At 02:43 PM 3/12/98 -0800, DNBremmer wrote:

>You don't have to tell me about Disney's capabilities...I happen to be
>one of their supporters in the museum world.

No matter what one thinks about theme parks and Disneyland/world, I find it
rather difficult to understand how anyone could think that these marvelous
institutions have museum-like functions. The missions of museums and theme
parks are quite distinct, even when they seem to use the same materials and
subjects. In short, museums (with varying degrees of success) profess to
some kind of scientific purpose, that is, to present the world of
observations and creations as they are, and to represent what they mean for
better or worse. Theme parks, on the other hand, use historical references
and scientific phenomena to weave a web that defines a world as they wish
it to be, or, perhaps, as they wish you to think it is.  Everything in
Disneyland is focussed on creating an impression, from the theatrical
manipulation of experience during rides, to the way they hide the length of
lines from public view, to the creation of never possible images of Americana.

Readers who would like to explore what kinds of sophisticated experiences
Disneyland creates are invited to look at an e-mail message to this list
that I posted in April of 1995. This may be found at
http://www.pipeline.com/~rabaron/DISNEY01.htm .

The extent to which these images had to be protected, is demonstrated
somewhat by an event that took place in Disneyland during the summer of
1970--illustrated by images that can be seen at
http://www.pipeline.com/~rabaron/DISNEY.htm .
=================================
Robert A. Baron
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.pipeline.com/~rabaron/