We learned what it means to be American from Disney, historian says

The American flag still flies above the Magic Kingdom. Image via Walt Disney World President Josh D'Amaro/Instagram.

A deeper meaning lies in Disney theme parks, said Smithsonian museum specialist and author Bethanee Bemis, whose upcoming exhibit opens next week in Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian exhibit “Mirror, Mirror: Reflections of America in Disney Parks” explores how Americans have learned about their national values from Disney and how the parks have adapted, as well as other themes. The new exhibit opens as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ cultural war against The Walt Disney Co. dominates headlines.

For Bemis, what makes the Magic Kingdom so special is that the park portrays the American values many cherish. You are reminded of America’s desire for exploration when you walk through Tomorrowland, or the examples of free enterprise you see strolling past the shops of small-town America represented on Main Street, U.S.A. And don’t forget the rugged individualism and independence of Liberty Square and Frontierland.

“Disney theme parks are some of the foremost places where the nation consumes its collective memory of the American Experience,” Bemis writes in her book that accompanies the Smithsonian exhibit. She acknowledges the criticism that Disney parks’ view of history is sanitized and “Disneyfied,” omitting the atrocities and bad times from the past.

The parks evolve as values change in the country, too, Bemis said.

“Now we’re seeing (Disney) sort of layer over those original values, which are still there, with values, like diversity and inclusion. It’s an interesting way to watch America sort of keep its original identity, but continue to evolve. … They’re adding these layers, which then helps more people to see themselves in the American story,” Bemis said.

The changes are very visible, like Disney redesigning the Splash Mountain ride, originally based on a racially insensitive film, to instead highlight the first Black Disney princess. Or the changes come quietly, like a casual reference to a same-sex relationship in a character backstory that appears on the wall of a candy shop in Main Street, USA, Bemis said.

For more than a year, DeSantis and Florida Republican lawmakers have attacked Disney and called it a “woke” company. The latest in the fight is the state’s and the DeSantis-appointed Disney World government board seeking to reclaim power over Disney’s special district after Disney appeared to outmaneuver them.

“We all love Disney. However, you cannot indoctrinate our children,” said Rep. Carolina Amesty, a Republican from Windermere, who spoke this week at a DeSantis’ press conference outside Disney World.

“Instead, they have turned Disney into this corporate PR arm of a small group of extremists who want to indoctrinate our children with radical gender ideologies that have no basis in science, common sense or basic human decency.”

Bemis says Disney theme parks have always represented middle America.

“If you want to take the temperature of the country, and really understand sort of how we’re thinking about ourselves — who gets to be one of us, and what stories we want to pass on to our children — you have to look at the Disney parks,” Bemis said. “What we see is that middle America has changed, so has Disney. … By the time change comes to the parks, it’s already happened. It’s mainstream.”

“Mirror, Mirror” opens April 28 at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and is free and open to the public. The 1,000-square-foot exhibit also features photographs people submitted from their Disney vacations over the decades and rare Disney artifacts (including actor Fess Parker’s coonskin cap he wore on Walt Disney’s TV show Davy Crockett.)

Bemis said the exhibit, which runs for the next year, is meant to encourage people to think about where they learn their American history as well as “what kinds of stories they’ve heard and what kinds of stories they would like to hear.”

Accompanying the exhibit is Bemis’ book, “Disney Theme Parks and America’s National Narratives” which was published in December. Her book describes the role the Walt Disney Company played during World War II and how U.S. presidents have a long history of visiting the parks.