Cultural Clashes at the Happiest Place(s) on Earth
“Disneyland… will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world” — Walt Disney, Disneyland Dedication Speech, July 15th, 1955
When opening the cultural marvel, Walt Disney had an intense vision that this park will be the gold standard of themed entertainment around the world, one that provides enjoyment and inspiration to adults and children. With this vision in mind, the original Disneyland has provided blueprints for Disney Park around the world. But, the Burbank-based company has faced dilemmas in the creation and development of parks in respect to which cultures should be infused in the park: classic American culture or the culture of the country that the park is being built in. While some would argue that basing overseas Disney Parks solely off of American cultural elements would allow for greater amusement at the parks, Disney Parks should incorporate a hybrid form of both American and local cultural elements in the creation and operation of Disney Parks, all in order to find a balance between the sensitivity and desires of the consumers, while remaining true to the Disney product.
Inherently, the globalization, or worldwide spread of an American form of entertainment (Disney) means that the parks will always have American elements in it, but the degree to which foreign cultural elements are in the park is what is contested. If the Imagineers (the engineers who design and build the parks) still want to ensure that it is a themed Disney park, parks abroad will have key aspects of American culture in it. The Walt Disney Company and Americans want to disseminate the culture on a global scale, which is much more feasible in an increasingly globalized world.
Therefore, it would seem logical to export the American product that succeeded overseas: Disneyland. Disneyland has been widely successful, and people travel from around the world to see it. But, it is not that simple. “Cultural intrusion” is the complicating factor in the spread of Disney-themed entertaintment.
The concept of cultural intrusion is when cultures opposite of the one at hand begin infiltrating various aspects of society, whether that be through commerce or specific political institutions. A globalized world has aided the spread of cultural intrusion. Most cultures try to avoid the influences of cultural intrusion, but some specifically detest it. In the execution of Disney’s plan for overseas parks, Imagineers faced this significant cultural obstacle with the creation of Disneyland Paris.
Disneyland Paris served as an example of The Walt Disney Company being woefully unaware of the cultural desires of France. Wanting to build a theme park in Europe, the executives of the company chose a suburb of Paris for its location due to the amount of people near it and the expansive land. The French feared that this would be “‘a cultural Chernobyl”. The French people highly value their own culture, and disdain when outside cultures come into their land (cultural intrusion). The French thought that Euro Disneyland was the Americans finally intruding on Europe like a parasite with their consumer society (Binus University). They strongly protested this American intrusion.
Despite this backlash before the parks opened, the Imagineers widely disregarded French culture in their creation and operation of the park. Breakfast was not served at the parks, even though breakfast is considered to be the most important meal of the day for the French. There were no alcoholic beverages, even though the French tend to have one with every meal. The dress codes did not reflect that of the French. They mostly employed Americans as managers, which led to issues in management. Even the name of the park faced issues. To Europeans, “Euro” represents currency, not culture, which also created negative reactions towards the park as many thought it sounded like a park about money. Before even opening, the French were not on the side of Euro Disneyland, but when it opened, the disregard for French culture pushed the French away, making it apparent in the 1 year loss of 2 billion dollars. This highlights the importance of straying away from the global approach, or having Disney Parks around the world being based on the American parks. Because the park was based so much off of American culture and did not incorporate the needs of French culture into the park, it upset the people of France and caused the company to lose a great deal of money. If the company had gone with the national approach, considering and incorporating French cultural elements in a way in which the French desired in this park, it would have been a greater success, demonstrating how the national approach should be at the forefront of expansion plans for American companies.
On the contrary, Tokyo Disneyland was a park in which Disney executives more carefully consiered the cultural desires of the consumers. Context is necessary to understand the cultural implications of building a park in Japan. The Smithsonian Magazine goes as far to say that the Japanese have “a long-standing obsession with things American” (Downey). Since World War II, many Japanese people have grown very interested in American culture.
Because of this interest in American culture, there are replicas of American cultural icons like Space Mountain or Dumbo the Flying Elephant. They were able to bring in classic Disney attractions that made the American parks, while also creating new customs in the restaurants and new lands that were based on Japanese culture. At restaurants, you can find plates decorated with blossoms or a daruma doll (達磨). There is an entire park at Tokyo Disneyland, DisneySea, which is based on Japanese myths and legends of the sea, with attractions completely distinct to Tokyo Disneyland. The national approach in forming a park in Tokyo was the best fit as the imagineers were still able to bring in the American Disney entertainment icons, while fusing Japanese cultural elements into the design of the park and also the way it is operated. Because of the Japanese being more open to other cultures and their desire to learn more about other cultures, especially that of America, it was most likely one of the more simple parks for The Walt Disney Company to craft in terms of culture.
To clarify, the national approach does not advocate for an equally split, cultural approach to the creation of overseas Disney Parks, but more to a case-by-case evaluation of how each park should be built based on the cultural attitudes of that country. For Japan, they certainly have a great deal of American influence, as seen through the attractions. The national approach was used with this park, and the Imagineers carefully decided the mix of what should be based off of American elements and what should be based off of Japanese culture. They knew the Japanese desired to experience the famous American form of themed entertainment, but still appreciated having some of their own culture in the park. The result was a “hybrid” form of cultures in a park that has proven to be tremendously successful.
It is important to think about the extent to which differing cultures are incorporated into overseas parks because when an American company is using the land of another country to–at its core–make profit, the company should be courteous to the preferences of those people and their culture. Additionally, to support the American economy, taking a national approach in fusing the cultural elements together based on the needs of the company assumes less risk in terms of profit as it caters to the desires of the consumers more. American companies should always be required to carefully and extensively vet the cultural desires of other countries if they are considering overseas expansion.
Works Cited
Downey, Tom. “How Japan Copied American Culture and Made It Better.” Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Mar. 2014, www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-japan-copied-american-culture-and-made-it-better-180950189.
“How Disney Does Design in Japan.” Humble Bunny, 20 June 2017, www.humblebunny.com/how-disney-does-design-in-japan.
Novela, Selly S. “Case Study Disney in France for Cross Culture Management.” International Business Management, bbs.binus.ac.id/ibm/2017/06/case-study-disney-in-france-for-cross-culture-management. Accessed 31 Jan. 2022.
“Tokyo DisneySea.” Japan-Guide, 16 Nov. 2021, www.japan-guide.com/e/e3016_sea.html.
