Sorkin

Michael Sorkin’s article on Disneyland relates to Blade Runner in many ways.

 

1.)   Disneyland and the off-world colonies seem to be the epitome of a utopian environment. I say this, because of Walt Disney’s views on what his ‘perfect city’ should look like.

 

‘Disneyland will be something of a fair, an exhibition, a playground, a community center, a museum of living facts, and a showplace of beauty and magic. It will be filled with the accomplishments, the joys, the hopes of the world we live in. And it will remind us and show us how to make those wonders part of our lives (Sorkin 336).’

 

‘…the fairs also became models, adopted visionary urbanism as an aspect of their agendas, both offering themselves as models of urban organization and providing, within their pavilions, panoramic visions of even more advanced cities to come (Sorkin 338).’

 

In Blade Runner, the city seems like such a dirty dystopia. You’re either wealthy high class living in lavish penthouses or you’re ‘little people’ on the streets, statically existing. The ideal spot to be is on the off-world colonies where life is care-free, crime-free, and problem-free. Just like Disneyland. The search for a utopian city or way of life has been around for centuries. Humans are always on this search, for a better and safe way to live. Sorkin even referenced this search in his article. Starting in Europe, people migrated to America, in search of these ‘utopian cities’, ex: Shakers, Quakers, Mormons, etc. this migration relates to the off-world colonies in blade runner, and people wanting to live on them, and Disney’s goal of creating such a place.

 

2.)   The Replicants in Blade Runner are like the Disneyland workers.

‘…but - perhaps in part because a man in a mouse costume is a more genial image of

Dehumanization than a prole in chains - this "servant space" (Sorkin 351).’

Disney workers are like the Replicants by becoming this fake character, and doing work in an environment that portrays reality but is incredibly ‘make-believe’. The workers wear costumes and gain this plastic like appearance and are forced to smile the entire time they are in the public eye. Their name no longer means anything to anyone, nor their memories or hopes and dreams. Once inside the Disneyland walls, they become Cinderella, Snow White, or Goofy. Your are unable to tell if a Replicant is human or robot because they don an equal human appearance. The Replicants are forced to do some sort of work on the off-world colonies, while the Disneyland workers are controlled by the ever watching eye from within.

 

 

3.)   Disneyland in relation to the Tyrell Corporation

Disneyland is the Tyrell Corporation. It has complete control over everything within. It has its own money, which is equivalent to the dollar, but you must exchange anyway. Disney even envisioned having total control over policing, surveillance, regulations, taxing, and governing. He created these characters that children idolize with the ultimate little girl’s goal that every beauty has a prince charming. With Disney leading the way, everyone would be equal; communism at its finest.

‘…offering the fecund communism of abundance and leisure, a true technocratic postindustrial utopia (Sorkin 347).’

Disneyland and the city in Blade Runner both feed into Mcdonaldization, globalization, and techno$haft. Both places want their environments to run efficiently, with predictability, control, calculability. Globalization and techno$haft is shown in the Ridley Scott’s views of a city controlled by advertisements, and extensive technology. The movie was made to look like the entire planet earth had turned into a dystopia, not just the city of Los Angeles. You can see globalization in Disneyland by being able to visit different countries, without ever having to really go there. Within those walls, you can be here, there, and everywhere.