Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-112). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The work presented in this thesis was undertaken to quantitatively determine the best place to sit on a roller coaster. Maximizing the time spent feeling weightless and the highest value of negative Z acceleration were used as criteria for the best seat. Acceleration values were measured on the California Screamin' roller coaster at Disney California Adventure Park using an iPhone and an application to record data from its accelerometers. After analyzing acceleration data, it was determined that the front row had the greatest negative acceleration in the z direction and was therefore the "best place" to sit.

Dаrbо "Teminių parkų fenomenas: istorinė ir antropologinė analizė" tikslаs - аtlikti tеminių pаrkо fеnоmеnо аpžvаlgą ir аnаlizę istоrinėjе ir аntrоpоlоginėjе pеrspеktyvоjе. Istоrinė tеminių pаrkų idėjоs gеnеzės аnаlizė аpimа lаikоtаrpį nuо XVI а. iki šių lаikų ir аtspindi plаtаus gеоgrаfiniо аrеаlо – nuо Еurоpоs iki JАV ir Tоlimųjų Rytų, - kultūrinius ryšius ir jų sąlygоtą tеminių pаrkų idėjоs plėtrą bеi pritаikymą priе viеtinių kultūrinių sаvitumų. Tuо tаrpu аntrоpоlоginiо pоbūdžiо įžvаlgоs аtliktоs vykdаnt plаčią ir pаgаl gаlimybеs visаpusišką liеtuviškų pаvyzdžių аpžvаlgą bеi аnаlizuоjаnt „pоtyrių еkоnоmikоs“ („еxpеriеncе еcоnоmy“) fеnоmеną ir tеminių pаrkų viеtą jаmе. Užsibrėžtаm tikslui pаsiеkti tеminių pаrkų fеnоmеnаs ši&#1072... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Thе mаin оbjеct оf thе study „Phenomenon of the Thematic Parks: Historical and Anthropological Analysis“ is thеmе pаrk. This study sееks tо idеntify аnd аnаlyzе cоmmоn fеаturеs in а vаriеty оf thеmе pаrk еxаmplеs, аnd thеsе аrе thеn еxаminеd bоth in а glоbаl pеrspеctivе аnd in thе cоntеxt оf lоcаl histоricаl аnd culturаl influеncеs. Spеciаl аttеntiоn is givеn tо thе significаncе оf cоntеmpоrаry prоcеssеs in prеsеnt wоrld: thе sprеаd оf pоstmоdеrnism, glоbаlizаtiоn, mеdiаculturе, „еxpеriеncе еcоnоmy“. Thеmе pаrks phеnоmеnоn is оbsеrvеd thrоugh аnаlysis оf impаct оf thеsе prоcеssеs tо risе аnd еxpаnsiоn оf mоdеrn lеisurе lаndscаpеs. Thе purpоsе &#1... [to full text]

In this study Disneyland is analysed as a model for the creation of an aesthetic of Postmodern consumer culture, hyperreality and semiotic content. It explores Postmodern society and its visual art preferences, whilst revealing an ubiquitous aesthetic for Postmodern spectator-consumers as actors on the proverbial Postmodern stage. The various manifestations of 'Disneyfied' consumerism, hyperreality and semiotic content collectively reveal a society saturated with mass media produced imagery and messages. In this milieu, this study explores the responsibilities as well as opportunities that are presented to the artist via a Disneyland aesthetic. These include the awareness of stereotypic information in the mass media, the exercise of responsible choice over complacent spectatorship, the celebration of newly acquired imagery, as well as the discovery of richer semiotic essences that assist a society in redefining itself. The central fear of an Orwellian 'Big Brother' syndrome and entertainment or mass media bombardment, indicates a central problem in Postmodern society. In this connection, spectator-consumers are saturated with American cultural goods via imagery, mass media messages, and fabricated 'hyperrealities' which are regarded as master narratives. The final emphasis is placed on responsible choice and meditated comprehension of personal spectatorship, as well as the manifestation of the latent power of mass media in the Information Revolution era. / AFRIKAANS : Hierdie studie ondersoek Disneyland as 'n model vir 'n estetiek van Postmoderne verbruikerskultuur, hiperrealiteit en semiotiese inhoude. Dit stel ondersoek in na die Postmoderne gemeenskap se spesifieke visuele kuns voorkeure, terwyl dit 'n onvermydelike estetika vir die Postmoderne toeskouer-verbruiker as protagonis in die Postmoderne milieu bied. Die onderskeie manifestasies van 'Disneyland-tipe' verbruik, hiperrealiteit en semiotiese inhoude skets 'n gemeenskap wat gelei word deur beeldmateriaal en boodskappe wat in die massa media voorkom. Hierdie arena bied vir die visuele kunstenaar sekere verantwoordelikhede en moontlikhede. Die studie weerspieel die wyse waarop die kunstenaar bewus moet bly van stereotipiese data wat in die massa media tentoongestel word, verantwoordelike keuses in plaas van blote passiewe toeskouerskap moet beoefen en nuwe jukstaplasings van beelde moet aanmoedig sodat waardevolle semiotiese essensies nuutgevonde definisie aan 'n gemeenskap kan gee. Die sentrale vrees vir Amerikaans-georienteerde media en vermaaklikheids oorheersing bly kommerwekkend in die Postmoderne gemeenskap. Toeskouer-verbruikers word deurgaans oorval met Amerikaanse kulturele goedere in die vorm van beelde, massa media boodskappe en nagemaakte hiperrealiteite. Die studie ondersteun die belangrikheid van verantwoordelike keuse en 'n begrip vir die manifestasie van die magsbeheer van die massa media in die era van die Inligtings Omwenteling. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 1996. / Visual Arts / Unrestricted

Abstract: This thesis aims to explore how utopian desires re/shape the posthuman, cyberspace and histories by means of information technologies in William Gibson¡¦s Idoru and All Tomorrow¡¦s Parties, which construct a fragmented but subversive power by representing the world in a utopian text that allows the free play of ideology. Gibson uses utopian imagination to cobble together a near future that reflects his concern with information technologies and media over contemporary society. Utopian imaginations on the one hand open up possibilities and transform fixed ideas; on the other, utopian imaginations are easily turned into utopian desires that are subject to manipulation if utopian designers want to sell. I intend to discover how desires to realize a utopia (body, space, and history), which is the ultimate goal of utopian program, are being manipulated by utopian designers. I will mainly adapt and blend Katherine Hayles¡¦s notion of the posthuman perspectives to challenge human possibilities, Donna Haraway¡¦s notion of the cyborg as a blasphemy to Western traditions, Louis Marin¡¦s Disneyland analysis as an apparatus to examine utopic expressions in William Gibson¡¦s textual constructions of utopias, and Walter Benjamin¡¦s notions of material historiography and history¡¦s messianic power in tracing individual memories under a capitalist contextualized History. In Chapter One, I will argue that Idoru as well as Idoru metamorphosize from a dialectical structure into an informational pattern-random structure, from a commodity into a posthuman subjectivity. I will adopt Katherine Hayles¡¦s concept of information narratives in explaining the re/shaping of Rei¡¦s body and her concept of the posthuman to explicate the struggle between the posthuman and the transhuman. In Chapter Two I will argue that cyberspace serves as a utopia that brings forth the desire to transcend the flesh. This utopian desire is a transgressive discourse that breaks up the totality of a closed system. Moreover, cyberspace exposes the feedback looping of the discourses of capitalism and anti-capitalism. Respectively, by the representation of virtual Venice and the Walled City, these two utopias write proposals that project discourses of pleasure and criticism for achieving their programs. I will adopt Donna Haraway¡¦s cyborg ontology in explaining cyberspace as a transgressive discourse and Louis Marin¡¦s Disneyland analysis as an apparatus of utopic expressions and the limits of utopia. Next, in Chapter Three, I shall expose how Harwood the capitalist manipulates the world to fit into his utopian proposal: modernization of the city as a manifestation of a utopia by means of cyberspace as a network that connects people globally. To contravene Harwood, Idoru, Laney and the Walled City denizens collaborate to checkmate Harwood¡¦s king. I will elaborate on the interactions between the universal history and the individual histories based on Walter Benjamin¡¦s concept of history.

Los Angeles has long been identified as a fragmented city, by nature of its cosmology and those constructed perceptions that constitute it in the collective imaginary. In an effort to articulate, interrogate and understand such a place, we have come to rely on its representations to function as mediators of meaning, delivering through their simulation of the city an experience of the real, lived Los Angeles. As a result, the relationships between the real and the representation become skewed, altering the processes by which we engage with the everyday. To better understand the implications of this dialectic, I examine four representations of the city: Disneyland, David Hockney’s “Domestic Scene, Los Angeles,” David Gebhard and Robert Winter’s A Guide to Architecture in Southern California and the BBC “One Pair of Eyes” installment “Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles.” By analyzing representations of Los Angeles produced in a range of media, it becomes possible to discern the complex relationships between the real and envisioned Los Angeles, and to recognize the constructive force that emerges out of this discursive space. / text

As fandom studies are becoming more popular and important, one fandom yet remains largely unstudied: the fandom surrounding Disneyland. The Disneyland fandom is unique in a number of ways, chief among them the fans’ relationship to the content creators: unlike many other companies in similar positions, Disney seeks to put boundaries on fan participation and to discourage or stamp out behaviors it deems unacceptable. And yet, in spite of this official meddling, the fandom continues to thrive. I propose that the reason for this unique dynamic is the Disney “Magic”—that is, fans’ recognition of a unique emotional experience inherent in visiting the park, composed of a mix of nostalgia, immersion in the park experience, and the unique Disney atmosphere, all of which is often described using quasi-spiritual language. I posit that the Magic is what keeps fans coming back: they feel that something is special about the park, and seek to engage with it more deeply through various fan activities—activities which, paradoxically, seem to threaten that same Magic that inspires such dedication in the first place. In this thesis, I look at three specific fan activities, both to explore this concept of Magic further, and to learn more about this understudied fandom. The first topic is urban legends of ash scatterings in the Haunted Mansion ride, which appear to simultaneously be a commentary on harsh working conditions inside the park, and, more importantly, a perhaps-misguided attempt to pay respect to the deep connections fans have to Disneyland. The second is pin trading, which functions both as a folk activity guests can use to build their public identities, and also as a market for cheap fakes that tarnishe the Magic. The third is Disneybounding, a costuming activity that expresses fans’ love of the park, while carefully stepping around Disney’s regulations preventing such activities. Even in the diverse and fascinating array of fandoms, the Disneyland fandom deserves some additional attention. Disney Magic, and its resultant fan behavior, has no clear parallel elsewhere. Understanding what makes Disneyland fans tick will lead to a better understanding of how fandoms work in general.

In 2016, the Walt Disney Company launched Shanghai Disneyland--the company’s first theme park in mainland China. Entering mainland China poses significant political and cultural challenges for American companies. To address these challenges, Disney pursued a “glocalization” strategy -- it accounted for local norms and values in launching Shanghai Disneyland. This paper examines how Shanghai Disneyland constructed its brand narrative to negotiate tensions in this glocalization process. A semiotic analysis of two Shanghai Disneyland commercials illustrates the ways in which Disney tapped into culturally meaningful themes of harmonic balance and collective identity to produce the park’s brand narrative--“China’s Disneyland.” A thematic analysis also considers how Chinese citizens engaged with that brand narrative on the popular Chinese social network, Weibo. Citizens engaged with this brand narrative in ways that deviate somewhat from Disney’s messaging, such as by avoiding depictions of people in the park. Still, even these deviations aligned with and reinforced the cultural values in the “China’s Disneyland” brand narrative. The study underscores the importance strategically adjusting brand narratives for new markets and accounting for users’ engagement with those narratives.

Staging Medievalisms analyzes how twentieth- and twenty-first century performance constructs the Middle Ages. This work is in conversation with medievalism, the academic field concerned with the diverse ways post-medieval societies have re-imagined medieval narratives and tropes, often in service of their own values. As a result of centuries worth of re-definition, the term "medieval" is unstable, referring simultaneously to a fairytale prehistory and a dark age of oppression. I argue that performance, both in theatrical productions and in medieval-focused tourist spaces, allows an affective connection between the medieval past and the present, casting the Middle Ages as an inherently flexible backdrop for contemporary political and social concerns. In tourist spaces and plays about the Middle Ages, the performing body becomes the site where the medieval and the modern touch. I conduct close readings of six productions and three public spaces which stage the Middle Ages, examining which particular versions of the medieval they create, how they stage moments of historiographical contact, and how each uses the medieval to imagine their own historical contexts. Chapter one provides an overview of medievalism and its connection to performance studies, and subsequent chapters take up contemporary productions of medieval history, legend, and fantasy, respectively. Chapter two examines three recent stagings of Shakespeare's medieval history play Henry V, a work which stages two opposing versions of the medieval simultaneously. The Royal Shakespeare Company (1994), National Theatre (2003), and Austin, Texas (2009) productions offer commentary on modern warfare, using Henry's medieval battles as both evidence and setting. Chapter three analyses representations of the Holy Grail in Mort d'Arthur (2010), Spamalot (2005), and Proof (2001). Each re-imagines the Grail as a symbol of achievement and power, drawing different conclusions about contemporary society's need for the mystical. Chapter four takes up performances of the Middle Ages in the public sphere, examining how Disneyland, Medieval Times, and the Renaissance Faire offer visitors varying degrees of freedom to experience the medieval through their own bodies. Throughout, I argue that performance encourages affective connections to the medieval past as a reflection of contemporary desires. / text