Michelle Nguyen

Explornography

Professor Meissner

16 Dec 2009

Driving westbound on I-4 towards Disney World, I am met with a billboard that

reads “FACE EVEREST”. Correction: I am met with a billboard that dares me to FACE

EVEREST. The imposing signage makes no mention of a Disney Vacation, but rather,

presents a challenge that calls forth one of man‟s most innate reactions—to explore.

Christopher Columbus is heralded as an historical national hero—the explorer that

discovered America—and since his discovery and beyond, Americans have grasped

tightly the urge to find, discover, and explore new things and places. Foreign lands and

challenging natural obstacles around the world became sources of obsession as man

strove to prove their ability as the superior species, both physically and mentally.

However, in more recent years, the availability of “things” to discover became limited

and the sport of exploration came to rely on the sensational thrills and excitement that it

offered its participants. Eventually, the art of discovery and practice of expanding the

boundaries of the human mind and ability became lost in the commodification of

exploring, with participants exploring simply for the pleasure and leisure of saying “I did

that”. Because of this shift in values, artificial substitutions, such as Disney‟s version of

Mount Everest, enable leisure-explorers, who have forced the sport of exploration into a

tourist market, the ability to “experience” foreign lands such as reconstructions of Asia

and Africa in the Animal Kingdom, at their convenience. As the largest provider of

family entertainment in America, Disney provides consumers with the opportunity to

participate in re-creations of foreign explorations, seemingly eliminating the need to go

beyond Walt Disney World in order to “experience” the world. Through careful research,

documentation, observation and interaction with workers and tourists at Disney‟s Animal

Kingdom, however, it is revealed although these explorative experiences are not

authentic representations of Asia and Africa, they do act as veritable substitutions for

most leisure-explorers. Furthermore, the contentment of settling for manipulated

representations of reality brings into question the value of identity and culture within

American society.

In 1998 the Walt Disney World Company brought 500-acres of the African

Savanna to the flatlands of Orlando, Florida when they opened Disney‟s Animal

Kingdom. As the largest of the all the theme parks, Animal Kingdom was intended to

become the most realistic and most experiential of the four, springing from Walt Disney‟s

personal passion for conservation. The opening of Animal Kingdom also marked their

first venture into working with live animals on such a large scale. In the same year, New

York Times reporter John Tierney coined the word “explornography” to explain the

phenomenal increase in demand for adventure literature, outdoor gear sales, Crocodile

Hunter and Survival-type television shows, and most relevantly—exploration oriented

trips and vacations. In visiting Walt Disney World, my intention was to expose the

Animal Kingdom, particularly their representations of Asia and Africa, as sources of

explortainment, but where no real understanding or value could be taken from one‟s

experience trekking through reconstructions of the Pangini Forest, going on the

Kilimanjaro Safari, or riding Expedition Everest. However, what I found was a mix of

reactions, contrary and complementary to my initial beliefs.

In order to understand the motivation behind adventure vacations and people‟s

desire to “explore”, one first has to understand the motivations behind the leisure

explorers themselves. On the last leg of my flight before touching down in Orlando, a

conversation with a flight attendant who had been flying tourists in and out of “Magic

Town” for years told me “The kind of people you find at Disney World are not the type

of people you would expect to find in the happiest place on Earth.” This was her

impression after relaying bad experiences with disgruntled tourists who were in her

opinion, “going to get their money‟s worth of experience at everyone else‟s cost.” This

notion of “getting your money‟s worth” is a characterizing trait of American identity as

the majority of America‟s population falls within the working class. America‟s need,

desire, and requirement to get every penny‟s worth originate from a society of wealth and

power, but fueled by consumerism and selfishness. This brings us to American tourists.

Faced with an array of Disney tourists at Animal Kingdom, many overweight and in large

groups sporting brightly colored matching neon shirts bearing the words “Nelson‟s

Family Reunion 2009”, I had to ask myself—would any of these people actually go to

Harambe, Africa? (if Harambe was a real place, that is).

When we explore the ways in which American tourism and consumerism have

commodified, marketed and exploited the traditional practice of exploring, we assume

that that the commodification of the practice in itself discredits any possible

knowledgeable or experiential gain. Throughout the study of Explornography, American

tourists and consumers who wish to “explore” as an outlet of leisure and vacation are

viewed purely as vicarious thrill seekers and pseudo-adventurers, lacking any valuable

intention and disregarding the unique intentions of original explorers such as Edmund

Hillary or Ernest Shackleton. Complementary to these explornographic explorers,

however, are the commodified, reconstructed, and controlled areas of exploration.

Professionally led “vacations” up Mount Everest for hundreds and thousands of dollars,

mapped and contrived “trips” down the Colorado River, and all-inclusive “retreats” to

exotic African safari lands all contribute to the growing market to explornographic

tourism. However, one of the largest contributors to this growing market is Walt Disney

himself. In creating Animal Kingdom the intention was to reflect as authentically as

possible the safari-land of Africa and the forests and mountains of Asia. For $800 million

dollars, Disney was able to recreate the landscape of real savanna brush, set in an east

African village of Harambe—a fictional village created by Disney, further perpetuating

the idea of an “imagined adventure”. Disney‟s attempt to authenticate Harambe includes

imported vegetation, such as wide-trunk baobab trees, hiring Zulu workers from South

Africa to hand-thatch roofs for the village buildings, and employing workers from South

Africa and Botswana as Disney cast members in Animal Kingdom.1

So returning to my question, would the Nelson‟s really ever visit Harambe, given

the chance? Firstly, what I found characteristic of families like the Nelson‟s was the

obsession to “do everything” and “experience everything”. With this formulaic approach,

the enjoyment and actual appreciation of Disney‟s intense efforts of authenticate Africa

and Asia is lost in a sea of queue lines, dehydration, and exorbitantly priced souvenirs—

all of which, they have to have. Tourists come to Disney with a purpose and with that,

abandon almost all other responsibilities and occupy themselves with the precise goal of

fulfilling that purpose (i.e. riding the safari, visiting Asia, France, Germany, Africa, etc.,

taking a picture with Mickey and seeing the fireworks NO MATTER WHAT). Though

this might not seem like the representative experience of exploration that Disney had in

mind after spending $800 million dollars to construct Animal Kingdom, it is what they

offer and as a consumer based business, it is what they intend. As a rule of thumb, cast

members are not allowed to “break character” as part of their employment agreement,

however, the one acceptation that allows Disney to break character from authenticity is

for economic profit. Upon entering the Animal Kingdom, I am met with an elaborately

constructed jungle with tall, exotic trees and large, billowing leaves that hang over the

sky like a canopy. To my immediate left, after entering the gate, however, are a number

of souvenir and snack carts, selling plush Mickeys in safari gear and mouse-eared dipped

ice-cream cones. Though you would most definitely not find these things characteristic of

the real Africa and Asia, Disney makes a great effort to both authenticate and profit from

their replicated societies. The result is a Disney experience, with highlights from these

foreign countries in the form of an animal safari ride, or a rollercoaster down Mount

Everest. The haste in which so many of these tourists “experience” the Animal Kingdom

can only lead to the conclusion that these Disney-fied, formulatic scenes of Asia and

Africa are in fact, the only recollections that these tourists will have of these countries. It

is the practice of such a “short-cutting”, “easy-button” society that is America. As

consumers, we want things, and we want them fast, convenient and preferably, all-

inclusive.

Collecting from interviews with tourists, I gathered that most of the images that

children in America from of Asia and Africa, prior to visiting the Animal Kingdom are

the images that Disney or similar family entertainment businesses provide. Lily

Anderson, a seven year old from San Antonio, TX told me that “Africa is where Simba is

from”, recalling The Lion King‟s Pride Rock as her primary image of Africa. After

visiting the Animal Kingdom, I asked her if she thinks any different now and her

response was “it has lots of black people and old houses”, referring to the recruited cast

members from Africa that Disney hires specifically to create a heightened authenticity.

The parents, Paul and Sara, contend that their trip to AK has been an “educational and

fun experience for the kids” but they are not sure if they want to take their kids to the

actual Africa, especially at this age. “It‟s much different, from what I‟ve seen”, says Paul,

who had previously been to South Africa on business and described the climate and

general depiction of AK Africa as much different from his urban experience of South

Africa. For this very reason, Disney provides families like the Anderson‟s with an outlet

in which to educate, culture and expose their children to “the world”, but in a protected,

safe and controlled environment. What‟s even more appealing is the convenience of cost,

location and general experience. The name of Disney and Disney World itself is a

universal icon that is represented by the notion of being “the happiest place on earth.”

This familiar image working in tandem with the cultural re-creations that theme parks

like Animal Kingdom provide enable Disney to participate in the explornographic

exploitation of real adventure experiences by providing substitutions that American

families actually prefer over reality.

Paul‟s observation of differing atmospheres between Disney‟s fictional Harambe

and South Africa are valid because of the fact that Africa in itself is made up of 53

countries, each with very distinctive cultures. Harambe is modeled after Kenya, one of

the more rural countries in Africa and whose culture greatly differs from that of South

Africa. In attempt to find out just how different Harambe was, I tracked down the 9

“authentic” Africans working in the Animal Kingdom theme park—some of which were

more difficult to find. My initial instinct was to look for cast members donned in

authentic looking Africa garb, who spoke in African accents, and who were, in general,

black. Similar to Lily‟s newfound conception of Africa, the only authentic African‟s I

had seen thus far were the black African dance performers that did a show every other

half hour at the “Tusker House”—advertised as an authentic African restaurant. My first

encounter with one of the international African cast members was Steff, from

Johannesburg, South Africa. She was white. Each cast member at Disney is required to

wear a nametag that includes their first name and the city/country from which they hail.

Intending to ask her where the bathroom was and overlooking her as one of the nine

Africans I was looking for, I noticed her nametag and immediately realized that my very

own perceptions of Africa had been highly misconstrued up until this point. Steff

described South Africa as the economic central of Africa—a large industrial city—with

11 national languages alone (Africa as a whole has over 2000 national languages). Steff‟s

native language—the newest language known to humans (only 200 years old)—is

Afrikaans, a combination of Dutch, English and German, and is specific to South Africa.

With heavy European influence, South Africa was not what I had imagined Africa to be

and I soon began to build a new image of Africa in my mind, apart from thatched roofs,

deteriorating buildings, and men dressed in war paint and pounding on drums—the very

image of Africa that Disney chooses to perpetuate. Majoring in International Tourism,

Steff said she chose to come to Disney to expand her work experience. After relaying

South Africa‟s national focus on rugby, German beer and brand consciousness as part of

their cultural identity, I walked away from our conversation with an entirely mixed view

of what Africa was.

My next few interviews found Salana and Jame from Gaborone, Botswana, and

Elina from Naimibia. When asked how the came to be at AK, each one relayed Disney

advertisements in local papers, media, or universities, looking specifically for African

students with concentrations in international tourism, management and travel. Disney

representatives would fly out to the respective countries to interview candidates and if all

went well, would offer them a 1-year contract to come work at AK. Though less

urbanized and economically flourishing as South Africa, both Botswana and Naimibia are

still very different from Kenya—the city that Disney‟s Harambe is modeled after. One of

the more interesting facts I found after interviewing all of the African cast members in

AK was that none of them had every actually been to Kenya, and thus, could not entirely

concede on the authenticity Harambe‟s representation. The authentic Africans that

Disney hand-picked to represent their localized Harambe, then, were in a sense,

inauthentic themselves. As far as they could describe however, in reflection of their own

home countries, they did have some input on the construction. “On authenticity” says

Salana, “the architecture and street music are „authentic‟ to Africa and create the right

atmosphere, but it is definitely Disneyfied.” Jame, who has never been to Kenya but

concedes that it is somewhat similar to Botswana, at least in structure, in that they both

have city and village areas. “Animal Kingdom does represent the village area

somewhat—though very exaggerated, but it does not represent the city.” Beyond the

physical re-construction of Harambe, I wanted to know how accurately the authenticity of

culture was conveyed by AK and see if it was in any way comparable to the actual

culture of Africa. When asked about her costume that AK requires her to wear, Elina

responded that “the cut and print are similar to traditional dress and tribal costumes you

find in Naimibia, but they are not really reflective of casual wear.”

From these interviews, it is gathered that Disney picks and chooses certain

“marketable” aspects of “general” African culture in which to portray as their holistic

representation of Africa. The problem with this, however, is that it misrepresents the

entirety of African culture, which is extremely diverse within the 53 countries and 2000

languages that represent it. This misrepresentation creates false images of the real Africa

to leisure-explorers or families like the Andersons, who hope to make this a culturally

educative experience for their children in place of real culture.

More recently however, in an attempt to more holistically represent the vastly

different cultures of Africa, the Animal Kingdom started “The Harambe School”, set in

the near center of AK. The Harambe School is class held every other hour, taught by

Salana, Elina, Steff, and the other recruited Africans and relays specific information

about their own home countries. As these do help to educate the visitors with more

accurate representations of Africa, it does not excuse the generalized and stereotypical

structure of the Animal Kingdom as a whole. Without speaking personally to these cast

members or at least attending the Harambe School, I wouldn‟t have guessed that in some

areas of Africa, it gets below -1 C, or that rugby was such a competitive national sport,

nor would I know that the language known as Afrikaans is made of up primarily

European, not African, languages. These are the facts of Africa that most are not exposed

to the general majority of Disney goers and thus, AK manipulates people‟s perceptions

about the real Africa, especially those that utilize Disney as a veritable substitution for

these foreign cultures.

There are still some tourists, however, like Bob and Laura from Missouri, who

rely on Disney-reality-versions of Africa and Asia. Dressed head to toe in matching khaki

safari gear, I met the couple outside of the Pangini Jungle Trek in Asia. As an older

couple who married late, they took their honeymoon 10 years prior at Disney World, the

year that Animal Kingdom opened. Since then, they‟ve returned every year and make a

point to go back and ride the Everest Expedition and the Kilimanjaro Safari Rides. Laura,

a collector, revels in all of the Disney African trinkets and although neither have ever

been to Africa, contend that “Well, we pretty much have!” Bob, with diabetic

complications, says it would be difficult to travel to countries like Africa and says that

Disney is a good substitute, “based on pictures and everything I‟ve seen on the travel

channel.” As firm believers in an authentic Disney experience, they always partake in the

convenience of Disney‟s “all-inclusive” benefits, staying at Disney resorts and having

everything provided for them. “We know we‟ll be taken care of here” says Laura to

which Bob adds “yeah, if we pay enough!” Good spirited and good natured, the couple‟s

departing words to me are “AK has become a tradition for us. Of course it‟s an authentic

African experience! We‟re convinced…but also senile.” Though humorous, this confirms

my original belief that Disney does market an image of Asia and Africa and manipulate

tourists‟ understanding of the real cultures of these respective countries.

Though limited time only enabled me to explore Disney‟s Africa extensively, a

brief trip through Asia told me the same manipulative, limited representations that Disney

chose to portray were similarly applied. At Expedition Everest, the roller coaster ride that

is structured inside a recreation of Mount Everest, the main attraction is not simply

“getting to the top” as is the goal at the real Mount Everest, but rather, a Disney-fied

version. The search of the mythical Yeti is marketed as the ultimate exploratative

adventure. By challenging the same human desire the its billboard calls forth, Disney

attracts tourists to come “Face Everest” and partake in an exploratative adventure, even

more thrilling than the real Mount Everest could offer. Disney‟s ability transform a myth

into the fictional reality that is “Expedition Everest” (in the form of a large, fuzzy,

animatronic Yeti) enables leisure-adventurers with an outlet in which to explore, but not

really exert themselves. The queue line for the ride describes “The Mystery of the Lost

Expedition”—an expedition seemingly destroyed by the mythical yeti, heightening the

level of adventure and furthermore, creating unrealistic expectations for the real Everest.

As the largest and most prosperous family entertainment business in the world,

Disney‟s boundaries are seemingly limitless. Given the notion that “if you build it, they

will come”, Disney responds by building the very places the people have always wished

to go and enabling them to “experience” it at a more convenient and lower cost. Provided

this, no, I don‟t think the Nelson‟s would ever really visit Africa. The opportunity and the

image that has been created and accepted, both by Disney and American society

eliminate the need for realistic exploratative experiences. As American‟s we like things

convenient. We take now and ask questions later. In many ways, we mimic a society of

strength and authenticity, when in reality, our experiences are based on a mixed array of

different cultures, none of which are inherently “American. The stereotypes of African

and Asian culture that we gather as Americans are reinforced by Disney‟s localized

representation. Lower cost and convenience furthermore makes rides like Disney African

Safari more appealing than a real African safari, a notion that is the driving force behind

American tourism in the Disney industry.

As the concentration and value behind exploring shifted towards explornography,

the importance of the act itself lost value and soon, convenient substitutions were created

to facilitate these leisure explorers. Americans accept Disney‟s version of Asia and

Africa as veritable substitutions for real experience, whether it be for the convenience,

lower costs, or ability to travel. The further commentary on American society,

encapsulated by industries like Disney and fueled by a capitalist, consumerist identity is

the question of our own value of identity. If we can accept Disney‟s thumbnail version of

Africa and Asia as our true perceptions of those cultures, then how important is our own

American identity? Similarly, explornography not only describes the commodification of

the sport of exploration, but also creates a greater commentary on those that partake in

explortainment. The Nelsons, the Andersons, Bob and Laura, Salana, Elina, Steff, and

many others all contribute to the deconstruction of identity, whether they know it or not,

and before long, our own American identities will be lost in commodified, summarized,

and re-constructed images around the world.

*The names in this paper have been changed to protect the privacy of the interviewees.

1 Navarro, Mireya. “New Disney Kingdom Comes to Real-Life Obstacles.” New York Times. 1999.