A recent video of a service dog meeting Donald Duck at Disney has reached over 10.8 million views online, highlighting a new cultural trend: dogs at Disney Theme Parks. The global phenomenon has led to several people falsely presenting dogs as service animals to access Disney and capture the perfect picture to share online. These new guests in Disney Theme Parks form part of the important ongoing conversation regarding Disney, agency and animal representation. Existing as hybrid companion species beyond Disney’s jurisdiction they could showcase a possible potential sense of animal agency, altering the guest’s experience, but also the representation of animals at Disney. In this chapter, I aim to critically consider the significance of Disney service dogs both in the Disney Parks and their virtual representations on social media. Informed by Donna Haraway’s theory of companion species, among others, I argue that the so-called “Dogs of Disney” become nonhuman actors and tourists in Disney Theme Parks. As dogs become part of the immersive Disney performance, the chapter explores the different types of roles service dogs can take on in the theme parks, cast between entertainers, guides, companions, children, and guests with agency, extending beyond the park boundaries into the digital realm. By exploring the various aspects of the so-called dogs of Disney, I aim to show that these animals negotiate between anthropomorphized entities and subjective agencies—simultaneously embracing and rejecting the Disney experience—showcasing how (nonhuman) guests can harness power and carry meaning as actors.

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“Ruff” Rides and Loose Leashes: Reimagining Non-human Agency at Disney Theme Parks

  • Karli Brittz

摘要

A recent video of a service dog meeting Donald Duck at Disney has reached over 10.8 million views online, highlighting a new cultural trend: dogs at Disney Theme Parks. The global phenomenon has led to several people falsely presenting dogs as service animals to access Disney and capture the perfect picture to share online. These new guests in Disney Theme Parks form part of the important ongoing conversation regarding Disney, agency and animal representation. Existing as hybrid companion species beyond Disney’s jurisdiction they could showcase a possible potential sense of animal agency, altering the guest’s experience, but also the representation of animals at Disney. In this chapter, I aim to critically consider the significance of Disney service dogs both in the Disney Parks and their virtual representations on social media. Informed by Donna Haraway’s theory of companion species, among others, I argue that the so-called “Dogs of Disney” become nonhuman actors and tourists in Disney Theme Parks. As dogs become part of the immersive Disney performance, the chapter explores the different types of roles service dogs can take on in the theme parks, cast between entertainers, guides, companions, children, and guests with agency, extending beyond the park boundaries into the digital realm. By exploring the various aspects of the so-called dogs of Disney, I aim to show that these animals negotiate between anthropomorphized entities and subjective agencies—simultaneously embracing and rejecting the Disney experience—showcasing how (nonhuman) guests can harness power and carry meaning as actors.