Explain the process of ‘’Disneyfication.’’ Using Hong Kong Disneyland or another place in Hong Kong as your example, give one example of the impact of ‘’Disneyfication’’ on local Hong Kong culture and everyday life.This essay will look into the impact of Disneyifcation on the Wan Chai Blue House Preservation Project to show how the process affects local Hong Kong culture and everyday life.To begin with, Disneyfication is defined as a simplification process by which uniqueness of something was reduced to the limited terms Disney and his people could understand.
It also refers to the process by which the principles of the Disney theme parks are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world (Bryman, 1999).Disneyifaction in spatial development usually involves four dimensions in the process, namely theming, dedifferentiation of consumption, merchandising and emotional labour.Theming refers to applying a narrative to institutions or locations. Themes are usually new definition of a place exerted by someone subjectively and purposively to attract a particular group of people.
In the preservation project, Blue House, the once ordinary Hong Kong Tong Lau for residential use, has become the landmark of the city now. In Hong Kong, theming by government usually means new business opportunities, as it often implies new uses of the building. While some users under the original definition of the place are being evicted, it invites new innovations, more public awareness and business involvement to the place. This further lead to another three dimensions of Disneyifaction. It is noticeable that while some traditional content is lost under theming process, some new elements, which sometimes are fruit of globalization, will fill the gap,Dedifferentiation of consumption is the general trend whereby the forms of consumption associated with different institutional spheres become interlocked with each other and increasingly difficult to distinguish (Beyman, 1999).
In the Blue House project, visitors usually spend more than mere paying for the tour guide. They will have meals at the restaurants nearby, and buy souvenir in the Wan Chai Livelihood Place. The flocks of visitors brought by the theming effect actually bring new sources of income to the district.Merchandising means the promotion of goods in the form of or bearing copyright images and logos, including such products made under the license (Bryman, 1999).
With the theming and consumption, Wan Chai Livelihood Place, a museum and souvenir shop in the Blue House has produced some licensed products and sells them in the shop, including ‘Love for all season’ figures and ‘Magic Box’ photo frames. The production of merchandise can help promote the place to the public.The last step is emotional labour. It refers to the act of expressing socially desired emotions during service transactions. In Blue House case, the shopkeepers usually keep themselves look local and grass-root like so as to resonate with the contextual factor, the old building.
This is in fact another form of costume wore by staff in Disneyland, with a same goal to create a uniform image of the place. This somehow distort the will of people.
