Week 3

      Upon reading the Cultural Theories, one really stood out to me. This one was called “The Hyperreal and the Imaginary”, written by Jean Baudrillard. I, being a huge fan of Disneyland, found this to be interesting. I agree with what the author says that Disneyland is an “imaginary world”. I agree because that’s exactly what Disneyland is. It’s an imaginary world that has nothing to do with reality, which is why it is dubbed “happiest place on Earth”. Baudrillard states that people are drawn to Disneyland because of the “miniaturized pleasure of real America”. The author also explains the ideal of “hyperreal”, where Disneyland is there so it hides the “real” country, where as the rest of America “belong to the hyperreal order”. This makes sense to me, because Disneyland can serve as an “escape” from the reality of life and to a magical entity. It is such a childlike place, as the author also points out, that adults come here to act like children and have the experience they had or wish they had as a child. Upon all this being said and considered, I personally do not mind if Disneyland is or isn’t the product of a hypperreal theory, because I love Disneyland and I have a childlike heart so I will go there no matter what.

      In the article by Michel de Certeau, called “Making Do: Uses and Tactics,” it speaks on different strategies and tactics used in different areas of life. One part I understood was when talking about use, or consumption. Certeau states about the reasons behind consumption and how people choose product placement based on “system of their production, geography of their distribution, and the situation of consumers in that geography”. One could relate this to a marketing strategy, for instance. The uses and tactics one does to market a product or place are very important because it comes down to whether or not they will have a consumer at all. We can take Disneyland, for example. Disneyland, as we have heard in the previous article, is an “imaginary world.” How do you market that? First off, the location is in a great area for travel. Secondly, like stated in the article, people are drawn to it because of the attraction, the entertainment, the shiny lights and bright objects, etc. What do the consumers make of these objects and images? They see it as escaping from reality, by watching the commercials on TV and seeing pictures on the internet, so they are drawn to it because of the legend and reputation that Disneyland holds and the entertainment factor that it contains. Disneyland has been well-known for quite some time, and that is because they know what the consumers will like and what tactics they can protray, and they use that to their advantage to be a successful business and theme park to escape from the reality of life.