Essay on Utopia - Disney's Utopian Community

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Disney's Utopian Community

The concept of utopian communities is a hot new commodity among major enterprises. The Walt Disney Corporation is currently marketing its own community called Celebration. Disney, known for creating worlds of fantasy through theme parks and movies tackles reality. According to architect Robert A.M. Stern, the idea behind Celebration is to "recapture the idea of a traditional American town, traditional in spirit, but modern in terms of what we know about how people live"(Oilande 1). Also, the town is "structured around the five cornerstones of life in Celebration: community, education, health, technology, and place"(Oilande 2). Celebration uses this concept to create a special utopian vision. Despite contradictions of artificiality, regulation, and price, Celebration is a good utopian vision because it has a sense of community, an outstanding educational system, and a credible health care system.

The notion of a artificial or theme park feel has come up as a possible concern. "The town resembles a movie set with the neat-and-pretty homes like facades"(Oilande 5). Disney is taking a community and making it a fantasy of the lost traditional suburb one would see on "Leave it to Beaver" or "Pleasantville". As one visitor of the new community stated, "the minute you drive into Celebration's property, Disney's visual magic takes hold. White fences reminiscent of Kentucky's Bluegrass Country, surround the property. Upon a closer inspection they prove to be plastic. And from a distance, the preview center looks like a classical mansion. It's not. It's a façade. Behind the mansion door is a pre-fab"(Wilson3). This ideal is created in a conference room at a corporate office somewhere and it i...

... middle of paper ...

...able: http://www.detnews.com/EDITPAGE/SAT1028/CANTOR.html.

Cottrell, Kenny. Celebration: Frequently Asked Questions. Tuldp. Avaliable: http://www.tudlp.org/celebfaq.html.

Disney. General Celebrations Facts and Figures. Available: http://www.primenet.com/~dbrady/oliande/celebfacts.html. February 1997.

Hoffman, Derek. Review of Disney's Celebration. Avaliable: http://mason.gmu.edu/~dhoffman/week4.htm. 12 February1997.

Lease, Daryl. Village theme for Disney: Wonderful World of Wal-Mart. The Free Lance-Star. Avaliable: http://.starweb.infi.net/columns/lease/dl032396.htm. 23 March1996.

Oliande, Sylvia. A Visit to Celebration. Avaliable: http://www.primenet.com/~dbrady/oliande/celebration.html. 9&10 March 1997.

Wilson, Craig. Celebration puts Disney in reality's realm. USA Today. Avaliable: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/usacelebration.html.

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