, intimidated minorities, and charged exorbitant fees, before stuffing the most sterile Maine Stwhich people loveddown their collective throats. The 185-acre amusement park was divided into areas like Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventurland, Tomorrowland and Maine Street, which all offered a wholesome portrayal of America without war, poverty, or any rough edge normally associated with frontier life, or life in general. The motives of Walt Disney are complicated and contradictory, and therefore will not be discussed in this paper. It has been well noted that Walt had a troubling childhood, and as an adult supported authoritarian power. But it is possible that his park used control to support their financial goals more than to advance any agenda by the founder. Nonetheless, the history taught at Disneyland is consistent with the conservative belief that internal disorder is the great threat to American Democracy. Presidential history according to Walt Disney is nothing more than a series of great steps by great menwhite men, of courseto restore order. As is evidenced in the Presidents exhibit, or on many of the rides (like the Safari) disorder is to be feared. Internal disorder, to Disney, was the west before people like Cody tamed the savages. This disorder, moreover, had been replaced by the model western society of Disneyland. In this sanitized reality, the corporation was the perfect institution, and capitalism inevitable. Disneyland soldin its exhibits, planned communities, and media productsa glorified, American lifestyle based on cleanliness, order, and white middle class values.Disneyland, moreover, as a product of its times pushed a history dominated by competition (a value of extreme relevance during cold war) and capitalism; values which glorified the success of its wealthy, white patrons. Walt Disney, it seems, was v...
