Disney of Argentina

If disneyization refers to sectors of the world adopting the principles of Disney Theme Parks with relations to the four dimensions pointed out by Alan Bryman, then I’d be lying if I were to say that Argentina is not disneyized. In fact, in my opinion, at least one sector of every country has gone through disneyization, and perhaps even they themselves do not realise it. 

And in Argentina, I’d like to focus on a particular attraction of the country – Mar del Plata, the biggest beach in Argentina. In truth, the theory works the same way as our Sentosa.

In terms of Disney Theme Park, the core product of the attraction obviously has to be the theme parks. In comparison, the core product of the Mar del Plata beach has to be the beautiful sceneries of the beach, the sea or even the sand. Pretty much everything else that has been established around these core products were forms of disneyization. More to follow below.

 Theming

In the case of Disney Theme Parks, Alan Bryman said “theming accomplished at least two things in this connection. First, it established coherence to the various rides and attractions in Disneyland and the environments in which they were located. Secondly, in the design of rides and attractions, the accent was placed on their theming rather than on the thrill factor, which was the emphasis in traditional amusement parks.” in his book.

The same can be seen in the Mar del Plata beach. When people now go to the beach for a time of relaxation and rejuvenation, they find themselves faced with so many other choices now. The casino, the nightlife or even the industrial port full of sea lions now add much higher excitement to a place decades ago only consists of a beach with mesmerizing beauty. I’d say that the Mar del Plata beach has been “themed”, evolving into a city attraction rather than just a beach attraction. All these have been done in order to attract higher tourist arrivals, which ultimately concerns with the overall revenue generated from the site. The question now is, do people go to the Mar del Plata beach primarily for the beach or for the other added attractions?

2)    Hybrid consumption 

Alan Bryman refers this as a general trend whereby the forms of consumption associated with different institutional spheres become interlocked with each other and increasingly difficult to distinguish. It basically means consumer now has an extra choice of consumption on top of the core product. In the case of Mar del Plata, as visitors enter the area, they are greeted with various shops that sells beach wear, beach activities related equipments, or even food and beverages. The main selling point of the attraction has now been smudged with visitors facing more and more kinds of consumption they get to enjoy.

3)    Merchandising

Alan Bryman refers to this as the promotion and sale of goods in the form of or bearing copyright images and/or logos, including such products made under licence. The two photos below show how souvenirs are being sold with the purpose of promoting the site. 

4)    Performative Labour

Performative labour means the growing tendency for frontline service work to be viewed as a performance, especially one in which the deliberate display of a certain mood is seen as part of the labour involved in service work. In both the Disney Theme Parks and the Mar del Plata beach, the service employees are being told to always put on a smile during their Standard Operating Procedure training. In the port of the Mar del Plata beach, entertainers have to perform with the sea lions for the audience. These entertainers have to attain a desired level of happiness in the audience through the way they talk and perform to the audience. The ultimate concern is if all these emotions portrayed by these service staff are genuine or just staged for the sake of achieving various purposes.