Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Being conveyed and tantalized with the thrill of near death has always been a fact of the theme park ride experience. However, fantasy landscapes such as Disney World and Universal Studios have created a new breed of conveyance utilizing 3-D projection technology which has dramatically shifted the primary focus of the ride from generating pure sensation as a form of pleasure to a narrative which endorses studio film properties. The result is highly transformative. This paper will show how a lack of agency that is expected and, on some level, welcomed by patrons has been coupled with an unveiled message that they are unimportant to whatever artistic world the ride utilizes. I will explore how this trend is a natural extension of the crowd-controlling devices that exist in most parks – trams that move you from monumental parking lots, stamps, cards or wristbands that track you, labyrinth-like architectures that route lines of patrons to ride entrances, and “fast passes” that remove the spontaneity of the park experience and replace it with strict appointments. I will show how this mode of story-telling encourages cultural commodification and the docility of the patron in a more profound way than being funneled through the gift shops that dot the parks.