Rico72, Dorfman

We recently read an article in CMC 200 about Disney World and it goes along with this one perfectly. Although the article we read focused more on political economy aspects of Disney, this article did a fantastic job of summing up the "Disney" feeling. The reason Disney world stays in business and charges such high prices is because there is no where else in the world (other than a Disney park somewhere else) that can give almost everyone the same exact feeling, being a child again. This is proven by the thousands of people that go to the parks each DAY! Since I work in a theme park (although not Disney), I can say that on the slowest days there are still going to be about 5,000+ people. On busy days, such as New Years Eve they will sometimes have to close the gates to the park and not let anyone else in because it is no longer "safe" according to the fire department. Dorfman perfectly states what brings people to want to pay to wait in lines and buy over-priced clothes to wear after getting sick on a ride and re-visiting their over-priced food.

"Nostalgically, he appropriates the "natural disposition" of the child in order to conceal the guilt arising from his own fall from grace; it is the price of redemption for his own condition. By the standards of his angelic model, he must judge himself guilty; as much as he needs this land of enchantment and salvation, he could never imagine it with the necessary purity. He could never turn into his own child. But this salvation only offers him an imperfect escape' it can never be so pure as to block off all his real life problems" (127).

Dorman is saying that when you go to Disney World as an adult, you wish you could see it from a child's eyes. When I go to Disney now it doesn't have the same magic it did when I was a kid. Parents bring their kids there so they can see the expressions on their face and they hope it will help them feel that special feeling again. Sadly, none of us ever will. Like Dorfman says, we lack the necessary purity. We will never be able to forget about our real life problems that we have matured and come to understand. It's a little depressing to think about honestly...so hopefully this will both be slightly relevant...and put a smile on your face!