The Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents is steeped in Walt Disney’s vision of a utopian society, a framework that inspired plans for Disney parks worldwide. This patriotic spectacle about the American presidency provides its viewers a vision of a faultless American past using lifelike Audio-Animatronic performers. D’Ambrosi’s updated essay continues to interrogate the form and function of utopia within the Hall of Presidents through the role of these Audio-Animatronics, this time within the context of the Biden administration (2021–2025). After the backlash surrounding Donald Trump's addition to the attraction, many avid Disney fans called for the removal of the Hall of Presidents from the park. Nevertheless, the Walt Disney Company added an Audio-Animatronic of Joe Biden, but unlike his predecessors, the incumbent does not give a speech. This chapter outlines the meaning behind this omission, as well as in the new placement of the Donald Trump Audio-Animatronic. Ultimately, this iteration of the Hall of Presidents maintains D'Ambrosi's original assertion that Disney proliferates a hegemonic utopian framework to imagine a utopian future for humankind.

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Still Searching for a Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow: Performing Utopia with NonHuman Bodies in the Hall of Presidents

  • Joseph R. D’Ambrosi

摘要

The Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents is steeped in Walt Disney’s vision of a utopian society, a framework that inspired plans for Disney parks worldwide. This patriotic spectacle about the American presidency provides its viewers a vision of a faultless American past using lifelike Audio-Animatronic performers. D’Ambrosi’s updated essay continues to interrogate the form and function of utopia within the Hall of Presidents through the role of these Audio-Animatronics, this time within the context of the Biden administration (2021–2025). After the backlash surrounding Donald Trump's addition to the attraction, many avid Disney fans called for the removal of the Hall of Presidents from the park. Nevertheless, the Walt Disney Company added an Audio-Animatronic of Joe Biden, but unlike his predecessors, the incumbent does not give a speech. This chapter outlines the meaning behind this omission, as well as in the new placement of the Donald Trump Audio-Animatronic. Ultimately, this iteration of the Hall of Presidents maintains D'Ambrosi's original assertion that Disney proliferates a hegemonic utopian framework to imagine a utopian future for humankind.