You're So Fine You Blow My Mind
Earlier this week, I got a message from “Mick E Mouse” (a male of an undisclosed age whose profile features loads of photos of Mickey and not himself): “hey beautiful. what you up to today?”
“Fancy getting a message from Mickey,” I reply.
“Well why not? this IS Disfriends! lol.”
…and how!
Not unlike other social networking sites, DisFriends is yet another place for Disney lovers to gather, look at profile pictures, and find your Mouseketeer mate, I guess.
While those on Facebook post pictures of their trip to France, those on DisFriends post pictures of themselves at Epcot.
Let’s Meet at Disney World!
While Facebook and Myspace allow their members to create their own events, these events are more or less just for a few people. You know, I will create an event to go watch High School Musical 3, and invite my friends.
I don’t know if it’s because there are fewer members or because it is such a tightly knit community of Disney fans, but on DisFriends, there are universal events for all members. These events are created by some user, but it’s for the hopes of meeting those they’ve never met before to have a big meet and greet at a Disney Park.
The biggest event coming up is called Mousefest, and well, basically, it’s a non-Disney endorsed event where Disney fans from across the nation (even overseas) meet in Disneyworld. (Parrr-tay!)
I wonder what they do there. In essence, I think that DisFriends is hoping for greater things than any other networking site. No, you’re not just being connected with people who love Disney. You’re, in fact, able to engage in conversation about Disney 24/7, find friends to go to Disney parks with……
In my last post, I discussed Baudrillard and the reasons for DisFriends to be created: to keep the imaginary child inside them alive in an cool imaginary world created by Disney.
Mission: Take Over Florida
These people are similar to the people who have decided to become members in the Disney-owned town of Celebration, Florida, which Disney marketed as “a place that takes you back to that time of innocence.” It’s a some-what “ideal” toy city that Disney created. Many devoted Disney fans moved there because “[they] loved Disney — [and] had such blind faith.” (quoted here)
Sure the traffic was always smooth, trash was never on the street, but little did they know what was underneath the Victorian decadence: in the predominantly white town that advocated diversity, there were issues of racism and freaky perfection.
I’m not going into talking about the city. But, we do see the rather scary implications.
Networking Comparison
While users on Facebook and Myspace are encouraged to express themselves by means of adding music to their profile, use applications that pique their interests, and creating a profile that’s as simple as: Age, Location, About Me, Favorite Quotes, Movies, Music, etc.
In DisFriends, you’re encouraged to express yourself by adding Disney music, add Disney-themed gadgets, and your profile consists of these topics: 1) Favorite Disney Rides, Resorts & Restaurants, 2) Favorite Disney Movies, 3) TV & Music, Favorite Disney Characters, and 4) Favorite Disney People.
On Myspace (and I guess on Facebook), people are posting blogs (or notes) of surveys about themselves. You know, those typical ones that ask “Who was the last person you text messaged? If you were an animal, what would you be?!”
On DisFriends, it’s more like: What’s the weirdest Disney thing you own? When’s the first time you went to a Disney park? If you could be any Disney character…
We're Nothing But Zombies
- Social Networks, I think, are created for you to create a somewhat unique identity, to tell the world: Yo, this is who I am, and these are my interests, and you may judge me as you please. But, with Disney, nothing can be this way. Members in DisFriends somehow seem…less than unique, and they’re seen as pseudo-individuals, otherwise known as a big mass wearing mouse ears.
They’re being hoarded together by means of this networking site — connecting all of the extreme Disney fanatics across the country. They submit themselves to the site and further become slaves to the Disney reach. And, frankly, it’s easy to do. Disney is enchanting, mystical, blinding. Who hasn’t been less than hypnotized upon entering a Disney park for the 1st, 5th, 10th, or nth time?
Now Bow to Me!
We see Disney on TV, in the movies, on the radio, in advertisements, and in almost every mall in America–in fact, on almost every continent…
…holy crap…this isn’t a method of some sort of crazy Disney fan revolution, is it? You know, just as we had feared: the take-over of a government for the creation of a Disneyocracy? The internet does breed individualism and expression, but it’s also a scary place: a place to gather, unite, create change…
But, I 
highly doubt a Disney revolution (like, 97% doubt–I think). But, either way, no one’s real name is on DisFriends, you choose your own screen name for your profile (I’ve seen everything from PixieDust to Snow White’s Evil Sister). While I’ve been volunteering (I’m going through a trial period, details below), I’ve been reduced to saying nothing but a generic greeting with a silly animated Disney image. They specifically told me not to get too personal. Whoa.
Everyone on the site says things to me in Disney-talk (i.e. “Have a Magical day!”). You can’t be angsty and on DisFriends. I mean, it’s great that these people have a method of gathering together, but when their common love is Disney (AKA a corporation readily achieving world domination), I’d be a little worried about the lengths they’d go to get free Disney park tickets. Oh God, am I like Lanier? 
Volunteering
As you may very well know, I’ve tried to become a volunteer for the site. I’m not going to talk about the lame interview that we had to reschedule during my work hours, thus resulting in a Skype chat (found here) and not any verbal communication (although, if chosen for my job as a New Member Greeter, I’d have to have verbal meetings with the staff monthly).
In essence, I had to do a test-run and greet as many new people as possible.
This is a terrible job. I don’t have the kind of time to greet everyone, but I tried. I saw that I had some competition from PixieDust who was greeting every new member from left to right (the site, by the way, has 947 members now, as opposed to the 800+ when I began).
I had to become this pawn and say “Welcome aboard! Hi! Great having you here! Thanks for Joining!”
They said they’d tell me if I got the job this weekend, but so far no news. Should I be worried?
5 Comments
The volunteering thing is interesting. On one hand, you have a social networking site that should be all about free speech and chatting away with anyone. On the other, there seems to be a lot of authority. What would happen if you tweaked the greetings to be more personal? Would they fire you? I mean, greeting people sounds like something you could do even if you weren’t a volunteer, so why the strict rules?
I also think the volunteering aspect is very interesting. The way you describe it, it almost seems as if you are in a virtual disney world. So as a volunteer whats the deal? Do you have a comment quota?
Wow, interesting analysis! I knew a woman who worked at Disney for a little while, and she told me that they used to call it “Mouse-witz” (get it? Auschwitz/Mouse-witz). I think it’s pretty fitting that a Disney social-networking site would try to monitor individual expression so that it is only Disney-related.
In a way, it kind of reminds me about the whole
“America as a melting pot” idea, which was used for a long time to describe American diversity but is now thought to be oppressive in that it erases cultural backgrounds. One of the great things about SNSs is that they are able to bring together different people, but DisFriends seems to only focus on their similarities, which might actually restrict the depth of our social interaction, instead of facilitate it.
They covered what I wanted to say- it’s ridiculous that you have to APPLY for something that anyone can do. Perhaps this crazy guy is trying to force the illusion of friendship in this fantasy world that you’re talking about. I think that this is detrimental to the community because it takes away from the real mission of Disney.
Basically, when moving into a new community, it’s nice to be greeted by an existing member of the community with a jello mold. (Gotta love TV.) Anyway, imagine if there was a ruler who forced a jello mold greeter to visit every new neighbor? Image-wise it’s nice, but deep down when you think about it, it’s fake. The original, underlying kindness is nullified by the phony jello mandate. The thoughtfulness is removed by the fact that it’s imposed.
Also, I read the conversation and that guy sounded like a hardcore pedophile. I’m not accusing him of pedophilia, but the feeling was similar. Maybe it’s just because he’s an adult who clings onto childhood fantasy (Disney.) I wonder if there’s any correlation: what (psych-wise) is different between adults who like kids and adults who like kid’s stuff? I know this is a harsh, far fetched accusation, but both of these things are usually explained by a lacking of something in a person’s childhood. Coul they be linked!?!
I agree with what you said (and what Mike touched on in his comment) about the idea of holding on to these false childhood fantasies. The truth is, the DisFriends are not really doing harm to anyone through their social networking site. Since it’s an online community, it is open to anyone regardless of background. The only thing that they ask is that you love Disney. The problem, then, is in physical manifestations of this false utopia like Celebration, Florida. I’m a Disney lover myself, so the idea of Main Street U.S.A on a sunny Anaheim day sounds really good right about now. But I can understand where the overall idea would be of concern to some people. This idealized society/town/mentality is coupled with a number of assumptions, including the exclusion of some races. If they combine the “look” of a time and place like this with the mentality as well, that is where the Disney ideal becomes dangerous.