http://www.celebration.fl.us/- their website
statistical breakdown of town- http://www.city-data.com/city/Celebration-Florida.html
This town really creeps me out. After reading about it in Shortsleeve's article, I had to investigate and it really is as creepy as it sounds. I really hope your soul isn't searching for it because then I would have to assume that your soul is as twisted and dark. First, let me break down the stats. All stats are as of 2010. In 2010, there were apporximately 7,500 residents. There are more woman than men (52.4% women vs. 47.6% men). The average age of a resident is 40. The average income is approximately $81,000. The resident population is approximately 82% white, 11% Hispanic, 3% Asian, 2% Mixed, and 1% Black, .2% Native American, and .04% Pacific Islander (so about one family?). So a typical Middle Class, White, suburban town. This is the basic picture, now let's dig a little deeper.
First off-The first sentence, I mean the very very first, on their website is "We want to get to know you". Strike one. In a 1999 interview with the NY Times, resident Julie Jensen admitted that the town is "Stepford wife like" (http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/07/realestate/at-celebration-some-reasons-to-celebrate.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm). Strike Two. They have a "Porch Police" (ShortSleeve 15). Strike Three. It's just not acceptable. Plus there's that questionable clause in the Celebration contracts that gives Disney's real estate company veto power over any changes in Celebration government as long as Disney owns even one piece of property in Celebration (ShortSleeve 26). To me, the only reasonable explanation for the existence of this town is that 7,500 people have lost their minds.
While Celebration really does kind of creep me out, my paranoia of the town speaks to a deeper paranoia I have of Disney media. In short, I like Disney, but I don't trust Disney. During the summer of 2010, I took a class entitled "Blackness, Media, and Self-Concept" at Indiana University Bloomington. It was my first introduction to media studies and the various ways media permeates in our lives. I hate to be cliche, but it was life changing. Media Studies really interested me and media studies relating to my black identity, an area of myself that I always want to learn more about, was beyond perfect. We didn't discuss Disney at all in this class, but I couldn't help but see all media through this new critique lens when I returned from the class. I still remember how deeply disappointed I was in Disney. Though my disappointment was limited to the Disney Channel as that was the Disney media I interacted with on a regular basis (my baby brothers are Disney obsessed), my disappointment stretched far and wide. I was disappointed in the programming, the characters, the blatant stereotypes, the shrieking, hideously fake laugh track, all of it. I couldn't fathom how I could have grown up on a channel that so clearly did not think much of me as a black female. One moment of actual heart breaking disappointment occurred during an episode of "Good Luck Charlie". "Good Luck Charlie" is about a white suburban family, a mom, dad, two daughters, and two sons, and their misadventures. The older daughter-Teddy- is the protagonist and she records video diaries of the family for her young sister, Charlie, to watch when she's older. Teddy has a best friend, Ivory, who is black and sassy. In one scene, Teddy and Ivory get back essays. Teddy exclaims "Oh no! I got a B+". Three seconds later, Ivory exclaims "Yes! Yes! I got a C+!" Cue Disney side eye.
It may seem as if I'm being incredibly sensitive to this one moment, but that's the thing-it's not just this one moment. It's a combination of many moments, this one just happens to encapsulate one of the overarching themes of these many moments. Black people aren't as smart as their white counterparts. Disney Channel must have gotten a lot of critiques for this because one of their newer series-Shake It Up- there is a pair of best friends-one black, one white- and the black character's excellent grades are mentioned super often in contrast to her best friends average academics. So yay progress, but still-the trust that I had for Disney to be just feel good media is gone and never to return. For every Shake It Up, there are two or three more shoes that render black people as invisible or ignorant.
And while that is just my personal experience with Disney, Disney leaves a lot to be desired in its representation of Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, anyone from a foreign nation, and a host of other issues. I do worry that I learned too much of the "critique" in "Blackness, Media, and Self-Concept" and not enough "appreciation", but I recognize that Disney is excellent at creating that feel-good programming, making its characters ubiquitous, and establishing that general sense of "magic" and "laughter", but like in another famous wonderland, Oz, when you pull the curtain back it is not the stuff of dreams, but the making of great disappointment.
Disney pulled the rug out from under me and so I don't trust it. I approach each new Disney Channel show with a strong sense of paranoia-which stereotypes will this one employ, how much correcting am I going to have to do for my brothers when this one goes off. I can't speak to an overall sense of Disney distrust, but in my world Disney Channel is very much like celebration. Looks good on the outside, but still gives you a feeling of unease for reasons you can't explain. And when you discover those reasons, you can't imagine why this exists.
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