MC - Eco

I loved Eco's essay "The City of Robots" if only because it hit so close to home, I couldn't help but chuckle at many of his observations. I searched through flickr.com to find an appropriate picture to set off my response to this reading and wasintrigued (if not a little dismayed) to find an entire group devoted to "Orlando Vacation Best Spots". I won't complain abot the photos of man-made ponds, styrofoam statues and perfectly trimmed hedges (all well-taken, decent photographs). I am, however, troubled by the commentary that group members have made on the photos.


Take, for example, this photo of the inside of the Mexican pavillion at Epcot. According to the photographer, the illusion of being outside in Mexico was so convincing, he forgot he was actually eating dinner indoors. While I feel the urged to roll my eyes at the absurdity of being fooled by a couple of mist machines, I can also remember the hush that came over me when I first set foot on the Mexican soundstage. Then again, I was about 7 years old when I went to Epcot. Now that I've had the opportunity to read and travel, the entire concept of Epcot and Disney infuriates me.

It harkens back to the days of the World's Fair in the late 1800's in which it was hip to transport "savages" and other authentic "natives" from their homelands and into a mockup village for vacationers to pay and gawk at. At least at the time, it was actually authentic.

The tentacles of Disney are extensive, take a look at their monstrous creation Celebration, FL which could probably be renamed as Pleasantville or Generic-Midwest-Town-Lacking-Total-Imagination-And-Personality (but that's a little long). All sorts of rules and regulations are required in order for the citizens to live there: a certain income is required to afford the houses and the maitenence, cars and other motor vehicles are to be kept out of sight and out of the street, lawns are to properly groomed and pruned, it seems as though even bicycles are encouraged to be tucked away (along with their young riders). Oh, there's color at Celebration but it's definately all straitlaced black and white (or to be blunt, white and white).

I remember going to Disney World as a young preteen, about the age that I started developing a trusty thing called skepticism. I was standing with my family in the crowd just in front of the Magic Castle watching Mickey, Minnie and other Disney characters doing a Christmas preformance (complete with fake snow billowing out from cannons). At one point, the actress wearing the Minnie costume took a nasty stumble on the stage which prompted several Disney employees from behind the scenes to rush to her aid. While they were setting Ms. Minnie back on her feet (she was unhurt), her fellow ladies in waiting (Cinderella, Belle, Snow White etc) continued their charming charade without even flinching. Only a few other vacationers surrounding me made a murmur of acknowledgement to the incident but, like the actresses ignored it as well. Soon the show was over but I couldn't forget watching Minnie diving to the ground. I just kept thinking, "Who ignores that?"

I can understand that creating a land of make-believe for children is entertaining (and some argue it helps with emotional/mental development) but when adults are proactively suspending their belief to snap pictures of plaster carved trees, hallow marble statue replicas and shrubbery that would never naturally form into the shape of a mouse, they simply become part of the illusion.

No, dude, you're not really outside eating dinner next to ancient Mayan ruins. For the complete and total illusion to work, you'd need homeless mexican children begging for pesos, spanish speaking waiters, actual mexican food that induces Traveler's diarrhea and that fantastic view of the Mayan ruins would actually be obstructed by the recently built Wal-Mart.