It’s Not Easy Being Orange: Animatronic Presidents, Patriotic Muppets, and the Configuration of Citizenship in Disney’s Liberty Square

Abstract

It’s Not Easy Being OrangeAnimatronic Presidents, Patriotic Muppets, and the Configuration of Citizenship in Disney’s Liberty Square Chase Bringardner (bio) The aftermath of the 2016 election resonated widely into almost every nook and cranny of society, nationally and globally. What once had seemed an impossibility to so many now suddenly stared the nation directly in the face as a stark reality. Uncertainty and disbelief permeated pages and screens and media of all sorts struggled to make sense of what had happened. As norms faltered and new nationalisms emerged, the very ideas or constructs of citizen and citizenry were turned on their head. The previously established scripts no longer held together. The fragile threads that sought to hold together the citizenry unraveled. As the new administration sought to actively restrict and redefine what it meant to be American under the auspices of renewed greatness, the future for many suddenly seemed to have a whole lot less hope. At Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, the self-proclaimed happiest place on earth, “imagineers” (those tasked within the Disney corporation with implementing new, innovative, and imaginative concepts and technology) faced a particular challenge. As polls had consistently shown former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a clear favorite to win, imagineers had (allegedly) already begun construction on a Clinton animatronic figure to join the forty-three men who had served as president of the United States in Walt Disney’s Hall of Presidents, an animatronic enhanced show celebrating the institution of the presidency that opened with the Magic Kingdom in 1971.1 As imagineers behind the scenes struggled to (literally) shift gears and refashion latex and paint to reflect this new reality in this classic theme park attraction, for park guests and Disney employees alike, the area surrounding the attraction, known as Liberty Square, offered a possible [End Page 105] framework to understand the rapidly shifting terrain. For just a month before the election, a roaming band of felted, vaudevillian performers took residency in the building next door, entertaining crowds with two different retellings of American history. These performances offer an opportunity to provide a new script on how to engage with the presence of the new animatronic figure in that theatre next door. Moreover, they also perform a certain kind of disruptive and unruly citizenship to respond to this new administration. Through the Muppets’ raucous performance of “Great Moments in History”—delivered with gusto by a frog, a pig, a bear, an eagle, chickens, and Gonzo—audiences get to experience ruptures in the historical narrative and potentially ascertain strategies for performing and perhaps creating alternative citizenries. Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park consists of six different “lands,” each located on a spoke that emanates from the central wheel’s hub (which is immediately in front of Cinderella’s castle). Liberty Square, nestled between Frontierland and Fantasy Land, recreates an idealized Colonial American town square complete with replicas of the Liberty Tree and the Liberty Bell. The land is the primary launch point for the Liberty Bell river boat and home to the Hall of Presidents attraction as well as one of Disney World’s most beloved (albeit perhaps oddly placed) attractions—The Haunted Mansion—which is neither particularly Colonial nor American. The center of Liberty Square contains a replica of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, which houses the Hall of Presidents attraction (figure 8.1). Surrounding that central building are a number of other smaller Colonial structures that give the sense of a bristling Colonial town. In theory, and in Walt Disney’s original conception, these buildings recreate a historical civic space. In practice, these buildings primarily serve to offer theme park guests opportunities to buy products ranging from ornaments from Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe to funnel cakes and foot-long corn dogs from the Sleepy Hollow snack shop.2 The central attraction in Liberty Square, the Hall of Presidents holds a revered place in Disney history as one of Walt Disney’s legacy projects, a project he himself shepherded through the design process until his death in 1966. Originally intended as part of an early expansion to Disneyland titled “Liberty Street,” the Hall of Presidents eventually opened...