“Welcome to the Happiest Totalitarian Kingdom on Earth”
(Ok, Maybe the Second Happiest)
Pop quiz — The above quote is:
a) An overhead sign that greets guests as they enter the pre-show of Universal Orlando’s “Shrek 4-D” attraction.
b) A very pointed (and very funny) slap at Disney.
c) An emblem of the most aggressively post-modern theme park attraction ever created.
The answer, of course, is d) All of the above.
“Shrek 4-D,” which opened this summer at Universal’s California and Florida parks, has earned rave reviews from guests and critics alike. Most of its success can traced to the same things that made the feature film so successful. Witty writing expertly delivered by talented voice actors. State-of-the-art CG animation that is both technically and artistically satisfying. The foresight and courage to identify an undercurrent of anti-Disney backlash in our culture and ride that to great comic effect. Add to the mix razor-sharp 3D projection and well-designed (if not groundbreaking) in-theater effects, and you have a top-flight new attraction.
But what does all that have to do with post-modernism? What about Shrek makes it an evolutionary philosophical leap beyond similar theme park attractions? And what the heck is post-modernism anyway?
Post-modernism is an artistic and philosophical movement that followed modernism. As self-evident as that definition seems, it’s about the only definition that all academics and theorists will agree on. The definition of post-modernism is notoriously slippery, and can vary greatly depending on how the term is applied and who is crafting the definition. For a brief primer on modernism and post-modernism, see http://nmc.loyola.edu/intro/postmod/pomopage-gu.htm or http://homepage.newschool.edu/~quigleyt/vcs/pomo.html.
Modernism is a movement that grew out of the European Enlightenment, emerging in the mid 18th century and reaching its peak in the first half of the 20th century. Modernism is rooted in the belief in science, rationality, and order. Continuity with the past, and the importance of constructing a consistent cultural narrative, are important. History is seen as the process through which man, as embodied by the rational individual, seeks to improve himself and his world through the efforts of his mind. The modern artist creates a frame for his work and seeks to maintain a consistent perspective within that frame. While the modern artist may combine elements of low and high culture in his work, the distinction between the two is always recognized and maintained.
Post-modernism emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as a reaction to events like Vietnam and Watergate. It represents the “death of history,” a rejection of the master cultural narrative that modernism sought to construct. Post-modernism is radically subjective and deconstructive, emphasizing the fragmented nature of culture and history. Unlike modernism, which is respectful and nostalgic towards the past, post-modernism is playful and irreverent, destroying context and juxtaposing disparate elements for ironic effect. Post-modern philosophy is suspicious of centralized authority, and favors the authenticity of the pre-modern and non-Western. The post-modern artist freely mixes high and low culture without distinction, and rejects the modernist ideal of “willing suspension of disbelief” in favor of self-awareness and breaking the fourth wall. Instead of a consistent perspective and coherent narrative, post-modernism presents a subversive pastiche of genres in which subtext is text and style is substance. The key words of post-modern thought are subversion, irony, and deconstruction.
It may be instructive to look first at a quintessentially Modern theme park attraction. “Mickey’s Philharmagic,” currently in previews at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, is just such an attraction. In this 3D film, a CGI-rendered Donald Duck attempts to conduct a symphony orchestra concert. Frustrated at the refusal of the enchanted instruments to follow his lead, Donald disregards Mickey’s warnings and activates the Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat, plunging him into a series of musical vignettes from classic Disney features. Donald tumbles through moments from “Beauty and the Beast,” “Fantasia,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King,” “Peter Pan,” and “Aladdin” before Mickey finally restores order. In the end, Donald receives his comeuppance and the audience hums their way to the gift shop.
“Mickey’s Philharmagic” is a delightful attraction that does many things right. Despite many people’s misgivings, the CGI Donald is a triumph, modeled and animated with real life and a classic sense of comic timing. Many of the other CGI characters are equally well done, particularly Lumierre and Zazu, though the humanoid characters like Ariel and Aladdin have a creepy Barbie-doll look. There is some wonderfully kid-pleasing use of 3D perspective, making this the first attraction since “Magic Journeys” to compel me to try to reach out and grab objects floating out of the screen. The in-theater effects, while nothing that hasn’t been done before, are used to excellent effect, especially the “cherry pie” scent and “popping champagne” air blasts. And the super-wide screen, though it sacrifices some brightness and clarity, makes this the most immersive 3D show since “Terminator 2: 3D.”
“Mickey’s Philharmagic” also has its flaws. The biggest is the barely themed queue and non-existent preshow, apparently victims of the belt-tightening familiar to most recent Disney attractions. The Fantasyland Theater has been home to many delightful preshows over the years, including Kodak’s “Making Memories” and the 3D Chip ‘N’ Dale cartoon, and it’s a shame this tradition couldn’t continue. Some of the choices of songs and characters are a bit odd. Lumiere stars in “Be Our Guest”, but Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts are MIA. Flounder makes a cameo during Ariel’s number, as does Zazu with Simba, but Sebastian and Nala are both absent. Without the Genie, “Part of Your World” nearly drags the show to a halt. And with the exception of brief interludes from “Fantasia” and “Peter Pan,” every “classic” represented is from the last 15 years. Most bizarrely, Mickey himself appears only briefly at the beginning and end, seen mostly from the rear at a distance, barely making a cameo in an attraction that bears his name.
While not an E-Ticket, “Mickey’s Philharmagic” is a very pleasant attraction that should succeed well with its target audience. Its fast pace, familiar characters, and classic music should give it more “re-ride” value than “It’s Tough to be a Bug”. But what makes it a Modernist attraction? For one, it presents a consistent creative perspective with no attempt to subvert the frame. Guests are audience members in a fantasy concert hall, as reinforced by the queue-line mural, character voice-overs in the pre-show holding area, and the design of the theater itself. A literal frame, a stage proscenium, establishes the perspective at the start of the show and is restored at the end. This reflects the modernist philosophy embodied by the plot. Mickey Mouse represents the forces of order and rationality (an ironic role for a character that began as an iconoclast) while Donald represents irrational chaos. At the end, Mickey returns to restore order and deliver comic justice to Donald for his disregard of the rules. Further, while the 3D and in-theater effects draw the audience into the frame, this is done to reinforce the suspension of disbelief, not to break it. Donald does not “wink” at the audience or make self-aware asides. Finally, the show presents a unified view of Disney history, creating a universe where characters from various Disney films interact but non-Disney culture and the real world does not intrude.
In this sense, the Magic Kindgdom (and all Disney parks) can be seen as essentially Modernist. Walt and his Imagineers used classic movie-making techniques to create an entire self-contained world. In each park, land, or attraction, the outside world is carefully screened out to create consistently immersive fantasy universe. Whether you are in a savage jungle, the long-gone American frontier, or a medieval fantasy village, every element is designed to create the illusion that you are in that time and place. Only the omnipresent un-ironic corporate commercialism (another hallmark of Modernism) reminds you that you are in a theme park. The text of the attractions themselves reinforces the Modernist agenda: the triumph of good over evil, respectful nostalgia for a golden past, and celebration of technology and progress.
By extension, Walt Disney was as much the protypical Modernist as the parks he created. He embodied the all-American ideals of hard work, technical innovation, and self-promotion. Walt felt a deep connection to his past (as represented by Main Street USA) and a faith in the institutions of America. And he made a clear distinction between his “low-culture” cartoons and the “high-culture” that he experimented with, and later famously apologized for, in “Fantasia.”
If Walt Disney and his creations represent the Modernist artistic philosophy in theme park entertainment, then can it be said that Universal represents the post-modern theme park? And how does Shrek represent the cutting edge of this movement? Come back for part two as we explore that question, and take a look at some truly subversive gags that you WON’T see in Shrek’s queue.