Backstage to Onstage

To understand a person’s performance, the audience will first observe the social front that defines the individual. This can be broken into two parts: setting and personal front. Setting is defined as the space an individual occupies during his performance. It generally stays put, so performers must come to the place to act and then terminate the performance when leaving.
Disneyland implements setting to distinguish areas of interaction with guests, with cast member break areas. This is why there is a separation between backstage and onstage in the layout of the park. Only the cast members are allowed access to both sides of the performance, while guests are only allowed in the stage area. This creates the illusion of reality for the audience, because they are only exposed to one side of the performance and must take it as the truth.
Cast members can then begin their interaction fully ready from a hidden door or down a corridor guests are not allowed access. It is unknown by the audience the exact nature of how they begin their performance as they seamlessly take over positions and perform tasks guests do not bother to scrutinize. You do not notice the custodian who sweeps up a napkin or the security guard in plain clothes doing surveillance down Mainstreet USA. And why should you?
Your role as the audience is to understand that this is all a show with every individual playing a part, with certain mysteries as to how it all comes together. By allowing the individual to wonder about its innerworkings, Disneyland is able to keep the magical aspect of a theatre show.

Put on a Front

"Performance serves mainly to express the characteristics of the task that is performed and not the characteristics of the performer." --Erving Goffman

The other side of the social front is an individual’s personal front. It is with the regulation of its cast members’ appearance and manner that Disneyland perfects its performance. To the audience they are a well-screened group, who has a “neat and prim” appearance, and upbeat countenance that is constantly presented. However, these people are not always responsive and polite, but play that role onstage at Disneyland.
Employees then forfeit their individuality during the process of training to become Disneyfied. They are placed under surveillance and emotional management in order to uphold the performance standard, forcing them to behave towards guests by smiling and being helpful. As time progresses, this façade is perfected by the cast member and he or she gets lost in the performance. Many employees admit to it becoming second nature to smile and easy to do nothing more than look alert and be pleasant.

A look at Disney University Appearance Guidelines:

*General
*Female
*Male

Disneyland Proposal

In this video the distinction between performers and audience is blurred as a guest puts on an elaborate display in the middle of Mainstreet USA.

Hidden Mickeys and Geo-Caching

Disneyland wants its visitors to lose themselves in the experience of the Park. They have succeded in creating an interactive world without giving away any of the park's secrets. This is developed furthur by the phenomenons of Hidden Mickeys and Geo-Caching. While both of these encourage guests to participate by themselves without help from park employees, only one is endorsed by Disneyland.

Hidden Mickeys are images of Mickey Mouse's head that are integrated into the scenery around Disneyland. The objective is to locate them while visiting the Park. People choose to do this, because it creates a connection between the setting and the audience. The first sighting was in 1989, when an article was published by Arlen Miller. Soon the Disney Corporation approached the author to gain insight into this inside knowledge. Now you can purchase a book detailing where to locate them or even download an application to your iPhone. Disney decided to control this new activity, so while the guests believe they are getting a glimpse into the inner workings of Disneyland they are still pawns in the performance.

Hidden Mickeys website
Geo-Caching on the other hand has not landed on Disneyland's radar yet. This may have to do with the fact that Geo-Caching is not confined to Disneyland alone. Geo-Caching is an across-country game that anyone can join into. It is a hide and seek treasure hunt that uses gps coordinates, with helpful clues and hints. When you find a treasure you write down your name and date and if you take a part of the treasure, you leave something in its place. Now you can find these caches inside the park itself.
Disneyland Geo-Caching

Be Our "Guests"

In the opinion of Erving Goffman, life is simply a performance of roles that we embody. Individuals are then actors of the space they occupy and are governed by social norms that are established and associated with that place. In this instance the actor and audience are both aware of these implied roles and respond accordingly.
The performance extreme is demonstrated by Disneyland’s ability to establish itself as a stage. Disneyland does not have employees, but instead “cast members” who serve the “guests,” not visitors. This distinction allows Disneyland to maintain the environment of “The Happiest Place on Earth” to all who visit and work there. For this reason it has earned the name “The Smile Factory” by John Van Maanen.
The cast members are the most vital part of the performance, because they maintain the entire façade. From the time they begin work until they leave, they represent the iconic image of happiness and cleanliness by following a tightly set system of behavior. During training, they are instructed to sustain a bright and cheery disposition when interacting with guests, but only provide minimal contact and to refer problems to superiors. This allows only those trained in guest relations to provide assistance, insuring no false information or bad communication.
In order to try and create an unpleasant interaction, my fellow student and I decided to stand on chairs and try to remove Mardi Gras beads from New Orleans Square in Adventureland. There were eight employees watching us, but we were not asked to stop until someone appeared from inside the restaurant. Even then we were scolded in a polite manner: “Ladies, please get down from the chairs. The beads are meant for decoration only. Thank you.” Even when stronger action is required, cast members opt for the more subdued approach to punishment. It seems that there is no misbehaving in Disneyland, only unfavorable roles.
The notion that cast members are playing the physical extension of the Disneyland image plays into how they act inside Disneyland and the audience’s interpretation of their performance. If the audience believes in the sincerity of that role then Disneyland will function, if it is disrupted then the façade comes tumbling down like Alice down the rabbit hole.

A Second Look

I've always had a small obsession for Disneyland. It started when I was a child and family vacations were taken to Southern California with the sole intention to visit Disneyland. I was enamored by the entire Disney aura and bought into everything peddled by the Disney Corporation. This love did not dissolve as I aged, but seemed to grow in strength with every new encounter.
I started Chapman University and decided to purchase an annual pass. An annual pass allows you to visit the park repeatedly for an entire year on a single rate. I became an expert in navigating the park and knew more than the average passholder by the end of the year. I renewed my pass again the following year, but my dedication to Disneyland soon began to waiver. At the conclusion of my second year as an annual passholder, I decided to distance myself.
After a year of separation, I once again became a passholder in conjunction with a class entitled: Anthropology of Space and Place. This class challenged how I viewed and interacted with Disneyland by forcing me to think critically about the expectations and behavior Disneyland enforces on its visitors or “guests.” In fact, every time I enter the park now, I am questioning how the park is influencing me and the other people around me.
To completely understand how Disneyland employs its space, we were asked to focus on a particular theorist and relate his work to Disneyland. I choose to study Erving Goffman’s Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and how it applies to the employees or “cast members” of Disneyland. In this blog I share my findings and personal experience on this subject and how I've given Disneyland a second look.