Ride Theory reviewed Riding the black ship by Aviad E. Raz (Harvard East Asian monographs ;)
Quite readable for an academic book.
4 stars
This is just as good as I remember it, having read it fairly close to when it first came out in the late 1990s. Unique among the academic studies of Disney theme parks, it examines Tokyo Disneyland on it's own terms, from the point of view of those who work there and who consume it. "We need to look at our theories from the viewpoint of TDL, rather than read TDL within the framework of our theories." I wish someone would write a book on Disneyland or Walt Disney World with this perspective.
The central thesis here is that TDL is not so much a direct import of the American park as it is an original Japanese rendition based on the American version.
I'd say only about 10% of the book is heavy, convoluted prose and academic jargon; the other 90% is quite enjoyable and even fun to read. (Trust …
This is just as good as I remember it, having read it fairly close to when it first came out in the late 1990s. Unique among the academic studies of Disney theme parks, it examines Tokyo Disneyland on it's own terms, from the point of view of those who work there and who consume it. "We need to look at our theories from the viewpoint of TDL, rather than read TDL within the framework of our theories." I wish someone would write a book on Disneyland or Walt Disney World with this perspective.
The central thesis here is that TDL is not so much a direct import of the American park as it is an original Japanese rendition based on the American version.
I'd say only about 10% of the book is heavy, convoluted prose and academic jargon; the other 90% is quite enjoyable and even fun to read. (Trust me, I read a lot of this stuff back in the day, and most academic studies of Disney parks in the 1990s were real slogs to get through, with more of a 95% to 5% jargon-to-fun ratio. )