Crossing the Berm

The Disney theme park, at just over fifty years old,
has created a commonly held, cross-cultural,
communal pattern of activity involving immersion
into and interaction with content-filled, created
spaces. This work proposes that the Disney theme
park be approached as an agent of ritualization in
the creation and experience of sacralized space: an
ordered, organized space for the thoughtful,
selective construction of social meaning and the
mutual exercise of symbolic power, initiated in the
creation of environment and experienced through
ritualized activities and spatial movement,
resulting in the recovery of the past and the
possibility of a transformed future. Such an
examination of Disney theme parks provides a broad
ground on which to place in dialogue the other
interpretive proposals within contemporary Disney
thought, a basis for the thoughtful discussion of
these sites within Religious Studies, as well as a
more flexible and coherent method of considering the
complexity of the parks and their pervading
influence, for good or for ill, on the global
cultural stage.

Autorentext
Chris Newcomb is an Assistant Professor of Religion and
Philosophy at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, FL.
He received his Ph.D. from the Florida State University,
specializing in Religion and the Arts, and lives in Port Orange,
FL with his wife, two daughters, and son. They continue to
cross the berm as often as possible.

Klappentext
The Disney theme park, at just over fifty years old, has created a commonly held, cross-cultural, communal pattern of activity involving immersion into and interaction with content-filled, created spaces. This work proposes that the Disney theme park be approached as an agent of ritualization in the creation and experience of sacralized space: an ordered, organized space for the thoughtful, selective construction of social meaning and the mutual exercise of symbolic power, initiated in the creation of environment and experienced through ritualized activities and spatial movement, resulting in the recovery of the past and the possibility of a transformed future. Such an examination of Disney theme parks provides a broad ground on which to place in dialogue the other interpretive proposals within contemporary Disney thought, a basis for the thoughtful discussion of these sites within Religious Studies, as well as a more flexible and coherent method of considering the complexity of the parks and their pervading influence, for good or for ill, on the global cultural stage.