The Florida Project
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Mendoza, Amanda Canupp
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Abstract
This collection of essays is my attempt to closely read a place that I once called home: Walt Disney World. This is a world of fantasy made real, a world carefully constructed around a narrative of happiness and wishes coming true. And wishes do come true. I’ve seen it. I’ve been part of it. This subject is one already considered by many intelligent writers from many perspectives. There’s very little that hasn’t been considered: Disney the company, Disney the man (or the myth), Disney parks behind the scenes, Disney from an economic or historical or cultural standpoint. But there’s something still to be uncovered in how magic and reality work together. This project is my attempt to uncover those things through personal essay, memoir, analytical essay, and narrative research, delivered in several forms: lists, traditional essays, collage, and flash nonfiction. When I look at Walt Disney World, I see something unique because of my unique standing as a former cast member, a writer, a believer, and a doubter. I see its layers. I see its “go away greens” and “blend in browns,” specific paint colors designed by Imagineers for use on fences and buildings designed to do just those jobs: merge reality with magic. I am fascinated by these greens and browns, by the real work it takes to create spectacle, by the real people pushing the green button on the rides and making characters and settings from cartoons real. I’m attracted to the true ingenuity it takes to design the latest attraction, the mythology handed down about this world’s creator, and the authentic dedication to an ideal passed down by a man with a mouse and an idea. The fact that this magic is so real astounds me, confuses me, pushes me to wonder. It is from this place of wonderment that I consider the reality of terrorism in magical places, the reality of the life drained from its cast members, the reality of time’s place in a timeless world, the reality of how much this world matters to its guests. This is my exploration of Disney through Walt’s Florida Project, studied through a lens of my personal history and my research.
Description
This thesis has been embargoed for 5 years and will not be available until April 2021.
Keywords
Walt Disney World (Fla.), Magic and reality, Theme parks, Florida, Memoir, Walt Disney Company