Disney Promotional Text

Interpretation

Safari So Good at Disney's Animal Kingdom

By depicting the speaker as someone who cares about the safety of the safari-goer, it provides a narrative analogue of the ride itself, which creates the experience of various kinds of dangers for riders, while protecting riders from any genuine danger through the use of harmless simulations that only look dangerous, and through the use of safety devices and the disguise of disturbing content. It thus acts as a form of reassurance -- riders will encounter adventure it says, but remain well-protected.

The passage depicts the speaker is caring and responsible. And, since the speaker is just checking to make sure the reader/rider took care of these things, by implication, it depicts the reader this way as well. It thereby reinforces the overall theme of the ride, which is that Disney and the visitors are all responsible people who engage in proper precautions for protection.

At the Freudian level, this opening passage is a disguised reference to the fact that the reader/rider will pierce into feminine Mother Nature, but with a condom (pith helmet) on "good and tight", for safety. Thus it is suggested, the reader/rider will indulge in sex made safe by protection.

What is implied in the first passage -- that reader/riders are outsiders who have come to see things that might otherwise be inaccessible, is here made explicit with a description of some of what will be seen.

At the Freudian level, this is clearly an invitation to voyeurism -- the reader/rider will see animals in all phases of their days and lives, thus satisfying desires to peer in at others in what would otherwise be private situations. These desires are obviously directed more at people than animals and may only seem to make sense if they are described as being directed at people who care about their privacy. But animals here make a good stand-in.

The ride, then, isn't merely a (peaceful) invasion into another world. It is also an invasion of privacy.

The description -- "Zebras, lions giraffes and the rest are all living naturally in the broad grasslands and lush green forests, separated into compatible species. You won’t see any fences," is interesting because, in one breath, the speaker reassures the reader that the wildness is merely a simulation and we don't really have to worry that the lions will eat the zebras. But it is a good simulation, without fences in which the animals live naturally, we are told. So once again, we are being reassured that, although the simulation will seem lifelike, it won't really be dangerous like it would be if it were authentic.

It should be noted that Carl Hagenbeck displayed animals this way in his early nature park, using moats and fabricated rocks, which blended in with the natural setting, as disguised barriers.

Sexual symbolism can be found in the reference to Mother Nature's "lush green forests" without barriers. The earlier reference to the fact that we will see animals wallowing in waterholes and this reference to seeing animal do what comes naturally at least contain a hint that we will see things involving the body that would otherwise be off limits.

It should be noted we've got two trains of Freudian interpretations going here -- that the text as ride is a disguised depiction of sex, with the rider as male phallus invading the lush overgrowth of the female, and that it is an act of voyeurism.

In terms of sexual symbolism, guests "climb right up" onto an "oversized" truck with "hard rubber" tires that will "plow through the underbrush" while "making its way across a flooded river ford." This trip into the realm of primitive nature is clearly also a disguised depiction in which the masculine reader/rider is having sex with a woman.

The fact that these are Freudian clichés doesn't mean they aren't expressions of a sexual subtext. That's how they got to be Freudian clichés.

The reader/riders are a male phallus going into the engulfing and vast lush growth of female nature. They go in all geared up with helmet and boots, in a tank-like truck, ready to plow forward, despite challenging hippos. Clearly, this is one dangerous female the reader/rider is pushing into.

Here, the speaker implicitly refers to him or herself as another rider, rather than a guide although the speaker's implied role is clearly that of guide.

The fact that there is a guide suggests that reader/riders are outsiders uninitiated in the world they are entering. The guide -- who will provide information and advice that will keep riders safe, enhance the illusion of adventure, and show them how the experience can let them empathize with the plight of animals -- isn't merely the actual guides on the ride. It is also the ride itself, which the guide is part of, and it is the speaker in the text and the text, all of which are our guides through all this.

In terms of sexual symbolism, we are being told that a guide will provide advice and directions on how to safely have sex with a woman and engage in voyeurism.

One can overreach by drawing every suggestive reference into a Freudian interpretation, of course. But there are so many references to red, it is reasonable to suggest this refers to the female genitals. the two colors referred to are green -- life -- and red -- female genitalia.

A connection is made between animals trying to survive in nature and loving animal parents protecting their children. ("families search through the trees for a tender leaf or berry"). This is one of a number of references that tell us this world of nature is a world of loving families.

Although it refers to monkey families searching for a tender leaf or berry, the subliminal suggestion there is of parents engaged in tender loving care. In effect, an emotional reaction of tenderness and protectiveness is being evoked in readers that tells them they would never want to do harm to this tender world.*** This expands on the theme of animals in need of protection that was introduced with the idea that the dangers we face will give us some insight into the dangers faced by animals.

Back in the area where the earth is sunset red, we begin looking for two of the bush country’s most popular inhabitants – Big Red and her elephant baby Little Red – so named because when they roll in the rust-red dust they look like someone had painted them. We can see where they have been rolling in the clay. There are tusk marks and footprints. Her big ones. His smaller ones.

In terms of Freudian symbolism, these references to mothers and children would make it appear that the female here that is the object of sex and voyeurism, is a mother.

Over on the island, a flock of pink flamingos gracefully makes its way to the water’s edge, slender beaks reaching down in search of tiny shrimp.

Passing between large kopje rocks up to 12 feet high, we discover native paintings, prehistoric pictures of tribal life visible after hundreds of years. At nearby pools, white rhinos are wallowing in the mud or eyeing us from the tall grass. There are other hoofed animals: the greater kudu, scimitar-horned oryx, Zimbabwean kilpspringer and the long-horned eland. Sharp-eyed cheetahs pace back and forth among the rocks.

The reference to the prehistoric pictures suggests that this is also a journey back in time, in addition to a journey from civilization to primitiveness.

Down below are a half-dozen warthog burrows ranged around the edge of a geothermal field filled with bubbling geysers and mudpots. The warthogs are scurrying in and out. This is where we get our first startling hint of trouble in the area.

In rapid succession, the text has given us a red sunset, elephants named Big Red and Little Red, rust-red dust, rich red rocks and pink flamingoes, along with baboons, a mother showering and so on. At the level of Freudian symbolism, this entire realm of nature is "Big red."

It is interesting that both the riders and the poachers are outsiders intruding in on nature. And both the predatory animals and the poachers hunt. Clearly the promotional text makes a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate forms of these activities. The reader/rider is an outsider intruding in on nature but his activities are justified since he harms nothing and, when called, he protects nature, the text suggests. What happens here is that the reader/rider's invasive motives are banished -- they are focused on the illegitimate invaders, the poachers, and then the good invaders, the riders, overcome the bad invaders.

In terms of sexual symbolism, this is the climax of sex, with "geysers spurting 20 feet into the air, around large waterfalls, across a 100-foot pool and through some of the lushest vegetation yet – giant bamboo, palms and big-leaf trees."

The fact that the sexual climax, with geysers spurting, also occurs during the chase to capture the bad guys, suggests a basic psychological image -- in the act of orgasm, which could be exploitive and invasive, the evil intentions of the male lover are vanquished, as a result of all the tender feelings evoked by the maternal, loving, nature of his partner,

In terms of Freudian symbolism, its time for a cigarette. The message is that being a man and a sex partner means not only being genitally competent but also not taking the aggressive desires evoked by sex too far, but banishing them in favor of protectiveness. The male lover protects his mate the way his mate (mother nature) protects her children.

It is now obvious that the image of the reader/rider adding protective gear at the beginning refers to the fact not only that the lover protects himself from the practical and symbolic dangers men may see in the female genitals (the potential to pass on sexually transmitted diseases; castration and so on), but also that he protects the female from the masculine disease -- namely the aggressive desires called up by sex, and the urge to use sex as a form of phallic aggression and rape.

Woman's role as a caretaker for the young evokes man's urge to be a caretaker for her, Disney tells us. This, in turn, contains (but doesn't eliminate) man's phallic aggressive desires.

It also is an Oedipal story, of course, in which the son, as a good self, protects the mother either from the father or from his own evil desires. The son is engulfed by the mother but finds his power in the act of protecting her from attack. Perhaps it makes sense to also see this as a defense against, and reassurance in the face of,  primal scene fantasies -- what looks like the violence of sex isn't, because the aggressive desires of the male are contained by his love for his partner as loving parent.

If all of this sounds farfetched, consider the basic movement of the story again: the reader/rider gears up with a helmet for safety. The reader/rider pierces and pushes his way into the lush undergrowth in a tank of a truck. The reader/rider sees all kinds of private scenes and a nature full of loving mothers and parents. Invaders and exploiters who, presumably, have also forced their way in, arrive. The reader/rider vanquishes them to protect this realm of loving nature, in an orgy of spurting geysers.

The simulation thus embodies a parable in which being a good citizen and a good man are linked together. Ultimately, all the other, more regressive, fantasies are   sublimated by becoming part of this basic message.

Given the way the story has unfolded, the journey in this text can also be thought of as a journey into the unconscious. Here, we journey into the primitive realm of the unconscious mind, with its signs of lost worlds and wildness, where we voyeuristically take pleasure in peering in on our own family life and the private moments of other family members. In the course of the journey, we banish our evil desires and learn that what is inside us is good.

This theme, by the way, has been a popular one for some time. In jungle movies, including Tarzan movies, we frequently see humanity invading the jungle, with the intent of stealing her riches. But the invaders are routed by good people who are also, in one manner or another, invaders. In one common plot development, the jungle, as invaded woman, takes revenge against those who intruded in on her.

This, anyway, is the promotional text and some of its meaning. And what, the clever reader might well ask, about this text -- the one titled "The Elements of Story-Based Simulations: Kilimanjaro Safaris as a Journey Into the Self?" Is this not also a kind of ride and does it not also try to "ride" the reader, providing various pleasures and disguises? Does it not construct its own poachers in Disney, which is accused of robbing from nature and the realm of actuality to create pernicious fictions? Does   this text not depict the speaker/writer as a hero and savior who would protect truth and culture, and does it not invite the reader to identify with the speaker?

Here, too, aren't good and bad neatly divided up, so we can indulge in some ridicule while remaining on the side of good? And what of this neat little trick of analyzing a text because the writer hasn't actually seen the attraction? Might not the writer himself be a poacher in more clever disguise, not to mention a peddler of his own promotional texts? And if so, what is the status of this speaker-writer who indirectly accuses the previous speaker-writer, which is also himself, of these sins? Is he himself not guilty of these same sins?

Good questions, clever reader. Stay tuned for some answers.

Disney main page

* Perhaps this is an imitation of the way black Africans are depicted as speaking in many jungle movies.
** The text can be converted into these meaning-kernels, to reveal the movement and pattern of  meaning in the unfolding of the story.
***The reference to "a tender leaf or berry": can evoke in some readers what, for lack of a better term, might be referred to as oral nibbling urges and sensations -- the sense of teeth against something soft and pliant. These oral feelings can be evoked by emotional reactions of tenderness and are sometimes expressed in the idea that children are so cute, you want to eat them up.

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