Displacing Disney: Some notes on the flow of culture

Abstract

This article presents a comparative reading of the theme parks Disneyland, DisneyWorld, Tokyo Disneyland, and (in brief) EuroDisney. The aim is to explore how an explicitly American product flows across distinct cultural boundaries. The park itself is treated as a source of “cultural experience” for those who pay to wander about its grounds and partake of its attractions. The meaning of this cultural experience depends however on the social context in which it occurs and — despite corporate claims to the contrary — is anything but universal.