On the promenade: baguettes, French beauties and Disney spectacle

A collage I made using the Life magazine image found on the cover of Guy Dubord's, "Society of the Spectacle"

While watching "Impressions de France" at the France pavilion in Disney's EPCOT Center, I often find myself in the front row, fully turned and watching the crowd gaze at the film. Soft Voyeurism like such is amusing and brings me great pleasure, the film hits scenes where you can for a split second witness alienation in the spectators face. The lack of sentiment and romanticized happenings in ones life results in such awe. Most will never move beyond these representations. The film succeeds for it places the viewer into the environments shot in the footage. 

In my spare time I have been touring the  Disney theme parks and deconstructing the systems at work in real time. Aware of such consumer manipulation and exposure to the parks throughout my life, I have consequently developed habits and routines upon entering the parks. Removing myself from routines developed throughout the years of family vacations, immersing myself in new narratives guided by the thematic landscape of the parks was a challenge in its own. With my cast member gate pass, I now have the ability to explore the parks on my days off and reevaluate what it means to be a guest in a Disney park. Following the Theory of the Dérive (Dubord 1956), I allowed myself to fully consume the spectacle and drink the kool-aid. Wandering the parks drunk on Disney kool-aid reveals narratives and story lines saturated by the Venturian duck like architecture.

My quip on "Impressions de France", the explicit, and over saturation of cultural symbolism of each pavilion is quite overwhelming. If the iconic forms and motifs are not enough, perhaps the social interactions with cast members from each country can meet your travel fixes. 

I'll eventually expand upon this but not for a few more months and gallons of kool-aid.