It always amazes me what interesting things can happen when you’re expecting something else. A couple of years ago, while waiting for a podcast to post a particular interview, I accidentally discovered just how well Walt Disney understood human nature.
At that time, I had learned that a podcast* that specializes in theme park analysis was planning a program of interviews with some of the artists responsible for the relaunch of the Disney attraction Star Tours. Although amusement parks and themed entertainment don’t hold much attraction for me, I had heard a little about the redevelopment process and wanted to know more, so I kept an eye on their program list. Now, these podcasters were clever! The first announcement about those interviews was made in March. The actual program was not released until May! During those two months of waiting, I gained a new respect for the breadth of subjects that affect the planning and management of themed entertainment. It’s a whole lot more than popcorn and roller coasters! Issues range from engineering, to personnel management, to logistics, to history; but, most of all, the business is about real people, whether they are customers, managers, or designers. The anecdotes related during those two months of waiting were as inspiring at that promised podcast was likely to be.
One of those intervening episodes managed to combine history, logistics, people, and philosophy. It described Walt Disney’s hopes for building a model city in Florida, which was to have been called "Progress City." This reminder of the extent of Disney’s imagination was, in itself, interesting. But, while relating the history of the project, the guest included an unexpected anecdote about the time Walt Disney escorted the evangelist Billy Graham through Disneyland.
The story goes that, while Rev. Graham admired the park, he commented to Disney that it was a nice fantasy. This statement irritated Disney, and he turned to Graham with some heat, saying, "This is reality in the park. The fantasy is out there, People are real when they come to the park. They’re friendly, they talk with each other, they help each other. They’re clean here, they work with each other when they’re inside the park. That’s where people are real. Outside of the park is where the fantasy is: where they have to put up facades, and act like they’re something that they’re not to get ahead."
When I heard Disney’s response, I smiled indulgently. "How optimistically naive he is," I had thought, "to think that people, at heart, are naturally good." After all, just looking at the world, the evidence of Original Sin is unavoidable. Didn’t Jeremiah observe that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), and Paul remind the Romans that "No on is righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:10)? No, I thought, people are basically evil, and poor Mr. Disney was the victim of a wishful delusion.
But then, something apologist Ravi Zacharias had said suddenly made sense, and I realized that I was wrong. Walt Disney did understand the human heart; even better than Rev. Graham, and his description of Disneyland was the reality!
Ravi Zacharias had defined evil as that which is contrary to purpose***. Something that behaves contrary to its nature is behaving in an evil way. We don’t criticize a dog when it barks, digs holes, chews up things, and, well, acts like a dog. We expect a dog to act like a dog. We do criticize a man who acts like a dog, because he isn’t a dog. Behaving like a dog is contrary to a man’s purpose, and is therefore evil. Man’s heart has been described as evil. In order to be evil, it must be acting contrary to purpose. But the only way it could be acting contrary to purpose is if it were made to be good! Admittedly, the Apostle Paul (and Rev. Graham) would point out that, when given the choice, people will choose evil over good (as Paul says, "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." (Romans 7:19)), but such statements only go to prove that their natures are evil: that their natures may not be good, but they were supposed to have been that way.
Going back to Disney’s statement, the world beyond the park was a place where people, for whatever reasons, were compelled to be someone they weren’t. In short, to be evil. His dream for Disneyland, in contrast, was for a place where people could be themselves: where they could act according to their purpose. He insulated the park with kind, helpful staff, considerate construction, and facility maintenance that was excellent enough to reinforce guest self-respect. In a way, he tried to make Heaven on Earth. After all, if we are free from the influence of evil when we’re in the eternal presence of God, would we not act the way Disney described his guests as acting? In Heaven, we will act according to our purpose, not contrary to it. Before God, we can be who we really are. With his artificial park, Walt Disney tried to help his guests experience that same reality.
After recovering from my initial amazement, I was struck with how simple it would be to transform this dismal fantasyland we call "real life" into a heavenly place. If, rather than being sullen and uncooperative, we act in friendly kindness; if, rather than pressing a selfish advantage, we give the other guy a break…it would be that easy! Bu then I remembered one more thing about Disneyland: people go there by choice. The guests are attracted to a place governed by kindness. People who enjoy being what they aren’t, and prefer to rebel against their purpose will select lawless venues, and the two groups need not mix. In the Real World, however, they must mix. Without the protection of shared friendly expectations and modeled cooperation, that godlike reality that Disney honored does tend to be the target of the evil phonies. No, Heaven itself cannot be achieved on earth, because too many people prefer their dark fantasies†. But we should be grateful to Walt Disney, and idealistic realists like him, who remind us that the "nice fantasy" is, in fact, the ultimate reality.
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References:
*The Season Pass Podcast #199, posted May 12, 2012: "Chad Emerson takes over for another episode of Emerson’s Disney Files! This episode dives into the book "Walt and the Promise of Progress City" with the author Sam Gennawey" Available at: http://seasonpasspodcast.libsyn.com/tspp-199-emerson-s-disney-files-3-gennawey-walt-progress-city-5-11-12
The anecdote is told at about 26:00 min. When I checked the source**, it admitted the story was possibly apocryphal, but it was described as being in keeping with Walt Disney's philosophy.
**The story was mentioned in
Findlay, John M. Magic Lands : Western Cityscapes and American Culture after 1940. (Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press, 1992) p. 70.
*** Ravi Zacharias uses that definition regularly, and, most recently, alludes to it at the end of his Let My People Think broadcast for March 8, 2014, "Life’s Inescapable Questions", Pt. 1 (of 2). As of this writing, available at http://www.rzim.org/let-my-people-think-broadcasts/lifes-inescapable-questions-part-1-of-2/
† "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19)
