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ENGL 325
Dr. VanHaitsma
11 December 2014
The Wonderful World of Disneyfied America
Disney and America may be two lands that are never placed in juxtaposition when
analyzing their rhetoric. In minds, they both infer aspiring dreams and debilitating
debates. But Disney and America both powerfully implement symbolic action through
the use of narrative, argument, and language on their audience. The images above justify
their relationship to symbolic action as well as visual rhetoric: the first image depicts a
projected theme park Disney’s America; the second image is of Disney’s film, Snow
White and the Seven Dwarves, which explains the prominence of Disney culture in the
narrative of the American story; and the third image ties both arguments together in its
description of this castle, called “America Land.” By analyzing these three images and
arguments through a rhetorical lens, Disney and America showcase the rhetorical
symbolism of the American Dream.
“The American Dream” is a powerful tool of language. In Rhetoric in Civic Life,
authors Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch describe “The American Dream” as an ideograph,
which is an “ordinary language term” that is “easily recognized by a community” (42).
This ideograph “encapsulates a central narrative about the US experience” (Palczewski,
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Ice, and Fritch 117). Its power rests in the allowance it gives its audience to insert their
own personal narrative into the macroscopic story of America. The audience for the
rhetoric of America and Disney is “any person who hears, reads or sees [their] symbolic
action” (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 179). The rhetoric of Disney and America is revealed
through their symbolic action, which is the “rhetorical mobilization of symbols to act in
the world” (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 7). The three images shown above are examples
of symbolic action. Image is a “verbal and visual representation, emphasizing particular
qualities and characteristics, that creates a perception of the rhetor in the audience’s
minds” (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 167). The visual image of Disney’s America, which
is the far left image at the top, is Disney’s symbolic action.
In “Theme Park History: Disney’s America and the Historian’s Dilemma,” author
Matt McDonough describes Disney’s proposal in 1993 for an American-themed park
called Disney’s America to be built in Haymarket, Virginia. Located appropriately by the
Civil War battlefield of Bull Run, Disney’s America would depict specific time periods in
American history. In Native America, visitors could enjoy a white-water rafting ride
depicting the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Including a We The People exhibit featuring
Ellis Island and Victory Field showcasing World War II aircraft, Disney wanted to draw
on the rich history of Virginia to display the overall narrative of American history, while
marketing their company. Yet this proposal was denied, since it signified a
“Disneyfication” of Virginia and America.
McDonough voices the concerns of Virginia citizens and historians alike because
both groups are questioning Disney’s preservation of public memory, which is “collective
memory that combines the memories of the dominant culture…enabl[ing] a public to
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make sense of the past, present, and future” (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 21). Moreover,
there was a loud outcry from the cyberpublic, which is a public formed through the
Internet and social media, where this article was posted (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 257).
Derek Potter commented on McDonough’s blog: “It’s a fine line for an entertainment
company or a movie maker to tell a story with true historical accuracy, because telling the
whole story involves telling the dark side as well, something that doesn’t always mesh
well with the narratives that audiences are used to.” He was accusing Disney for not
representing the true narrative of America, since they were offering the “Disney” version.
Narratives help an audience “maintain public memory and teach cultural values”
(44). They are an example of a symbolic action, since they help people categorize their
experiences, connect with others, and establish meaning in their culture. By bringing
narrative into the awareness of Disney with the American audience, one can interpret the
“American Dream” in its facets. Characterizing this dream as “American” makes all
Americans identify with this label. Attributing the description of a “Dream” to this phrase
helps Americans easily understand, since most Americans have either traveled, watched,
or been inculcated with “The Wonderful World of Disney.” Both places hold out
promises for wonder, adventure, and success. Disney and America both give and take
from each other with this word exchange. This is specifically revealed, since Disney
attempted to embrace American ideals and form Disney’s America on the East coast,
though the proposal was rejected on historical grounds. Disney was attempting to tell this
American narrative through their theme park’s visual rhetoric.
Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch explain the significance of visual rhetoric, such as
monuments, memorials, and museums, in their role of being epideictic in a society (73).
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The way Disney was constructing this theme park was controlling how visitors would
think about America’s past, present, and future. With this proposal, Disney was dictating
how Americans would preserve and protect historical epochs: they wanted a
“disneyfied” lense. Disney’s America would serve as a rhetorical tool, since it informed
the way people would remember history and construct their future. Though Disney’s
America only went as far as a proposal, it serves as an example of Disney attempting to
adapt to the American dream to serve their needs. Disney was trying to combine both
their and America’s narrative into one narrative. Though subtly, narratives can function
as arguments to their audience, as shown in the narrative of Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves.
In reference to the center image at the top picturing Snow White, this image
serves to showcase Tracey Mollet’s article entitled, “ ‘With a smile and a song…’ Walt
Disney and the Birth of the American Fairy Tale. ” Within this article, Mollet makes an
argument with claims backed up by specific data. Mollet argues that through the film,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Disney was pulling from the historical times of the
Great Depression to bring cultural significance to bear in the fairy tale. She states her
claim when she argues “that Disney transformed the fairy tale of Snow White to relay
new ideas about the American Dream of success to the American people. Through its
transformed narrative, Snow White infuses hope and positivity into a society struggling
with the Depression” (111). This is a claim of fact, as Mollet tries to enhance this as
“empirically verifiable” through data (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 100). Mollet provides
the data, on which she bases her claim by explaining the power of movies in constructing
the narrative of the American Dream (101). She explains how Disney reawakened this
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awareness in a war torn and depressed country through Snow White. Her data explains
the American narrative in the following way: Snow White is “cast in the Cinderella mold
of every American individual” by “accepting” her situation, like an American (114).
Snow White never gives up on “true love,” as most young Americans were postponing
marriage in the Depression (115). Snow White had seven dwarves for friends, who
represented the “Common American Man” similar to how the Depression revolutionized
the typical and average American (117). It is the common man and the “little heroes” of
the world who triumph in the end of this film.
The timeliness of this film rests in America’s mental “depression” over the
ideograph, the American Dream. Mollet argues through her article that Disney was
“reinvigorating one of America’s most poignant national myths” (123). A myth is a
specific type of narrative that teaches cultural values and helps structure the thinking of
people in their society (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 123). Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch
explain how myth is a “symbolic form that maintains culture, transmits ideology, and
structures values, beliefs, and attitudes” (123).
The myth of the American dream connects with the dream of “The Wonderful
World of Disney.” In America, most people are familiar with the American dream, which
believes that if you work hard enough for what you want in your life, you will eventually
succeed as long as you never give up on your dream. However, Disney is famous for their
“magical world” and their beautiful castle. Disney can be summarized in the words of
their famous princess Cinderella: “No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on
believing, the dream that you wish will come true”(David). In understanding the
American culture, it is clear how Disney is an extension of the American worldview- that
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if you work hard enough or dream long enough, you will achieve everything and
anything you want.
When people see the Disney castle, some may think of it as a visual symbol that
their material dreams will come true. America can also be symbolic for a land where
people of all cultural backgrounds hope their most sought-after dreams, whether money,
adventure, love, or religious freedom, will come true to full fruition. Culture is defined as
consisting of the worldviews, beliefs, and even the material possessions of a group of
people (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 19). In the case of the film Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves, Disney was attempting to revitalize the “lost culture, lost values, and a loss of
the simple life [of] American society…” And as this film was one of the first used with
color in Disney’s films, its visual rhetoric powerfully proclaimed the American Dream.
But “America Land,” which is the far right image at the top, is another rhetorical
situation that clearly highlights the American values, beliefs, and attitudes (184). Through
this image, Disney is stepping into the cultural persona of America.
“America Land” is an image compiled of the Disney castle with the text written
under it “America Land” in the traditional Disney font, which would normally state
“Disney Land.” By connecting the castle with this text, it evokes thoughts in human
beings, primarily responses concerning their notions of both Disney and America’s
rhetoric and their roles as rhetors. Throughout the years, Disney as a rhetor has worked
hard to develop a positive public image that their audience will believe and accept. The
effectiveness of their public image is connected to the persona they have developed that
is closely connected to America. Persona is described as performance, meaning it is not
so much about a rhetor creating a role as much as it is about that rhetor stepping into the
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preconceived notions the audience has for that specific persona. Palczewski, Ice, and
Fritch write “…a rhetor does not create a persona out of nothing; rather, the persona can
‘reflect the aspirations and cultural visions of audiences’” (151). Disney connects the
vision of Disneyland with the vision of America. Therefore, Disney is not creating their
persona out of nothing, but rather using the audience’s already formed cultural vision of
America. Disney is applying the culture of America to cause people to engage with their
persona.
The pairing of the castle with this text produces rhetoric through identification.
By unifying the two places of Disney and America and connecting with the audience on a
psychological level, Disney and America are identified as one entity. By emphasizing the
similarities between Disney and America, this identifies them as one land instead of two
lands (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 181). The power of this image lies in its ability to
connect the relationship between the rhetor, Disney, with the audience, Americans. It is
in “America Land” that these two unlikely places are unified as one thing, a rhetorical
concept called consubstantiality (181).
All of these images, Disney’s America, the Snow White image, and “America
Land,” were all discovered in a cyberpublic, highlighting the immediacy of the exigence.
Because cyberpublics are not composed of dialogue, the public screen changes in such a
way and redefines “contemporary communication” (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 261).
Because of the digital age we live, cyberpublics are a new way of unveiling rhetoric,
especially in the blogosphere where viewers can comment and share their own rhetoric.
The image of “America Land” was found on Mark Shrauger’s blog concerning his World
Race in June 2007. By portraying this image through the blogosphere, an exigence is
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clearly revealed, which is “an imperfection marked by urgency….a thing which is other
than it should be” (Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 203). This is also revealed through
McDonough’s article on Theme Park Insider, where Derek Potter shared his opinion on
the Disney proposal. Both blogger and writer are identifying an exigence with the
cyperpublic’s perception of Disney as “America” and Disney creating their version of
America.
Simultaneously, the rhetoric of America and Disney coincide with each other
demonstrating a worldview based on dreams and aspirations. To the audience, America is
seen as the “The Wonderful World of Disney.” The rhetoric of this image so closely
identifies Disney with America that they become one place, one land, and one dream.
Through Disney’s use of rhetoric, they establish a persona that depicts the image and
culture of America. The juxtaposition of “America Land” is justified within the rhetoric
of both Disney and America.
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Works Cited
David, Mack. A-Z Lyrics. “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.” Walt Disney Music
Co, 2008. 6 Oct. 2014. Web.
McDonough, Matt. Theme Park Insider. “Theme Park History: Disney’s America and the
historian’s dilemma.” 1 Nov. 2013. Web. 16. Nov. 2014.
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201311/3753/
Mollet, Tracy. “ ‘With a smile and a song…’: Walt Disney and the Birth of the American
Fairy Tale” Marvels & Tales 1. (2013): 109. Project MUSE. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
Palczewski, Catherine Helen, Richard Ice, and John Fritch. Rhetoric in Civic Life. State
College: Strata Publishing, 2012. Print.
Shrauger, Mark. “DisneyLand America” worldrace. 21 Feb. 2008. Web. 28 Sep. 2014.
<http://markshrauger.theworldrace.org/?filename=disneyland-america>
“Snow White Image” Cartoon Images. 28 Nov. 2014. Web.
<http://cartoonsimages.com/snow-white/free-download-snow-white>