Mousificationism

I work at being an academic for a living, and by default that means I’m supposed to have an abiding opposition bordering on contempt toward Disney. Over the years I’ve heard Disney described with the worst of scholarly epithets—capitalistic, misogynistic, hegemonic, racist, even fascist. (Translation for people who prefer words with fewer syllables: Disney’s really bad!) For example, a recent scholarly presentation I attended suggested Disney may have been the cause of the materialistic imagery and thinking that’s at the foundation of our culture’s problems. And this view isn’t unusual by any means. Targeting Disney in academic presentations has become commonplace over the years. So much so, it seems to me it’s gotten too easy—like smart people aiming big guns at large metaphoric fish in a small philosophical barrel. (Sorry—I’m tired and clearly struggling with a case of multi-syllablism tonight.) Whatever it is that’s wrong with our world, Disney did it, is related to it, supported it, or is at least neutral on it and should have taken a different stance. So goes the talk in many academic circles.

But as I’ve said before, in a lot of ways I make a lousy academic. And after a couple days strolling the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, I left feeling the same way I did five years ago when we visited with our then 3- and 4-year-old kids: Like I wanted to stay a lot longer. Or maybe move there and make a living doing my Mickey Mouse impression. (Don’t worry Lindsey and Sue—No job offers from Mickey, and don’t worry Nan—No date offers from Minnie despite our lengthy hug.) I know, I’m cheesy and a dork, but once again we had a great time and could have stayed for many more days. Yes, the tickets, food, and junk in the gift shops are way over priced (I practically needed to sell a kidney to pay for our two days). Yes, there are stereotypes galore, and yes, there’s an odd obsession with romantic narratives in their kid-based movies and TV shows. (And where are the parents in most Disney stories?) Still, when we visit the Disney parks there’s just plain something that makes us happy to be there and leaves us wishing for more.

Walking around the gift shop before we headed out, we felt the urge to buy some of that overpriced junk to commemorate our visit. I’m reading a book titled “Coop” by Michael Perry at the moment, and in it he has a great line about his young daughter wanting to buy something that clashed with his academic convictions: “Sometimes all the academic feminism in the world can’t compete with a chintzy tiara.” Amen. (I “coop” on all these academic naysayers!) In our case rather than a tiara we’re talking about a mouse-eared pancake cutter (we’ll be eating mouse-head-shaped pancakes around our camper for the next few months), a key chain, and a couple of drinking cups, but clearly I share his sentiment.

Alas, our wonderful time with the giant mouse notwithstanding, it’s time to move on. Orlando has been great fun over the past week or so. We’ve so much appreciated the hosting and support from the Williams family who’ve graciously tolerated our comings and goings on some cold nights. We had a very inspiring, interesting, and cold visit to the Kennedy Space Center, and after that visit and all the space-based rides at Disney, the kids are considering careers as astronauts while I’m just going to continue being my usual space-cadet self. (Disney Travel Tip: When visiting EPCOT, we highly recommend you choose the orange—or more-challenging—side of the “Mission: Space” ride. Assuming you want to throw up afterward. Definitely a family memory made there despite the fact that no one actually followed through and barfed.) The weather has been bizarre, but we’ve enjoyed ourselves just the same. Things promise to warm up now—no doubt going to record high temps next week in effort to fry rather than freeze us—but onward we go!
“OH BOY!”…a few pictures just for fun. Sorry I forgot to put a headline on it. Have some fun and make up your own!

(P.S. I still can't get the pictures from the Week 1 entry to load. Not sure what the problem is. I'll try again in the next few days if we have wifi...)